Sun Elaborates on its xVM Virtualization Plans
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

After leaving a bunch of hints from a couple of different angles in blogs and trade shows about its plans for supporting various virtualization technologies on its Sparc and X64 server platforms, Sun Microsystems has seen the wisdom of actually making an old-fashioned announcement and telling the IT trade press exactly what its xVM hypervisor for Solaris is, how it will be packaged, and when it will be available for customers. Now we can tell you what Sun's plans are and provide some analysis of the plan, which is our job. READ MORE >

Apple's Leopard Mac OS X Server Coming October 26
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Apple Computer announced this week that it will be unveiling and delivering its 'Leopard' Mac OS X v10.5 operating systems for desktops and servers on October 26. Apple previewed the desktop and server editions of its Unix-derived operating system back in June, and is clearly hoping that the new code drives some software and hardware upgrades. If Apple played its cards right, it could even go so far as to position Mac OS X Server v10.5 as an alternative to Windows and Linux--but history suggests Apple will simply pitch Leopard Server to its installed base. READ MORE >

IBM Hit by Financial Services Slowdown in Q3
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Financial services companies, particularly among large enterprises based in the United States, slammed the brakes on IT spending in the third quarter and nearly gave IBM a financial haircut. Thanks to very strong bookings in past quarters for services that were delivered between July and September and to the continually weakening U.S. dollar, IBM's financial cookies were saved despite the weakness in the financial services sector. IBM's sales were up 6.6 percent to $24.1 billion and net income rose by 6.3 percent to $2.4 billion; earnings per share, thanks to an accelerated share repurchasing funded by debt earlier this year, rose by 15.9 percent to $1.68 per share. READ MORE >

As I See It: Great Looking Genes
by Victor Rozek

Ever since we began to understand the pivotal role of biology in behavior, the nature-or-nurture debate has been raging between proponents of the "hard" and "soft" sciences. Why are some people pleasant and some not? Why are certain co-workers more helpful than others? Alternately, why do some people delight in punishing and behaving cruelly? Are such traits an outgrowth of character; or are they inherited? Is it chance, luck, parenting, the mysterious workings of a deity; or is it the output of the human operating system we call genetics. As science unravels the complexities of the genome, we're confirming what many already suspected--that the guy in the next cubicle just may be a hardwired jerk. READ MORE >