According to the article, Toshiba (yes, you read that correctly) and Samsung have been asked to come up with the external Blu-ray solution for the
Xbox 360. Rumors are also floating around claiming a $100-to-$150 price point.

If this information is accurate, we’re left wondering how Microsoft will play this. Do they try and get this out in time for the holidays? Or do they wait to debut it at a show (like CES) where we’re likely to see standalone Blu-ray players fall in price anyway?

With Blu-ray playback remaining as one of the few advantages the PlayStation 3 has over the Xbox 360, one would imagine Microsoft would want to release this immediately to level the Blu-ray bragging rights issue.

X-bit Labs is not only reporting that Microsoft is still planning on releasing an external Blu-ray drive, but also that the company already has the device ready to go.

What XenSource did have was a looming OEM win with a major software company and the VMware hype. The lesson from this (as well as JBoss and MySQL) is that it’s easier to get a high valuation if you’re in a hot market and/or are a category winner. Not everyone will be in this position, so including XenSource didn’t seem to make much sense.

But for $500 million? OK. Twist my arm.

The 451 Group is reporting MySQL’s numbers as follows:

UPDATE: Some have asked for the valuation multiple on XenSource. I purposefully didn’t include it because it had zero relation to reality. XenSource had around $1 million in 12 months trailing revenue. It didn’t have much more in bookings. So, at a purchase price of $500 million, that’s roughly a 500x multiple. Few are going to see that….

So while Savio suggests we open-source entrepreneurs may be “sleeping with dollar signs in (our) eyes,” there’s clearly a lot of work to do before most open-source companies are worth selling. It’s not worth selling out for $100 million. Not for the venture-backed companies, anyway.

commentary

Given how slowly revenue accumulates in an open-source company–assuming it is recognizing subscriptions over 12 months–bookings is probably the valuation metric being used or at least strongly considered. It surely is the metric by which the start-up wishes to be measured. [See also this update which tracks forward-looking revenue as a realistic valuation metric.]

A friend and I were talking about the relative valuations for open-source companies. Over on his blog, JBoss founder Marc Fleury had joked that, after seeing MySQL’s valuation, he realized he clearly had “undersold.”

JBoss? 2005 revenue was $17 million and bookings were roughly $27 million. Red Hat acquired JBoss in 2006 for $350 million. This represents a multiple of 20.6 times trailing 12-month revenue or 13 times 2005 bookings. That’s not a wide divergence from the valuation multiple MySQL got (but both are a lot better than the multiple that BEA Systems got for its stock from Oracle).

Zimbra? $6 million in bookings that fed into a $350 million valuation, though it’s probably better to use the $20 million in bookings it was on track to hit in 2007 before the acquisition. At that number, it’s a 17.5 multiple on bookings projecting to the end of 2007. More likely, it was a multiple on bookings in the range of 12 to 15. In other words, very close to the same multiple for MySQL and JBoss.

But as it turns out, JBoss’ valuation multiple was not much different from that of MySQL–which was snagged by Sun Microsystems this week for $1 billion.

I think this is roughly accurate. I’ve heard on good authority that MySQL’s 2007 bookings were close to $60 million (not sure about revenue–I’ll take The 451’s word for it). That’s 16.6 times 2007 bookings or 20.8 times trailing 12-month revenue. Not bad.

While the attacks at this point are proof-of-concepts, they could be done if someone has the requisite knowledge and toolkits, said Dearing. Trust Digital recently announced software called EMM 8.0 that can help organizations protect employee phones from these types of attacks, he said.

In what it calls a “Midnight Raid Attack” because it would be most effective when a victim is asleep, an attacker could send a text message to a phone that would automatically start up a Web browser and direct the phone to a malicious Web site, said Dan Dearing, vice president of marketing at Trust Digital. The Web site could then download an executable file on the mobile phone that steals data off the phone, he said.

“This is a completely real threat,” said Philippe Winthrop, a director in the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics. “We will see these attacks. It’s a matter of time.”

