Hewlett-Packard’s reported interest in buying Computer Sciences Corp. brings its share of benefits and risks, according to industry observers. The move could rapidly grow HP’s services and outsourcing business, giving the Palo Alto, Calif., company the size and breadth to compete with the likes of IBM Global Services, they said. However, if not done right, such a move could prove to be a major burden on a company that is trying to improve its financial situation.

People use Notes/Domino in all sorts of different ways, and one of the most popular is email and messaging. With that in mind, Notes/Domino 7 offers significantly enhanced mail functionality, including expanded calendar and scheduling. This article reviews some of the more important and useful of these new features.

This article discusses how you can work with the new IBM DB2 integration features offered in Lotus Domino 7. Lotus Domino 7 introduced the ability to use DB2 as a data store. This feature allows you to use both DB2 and Domino databases, accessing and viewing data stored in either format. This brings the best of both worlds to your environment. Notes users gain access to DB2 features, such as relational constructs and SQL-based views. While DB2 users can take advantage of Domino features such as replication and security.

A Clinton-based Internet service provider who successfully sued Internet spammers in the past now has been awarded an $11.2 billion judgment against a Florida man for sending millions of unsolicited emails advertising mortgage and debt consolidation services. The judgment against James McCalla of Florida is the culmination of a multi-defendant lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in 2003 by Robert W. Kramer III, owner of CIS Internet Services in Clinton. The lawsuit claimed that McCalla sent more than 280 million illegal spam email messages into CIS’ network. Kramer’s lawsuit initially named numerous defendants, many of whom were weeded out and dropped from the lawsuit over the past couple of years. Other defendants named in the lawsuit, however, including Cash Link Systems of Florida, AMP Dollar Savings of Arizona, and TEI Marketing Group of Florida were ordered in 2004 to pay judgments totaling more than $1 billion to CIS Internet Services. He claimed that under state law in effect at the time, he was entitled to $10 per illegal email.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has slapped an unusually heavy fine on McAfee for inflating its revenues during the dot.com era. The SEC has stated that between 1998 and 2000 specifically, McAfee overstated its revenues by $622 million, and that for 1998 alone revenues were hiked 131 percent, or $562 million. In order to settle the embarrassing episode quickly, the company has agreed to pay a $50 million fine as punishment for the mis-statements, though it has not admitted to the charges in a formal way.

Media coverage focuses on Microsoft’s competition with Google, but Chairman Bill Gates sees IBM and not the Web search leader as its biggest challenger. "The biggest company in the computer industry by far is IBM. They have the four times the employees that I have, way more revenues than I have. IBM has always been our biggest competitor. The press just doesn’t like to write about IBM," said Gates. IBM, which offers computer services, software and hardware, poses a challenge to Microsoft in defining how Web services will work together in the future.

Computer Associates International plans to acquire applications management specialist Wily Technology in a $375 million cash deal, the companies said Thursday. CA, an IT management software company based in Islandia, N.Y., plans to operate Wily as a division within its Enterprise Systems Management unit and to offer a product integration road map within 30 days of the deal’s close. CA expects to complete the acquisition in the next three months. Wily, a privately held company based in Brisbane, Calif., provides applications management software, designed to detect and diagnose application slowdowns and failures. The company’s technology is installed in more than 450 corporations and government agencies worldwide.

Microsoft has admitted to removing the blog of an outspoken Chinese journalist from its MSN Spaces site, citing its policy of adhering to local laws. The blog, written by Zhao Jing, also known as Michael Anti, was removed from MSN servers on Dec. 31, according to investigative journalist and former CNN reporter Rebecca Mackinnon. She claimed that the blog was actively removed by MSN staff rather than being blocked by Chinese authorities. A Microsoft representative told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that it blocked Anti’s MSN Space blog to help ensure that the service complied with local laws in China.

Former IBM Chief Executive Frank Cary passed away on January 1, 2006, a Lexmark International spokesman confirmed on Wednesday. The news was first disclosed in a Lexmark filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Cary was a director at Lexmark. Cary was chairman and CEO of IBM from 1973 to 1981. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Symantec said that it had signed a definitive agreement to buy IMLogic, a maker of security software for instant messaging applications. The acquisition for an undisclosed sum will add IMLogic’s IM Manager technology to Symantec’s growing stable of messaging security products, and give the company a ready-made solution for the growing number of IM-based worms and viruses.