Microsoft and SAP Talk Duet Roadmap, Tap HP for Appliance
by Alex Woodie

Microsoft and SAP have big plans for Duet, the product that turns Microsoft Office into an interface for SAP's enterprise applications. At SAP's user conference this week, the partners unveiled details of the Duet product roadmap, including Duet 2.0 and Duet 3.0, neither of which will be available for more than a year. The companies also announced a deal with Hewlett-Packard to deliver a ProLiant server preloaded with Duet server. READ MORE >

No Patch Yet for DNS Flaw
by Alex Woodie

Microsoft is still working to patch the DNS flaw in Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server that hackers began exploiting weeks ago. The software giant is committed to delivering a patch by May 8, the date of the next Patch Tuesday event. Meanwhile, Microsoft security researchers have posted a new workaround that administrators can use to disable Windows' vulnerable bits and protect their servers from DNS exploits. READ MORE >

Round Two: Intel's Fortunes Rise, and AMD's Fall
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The two engines of the X64 server and desktop market, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, reported within the past few days their financial results for the first quarter of 2007, and a reinvigorated and reorganized Intel is hammering on AMD pretty hard in a price and technology war that began in 2003 when the Opteron processors were first announced. In the latest round of fighting, Intel is clearly winning back some lost ground, and that is pushing AMD into posting a loss.. READ MORE >

Intel Details Future 45 Nanometer Chip Plans from Beijing
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Rather than host its semi-annual Intel Developer Forum in its home stomping grounds of San Francisco, chip maker Intel is making the politically and economically significant move of hosting the spring IDF last week in Beijing, the capitol of China. Intel has 6,000 employees doing research and final testing and assembly at facilities in China, and has just inked a deal with the government to build Fab 68, a 300mm chip factory, in northern China. To say that China is important to Intel--and indeed, to all IT players--is an understatement.READ MORE >