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Yahoo has chosen former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz as its next CEO to replace Jerry Yang, who announced his intention to step down in November. The company also announced that President Sue Decker, who had been a candidate for the CEO position, has resigned and will leave the company after a transitional period. Decker worked at Yahoo for eight-and-a-half years and was a close supporter of Yang.
In a statement, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said Bartz has the right mix of technology and business savvy to lead Yahoo, as well as a strong leadership style and a proven track record of driving growth, shareholder value and operational excellence. Analysts do not believe Bartz was brought in to broker a sale of Yahoo. Yahoo earlier this year rejected an acquisition bid from Microsoft.
Microsoft Tuesday issued its first patch for the just-released Windows 7 beta, but it passed on plugging a hole in an important file-sharing protocol that it fixed in older versions of the operating system. Earlier Tuesday, Windows Update, Microsoft’s primary update service, began delivering the first patch to Windows 7 since the company offered the download last Friday. The update fixes a flaw that shaves several seconds of audio from any MP3 file that’s edited.
Microsoft also recommended that users back up all MP3 files before doing an upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista. At the same time, it quashed the MP3 bug, however, Microsoft ignored a vulnerability in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol that affects every version of Windows, including Windows 7. That vulnerability will be addressed in the next public release for Windows 7.”
Google will launch on Wednesday a reseller program for the paid version of its Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite. The program will allow, for the first time, third parties to resell Apps Premier, which costs US$50 per user per year. Resellers can be IT service providers, VARs, system integrators, consultants, software vendors and ISPs of any size anywhere in the world. Fostering the creation of an active reseller community for Apps Premier is the latest step in Google’s effort to appeal to corporate users. Resellers are able to provide the dedicated, one-on-one support that large organizations often require throughout the lifecycle of their enteprise software products.
The board of Satyam Computer Services has hired two accounting firms to restate the accounts of the scandal-ridden company. The two accounting firms, KPMG and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, will not however replace Price Waterhouse, the current auditors of the company, said Kiran Karnik, who is on the three-member board, on Wednesday. Satyam’s government-appointed board said on Monday that the company would be appointing an accounting firm in the next 48 hours to restate the accounts.
The company, which faces a working capital crises, will not be able to approach banks for loans unless its financial figures are verified, said Deepak S. Parekh, another board member, on Monday. Satyam’s chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, resigned last week after admitting that the company had inflated profits for several years.
And those are the topheadlines from the IDG Global IT News Service, brought to you by the IDG News Service. This is Marc Ferranti in the New York bureau. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.