Software

Even if you have firewalls and up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware programs installed on a PC, there are other ways for your personal information to make it into the wrong hands. "Applications leave traces of information behind. That information can be telling of certain things," said Mike Irwin, chief operating officer for Webroot Software Inc. in Boulder, Colo. "For people that know where to look, it provides a distinct visibility into specific aspects of computer usage by the user."

I was hoping for more from my shares of Microsoft Corp. Has the company lost its spark? - C.M., via the Internet The world's largest software company must bulk up to do Internet battle with Google Inc. To accomplish this, it is paying a premium cash price of about $6 billion to acquire aQuantive Inc., a leading advertising agency for the Internet that has strong display- and banner-ad technology. That is the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history. In addition, it recently bought a minority stake in its job-listings partner CareerBuilder.

Some people believe the year 2000 heralds Judgment Day and the end of the world.Axent Technologies Inc. might be wondering if those prophecies could be true.The Rockville computer-security software company lost 59.69 percent of its stock value yesterday -- falling $11.9375, to $8.0625 -- after it issued disappointing earnings predictions. The company said the Year 2000 computer problem was causing potential customers to delay buying security software.The company said it expects to report a loss of between 5 cents and 10 cents per share for its first quarter, which ended March 31, not including special charges associated with recent acquisitions.

WASHINGTON -- A Lockheed Martin Corp. Titan IVB rocket's failure to put a $800 million military communications satellite in the proper orbit April 30 stemmed from faults in testing, quality assurance and software development procedures, the Air Force said yesterday.The process didn't find and correct a software programming mistake made in early February by a software engineer for the No. 1 defense contractor's Denver-based astronautics sector, the Air Force said."The error went undetected by both the internal quality assurance processes and the independent verification and validation process," said the Air Force.

"The Plot to Get Bill Gates: An Irreverent Investigation of the World's Richest Man ... and the People Who Hate Him," by Gary Rivlin. Times Books. 360 pages. $25.Bill Gates is not merely the richest person alive; he's also just about the most unavoidable.His colossal software company, Microsoft Corp., furnishes the operating systems of most of the world's personal computers. His bland, bespectacled face has adorned innumerable magazine covers.His every action, whether it's building a $60 million mansion or getting hauled into court by the federal government, is parsed and pilloried in Web sites and newspaper articles around the globe.

ARMONK, N.Y. - John M. Thompson wanted to keep International Business Machines Corp.'s software workers happy.So when the software chief met new employees after IBM agreed to buy Tivoli Systems Inc. in January 1996, he didn't hesitate on a key question: Yes, the Friday beer bashes would continue. In fact, Thompson wrote a personal check to foot the bill.IBM software workers might get more than a few beers today. With hardware sales down, the world's top computer maker is betting more on software, a business it once treated as an afterthought.

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, reported yesterday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 62 percent, beating estimates, on strong sales of its Office 2000 group of business software.Earnings for the period that ended June 30 climbed to $2.20 billion, or 40 cents a share, from $1.36 billion, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. The average analyst estimate was 36 cents a share.Revenue rose to $5.76 billion in the quarter, from $4 billion a year earlier.

Some dream of seeing their face on a 50-foot movie screen. Others fantasize about being memorialized in history books. Bob Wilson just wanted to see his face on a pumpkin.Wilson was watching the news a few years ago when he saw a segment featuring a couple of artists who had sculpted their faces into their jack-o'-lanterns."I said 'Man, I like those, but I want me on a pump-kin,' " Wilson said. "I started looking for the software they used to make the stencils, but I couldn't find any."That started Wilson's three-year odyssey into the business world of Halloween.

Several years ago, a new modem would hardly get warm in my PC before a newer and faster model was out: 1200, 2400, 9600, 14,400, 32,000 and 56.6 flew by like leaves in the wind (at about $150 a pop as I tried to keep up).So where are the new models? Seems like forever since I saw a speed increase, and the Net just keeps getting more demanding.Before Chicago modem mogul Casey Cowell cashed in a stack of chips higher than the Hancock building as founder and CEO of U.S. Robotics, he used to paraphrase Albert Einstein's dictum about the speed of light.

I use a Mustek Scanner to copy a letter into a file and it works fine in that regard. Is it possible to scan in a number of pages to the same file, rather than make a separate file for each page?Your problem demands new software for a solution, and my personal favorite is the $80 PaperPort Deluxe Scanner Suite sold by Scansoft (www.scansoft.com).Scanners like yours use a connection called, somewhat facetiously, TWAIN (technology without an interesting name), which is designed to accept the pictures that the devices make of scanned documents.

