College Suspends IT Managers over Hacker Break-Ins

Ohio University said Tuesday it has suspended two information technology supervisors over recent breaches by hackers who may have stolen 173,000 Social Security numbers from school computers. 06/21/2006

Major Web Browsers Getting Facelifts

The major Web browsers are getting facelifts as they increasingly become the focal point for handling business transactions and running programs over the Internet rather than simply displaying Web sites. 06/20/2006

Microsoft Ships Robotics Studio CTP

At the RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition 2006 in Pittsburgh this week, Microsoft announced it is shipping the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of its Windows-based robotics development platform. 06/20/2006

Microsoft Upgrades Instant Messenger

Microsoft Corp.'s latest instant messaging program is ready for prime time, the company said Monday. 06/20/2006

Adesso Releases Beta of New Dev Platform

Adesso Systems has delivered a beta version of an integrated development environment that allows programmers to create and deploy applications that inherently have distributed and mobile capabilities. 06/19/2006

Researchers Look at Data Mining Privacy Techniques

As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. 06/19/2006

Microsoft Upgrades Instant Messenger

Microsoft Corp.'s latest instant messaging program is ready for prime time, the company said Monday. 06/19/2006

D.C. Workers' Stolen Data Lacked Security, Encryption

A laptop containing the Social Security numbers and other personal data of 13,000 District of Columbia employees and retirees has been stolen, officials said. 06/19/2006

It Had to Happen Sometime: Gates (Slowly) Passes the Torch

Bill Gates gives two-year retirement hand off. 06/19/2006

TechEd Showcases SQL, SharePoint Tools; Plus, Gates Hands Reins to Ozzie

From the business wires this week: mobile SQL Server monitor/manager, storage management solution, and Bill Gates' new role at Microsoft. 06/16/2006

Gates Departure: Will the Wizardry of 'Oz' Be Enough?

Bill Gates says he is going to cut the umbilical and let Microsoft take its own course -- beginning two years from now. Though momentous news, nobody really seemed surprised. 06/16/2006

Council of Customers To Advise Microsoft on Interop

In yet another sign that Microsoft clearly understands its products still need to integrate better with others' -- even fierce competitors' -- applications, the company announced this week that it has formed a council on interoperability with members drawn from among its biggest customers. 06/15/2006

UPDATED: Gates To Retire in 2008

Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, largest stockholder and chairman, announced on Thursday he plans to retire in July 2008. He passed his responsibilities and job title of chief software architect effective immediately to Ray Ozzie who was, until now, one of three chief technical officers. 06/15/2006

Compuware To Ship Development Tool for Visual Studio

Compuware will begin shipping an updated development tool next week that aims to help application development groups produce better code and achieve higher productivity, the company announced at Microsoft’s TechEd 2006 conference in Boston. 06/15/2006

Third Parties Demo Visual Studio 2005 Tools

Two third-party firms showcased new development tools designed to work with Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System at the company's annual TechEd conference being held this week in Boston. 06/14/2006

HP Unveils C-Class Blade Servers

Computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday unveiled a line of servers that the company claims will reduce by half the cost of maintaining corporate data centers. 06/14/2006

Study: Slow Job Growth in Tech Sector

New report says job growth is weaker than IT industry claims. 06/14/2006

Microsoft Ships Beta of Operations Manager 2007

At its annual TechEd conference in Boston Tuesday, Microsoft announced the beginning of the beta test cycle for System Center Operations Manager 2007, an update to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005. 06/14/2006

Microsoft Releases 8 'Critical' Security Patches

The Redmond software giant released 12 patches -- eight of which are deemed "critical" -- as part of its regularly scheduled monthly security update. 06/13/2006

Microsoft Certified Architect Program Now Live

Microsoft plans to open up senior-level certification to 250 applicants in its first year. 06/13/2006

CDW Battles Dell, Slowing Industry Growth

CDW Corp. has long fashioned itself as David to Dell Inc.'s Goliath -- a role CEO John Edwardson embraced when he took a sledgehammer to a Dell laptop at a gathering of senior managers on his very first day. 06/13/2006

Yahoo Says E-Mail Worm Contained

Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it has contained a malicious program aimed at the millions of people who use its e-mail service, which ranks as the world's largest. 06/13/2006

Defining Integration

If you think of interop as simply getting Windows and Linux to talk to each other, then you're missing the true potential of both technologies. 06/12/2006

Integrate an LDAP Server Into Your System

Distinguished Names (DNs) are one of the least-understood LDAP server components. Get an introduction to them, and see how a virtual directory can help with DN management. 06/12/2006

Microsoft Previews LOBi at TechEd

Looking to establish more pipelines between its Office 2007 suite of desktop applications and several of its server-based applications, Microsoft on Monday at its TechEd 2006 showed off an early version of a technology that would deeply embed processes and data into Office clients. 06/12/2006

Blogger Scoble To Leave Microsoft

A prominent Microsoft Corp. blogger who sometimes bluntly bashed the software behemoth is leaving the company to join PodTech.net, a Silicon Valley video blogging startup. 06/12/2006

Quest, Azaleos, Zenprise Unveil Updated Products at TechEd

Quest Software, Azaleos Corp. and Zenprise took advantage of Microsoft’s TechEd 2006 conference in Boston this week to roll out new and updated products that build on Windows infrastructures 06/12/2006

Ozzie Offers Vision for Software Plus Services at TechEd

Kicking off its TechEd 2006 conference in Boston, Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie said the IT industry is verging on yet another era of technology disruption, this time centering around Web-based services. 06/11/2006

DOE Computers Hacked; Info on 1,500 Taken

A hacker stole a file containing the names and Social Security numbers of 1,500 people working for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons agency.

