Articles by Keith Regan

Two and a half years after America Online scored a coup emblematic of the rise of the Internet by acquiring media giant Time Warner, the board of directors has voted to drop AOL from its name and stock-trading ticker symbol While the move is a largely symbolic gesture, which the company and observers said does not indicate Time Warner is any closer...

Setting aside bitter competitive rivalries, executives at Microsoft and IBM have joined forces to showcase advances in standards that will allow widespread use of Web services to help companies interact with each other. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and IBM's top software executive, Steve Mills, briefed reporters on the advances, particularly in t...

With interest rates so low, banks around the United States are shouting the same mantra to people seeking shelter: Why rent when you can buy? In the technology world, the equivalent motto for the current zeitgeist should be: "Why innovate when you can buy?" After all, a recent spate of intellectual property case settlements sends some very scary me...

Intel has previewed its next wave of computer chip advancements, promising to bring server virtualization technology to the desktop and professing its readiness for the convergence of wireless and multimedia technologies. The centerpiece of Intel's annual developers forum was a preview of Vanderpool technology, which will enable a single chip to a...

In a bid to light a fire under its software offerings, Sun Microsystems has unveiled new names, configurations and pricing for its enterprise-level offerings. The company said it will rename Project Orion, which aims to revamp the way enterprises license software, as the Java Enterprise System (JES). In fact, that moniker will become the catch-all...

In an effort to extend the reach of its operating system from desktop computers to more mobile devices, Microsoft has announced it will work with Motorola to sell a Windows-loaded cell phone geared toward on-the-go workers. The software giant said its alliance with the world's second largest maker of mobile phone handsets will help workers access ...

Oracle boosted earnings in its first quarter, with net income rising 28 percent to US$440 million, but did so largely as a result of internal cost controls put in place during 2002, when the company had some of the most difficult quarters in its history. Revenues in the latest quarter barely increased, up just 2 percent to $2.07 billion, while new license sales actually fell 7 percent year over year, to $525 million.

In a bid to grab a larger share of the booming market for managing stored data, Microsoft has released the latest version of its storage server software, though the launch was overshadowed by word of more security flaws in its flagship operating system The software giant unveiled Windows Storage Server 2003 at the Storage Decisions 2003 conference ...

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When you add a desperate industry to the mix, you get this past crazy week First, a major record label, Universal, said it would do the obvious -- and obviously smart -- thing: lower prices.

Saying his company's hostile bid to acquire PeopleSoft is anything but dead, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has stated he remains committed to seeing the deal through to the end. "We're very determined to complete this acquisition, and we're very patient," Ellison said, indicating the drama could drag on for several more months. He also suggested Oracle...

Two new studies have been released that likely will provide fresh fuel for the Windows-vs.-Linux debate that has burned steadily in the high-tech sphere for years. One study, sponsored by Microsoft, argues that Microsoft Windows is actually less expensive to own and operate than Linux; the other states that deploying Linux on the desktop is not likely to produce ROI in many cases.

With the high-tech spotlight focused squarely on it as the annual OracleWorld expo kicks off, database giant Oracle is unleashing products aimed at making it easier for customers, particularly small and mid-size businesses, to take advantage of grid computing The company, which hosts its annual OracleWorld expo starting today and which will release...

PeopleSoft has laid out plans to integrate newly acquired J.D. Edwards, saying it will cut about 900 workers and consolidate offices. The company also raised its financial outlook for the rest of the year and 2004. PeopleSoft chief financial officer Kevin Parker said the job cuts will represent a reduction of about 7 percent of the two companies' ...

With many users still reeling in the wake of the Blaster worm and its offspring, Microsoft has warned that its widely used Office productivity software contains several newly discovered security holes The company issued a security bulletin Wednesday, saying one of the flaws warrants a "critical" rating -- its most serious classification. That vulne...

Read Part 1 of this story Clothing retailer Eddie Bauer has only been online since 1996, but it already is setting the pace among retailers when it comes to keeping its site running smoothly. In fact, Eddie Bauer claimed the top spot in the most recent Keynote Systems e-tail rankings, outpacing such online stalwarts as Amazon and eBay in terms of t...

The hackers have gone too far now. When they were defacing Web sites and launching denial-of-service attacks against eBay and the like, they were annoying, but the general public still gave them a grudging amount of respect. After all, to take down well-protected networks and hack firewalls and intrusion detection systems, they had to be pretty smart.

EBay, Amazon.com and Microsoft are among a group of companies that will work together to fight online identity theft, which some say could hold back e-commerce growth. The coalition is being shepherded into existence by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). ITAA president Harris N. Miller told the E-Commerce Times that the grou...

As recently as the late 1990s, a simple counter provided the only metric most Web site operators were interested in -- how many people had visited their sites. However, as e-commerce has matured and evolved, so has Web performance measurement. Site metrics are now a complex -- although essential -- proposition, telling a company not only how often...

Saying continued reliance on Microsoft and its Windows operating system threatens their local economies, government leaders in Japan, China and Korea may be considering a plan to develop an alternative to the world's most popular computer OS. Newspapers in Asia are reporting that a meeting this week in Cambodia among ministers of those three gover...

Fueled by sales of Intel-based computers and Linux machines, IBM has reclaimed the lead in the worldwide server market, ousting Hewlett-Packard from the top spot and extending its lead over onetime leader Sun, according to new data from research firm IDC. Big Blue took control of just over 30 percent of the market for servers, which IDC estimated ...