Watch out, BlackBerry. The iPhone is creeping into the workplace - and that's a good thing for BoxTone. The Columbia-based software firm has built a growing business on helping corporations monitor their employees' use of BlackBerry smart phones over the past four years. But the Apple iPhone has been a runaway hit among consumers, who are increasingly using these smart phones on the job - and putting pressure on their corporate information technology departments to support the devices.

AirTran adding BWI flights to Bahamas, Jamaica AirTran Airways announced Thursday schedules for new service to Nassau, Bahamas, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, including nonstop flights to BWI Marshall Airport. The flights will start Dec. 17 to Nassau and Feb. 11 to Montego Bay, pending government approval. BWI will have one daily flight to Montego Bay and two Nassau flights with service four days a week. The Florida-based airline filed applications last month with the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin offering service to the Caribbean.

Will Hicklen stood by his wife, Sandy's, side for three years as she battled a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer. Scores of friends and family united around the Hicklens to help, keeping Sandy company while she rested at home, taking their adolescent girls to lacrosse practices and delivering pre-cooked meals. Hicklen, 43, even launched a blog - StayStrongSandy.blogspot.com - where he chronicled his wife's battle. During long periods of treatment, and chemotherapy, Sandy - a vivacious stay-at-home mother - often found herself confined to her house in Towson's Stoneleigh neighborhood, waiting for nurses, drugs and equipment.

Bill Anderson calls it his "aha" moment - that sudden flash of insight when he drew a career-altering connection between decades-old research and his job as a computer security expert. At that time, nearly two years ago, Anderson had a comfortable job as vice president at an established computer security firm in Maryland. But while sitting on his couch one day reading Consciousness Explained, a book by American philosopher Daniel Dennett, Anderson learned about one scientist's research into variations in the way the human eye reads and processes text and images.

Beware of e-mail messages and blog posts that direct consumers to register software with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB warns that the messages are phishing schemes designed to fool people into sharing private information. The BBB says the public should know that such messages and posts are not coming from the BBB system, and that the attempts have not compromised BBB computer systems or data. Reports to the BBB began arriving last month about bogus messages requiring businesses and people to "register new software and update contact information" with the BBB. The messages also provided a link for the process.

Hewlett-Packard has been on a roll in the consumer PC market lately, with a new emphasis on attractive designs and a new willingness to take risks. It has competed hard with Dell on price while offering some of the style and cool features usually associated with Apple or Sony. About 18 months ago, the giant PC maker brought out an unusual desktop computer, the TouchSmart, a bulky model meant for kitchen counters. It was intended as a walk-up home kiosk, with large icons that could be activated by touching them to check the weather or to consult a calendar.

WASHINGTON - After a routine piece of medical equipment started mysteriously killing hospital patients a few years ago, the federal government turned to a small team of its software experts in suburban Maryland for help. The team's discovery - a flaw in a computer code that caused a drug pump to administer heavy overdoses - led to a recall, warnings and rewriting of the equipment's software. The discovery also illustrated a new threat behind some lifesaving medical devices. Microprocessors run everything from patient monitors to artificial pancreases, and potential software flaws are a growing concern.

Sourcefire Inc. rejected a counteroffer from a California anti-spam firm that wants to acquire the struggling Columbia security-software company. The company said yesterday that Barracuda Networks Inc.'s sweetened $8.25-a-share bid - 10 percent higher than a previous proposal - is not in the best interest of the company and shareholders. The new proposal is worth $206 million. Sourcefire shares rose 45 cents, or 5.89 percent, to close at $8.09 yesterday. Sourcefire is best known for selling software designed to work with its open-source intrusion prevention technology, Snort.

Sourcefire Inc., a Columbia security-software company that has struggled with losses since going public last year, said yesterday that it has rejected a $186 million acquisition proposal from a California anti-spam firm. In a terse new release, the company said its board "believes that the proposal substantially undervalues Sourcefire." Officials declined to comment beyond the release. The unsolicited $7.50-a-share offer from Barracuda Networks Inc. is 13 percent above Sourcefire's closing price on May 23, the last full day of trading before Barracuda proposed the deal.

Shibu Jose has placed ad after ad in area newspapers and on Web sites seeking tech-savvy workers for his Ellicott City software consulting company. But the resumes he receives are thin. Too often, applicants lack fluency in the complex software-speak he needs to keep his business competitive. So, like tens of thousands of employers nationwide, he seeks foreign talent through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' visa program for highly skilled professionals. And like his fellow employers, he waits.