BizTech News Roundup

noted * Is it time to start calling Microsoft Vista embattled? The operating system hasnt been getting much good press. And now Microsoft says it will let computer makers sell PCs with the old XP operating system for six more months in response to customer demand. The new deadline for computer makers to stop selling XP is June 2008.

* Its 4 pm. Do you know what your techies are doing? They could be asleep, making out with coworkers, or drinking a beer. Thats according to a new study by the online job site CareerBuilder.com, which found that an astonishingly high percentage of techies and people in all other professions engage in these behaviors. Almost half nap, 47% have kissed a coworker, 25% drink on the job. These numbers are all trending up, CareerBuilders Tanya Flynn tells Information Week, probably because the line between work and life is blurring.

* Theres a new trend in the business software world: Let equipment makers sell your software for you. Oracle is the latest company to let other companies sell products with its software already installed. Both Dell and EMC will sell servers, back-office computers that crunch numbers and do other inglorious tasks, with Oracles database software already on it. This cuts out a step for companies that want to run Oracles software. Server makers have recently announced deals with VMWare and Microsoft to sell equipment with software from those companies already installed.

* Indian outsourcing firms continue to expand in unexpected ways. Wipro just bought a semiconductor-design center from Japanese tech company Oki Electric. The acquisition will help Wipro sell design services to tech companies including Oki. Thats a far cry from the cheap coding many people associate with Indian outsourcing firms and continues the trend of these firms moving into higher-value work.

* Apparently vows of silence dont extend to email. Turns out monasteries are getting online in a big way. Monks are communicating with one another, selling their wares, and recruiting. Brother Luke Armour, a monk in central Kentucky, tells Reuters that seven new monks have joined his Abbey after discovering it online. The monks there are allowed to surf the Web between one and five pm.