(October 31, 2007) - Hmmm. Oracle may be having a problem with its vaunted next-generation Project Fusion meant to lash all the software it's acquired together with its homegrown stuff. Seems the guy running Fusion, senior VP John Wookey, is being replaced by Thomas Kurian, head of Oracle's middleware operation, according to reports that touched off speculation of delays in Fusion and visions of Oracle adjusting the timetable at Oracle OpenWorld next month. Fusion is due next year.

Intel CFO Steps Down
Andy Bryant, Intel's longest-serving CFO, in office since 1994, and a revered fixture in the industry, is stepping down to give his number two, assistant CFO Stacy Smith, a shot at the job. Smith will still report Bryant, who has been named Intel's chief administrative officer. Intel said Smith has been managing Intel's financial functions for the last 18 months and led the restructuring that started last year. Smith has been with Intel for 19 years and has previously been CIO and general manager of EMEA.

Backdating Watch
HP has agreed to pay a hefty $117.5 million to settle a class action stemming from Mercury Interactive's backdating adventure. HP acquired Mercury last year for $4.5 billion and in May agreed to pay the SEC $28 million in penalties.

Gateway Merged into Acer
Gateway is now part of Acer. The deal closed on Tuesday, making Acer the world's third-largest PC maker and leaving Lenovo, now number four, to hunt for other ways to expand since it's been denied Packard Bell, which will soon become the third leg on Acer's stool. Gateway had dibs on Packard Bell.

Jury Selection Started in Reiser Trial
They've started weeding out jurors to decide whether Linux programmer Hans Reiser killed his missing wife or not. The process is supposed to take a few weeks. All the authorities have got is circumstantial evidence and any panel has to be comfortable with that.

Google Scores
Google, the company that Steve Ballmer thinks is a precocious toddler and a one-trick pony, came in Thursday with Q3 earnings up 46% to $1.07 billion on revenues up 57% to $4.23 billion. After subtracting advertising commissions, Google revenue was $3.01 billion. It seems to have brought its spending in line since last quarter. With the recent gains in its stock price, its market value is now around $200 billion, a little more than three years after its IPO. It control 57% of the US search market.

Yahoo Complains to EC about GoogleClick
Yahoo has been complaining to the European Commission about Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick ahead the trustbusters' decision as to whether they'll do a major three-month investigation of the deal, a decision due by October 26. Yahoo says it's anticompetitive and claims it could drive up the price of advertising, hurting publishers. Critics have to focus on the anticompetitive aspects of the deal because the EC doesn't give a hoot about the privacy issues that have got so many other people's knickers in a twist.

Penguin Adds Funding
It looks like Penguin Computing has raised another $3.11 million in additional later-round financing. Earlier this year it got a $9 million second round and $10 million before that in late '05.

ebMS 3.0 Standardized
ebXML Messaging Server (ebMS) 3.0: Part 1, Core Features is now an OASIS standard. It defines a Web Service-based method for exchanging business information. Version 2.0 was standardized by OASIS in 2002 and ISO in 2004. 

Troop Movements
The head of Red Hat worldwide operations Joanne Rohde has retired and will consult with the company for the next six months. Meanwhile, it's made its VP, global operations Nick Van Wyk, an ex-EMC/Legato guy, senior transformation officer as well, expecting overall better efficiencies.

Sony Cell Ops Go to Toshiba
To regain focus, raise money and cut spending, struggling Sony is selling its chip operations, which include the unusual Cell chip used in its PlayStation 3, to Toshiba. Well, selling off 60% anyway. They're setting up a new $857 million joint venture. The Cell was born of collaboration by IBM, Toshiba and Sony and this way Sony won't have to put as much investment in developing a 45nm Cell. It is supposed to kick in research however.

It's an OS, No, It's a Phone
HTC, the Taiwan handset maker, is gonna ship 50,000 cell phones based on Google's Gphone operating system to developers by the end of the year, according to UBS.

Linus & the Dysfunctional Family
So the Wall Street Journal was writing the other day about Linux' failure to dominate the world and used as a prime indicator the fact that Linus Torvalds' father and sister back in Finland use Windows, not Linux.