In the Trust Digital demo on YouTube, an attacker sends an SMS message to the victim phone (on the left) which opens up a Web browser and downloads an executable file that directs it to send an SMS to the attacker's phone (on the right).

(Credit: Trust Digital)

In another type of attack, an attacker could hijack a phone by sending a type of SMS message called a control message over the GSM network to a victim’s phone that is using a Wi-Fi network and then use special toolkits to sniff the Wifi traffic looking for the victim’s e-mail log-in information. This attack is explained in another YouTube video.

Be careful who you give your mobile phone number out to. An attacker with the right toolkits and skill could hijack your phone remotely just by sending SMS messages to it, according to mobile security firm Trust Digital.

Dearing demonstrates how this can be done in a video on YouTube.

(Credit:
Adobe Systems)

John Brennan, a senior vice president of Adobe’s Platform group, has left the company to join the middle-market effort of private-equity firm Silver Lake, called Silver Lake Sumeru.

An important executive in Adobe’s merger with Macromedia, Brennan had led Adobe’s Creative Suite product group, as well as development of platform technologies such as Flash, PDF (Portable Document Format), and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime).

Silver Lake Sumeru on Thursday said Brennan will work with the firm to improve performance of “established middle-market technology companies.”

One of the most prominent private-equity firms, Silver Lake has attracted other IT executives including former Sun Microsystems President Ed Zander, who later was CEO of Motorola.

Handset maker Sony Ericsson is announcing plans for its first Windows Mobile device, a move aimed at boosting the company’s presence in the North American smartphone market.

The first product is a business-oriented phone with a QWERTY keyboard, but a family of devices is expected. Over time, Microsoft hopes Sony Ericsson will leverage its camera and music expertise to help build more consumer-oriented devices.

Xperia X1 has an unusual arc slider that reveals the QWERTY keyboard.

(Credit:
Sony Ericsson)

“They’ve really got some great consumer brands that we’d love to partner with and bring to Windows Mobile,” Microsoft Vice President Pieter Knook said in an interview.

The company is expected to have more to say about Windows Mobile in general at its press conference Monday, but Microsoft isn’t announcing any details on its future operating systems. There have been rumors aplenty about both a modest update to Windows Mobile 6 and a future version that would have much more touch-screen capabilities a la the
iPhone.

Knook acknowledged that Apple has included some nice features with the iPhone, particularly in the Web browser, but declined to talk about when Microsoft might incorporate some of those advances.

“We are certainly investing in the browser,” Knook said. “We are certainly investing in entertainment scenarios.”

Photo handling is another area he identified as important. The most recent version of Windows Mobile allows for photos to be uploaded to Windows Live Spaces, but Knook said there’s more work to do on that front.

“That’s still an area where the user experience is more cumbersome than it needs to be,” Knook said. As for music, Knook noted the company’s recent purchase of Musiwave, as well as the work being done by Microsoft’s
Zune team.

“We do envisage that some of those experiences will come to the Windows Mobile platform in the future,” Knook said.

Update:
The device will be known as the Xperia X1, featuring a 3-inch VGA display with an “arc slider” to slide out the keyboard. The device will support HSDPA and HSUPA networks, as well as Wi-Fi.

Apparently Microsoft has a thing for conservative Japan. Just when I thought Microsoft had closed patent cross-licensing deals with every Japanese firm ever to have considered corporate existence, Microsoft surprises me with a deal with Onkyo.

So far Microsoft’s list includes the needy (the various second-rate Linux distributions and Novell, which is a first-class Linux distribution with second-class aspirations of how to build on its technical merit) and the overly cautious (Japanese and Korean electronics companies for whom it’s easier to just pay rather than try to figure out whether Microsoft’s machinations are worthy). Microsoft might consider this a Very Good Start, but to me it looks like a Very Poor End to Microsoft’s attempts to afflict the world with its dubious patent-rattling.

Just give up on this quest, Microsoft. There are far better ways to make money. You’ve demonstrated that you understand these other means. You’ve also demonstrated that you can win without having to FUD the planet into submission.

