IBM is a big fish, that's no doubt, and just as it seems to happen on a regular basis these days, the big fish eats the little one. Very simple! Today, I found out that IBM Corp. reached an agreement to acquire storage company FilesX Inc., so here's the story...


FilesX is an Israeli developer of software for digital storage systems control and corporate data protection, founded back in 2000. With over 100 corporate customers, FilesX will help IBM with its Xpress Restore technology to enhance its Tivoli Storage Manager products line.

The Xpress Restore software from FilesX backs up critical business data and makes it readily available as soon as needed, and some of FilesX's 100 clients are Amherst College, CenterStone Software, and South Nassau Communities Hospital.

"The FilesX acquisition would complement IBM's vision of enterprise data protection by adding critical capabilities for remote offices, delivering continuous data protection for applications and servers, and supporting business users needs with nearly instantaneous recovery of data," said in an official statement Al Zollar, general manager for Tivoli software at IBM.

Unfortunately, no financial details have been made public yet, so this is all we know about this deal, so far...

Robotics is an industry of the future, but we have already seen its first noticeable advancedments since early 1990s, especially in Japan. Obviously, robots also have a very important software component, and Microsoft couldn't have left this area unexplored. Back in 2006, they released Microsoft Robotics Studio 2006, downloaded over 200,000 times since then, and over 50 third parties joined in and created partnerships with Microsoft's robotics division. Now, the Windows-based environment for robot control and simulation from Microsoft got a new preview version...


Available as a free download on the Microsoft robotics website, Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 comes with several enhancements, such as the ability to record simulation tests for later playback and review, as well as a new floorplan editor, and some other new tools. Even more, Microsoft claims LINQ support has also been improved.

In a statement, Microsoft Robotics Group general manager Tandy Trower said "We launched Microsoft Robotics Studio in 2006 in response to the robotics community's request for a mature platform and toolset that would provide for stability and portability, allowing more people to participate and contribute."

At last, it should be mentioned that Microsoft announced today the robotics competition Robochamps, which will use Robotics Developer Studio 2008 to open up on April 21.

After a pretty long time in the Internet search market, Yahoo seems to look for a better point of view, since Google left them in the mist in most areas of the world, and considering their actual situation, any breath of fresh air is welcomed, but who would have expected them to use Google search? Not me, that's for sure!


This is going to be very short, and interesting at the same time - after all, we're talking about breaking news here! Less than an hour ago, Reuters said Yahoo is in advanced talks with Google, to use their Web search as an alternative to being bought by Microsoft!

Unfortunately, we are not talking about official sources here, but since I don't remember Reuters publishing some rumors you hear by the corner of the street, I guess their source is pretty familiar with this matter. Even more, it seems Yahoo is also in talks with AOL about a tie-up, but I would rather not see them team up with AOL or Microsoft, if it's possible to find another way...

Since no official statements regarding this problem have been made yet, we just have to wait a few days until things will - hopefully - clear out. Hmmm... Yahoo using Google's technology ? What do you think about this?

In the longest part of its history, Microsoft used a closed source approach, but now it seems they are becoming more and more open to the world. Obviously, this may not be entirely their will, but after all...they can't move against an entire industry, especially with all those lawsuits filed against them in the last years!


Well, the good news is that Microsoft said on Tuesday to have posted more than 14,000 pages of technical documentation for underlying software code in its applications. This impressive amount of information is not final, because we're talking about preliminary versions, but this is still a very good sign, in my opinion.

The protocols Microsoft revealed to the public now are build into the following products: Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. With these last secrets revealed, Microsoft reached the 44,000 pages mark, and I guess they won't stop here. The only problem is to see everything working properly in the near future, and not the Redmond giant publishing some documentation, just to find their products using new standards a few weeks later...

Only two words - Yahoo, Microsoft. You know the story, right? Well, it seems the saga continues, and things even seem to heat up! After Microsoft offered another three weeks to Yahoo to take their bid as it is, Yahoo rejected it once again, but now it seems Microsoft won't give them another chance. In fact, considering the decreased value of Yahoo's shares, Microsoft lowered the value offered for the search giant, too! Let's see where is this whole story headed...


First, let's see what Yahoo had to say. Jerry Yang, Yahoo's CEO, and the company's Chairman, Roy Bostock, made the lenthiest statement about Microsoft's bid so far. "We are not opposed to a transaction with Microsoft if it is in the best interests of our stockholders. Our position is simply that any transaction must be at a value that fully reflects the value of Yahoo, including any strategic benefits to Microsoft, and on terms that provide certainty to our stockholders."

Being given the above, I guess there's no room for any other comments, but since Microsoft won't probably increase its offer just yet, the evolution of this entire story is very interesting to follow in the coming weeks, maybe even months. Will Yahoo get its knight in shiny armour, or will Microsoft grab it?