Dan Muse

There’s no denying that many small businesses are turning into true believers when it comes to Web-based applications (aka, on-demand, software-as-a-service, ASP-delivered software and hosted applications). While myriad hosted products exist offering everything from collaboration to accounting, if you wanted a turn-key suite to run all aspects of your business, NetSuite has been your only […]

When it comes to managing contact and sales leads, no product has stood the test of time better than ACT!. In its near 20-year history, the product has built a steady base of customers spanning all market segments. According to Brandon Balsley, senior product manager for ACT! (which is now owned by Sage Software) the […]

When it comes to its Mini search appliance, no one can accuse Google of standing still. Since announcing the network appliance back in January 2005, the Mountain View, Calif.-based sultan of search has lowered prices while expanding the number of documents that small businesses and e-commerce shops can search. Today, though, Google announced the biggest Mini […]

With the Oakland Coliseum and the Athletics game against the New York Yankees as the backdrop, on-demand application provider NetSuite took the wraps off NetSuite Version 11.0. The new version boasts an AJAX-based user interface, SuiteScript to allow nontechnical people to customize the application for their business processes and two new industry-specific versions. Packed With AJAXNetSuite has […]

Remember the old Miller Lite beer commercials? Two groups would argue loudly over which attribute was more important in a light beer. Should it be “less filling” or was “tastes great” the key? In reality, of course, we all know they are equally important. When it comes to storage, it’s easy to imagine a similar […]

IBM’s Lotus Software division yesterday announced a new version of IBM Workplace Services Express and a hosted trial version of IBM Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting. The company also announced a patch that it says will help small businesses deal with changes to daylight saving time in 2007. Scheduled to ship in April, IBM […]

If you subscribe to the theory that computers, like people, can never be too thin, you may want to consider HP’s t5720 thin client, which the Palo Alto, Calif.-based system vendor announced today. HP has been manufacturing thin clients for about three years, but “this is HP’s first partnership with AMD in the thin client […]

More than 12,000 small business owners and managers will hit the Internet today and for the rest of the week to attend one or more of Microsoft’s 40 free Webcasts geared for SMBs, according to the Redmond, Wash.-based software company. With its Small Business Summit as the backdrop, Microsoft also announced today plans to make […]

For social networking pioneer LinkedIn, “Last year was the year of premium services and profitability,” said Konstantin Guericke, vice president of marketing at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company. LinkedIn Corp. today reported that thanks to recently announced premium services that range in price from $60 to $2,000 per year, its expects to reach profitability this […]

In January, Google upped the ante on its Mini search appliance, extending the number of documents it could index and search from 100,000 to 300,000. Today, the search king announced that in order to better meet the needs of smaller small businesses, it is releasing a version that searches 50,000 documents for just under $2,000. […]

Microsoft’s plans to get more aggressive in the world of hosted applications took a big step forward today as the company made a beta version of Office Live available. While hosted applications aimed at small businesses are nothing new — companies such as Salesforce.com, NetSuite, WebEx and a host of others have touted the advantages […]

Salesnet thinks that now is the time to “start to go toe-to-toe with Salesforce.com,” according the Jonathan Tang, the president and co-founder of the Boston-based provider of Web-based CRM applications. “Salesnet is quickly growing its reputation as the Salesforce.com alternative.” If the company plans to fight what is arguably the poster child for on-demand software, […]