software

SCO hopes selling Unix will raise $36 million

The SCO Group, working to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hopes to sell its Unix assets to York Capital Management for up to $36 million, the company said this week in regulatory and bankruptcy court filings.

Through the deal, York would provide SCO with $10 million in cash; up to $10 million in credit to fund its Linux-related legal fight and to get 20 percent of revenue from that action; $10 million for a 20 percent stake in the company; and $6 million to license the Hipcheck products from SCO's Me mobile device software effort and to share … Read more

Handvertising: Marketing (re)discovers the human body

Advertising space is scarce. No wonder advertisers are innovative when it comes to taking advantage of underutilized real estate--such as the human skin.

Handvertising USA is an Orange County-based company that connects advertisers with customers willing to display ads on their hands.

"Almost everyone has been to a county fair, swap meet, bar or club and had had their hand stamped for proof of entry. We have found a better use for this space that could make everyone happy," says CEO Mike Brown. "We find venues also use the stamps to increase business. For example, venues are … Read more

Sun plans to countersue NetApp

Updated at 2:31 p.m. PDT: Sun Microsystems plans to countersue Network Appliance later this week, Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz said Wednesday, a suit that will include a request to remove the company's products from the market.

Schwartz said on his blog that he has "no interest whatever in suing them" and therefore "reached out" to Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven. But, he said, NetApp's demands--that Sun "retract" its ZFS file system from open-source community and restrict its use to computing and not storage devices--can't be met.

Consequently, "Later this … Read more

Palamida: Rival snitched open-source database

Unfettered sharing is one of the hallmarks and touted virtues of open-source programming, but even companies closely allied to the movement can grow uncomfortable with such liberal principles.

Case in point: Palamida and Black Duck Software, two rivals that offer software and services to help companies ensure open-source and proprietary software aren't inappropriately intermixing.

On Monday, Black Duck announced its Open Source License Resource Center, described as "an online guide of particular interest to companies developing or deploying software that includes code governed by version three of the GNU General Public License (GPL) or Lesser General Public License (… Read more

IBM ready to "kick Oracle's teeth in"

Ever wonder what the sales guys at BigCos like IBM are thinking about? Seems that IBM has assembled "what it calls a Viper 500 program with IBM's account teams to replace Oracle in more than 600 accounts."

I do enjoy a slap-fight amongst software vendors... "I am actively hiring people to go kick their teeth in," said Mike Borman, IBM vice president, worldwide sales for the IBM Software Group in a wide ranging 90 minute interview earlier this week before the hostile Oracle bid for BEA.

Despite it sounding a little bit silly, this is … Read more

IBM to acquire NovusCG

IBM is looking to pack more stuff in its Storage and Data Services unit, announcing Wednesday plans to acquire NovusCG.

Under the deal, NovusCG will be integrated into Big Blue's Storage and Data Services unit, in a move to provide customers with enhanced access to business information and stronger compliance with regulatory requirements. NovusCG's technology is designed to analyze and assess data, as customers seek to increase their storage amid a rapid rise in their digital information.

The NovusCG buyout will follow Big Blue's acquisition of Softek Storage Solutions earlier this year. Softek, which focuses on data … Read more

Oracle to buy Interlace Systems

While it cools its heels waiting for a response from BEA Systems, Oracle is moving forward with other acquisitions.

The database and enterprise applications software maker announced Wednesday it plans to snap up Interlace Systems, which develops operational planning software. The deal aims to bolster Oracle's Enterprise Performance Management System by integrating Interlace's software that's designed to help companies re-evaluate scenarios across various functions, change operational assumptions and evaluate the effect on their business.

The deal is expected to close next month, which is in contrast to Oracle's efforts to acquire BEA.

Oracle on Tuesday announced … Read more

GestureTek bestows Wiimote powers on cell phones. Just maybe not your phone.

GestureTek Mobile has bestowed the powers of movement-based navigation, popularized by the Nintendo Wii, upon cell phones. The one crucial difference: no Wii tennis elbow.

Since the technology in GestureTek Mobile's EyeMobile Engine is purely optic rather than hardware-based--unlike the accelerometer that tells iPhone when to jump into landscape mode--wrist motion is powerful and specific.

Here's an example from the demo: just click the soft key to zoom in on the map, and tilt the phone back and forth to zoom in and out. Do it again holding the scroll button to activate the motion detection, and tilt … Read more

Mozilla's 2006 revenue: $66.8 million

Mozilla, the group behind the open-source Firefox Web browser, disclosed its 2006 revenue Monday night: $66,840,850.

That's a 26 percent bump up from the $52.9 million that Mozilla garnered in 2005. And with 2006 expenses slicing off only $19.8 million, Mozilla has a tidy sum left at its disposal, even if it's no Microsoft.

"The highlight is that Mozilla remains financially healthy: we're able to hire more people, build more products, help other projects, and bring more possibilities for participation in the Internet to millions of people," foundation Chairman Mitchell Baker said in a blog posting. … Read more