The foundation was set up in 2008 after Nokia Corp., the biggest maker of Symbian phones, bought out the consortium that made the software. Nokia decided to give the software away starting Thursday to make it more popular with other manufacturers, a move not uncommon in the technology world.
Lee Williams, executive director of the London-based foundation, said it has now completed the largest-ever conversion of proprietary software to “open source,” which means the source code, or blueprint for the software, is available to anyone. However, software associated with some phone features has yet to be released.
Symbian software is used on [...]

The hacking that angered Google Inc. and hit dozens of other businesses adds to growing concern that China is a center for a global explosion of Internet crimes, part of a rash of attacks aimed at a wide array of targets, from a British military contractor to banks and chemical companies to a California software maker.
The government denies it is involved, and it reiterated that on Wednesday. Speaking in Paris, Chinas foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, said China itself “is the victim of pirate attacks” and the international community must fight the phenomenon together.
But experts say the highly skilled attacks suggest [...]

The worlds biggest business software companys new product, that allows customers to subscribe and pay on a monthly basis, will begin being sold by July, about three years late. At about 40,000 euros ($55,800) a year for a 25-user outfit, compared with large SAP contracts that go into millions of euros, it may be a drag on margins, said Peter Goldmacher, an analyst at Cowen and Co. LLC in San Francisco.
“Theres no way they are going to get the margins they are historically used to in [...]

Cybersitter LLC, whose software is designed to help parents filter content seen by children, seeks $2.2 billion in damages in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.
The company alleges that the Chinese copied its codes and incorporated them into software used to block Chinese citizens access to sites deemed politically undesirable by the government. Seven computer manufacturers, including Sony, Lenovo, and Toshiba, also were sued for distributing the Chinese program with PCs sold in the country.
“I dont think I have ever seen such clear-cut stealing,” said attorney Gregory Fayer, who represents Santa Barbara-based Cybersitter.
He said the alleged piracy was [...]

Cybersitter LLC, a closely held company, seeks $2.2 billion in damages in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles. The company accuses China and computer makers, including Lenovo Group Ltd. and Acer Inc. whose products include the Green Dam program, of stealing its trade secrets, unfair competition, copyright infringement and civil conspiracy.
“This lawsuit aims to strike a blow against the all-too- common practices of foreign software manufacturers and distributors who believe that they can violate the intellectual property rights of small American companies [...]

“We are definitely seeing customers back buying,” Oracle President Safra Catz said on a conference call. “No giant deals of any sort, but lots of very nice-size transactions for every size of company. We are really seeing a recovery.”
Second-quarter net income rose 13 percent to $1.46 billion, or 29 cents a share, from $1.3 billion, or 25 cents, a year earlier, Oracle said. Excluding some costs, profit was 39 cents in the period, which ended Nov. 30. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated 36 cents on [...]

The recession has dampened demand for Creative Suite 4, the latest version of the software package targeting professional designers and developers that brings in the bulk of Adobes revenue. It happened to launch in the fall of 2008, right as the financial meltdown hit.
But the company said Tuesday it saw demand pick up in the fourth quarter, especially in its final month. Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett said this November uptick - across many of the companys product lines, mainly in North America and Europe - was more than what the company had expected. Even so, CS4 will likely end [...]

Now, the company is fighting to keep those programmers working with its tools as technology undergoes a massive shift.
On Tuesday, Microsofts Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie told a gathering of software developers in Los Angeles that Windows Azure, its system for building software that runs over the Internet, will come out of test mode in January. In February, the software maker will begin charging for use of Azure.
Moving forward with its so-called “cloud computing” plans will help Microsoft compete with companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. Amazon has built a set of Web-based tools including data storage and [...]

A ruling that sides with the Patent Office could bar patents on processes and methods of doing business, such as online shopping techniques, medical diagnostic tests and procedures for executing trades on Wall Street. And it might even undercut patents on software.
In a worst-case scenario for the high-tech industry, the ruling could invalidate many existing software patents or at least make them more difficult to defend in lawsuits. And it could make such patents harder to obtain in the future because software is generally patented as a process for doing something rather than as a physical invention.
“Technology companies care about [...]

Thats where closely held Tiny Sprl, run by 30-year-old Fabien Pinckaers, develops free business applications that are picking up customers during the recession.
The economic “crisis has been very good for me,” Pinckaers said in an interview at the farm in Grand-Rosiere. “Restructuring is very good for enterprise resource planning.”
Free programs such as Linux first challenged Microsoft Corp. in software that runs personal computers. Linux has gradually gained enough acceptance that government agencies [...]