Well, many of you Microsofties have learned. Your fearless leader, Steve Ballmer, has not. At Accel Capital’s recent CEO day for its portfolio company, Steve Ballmer again threatened the open-source world from his bully pulpit. Thundering down from his false Sinai, Ballmer berated open source for “stealing his IP.” As ever, no proof. No constructive dialogue. Just wild ejaculations of innuendo and hypocrisy.

Microsoft has better things to do than to blanket the world with these needless, heedless patent agreements. It could try competition. It’s failing miserably in new markets while trying to force the world to stick with its old markets. That’s understandable, but it won’t help Microsoft to remain relevant in an open-source, Googlified world.

Nokia BH-504 stereo Bluetooth headset

(Credit:
Nokia)

Along with the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and its Comes with Music promotion, Nokia also announced a slew of stereo headsets to match its new music-focused products on Thursday. The Nokia BH-504 is the only Bluetooth headset of the bunch, with the ability to handle calls as well as listen to music wirelessly. Looking a lot like regular over-the-ear headphones, it’s fully foldable, with advanced digital signal processing that includes echo cancellation and noise reduction. It has the typical multifunction button as well as music player controls and a volume rocker. The BH-504 has a rated battery life of 9 hours talk time, 7.5 hours music time, and 3.75 days standby time.

Nokia WH-202, Nokia WH-500, Nokia WH-800

(Credit:
Nokia)

The other three headsets are of the wired variety, and all three have call management features. The WH-202 has ear clips for long-wear comfort and has a 2.5mm connector for cell phones with that headset jack, though it doesn’t have music player controls. The WH-500 has a design similar to that of the BH-504, plus it has music keys such as play/pause and next/previous track and a 3.5 mm connector (as well as a 2.5mm adapter). Finally, the WH-800 earbuds come with adjustable ear hooks, a volume rocker, a carrying case, and a 3.5 mm connector plus a 2.5mm adapter.

Apps that help people track and manage funds outside of their bank or investment service’s site are in high demand, and many of the services presenting at the conference are trying to get those financial companies on board.

Why? Because those companies are still the gate keepers of trust. People are more willing to hand over their account credentials and detailed personal information to larger institutions over some hot, new Silicon Valley start-up. That, and it’s a whole lot easier to get in the door if you’re built into a financial institution’s tools. The hard part of course, is proving you have a system that really works.

To that end, nearly all the sites that gave quick, eight-minute pitches at the financial innovation conference are trying more user-friendly approaches to common financial activities such as keeping an eye on bank accounts, managing and paying off loans, or helping people sign up for credit cards.

One site, KnowBeforeYouApply is simply taking user credit history, then recommending various cards people could sign up for based on that. Another card play, called Tempo, is trying to make debit cards more like credit cards. It’s offering a third-party card that’s linked up to a user’s checking account, which skips the monthly bill in place of taking the money out as soon as it’s spent. It also includes personalization and promotions, things that aren’t usually offered by the banks that supply them.

Sites featuring simple, colorful charts, tables, and status bars are also aplenty. These charts aren’t just for looks, though; for these sites, it’s all about aggregation. Just like Facebook and FriendFeed are working to harness the never-ending flow of social information, these sites are attempting the same with accounts from multiple services. Even if it’s not a core part of a product, companies want to keep users inside their apps with a dashboard that lets them view dozens of streams of information within a very small amount of space.

Kapitall's creative director Cordell Ratzlaff demos his company's financial Web top.

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn / CNET)

One of the best examples of this is Kapitall, which is designed like a Web desktop. It has a customizable workspace of company icons and portfolios that users can drag and drop to track their investments and compare sets of data. Creative director Cordell Ratzlaff calls this workspace “the playground,” which sits atop a never-ending stock ticker with companies you’re watching. It seems like a total data overload at first, but Ratzlaff managed to create and organize portfolios as if he were moving around picture files on a desktop PC. It actually looked kind of fun.

Speaking of fun, there were even finance tools for kids. IThryv, which launched late last year has a financial dashboard with account info and goal-tracking aimed at tweens. It’s also set to expand to other demographics like senior citizens who are managing finances on a fixed income.

