Features

• What to expect at SAP's Sapphire

  SAP's Sapphire conference kicks off next week in Orlando, setting the stage for the company to sell customers on its visions for cloud-based applications, in-memory computing and mobility.

• BMC going private could be the right move at the right time

  BMC has agreed to be acquired by a private investment consortium headed by Bain Capital and Golden Capital, in a deal worth about $US6.9 billion.

• What IBM's x86 exit may mean for rivals

  IBM's reported interest in selling parts of its x86 server business to Lenovo may bring major changes to the global market.

• Cloud computing's big debt to NASA

  IBM's decision this week to base its cloud services on OpenStack may help establish this open source platform as the standard in enterprises.

• Top users of H-1B visas are offshore outsourcers, Computerworld study finds

  The biggest users of H-1B visas are offshore outsourcers, many based in India, or U.S.-based companies whose employees are mostly located overseas, according to government data obtained and analyzed by Computerworld.

• Opinion: Dell has its work cut out for it

  Taking Dell private is a bold move, but won't ensure success. If you can't recognize opportunities and execute properly as a public company, buying yourself shelter from investors only takes you so far. The bigger challenge will be rejiggering the corporate culture and core processes to make more innovation possible.

• At IBM Connect, IT execs talk about betting on enterprise social

  Unused intranets. Siloed departmental portals. Excessive email use.

• Microsoft's 13 worst missteps of all time

  DOS 4.0, Zune, and Windows 8 are but a few of the landmarks among 25 years of failures Redmond-style

• Why Oracle bought Eloqua, and what it means for the market

  Oracle surprised many tech industry observers by announcing Thursday it would pay US$871 million for marketing automation software vendor Eloqua. The move seemed a bit unlikely given the amount of sales and marketing software Oracle already had.

• 11 predictions for enterprise software in 2013

  The end of each year sparks an occasion for rumination on the past, as well as a longing gaze into the future. We shined up our crystal ball, rubbed our chin for a while, and sought opinions from industry analysts on what the future holds for the enterprise software market.

• Microsoft: What it did right and wrong in 2012

  At the time of writing, Windows 8 could be the biggest thing Microsoft has done wrong -- ever. But it could also wind up being one of the best things it has ever done.

• The scariest US software project horror stories of 2012

  Sure, plenty of enterprise software projects go just fine and end up giving customers all the things vendors promise: lower operating costs, streamlined operations and happier users.

• In a symbolic shift, IBM's India workforce likely exceeds U.S.

  It has been widely expected over the past year or two that IBM's India workforce was on track to exceed its U.S. workforce, if it hadn't exceeded it already.

• Women in IT: How deep is the bench?

  Superstar women lead IT at some of the biggest global corporations, yet the path to the top isn't clear for the next generation.

• Opinion: The new Microsoft

  Microsoft seems to have gotten its groove back, putting forward a hip, Apple-esque branding effort for the Windows 8 products that reflects new energy in Redmond.