Windows Live Messenger, the next-generation version of Microsoft Corp.'s instant messaging service for consumers, will be available for download in final form right after midnight Tuesday, U.S. Eastern Time.

Microsoft Corp. Wednesday launched its widest release yet of the beta version of the Windows Vista operating system.

Yahoo Inc. on Thursday launched a new site designed to make it easier for Web users to find and share videos. The site builds on Yahoo's existing video search capability and will compete with video search services from Google Inc., AOL LLC, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, and other video-sharing sites like YouTube.com and MySpace.com.

Microsoft Corp. is set to release a fully supported version of its Windows Live OneCare software, marking its entry into the security software market. OneCare will be available for download Wednesday on Microsoft's Web site, a day earlier than expected. By Thursday, the software is expected to be widely available in U.S. retail stores, said Microsoft's Samantha McManus, a business strategy manager with Windows Live OneCare.

Thirty-five percent of the packaged software installed on PCs worldwide in 2005 was pirated, the same percentage as in 2004, according to a study released Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

In an unprecedented move, Microsoft Corp. Tuesday simultaneously released beta versions of its three major upcoming software releases -- Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Server, code-named Longhorn.

SAP AG officially released on Wednesday its business intelligence (BI) accelerator which it co-developed with Intel Corp. The two companies first announced they were working on the analytical engine a year ago.

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday will release a beta version of Windows Media Player 11, a more stylish version of its media software that mimics the sleekness of its main competitor, Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes.

Microsoft Corp. has released a beta of Windows Live Messenger, the next version of its MSN Messenger instant messaging service, it announced Tuesday.

MySQL AB this week issued a security patch for multiple vulnerabilities in its MySQL open-source database.

Testing problems are forcing some Oracle Corp. users to wait a little longer than usual for the company's latest round of security patches, the first of which were released last month.

Inventories of semiconductors used in all kinds of electronics gadgets soared faster than expected during the first three months of the year, but there's no reason to be alarmed about a chip glut, market researcher iSuppli Corp. said Tuesday.

Inventories of semiconductors used in all kinds of electronics gadgets soared faster than expected during the first three months of the year, but there's no reason to be alarmed about a chip glut, market researcher iSuppli Corp. said Tuesday.

Google Inc. has released a free version of the SketchUp application for creating, viewing and modifying 3D images it acquired when it bought @Last Software Inc. in March.

With energy efficiency as the standard, Intel Corp. has announced a new multicore architecture that aims to address consumers' increasing need for better price and higher performance per watt for notebooks, desktops, and servers.

Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. increased their market share in the online search arena as Microsoft Corp.'s MSN slipped, according to Web research firm Nielsen//NetRatings.

Some Chinese Internet users aren't happy with Google Inc.'s recently announced Chinese name, and they've started an online petition to express their displeasure.

In another sign that the future of powerful processors lies in multicore design instead of dense monolithic chips, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) released the last scheduled upgrade to its family of single-core Opteron processors.

With corporate uptake of Windows Vista likely to be "sluggish", news last week that the general release of Windows Vista has been delayed until January 2007 left many IT managers unfazed. Few companies said they planned urgent rollouts of Vista and were happy with the stability of their XP fleet.

Microsoft Corp. Monday announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of BizTalk Server 2006, which will be generally available May 1, according to company executives.