The Salesforce.com marketing pitch at the recent Dreamforce Europe was wearying at times but it is not complete nonsense. Chief executive Marc Benioff spent the first hour of his keynote reiterating what he has said 1,000 times before about "no software".

The "no software" slogan is deceptive, since Salesforce.com is a software platform. Benioff deliberately conflates multiple issues, including zero software deployment, cloud availability, and outsourced hardware maintenance.

Exactly a year after releasing the first preview of version 11g of its JDeveloper Java integrated development environment (IDE), Oracle has quietly slipped out preview number four - yes, count 'em - four.

The European Commission (EC) will not treat Becta’s interoperability grumbles about Microsoft as a formal complaint.

However, the Commission has confirmed it will “indirectly” look at evidence submitted by the agency as part of its ongoing investigation into anti-trust allegations against the software giant.

Following quickly in the footsteps of MySpace, both Facebook and Google have announced new-fangled tools that allow social-networking types to shuttle their online data from site to site.

Mark Shuttleworth, head of Canonical and founder of the Ubuntu project, has called on other Linux developers to synchronize releases of new versions of their distros.

He also pledged to deliver the next Long Term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu, version 10.4, in April 2010 - unless, of course, Red Hat, Novell and Debian decide to co-operate on a synchronized release at a different time.

Debian has warned of a vulnerability in its cryptographic functions that could leave systems open to attack.

Mystery surrounds the identity of four winners in Google's $10m Android mobile applications competition, announced last November.

Microsoft today announced that it will launch a “public preview” program for two of its first Windows Server 2008-based bundles.

The software giant is targeting one package at the small business market, where Microsoft has been heavily foraging, while the other will be aimed at mid-sized firms.

Microsoft has blamed computer makers for the Windows XP service pack three (SP3) install debacle that has wreaked havoc on PCs.

The firm said today that the endless reboot cock-up reported by many XP customers after installing SP3 was not a new issue. In fact, Microsoft first identified the problem when Windows XP SP2 was released four years ago.

Microsoft yesterday whipped the lens cap off the public beta of its much-anticipated WorldWide Telescope - a "rich Web application that brings together imagery from the best ground- and space-based observatories across the world".

Fedora 9, the latest release from the Fedora Project, goes up for download on Tuesday. The ninth release of Fedora ushers in a number of changes aimed at making the venerable distribution a more newbie-friendly desktop, but longtime users needn't fear a great dumbing down; version 9 packs plenty of power user punch as well.

JavaOne provides a good barometer of the current fads hitting IT. Three years ago, Java discovered open source, two years ago it was AJAX, while last year was a non-event. But this year, the rich client’s back, baby.

Microsoft has so far failed to provide any plausible solution to Windows XP customers who have seen their PCs crippled by the install of service pack three (SP3).

In the meantime, forums throughout the internet are abuzz with possible workarounds and fixes, while rumours fly that suggest the sizeable blunder only affects some AMD-based machines.

Google, the internet's number-one search and advertising engine, is a 19,000-person multinational that coins in $18bn in annual revenue. The giant is this summer hosting its codefest Google Summer of Code.

Microsoft's service pack three (SP3) for Windows XP has caused havoc on hundreds of PCs, just hours after it was released as an automatic update.

Angry customers have vented their spleen on the firm's Windows XP message board, posting complaints that include spontaneous PC reboots and system crashes after the service pack installs.

Microsoft will start automatically pumping out its first service packs for the Office 2007 suite next month.

The software giant said in a statement late yesterday that it plans to stagger automatic updates and has earmarked 16 June* as the big day when distribution will begin.

Britannica is opening up its content for use by publishers - including amateurs - but insists it isn't threatened by the world's biggest compendium of unusually-shaped vegetables.*

Salesforce.com boss Marc Benioff yesterday robustly elaborated on the firm's plans to push yet more services on to the cloud with the official launch of Visualforce.

Speaking at the company's Dreamforce event at the Barbican centre in London, Benioff took the opportunity in front of a crowd of some 2,000 European partners and customers, to outline his Web 3.0 vision.

Sun Microsystems yesterday released the first beta of OpenOffice.org 3 for Windows and Mac.

The open source rival to Microsoft Office now natively supports Mac OS X without the need to install the X11 module to run the suite first. The beta also includes full Vista and partial VBA support.

Sage Group today reported a nine per cent rise in its first half pre-tax profit, boosted by a solid performance in Europe and the UK.

The business management software firm posted pre-tax profit for the six months ended 31 March of £122.6m – up from £108.6m in H1 2007 – on revenues of £640.4m, compared with £574.7m for the same period a year ago.