News Digest #1

News Digest #1

Dear Software Informer users! We are glad to introduce a new column, news digest. So, as of today every Friday we will inform you on the latest events in the world of information technology not only with the help of our Software Informer client, but also in our article section on the website. This week our overview will embrace two general topics: web and software.

So let's take a look at the most up-to-date developments in the IT world.

News Digest

Web

Evernote, the manufacturer of desktop software and web services, has recently announced an unprecedented campaign. They encouraged IT companies all around the world to create off-beat services to compete with each other for a $50,000 prize. At the moment the competition is coming to an end, but we still have a chance to vote for the best project. In our opinion, some websites and applications developed by the competitors can really make your life either easier or more interesting, so I would highly recommend you to try them out.

Another chance for Facebook to stand ground: last week Google deleted all the corporate accounts from its social network, Google+, claiming the network is designed for people only. It became a significant competitive advantage for Facebook, whose development team has always encouraged promoting business with the help of the community. This week they took a well-timed step further and introduced a special section for companies to promote themselves and thus completely opposed themselves to its competitors, including Google+.

Facebook is not the only company unsatisfied by Google's actions though. Last week the most popular search engine's creator (Google, Inc.) was also attacked by Microsoft. At the moment Gates' company is trying to entrench itself as a market leader in communication technologies with his Microsoft Office 365, a new office pack for small businesses based on the principle of cloud computing. Fighting the main rival, Google, seems to be the main task, and MS has already got down to the job. So, during the MGX opening sessions the enthusiasts presented a video aimed at discrediting Gmail and, in particular, its confidentiality and security policy. All of this is becoming increasingly amusing.

Software

One of the most important issues discussed this week touches upon the universal appeal of Skype Ltd. The alliance of the two giants, Skype and Facebook, continues gaining momentum, and the new version of the VoIP client Skype 5.5 allows users to send instant messages to their Facebook contacts right from the application's interface. Other improvements concern the quality of video calls and the smilies library.

Corel celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new version of Corel Painter. The renewed, 12th edition affords an extended brush library, and what is even more pleasant, the performance of the program is as stable as never before, not to mention it works much faster.

Almost all the news items of the week seem to spin around Google. Yet another IT giant, this time the one targeting big enterprises, SAP AG, has made an announcement concerning the intention to integrate its enterprise resource planning systems with Google Maps so as to make a company's performance analysis even more precise.

That's it for this week. We truly hope you enjoyed our debut.

P.S. Don't forget to congratulate system administrators on their professional holiday. Today is System Administrators' Day, Ladies and Gentlemen :)