06/11/2006

Microsoft Ships Compute Cluster Server 2003

Microsoft has released its high-performance computing (HPC) platform -- dubbed Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 -- to manufacturing, meaning it will be available to customers in August, the company said Friday. However, evaluation copies will be distributed at Microsoft's TechEd 2006 developers conference in Boston the week of June 11. 06/09/2006

IT Weekly Roundup, June 9

From the business wires this week: database backup tools, a virtualization suite and Windows Vista beta. 06/09/2006

Intel Moves Up Server Chip Shipment Date

Intel Corp. is moving up the planned shipment date of a computer chip that will compete against one from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. 06/09/2006

VMware To Ship Infrastructure 3

Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware is rolling out this month a new suite of its virtualization tools that bundles both existing and new products into a package meant to more closely reflect what customers say they need as their deployments become more complex. High on that list, say company officials, is the ability to manage a lot of virtual machines from one centralized view. 06/08/2006

Windows Vista Public Preview Finally Begins

Finally. Wednesday night, Microsoft released the broad public beta, also called the Customer Preview Program (CPP), opening up testing floodgates for the long-awaited replacement for Windows XP to literally millions of consumers. 06/08/2006

Cisco's CEO to Take on Chairman Duties

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. said Chief Executive John T. Chambers will become chairman of the company when current Chairman John P. Morgridge steps aside on Nov. 15. 06/08/2006

Microsoft Plans Better Disclosure of Piracy Check Tool

Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users when its piracy monitoring tool is reporting to Microsoft. 06/08/2006

AOL Releasing Free Security Monitor

AOL is releasing free software to automatically check whether you have the latest security protection on your Windows computer. 06/07/2006

Microsoft Clarifies 'BI' Roadmap

Microsoft clarified the roadmap for its business intelligence products Tuesday, and also announced that it is working on a new business intelligence tool aimed at performance management. 06/07/2006

Hewlett-Packard Revises 2Q Profit Upward

Hewlett-Packard Co., a maker of computers and printers, raised its second-quarter profit by $443 million Tuesday and boosted its income forecast for the remainder of the year to reflect a tax settlement with the U.S. government. 06/07/2006

CompTIA Unveils New A+ Cert with Electives

After months of speculation, the Computing Technology Industry Association unveiled a new structure for its flagship A+ hardware technician certification. 06/07/2006

Dell To Supply Google-Branded Servers

Dell Inc. said Tuesday it had reached a deal to supply Google Inc. with customized computer servers the search engine company will sell to corporate customers. 06/07/2006

Microsoft's Live OneCare To Be in Qwest Offering

Microsoft Corp. said Monday that its Internet security software will be included with Qwest's high-speed Internet service. 06/06/2006

'Net Neutrality Battle Heats Up

A major wrestling match in Congress over control of the Internet features some strange tag teams -- rockers and evangelists vs. phone companies and the Bells' usually biggest adversary, cable TV companies. 06/06/2006

Microsoft To Ship First Branded Antigen Products

Microsoft will ship the first branded versions of its Antigen products beginning July 1, the company announced on Tuesday. 06/06/2006

Google Co-Founder Admits China Compromise

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged Tuesday the dominant Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands. He said Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course. 06/06/2006

Google To Unveil Spreadsheet Program

Google Inc. will introduce a spreadsheet program Tuesday, continuing the Internet search leader's expansion into territory long dominated by Microsoft Corp. 06/06/2006

BizTalk Server 2006 'R2' Feature Set Divulged

Microsoft this week disclosed new features coming in BizTalk Server 2006 Release 2 (R2), including integrated support for radio frequency identification (RFID) devices. 06/06/2006

Swedish File Sharers Protest Police Shutdown of Pirate Bay Web Site

Hundreds of people waving picket signs and skull-and-crossbones pirate flags demonstrated in Stockholm on Saturday against a police crackdown on a popular file-sharing Web site that had millions of users worldwide. 06/05/2006

Spam King Settles With Texas, Microsoft

One of the world's most notorious spammers has settled lawsuits with the state of Texas and Microsoft Corp. that cost him at least $1 million, took away most of his assets and forced him to stop sending the nuisance e-mails. 06/05/2006

Storage Demands Fuel Hard Drive, Flash Memory Industries

The senior vice president of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. whipped out a tiny hard drive about the size of a Wheat Thin. The drive's label claimed a capacity of 1,000 gigabytes -- more than 100 times greater than today's models that can hold 8,000 photos or 2,000 songs. 06/05/2006