Microsoft wants to replace RIM's e-mail software with its own version, which it offers for free.
Macro viruses are easy to write, and the interoperability of e-mail software gives viruses ample opportunity to spread.
One of them is Andrew Brunner, the 27-year-old chairman of CyberCreek, which sells bulk e-mail software called Avalanche.
Dell's existing service business is at the low end, little more than extended-warranty tune-ups and installing such off-the-rack systems as Microsoft's Outlook Express e-mail software.
More likely, he says, firms will realise they do not need to upgrade their e-mail software every other week, or invest regularly in state-of-the-art servers.
Like many other recent viruses, Bagle travels with its own e-mail software that help it despatch itself to all the addresses it steals from an infected machine.
Not until the e-mail software company he'd founded in 1990 shot from 3 employees to 45 in 1993 did Heller figure he had to get control of his money.
Just as important as the 200 lines of code that made up the e-mail software was Mr Tomlinson's elegant way of organising the addresses of people and the computers that held their e-mail account.
Moreover, while Microsoft's Vista operating system has received mediocre reviews, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant offers a host of tools, from e-mail software to its ubiquitous Office productivity suite, that will make it impossible to break Windows' lock on big businesses anytime soon.
James Faucette, a wireless analyst at Pacific Crest Securities said Motorola's (nyse: MOT - news - people ) acquisition of mobile e-mail software vendor Good Technology could make Palm (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ) a good fit for Motorola.
While open-source e-mail and calendaring software, such as Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail software and the Lightning calendaring plug in, is good stuff, it's not easy for a small office to set up messaging software of any kind without a bit of professional help, unless you're an office full of techies.
Just as with America Online (AOL), users pay a monthly fee to use MSN 8 that includes spam filters, e-mail managing software, and other tools.
Ballmer said the shift to online software and services will mean changes for all of Microsoft's businesses, which range from desktop productivity tools to database and e-mail server software.
The same can't be said for alternatives to pricey business e-mail and calendaring software.
Two years ago he began experimenting with ads inside BlueTie's e-mail and calendar software.
Sure, they can play some video games, surf the Web and handle modern e-mail and calendar software.
After being laid off by AOL, which bought Netscape, Baker was at first a volunteer executive at Mozilla, an effort among Netscape employees to develop a free suite of browser, e-mail and newsreader software.
The programs sift through old and new documents and e-mail far more efficiently than the search software that comes preinstalled with Microsoft Windows and the Outlook e-mail program.
The SIIA white paper says software sellers manipulate the rules of Internet auction sites to obtain e-mail addresses of bidders on software, creating a direct-marketing channel.
E-mail and other communications software naturally lend themselves to hypergrowth at large volume, says Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist who backed Hotmail.
Jonas Dischl-Luell of AWK Group, a Swiss firm, sells software that scans e-mail addresses to see if any employees are in contact, even indirectly, with officials in corrupt governments.
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After the SIIA official was outbid, he would receive an e-mail from a seller offering software for less than his lowest bid.
The lawsuits against Chu and Kish are the first civil cases filed by SIIA against suspected pirates who find customers by sending e-mail to people who bid on software at Web auction sites.
These specialists can also prescribe an exciting array of high-tech optical devices such as software and screen-reading programs that enlarge e-mail and Web site copy, as well as handheld devices that enlarge printed material of any size.
Because of the blackout, some 60 million Hotmail users worldwide can't access their e-mail, Microsoft customers can't download software updates or get online support and MSNBC.com has no audience.
In these, Jessen's troops sample e-mail, lecture employees to be circumspect about what they put into mail and install procedures and software programs to make sure that the files computer users dump in the trash are really gone from their hard drives.
This software alerts users to incoming e-mail and calendar appointments while the computer is in sleep mode.
The ads are selected to match the subject matter of the e-mail, with Google's ad-placement software picking up on certain key words.
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Still, Google's package of e-mail, word processing, calendar, spreadsheet and presentation software does have some advantages.
They have spawned much of the software inside everything from the Gmail e-mail product to a controversial effort to digitize thousands of books.
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