Eric Lai

Living together is pretty accepted way for modern couples to test a relationship before marriage. So shouldn't there be a way for modern computer users to test Microsoft's Windows Vista before making the deep commitment of buying and installing it on their PCs? There is, using virtualization software.

While Microsoft may cast the Nov. 2 patent cooperation agreement it pushed on new partner Novell as a way to protect corporate users of the SUSE Linux operating system from potential lawsuits, CIOs said they weren't worried in the first place.

Novell Inc. on Monday distanced itself from comments last week by Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft patents, although the two companies said that their recently-unveiled alliance remains intact.

In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.

Bolstered by the US$4.2 billion it raised in a second stock offering in September 2005, Google Inc. has been on a hiring spree and is still looking to fill more than 1,000 positions. But for some software developers and other IT workers, Google

Microsoft Corp. Monday confirmed that it has completed work on Office 2007

As Microsoft Corp. prepares to release Windows Vista to manufacturing next week and make it available to corporate users at the end of the month, the debate is ratcheting up over how much money -- if any -- companies could save by upgrading to the new operating system.

Overseas hackers broke into customer accounts at two popular online stock brokerages, TD Ameritrade and E-Trade, in a "pump and dump" stock-trading scheme that led to at least $24.7 (US$22) million in losses.