- Reuters - German software maker SAP AG warned that its sales had abruptly dropped off in the last two weeks of September as companies cut back on computer-related spending due to the widening financial crisis. - InfoWorld - Mixing together a m??lange of services, software and marketing, IBM's announcement this week of its Cloud Services Initiative is about putting an organizing construct around all of its cloud offerings, according to one IBM executive. - AP - Shares of SAP AG plunged Monday after the business software maker said it saw a sudden drop in business at the end of September as global financial turmoil escalated. - NewsFactor - IBM is getting in the cloud. After a string of announcements over the past few weeks from Citrix, Red Hat, VMware, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard, Big Blue is launching an initiative to extend its traditional software delivery model toward a mix of on-premise and cloud-computing applications with new software, services and technical resources for clients and independent software vendors (ISVs). - Reuters - Shares of Oracle Corp , the world's third-largest software maker, slid more than 8 percent to $17.84 on Monday after German rival SAP AG said it saw business drop off at the end of the third quarter. - PC Magazine - RealNetworks has agreed to abide by a court-ordered temporary restraining order and has halted sales of its RealDVD DVD ripping software. - InfoWorld - HP on Monday is updating its SOA governance software, HP Systinet 3.00, which assists with discovering and reusing services in composite applications and business processes. - AP - A jury on Friday acquitted the former top lawyer at computer-security software maker McAfee Inc. of illegally tampering with his stock option grants to boost his pay package. - 
AFP - The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, in its latest bid to use Internet Age technology to trounce Republican rival John McCain and connect with supporters, has released free software that turns Apple iPhones into political rallying tools.
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Reuters - Microsoft launched on Friday a software package for a Portuguese ultra-cheap laptop for school children that the government hopes will boost the country's technological edge in education.
- NewsFactor - Nokia has taken the wraps off a new smartphone powered by the latest version of the company's Symbian S60 operating system for mobile devices. By adding the benefits of touchscreen technology to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the company is taking the familiar and giving it a human touch, according to Nokia Senior Vice President Jo Harlow. - PC Magazine - Microsoft launched on Friday a software package for a Portuguese ultra-cheap laptop for school children that the government hopes will boost the country's technological edge in education. - AP - A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.'s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy." - 
Reuters - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, until recently an acquisition target of bigger rival Electronic Arts Inc, plans to remain an independent company, the makers of the popular "Grand Theft Auto" series said on Thursday.
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Reuters - Microsoft Corp is opening three research centers in Europe as it steps up efforts to catch market leader Google Inc in the field of Internet searching, the U.S. software group said on Thursday.