Not all the sites on display at Finovate are aimed at consumers, though. A few are focused on business users while retaining the look and feel of a consumer app. Expensify, which handles expense reports, is one such site. It links up to your checking account and can track purchases you’ve made while on a trip, and pay out directly to it. It even lets you add receipts for payments made in cash by using your cell phone’s camera.

Looking forward
So what are some of the big financial trends to look for in 2009 and beyond? White-label services and mobile apps are likely to top the list. Wesabe, which is a dashboard for consumer finances (similar to Mint.com), recently introduced a version of its services that banks can give to their users as a way to track their financial activities. The company has already done this with a Delta Community Credit Union but wants to expand to other markets, too. The same goes for payment and loan services, which want to be more deeply integrated as payment options in places like hospitals and online retailers.

Each service also wants to make sure users can access their apps while away from a desktop PC in the form of a secure mobile application. Most companies who mentioned either having or working on mobile applications cited the
iPhone, which could become its own payment tool since developers will soon be able to offer in-app payments that are linked up directly to user bank accounts.

With all these tools it seems as if the ultimate goal is to make it so users don’t have to go out of their way to sign up to use them. Yet it requires a far more intense commitment and trust than a simple e-mail address and Captcha, which makes me wonder if 2009 will bring a Facebook Connect for finance.

Microsoft will begin offering its first hosted security service under the Forefront brand on Thursday, dubbed Forefront Online Security for Exchange and designed to help keep malware and spam out of e-mail in-boxes.

The hosted service, which will cost $20 per user per year or less based on volume licensing, targets enterprise Exchange customers and includes a Web-based console for setting up policies for virus and spam protection, said Doug Leland, general manager of Microsoft’s Identity and Security Business Group.

The releases will follow the timeline of Exchange 2010, which entered public beta this week. More hosted security services will be coming but Leland declined to elaborate.

Microsoft also will finally release on Thursday a new, public beta version of its Stirling security suite, which is the next generation of the Forefront software.

The initial beta version of Stirling was released a year ago and was supposed to be refreshed by the end of 2008. It will include client, server, and application security technology and offer a single management console.

Stirling components will come in staggered releases starting later this year with Forefront Security for Exchange and Threat Management and continuing through the first half of 2010, Leland said.

The company also is changing the name of its Identity Lifecycle Manager product to Forefront Identity Manager and plans to offer a new set of technologies, code-named Geneva, for helping corporations improve the security of software and services, Microsoft said.

In addition, Microsoft said it is investing $75 million in a partner ecosystem, including making a strategic partnership with RSA. Other companies integrating with Stirling include Kaspersky, Brocade, Juniper Networks, Guardium, Imperva, Sourcefire, StillSecure, Q1 Labs, and Tipping Point.

The moves are part of the company’s strategy to provide “Business Ready Security.”

The moves are part of Microsoft’s effort to broaden the scope of its security offerings to incorporate data protection, access and management, all built around the concept of identity, Leland said.

Microsoft wants to offer the ability for corporations to set “fine-grained security policies and have a deeper understanding about who in the organization is trying to access data and what they are trying to do with it,” he said.

Canonical is best known as being the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu operating system, a computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux. With 8 million to 10 million users, Ubuntu has enjoyed success in no small part because of its ease of use.

Next month the company will offer the first details on plans to roll out cloud-computing services to its customers. At this point, details remain scarce but management isn’t planning to reinvent the wheel. Instead, the company is going to adopt the same approach it used to promote Ubuntu as an open-source operating system.

The basic idea will be to supply the technology on an open source basis and then let users alter it to fit their individual company needs. At the same time, Canonical hopes to benefit from a developer feedback loop, which presumably would contribute any bug fixes or suggestions on how to advance the offerings. Any profits would roll in through the later sale of ancillary support and add-on services to customers.

This is just the latest announcement in what’s fast becoming a crowded and super-hyped field. The umbrella terms refers to the concept of allowing access to computing power and storage space by connecting over the Internet. Most recently, Sun Microsystems last week offered details on a plan to enable developers, start-ups, and even students access a cloud-computing infrastructure.