News
IT News: Microsoft's BI Platform Clocks 35 Percent Revenue Growth
Also, Microsoft reaches donation milestone, Dice hosts job fair, more.
Ask a colleague who the major players in the business intelligence space are,
and Microsoft usually gets mentioned with the also-rans. But Microsoft's BI
ranking continues to improve. A recent Gartner Inc. report shows a 35.9 percent
surge in revenue growth for Microsoft's BI platform in 2005,
putting it sixth in the BI market. Similar research by IDC and The OLAP Report
also indicate a growing momentum in Microsoft's BI platform, which the company
expanded late last year by launching both SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Office
Business Scorecard Manager. SAP tops the rankings, while Business Objects and
Cognos, SAS Institute and Hyperion filled in the gap.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/sep06/09-22BIMomentumPR.mspx
Microsoft Donations Pass $2.5 Billion Mark
Bill Gates' charitable mood extends past his foundation's doors all the way
to his employees and company. At Microsoft's annual meeting, the company announced
that since 1983, it has given more than $2.5 billion in charitable donations
– including services and software – to nonprofit organizations.
In 2005 alone, Microsoft employees donated $68.2 million in cash and software;
the company then matched that amount. http://tinyurl.com/hdvce
Dice Rolls into San Antonio
If you're anywhere near San Antonio next week and you're looking for a foot
in the IT door, polish that resume. Dice Inc., an IT career Web site, will be
sponsoring a technology, engineering and security clearance job fair on Sept.
28 at the Marriot San Antonio Northwest. Job seekers can get face-time with
recruiters from companies like BAE Systems and Rockwell Collins. http://www.targetedjobfairs.com/
New Products: Mobile Testing Platform, IE Security App, XPS
Slow week on the product front, as you can tell with the following products.
If you have one that you'd like featured here, drop me an e-mail at [email protected].
mVerify says it's come up with an easy way to test both Web services and Windows
Mobile 5.0 apps: the mVerify Testing System Tester Edition, version 1.3. MTS
1.3 is designed to be a scalable, end-to-end testing device that can connect
up to 10 Windows Mobile 5.0 devices to any workstation for testing. The product
also features a One-Click Repeat function that can repeat any test up to 10,000
times with a single click.
http://www.mverify.com
Software producer ByteCrusher has released a beta version of WindowZones, a
security application that the company claims can protect IE users from zero-day
malware attacks. ByteCrusher says the highlight is its SafeZone feature, where
PC users can open Internet-facing applications and prevent malware from abusing
their administrator rights. Pricing and final release are expected in October
2006. http://www.windowzones.com
Can't sleep at night? Maybe it's because you're a hardware or software developer
who's having a hard time finding a reliable means for testing XPS Document interpretation
and rendering capability. Rest easy – you can now download Release Candidate
1 of Global Graphics' XPS Reference Raster Image Processor from Microsoft's
Web site. The reference RIP contains version 1.0 of Global Graphics' core XPS
kernel, which has been distributed to more than a dozen printer and MFP manufacturers
participating in Global Graphics' Early Adopter Program. http://www.globalgraphics.com