Software

Fortunately for enterprise IT managers and end users, the announcement last month from Microsoft that changes have been made to the release schedule for its forthcoming Vista operating system will not have much of an effect on them. At least not yet.

Linux is growing along with the wheat, barley, chickpeas, and lupins in Perenjori, a small shire in Western Australia, thanks to a man named Barry Kauler. Kauler is the man behind "Puppy" (http://www.puppyos.com/) -- a 60MB CD bootable GNU Linux based operating system that can run on old PCs with very little RAM. Version two of the distro looks set for release in April.

Oracle Corp. intends to make another vertical-market acquisition, announcing plans Wednesday to offer about US$220 million to acquire Portal Software Inc., a maker of billing and revenue management software for the communications and media industry.

What makes an "intelligent city"? - Is it pervasive broadband connectivity, strong collaboration between academia and tech companies, a local government that fosters tech innovation -- or a combination of all these? Naunidhi Kaur provides some answers citing the examples of Waterloo, Ontario and Cleveland, Ohio

Kaspersky Lab is reporting a new proof-of-concept virus capable of infecting both Windows and Linux systems. The cross-platform virus is relatively simple and appears to have a low impact, according to Kaspersky. Even so, it could be a sign that virus writers are beginning to research ways of writing new code capable of infecting multiple platforms.

MySQL AB has signed a multiyear agreement with Oracle Corp. to renew its licensing of the InnoDB database storage engine, according to a MySQL executive. The move resolves confusion in the market about the likely effect on MySQL of Oracle's purchase last year of the maker of InnoDB, Innobase OY.

Apple Computer Inc. has released beta software that lets Mac users run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating systems on Intel-based Macintosh computers, it announced. Called Boot Camp, the software creates a hard drive partition for Windows XP and lets users choose between the two operating systems at start-up time. It's available now as a free trial beta that works only for a limited time, and will be included as a feature of the next major Mac OS release, Leopard, Apple said.

Microsoft Corp. said it has agreed to acquire ProClarity Corp. as a way to continue to develop its portfolio of business intelligence (BI) software. The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in early May, are not being disclosed.