Business: Opinions

At last. At long last, there's a real challenger to the Windows desktop, and its name is Google Chrome OS.

I find it's best to live by a few simple rules. I don't micturate into the wind. I don't mix tequila with red wine (not any more, anyway). I never get into arm-wrestling matches with fat guys named "Tiny."

Ah, those wacky Europeans. They think nothing of stripping down and jumping into the Mediterranean in the altogether or, at most, those skimpy man sacks they call swimsuits.

Facebook and Twitter should join instant messaging (IM) services and block access to U.S.-sanctioned countries in order to avoid running afoul of the government's trade embargoes, say legal experts.

Will Oracle be good to Java's developers?

Industry titans Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. are getting rave reviews this week about innovative new approaches to Internet search and communications, respectively.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has gone from a curiosity to the mainstream in just a few years as businesses turn to the technology to take advantage of the inherent economies of scale. Yet that's only the beginning.

Google Chrome is a browser whose only claim to fame (aside from being a Google product) is its speed and simplicity. In fact, some would claim that Chrome is simple to a fault, with version 1 of the browser lacking features that seem almost fundamental for a Web browser in 2009, such as form auto-fill, a full-screen mode, and extensions. With Chrome 2.0, Google has closed the gap a little bit, adding a full-screen mode, form auto-fill, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the “New Tab” page, along with a whole host of bug fixes and overall performance improvements.

In two years, the federal government will begin divvying up $19 billion in reimbursement money to help health care organizations and doctors cover roll out electronic medical records (EMR) technology. In the meantime, the cost for the technology, which can run tens of millions of dollars for large facilities and tens of thousands of dollars for private physician practices, rests squarely on the private sector.

How do MySQL users feel about Oracle Corp.'s takeover of the open-source database through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc.? Judging by Twitter, anxious -- and snarky.