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In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: After The Binge
2. Today's Top Story: New Google Service
3. Breaking News
    - Yahoo, AOL, Others Stand Up Against Adware
    - Nokia To Acquire Intellisync For $430 Million
    - Oracle Buys Thor Technologies And OctetString
    - Rootkits DOA In 64-Bit Software, Says Microsoft
    - Flash: Macromedia Plugs More Holes
    - Dell Still Confident After Third-Quarter Stumble
    - Iowa State IT Students To Try Their Luck Against Hackers
    - Tiny 'Spy-Size' PC Gets $20 Million Infusion
    - 3Com Announces Intrusion-Prevention Platform
    - Blogs, Podcasts, Cell Phones Are Toddlers In Ad Market: Survey
    - IBM Discloses DB2 Viper Capabilities, Sees Release In 2006
    - U.K. Extradites Alleged Cyberterrorist To U.S.
4. In Depth: The Sony Copy-Protection Debacle
    - Sony Capitulates, Pulls Copy-Protected CDs
    - Bloggers Break Sony
    - Sony's Plan To Fix Infected Copy Protection Only Makes
       Matters Worse
    - Microsoft Joins Fight Against Sony Copy Protection
    - Sony Still In The Hot Seat
    - At Sony, The Customer Is Captive
5. Voice Of Authority: Windows Live Ain't Dead Yet
6. White Papers: Web Services
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription

But these days, I wouldn't want to be one of the underlings at Oracle, and even less so after yesterday's announcement of two more acquisitions--Thor Technologies Inc., a developer of cross-platform provisioning tools, and OctetString Inc., a supplier of virtual directory software. These were small deals--small enough that the terms weren't disclosed. But the swelling Oracle employment base must be getting a bad case of indigestion. By my count, those make buyouts 12 and 13 this year. While one of the two giant deals--for Siebel Systems--is pending, Oracle is still digesting PeopleSoft, Retek, ProfitLogic, TimesTen, Oblix, G-Log, and more.

One thing even the smooth-talking Ellison can't minimize behind his vision is the monumental chaos that so many acquisitions could create within Oracle and, more importantly, for customers, especially if all those deals aren't managed effectively. Areas I'd be concerned about as a customer include product integration, the future of all those acquired products, support for new product lines that have different licensing and support models than internally developed products, differing and perhaps competing sales channels, and varying software development methodologies.

For the sake of customers, I hope Oracle is enormously successful in knitting all these diverse technologies together and creating a broad, integrated product line. But I'd be really cautious about assuming everything will go as smoothly as the company is likely to claim.

Tom Smith
tsmith@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com

Nokia To Acquire Intellisync For $430 Million
The acquisition of the mobile wireless E-mail vendor is expected to give Nokia a leg up in push E-mail and other collaborative business apps in the enterprise market.

Oracle Buys Thor Technologies And OctetString
Acquisitions strengthen identity-management and access-management product lineup.

Rootkits DOA In 64-Bit Software, Says Microsoft
Microsoft's move to 64-bit operating systems for its servers should put a stop to rootkits, at least the current crop like the one that has plagued buyers of some Sony music CDs, company executives claim.

Flash: Macromedia Plugs More Holes
For the second time in two weeks, Macromedia has had to patch bugs in its Flash product line, this time in the Flash Communication Server.

Dell Still Confident After Third-Quarter Stumble
The company's CFO told a supply-chain conference this week that unit shipments are still growing, but Dell is getting less revenue and profit from each sale.

Iowa State IT Students To Try Their Luck Against Hackers
Competition is designed to give future IT professionals a taste of the real world of network security.

Tiny 'Spy-Size' PC Gets $20 Million Infusion
New investors in the maker of the 14-oz. Windows XP-based PC include Motorola and former directors of both the CIA and the National Security Agency.

3Com Announces Intrusion-Prevention Platform
The TippingPoint X505 features an inspection firewall, VPN, bandwidth management, Web-content filtering, and dynamic routing.

Blogs, Podcasts, Cell-phones Are Toddlers In Ad Market: Survey
Ad execs responding to a survey rated the three new Internet-based channels about in the middle of the pack, considerably less than traditional media and other forms of online advertising.

IBM Discloses DB2 Viper Capabilities, Sees Release In 2006
The Viper version of its DB2 database will include improved capabilities for handling unstructured data such as E-mail, images, and XML documents.

U.K. Extradites Alleged Cyberterrorist To U.S.
The suspect is accused of operating a fund-raising Web site for Islamic militants and encouraging them to wage jihad--or holy war--in Afghanistan and Chechnya between 1999 and 2003.

Bloggers Break Sony
Sony made an unpopular product decision and got its reputation incinerated by waves of flaming bloggers. That's a lesson for other companies.

Sony's Plan To Fix Infected Copy Protection Only Makes
Matters Worse
Sony's suggested method for removing the program actually widens the security hole the original software created, researchers say.

Microsoft Joins Fight Against Sony Copy Protection
Microsoft will update its security tools to detect the rootkit-infected Sony XCP software.

Sony Still In The Hot Seat
Even though Sony decided to suspend using controversial copy-protection technology, consumers and network managers are still furious.

At Sony, The Customer Is Captive
The problem with Sony is evident in its financial filings. No, it's not that the company expects to post a net loss of $90 million for its fiscal year ending in March. That's a symptom, not a cause. The company has locked the PDF file that contains its second-quarter financial results to prevent computer users from copying the data in the document. Note that these are public financial filings. Sony just can't bring itself to allow those viewing its quarterly results the convenience of being able to copy and paste its data. The problem with Sony is its fear of openness. In a networked world, that's a terminal condition.

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