Cloud.com was officially launched today as an open source cloud provider. The open source Cloud.com 2.0 stack, which is available today, is designed to reduce the complexity of the cloud infrastructure and is not exclusive to open source hypervisors. It supports Xen, KVM and...

Microsoft is holding an online meeting on May 4 on the topic of Windows Community. I'm wondering whether there might be an agenda item on the company's decision to discontinue its NNTP newsgroups. by Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft "Menlo" is a hush-hush research project that is focused on replacing Windows Compact Edition CE with Windows NT, according to my sources. "Experiment 19" is a graphics platform researchers are building to complement Menlo, my sources have told me. I don't have a lot of details about these Research...

If you're considering an Office 2010 upgrade, be sure you learn the lesson of Windows 7. Microsoft offers its best prices to early adopters. Those who wait pay more. So what's the best price you can get now on Office 2010? I've found deals that can save you 20%, 53%,...

IBM's acquisition of Cast Iron Systems puts together a dominant on-premise applications provider Big Blue with a top software as a service SaaS integration leader. This pair could be a match made in enterprise heaven. by Larry Dignan

When Google announced last month that it was making more functionality available to Google Docs users, company officials mentioned in passing that offline access to its productivity suite would be suspended, starting May 3. Today is that day. by Mary Jo Foley

For small businesses, communications tapped out on mobile devices has replaced direct, verbal communication and the nuance and personality that create effective work relationships can be lost, says Intermedia's Serguei Sofinski. by Serguei Sofinski, Intermedia, Special to ZDNet News

NetSuite and Wipro officially announced a partnership designed to take cloud ERP into larger enterprises. by Larry Dignan

Salesforce.com's Chatter platform offers a promising advance for collaboration in the enterprise. Watch an important video interview with the company's co-founder. by Michael Krigsman

Microsoft officials have been big on promises but slow on delivery, in terms of the company's private-cloud offerings. However, it looks like the Redmondians are ready to talk more about a couple of key components of that strategy -- including the Windows Server AppFabric component, as well as forthcoming BizTalk...

The Feds are reportedly poking around on Apple's requirement that software developers only use its---or neutral---programming tools. Perhaps Steve Jobs' Thoughts on Flash missive was geared toward regulators. by Larry Dignan

This highlights the longer-term strength of cloud models, and that value is the powerful role that clouds play as integration platforms, to enable things that could not be done before, to bind processes -- like printing -- that scale up and down easily and affordably. by Dana Gardner

When I announced the contest for iPad CRM applications (at least from your mind's eye) about a month ago, one thing I didn't expect was the speed that vendors would jump on the iPad development bandwagon. Since my announcement: NetSuite showed an...

Aigo has debuted their tablet computer, the N700, which boasts some impressive specs, including a 7-inch touchscreen and NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics. by Rachel King

The recent New York Times Elisabeth Bumiller story 'We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint' - which essentially said 'PowerPoint doesn't kill people, fuzzy thinking hiding behind bullet points does' - features the internet infamous 'Afghanistan Stability/COIN Dynamics' image: ...Brig. Gen. H. R....

So far, Android has largely been a handset OS and both the native user interface and the UIs created by handset manufacturers (such as Motorola's Motoblur and HTC'c Sense) certainly cater to the relatively small screens of even the largest smartphones. What happens, though, when Android (and Google's Chrome...

Big corporations no longer have a monopoly on fear, uncertainty, and doubt FUD. While researching the current battle over HTML5 media formats, I’ve discovered that open-source advocates are just as capable of spreading FUD and outright lies in trying to sell their point of view. Here's the proof. by Ed...

Cash is the most relevant buyer value in tech deals today. Some vendors and sales people get it - some don't. Is it time you refreshed your solution's economic value to clients? Can your solution even accomplish this? by Brian Sommer

More great news for Linux distributors Red Hat and Novell, which prevailed in a patent infringement case brought by IP Innovation. IP Innovation, a unit of Acacia Research and holder of multiple patent portfolios, alleged that the two Linux companies infringed three patents that protect computer GUIs...

Microsoft kills its Courier dual screen tablet. HP's Slate may be on the rocks. Apple's Steve Jobs pans Adobe for catering to the mouse crowd. And HP buys Palm in a move to grab the WebOS. The common thread: The mouse is dead. by Larry Dignan