I am no fan of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS). Yet, it provides entry to the Windows server range of products at a reduced price point and includes simple set-up wizards. Linux, with its diverse range of distributions, has historically not provided a clear easy-to-install SBS alternative. The Clear Foundation aims to change this.

Liberal US shock-blog Daily Kos gained legal access to the database used by electronic voting machines produced by Sequoia Voting Systems. The Daily Kos sensationally claimed the database violated Federal voting law. A closer examination gives a different story.

As expected, Microsoft released 13 new security bulletins overnight (Australian time). A mammoth 34 vulnerabilities are addressed, including some affecting Windows 7.

Hang onto your hats: October's Patch Tuesday looks like a doozy, with 13 bulletins - mostly critical - covering a wider than usual range of products.

Times are tough, but maybe your boss will be more likely to send you to Tech.Ed if you tell him or her that you can save $300 by booking early.

Software companies hurt their products by writing database engines when they’re not a database company, and by marketing teams who don’t understand why the database is important.

Microsoft announces an update to SQL Server 2008 as a freely downloadable service pack, which is probably just as well as there is not a lot to get excited about.

This month's security bulletins from Microsoft are evenly balanced between servers and desktops. There are two critical and two important bulletins.

Microsoft's trying to head off the encroachment of open source into what it sees as its traditional turf - development tools - with a new scheme called BizSpark. The idea is to provide startups with tool and server licences for $0 upfront.

The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) has just ranked Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as being the value leader, hitting the top spot for price and performance benchmarks and providing the lowest total cost of ownership for an enterprise-class database.