May 8, 2008 6:50 PM PDT

EIC Squared: SAP, Sun, AMD and Microhoo

In this week's EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet's Larry Dignan and I discuss the latest news from SAP, Sun Microsystems, Advanced Micro Devices, and Microhoo. At SAP's Sapphire conference this week, company executives explained the delayed rollout of the new on-demand enterprise suite, Business ByDesign. SAP CEO Henning Kagermann said that the total cost of ownership (TCO) equation on Business ByDesign and the upgrade procedures weren't good enough:

"We know we can have TCO, but need NetWeaver enhancements. There's a very close link between the TCO of Business ByDesign and NetWeaver. The TCO is not so much hardware; There are too many processing steps in our hosting. We can continue to do manual steps when first upgrade Business ByDesign from 1.0 to 1.1, but it's not predictable in way where every client got it at once and in the same way."

Larry remarks on AMD's lack of transparency about its chip fabrication plans and product roadmap, and I recap my visit to JavaOne, where I met rocker Neil Young and interviewed Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz about his plans for JavaFX and cloud computing. Schwartz has a good plan, but getting developers on board will take some heavy lifting.

We also debate whether Microsoft is open to a union with Yahoo after the parting of ways.

Recent posts from Outside the Lines
Google Friend Connect: The movie
Ellison: On-demand software growing slowly
Google brings Friend Connect to the masses
Powerset brings the Semantic Web to Wikipedia
Google to launch Friend Connect for the social Web
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement
  • About Outside the Lines

  • Dan Farber is the editor in chief of CNET News. He has covered technology for more than two decades, and previously served as editor in chief of ZDNet, PCWeek and Macweek. Outside the Lines explores the intersection of business and technology.

Add this feed to your online news reader
Google
Yahoo
MSN

Latest blog posts from News.com

Featured blogs

Beyond Binary by Ina Fried A look at how technology is changing our lives and at the people behind all that life-changing stuff.

Defense in Depth by Robert Vamosi Covering the latest in computer viruses and computer crime.

Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman At the tech culture nexus of video games, fire art, and virtual worlds.

Green Tech Fresh green tech news and commentary.

One More Thing by Tom Krazit Tom Krazit takes on the tech phenomenon that is Apple, and keeps a close watch on the chip industry.

Outside the Lines by Dan Farber When business and technology meet, that's when things get interesting.

The Iconoclast by Declan McCullagh Exploring the intersection of politics and technology.

The Social by Caroline McCarthy Exploring all facets of social media and tech culture.

Underexposed by Stephen Shankland Coverage of digital photography, science, and open-source software.

Resource center from News.com sponsors

advertisement
On TechRepublic: Top 5 operating systems you never used
Advanced
search
Advanced
search
Visit other CNET Networks sites: