Rumour: Microsoft to Buy SAP?

I don't normally comment on rumours, but this one is too plausible:

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on Tuesday said speculation the company may buy German software firm SAP (SAPG.DE) was a 'random rumour.'

"I have nothing to say about rumours of acquisitions ... positively or negatively," he told reporters in Mumbai, when asked about an acquisition of SAP.

"It strikes me as a random rumour."

Microsoft, the world's top software firm, on Monday sold a $3.75 billion debt issue, sparking talk that it could be readying a bid for the German firm.

SAP's Co-Chief Executive Leo Apothekar said on Monday he believed the business software maker should stay independent, following the fresh speculation in European markets that Microsoft could bid for it.

Irrespective of rumours, Microsoft would be the perfect suitor for SAP since the latter is one of the last major bastions of proprietary software in Europe, and favours software patents.

That's no surprise, since Enterprise Resource Planning - SAP's heartland - is one of the few software sectors where open source has failed to make significant headway yet, and software patent monopolies are a great way to lock out up-and-coming free alternatives to high-priced closed-source solutions.

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DYB DYB DYB for Drigg

As rumours swirl about Google buying Digg, spare a thought for the parlous plight of the open source version, Drigg:

I took Drigg this far, but I am fatigued. I wrote Drigg not out of passion for programming, but because I felt that the whole world needed it. I wrote several thousands of line of code in a very short time, and kept fixing bug after bug. I also took the step of splitting Drigg into several sub-module--a painful, bold and much needed move. Not, the big reports are very few and Drigg is very well structured.

I am now looking for a new co-maintainer who can take the lead in Drigg's development. I am not a programmer, and I don't feel I am the right person to push this project any further. There are important features that need to be implemented, and I am just too slow. I am not a very skilled programmer, and it simply shows. The code is good out of immensely hard work, and this means that development is slow. I feel the community deserves better.

I will still be here! People who know me and trust me know that I will hold the hand of the new maintainer and will make sure that everything is going the right direction. I will be here, via email, IM, phone, etc. The new maintainer needs to know:

* PHP
* Drupal modules
* Javascript

If you would like to take over an immensely important, exciting, lively project, please let me know now ("merc" followed my "mobily1" and then ".com").

Someone?

BitTorrent Falling to Bits?

Bad rumours swirling around BitTorrent: that it's getting lots of dosh, presumably to go corporate and "respectable", and that the man behind it, Bram Cohen, is out of it.

Somehow, I don't think the new BitTorrent strategy will be very popular with its current users. Whether the company can make money by fawning all over the big content monopolists remains to be seen. I'm not holding my breath.