Drivel:  Tom Siebel stated two days ago that Microsoft was not going to be buying the company, at least not yet.  That is the next step after they prove out the technology relationship with their customers under the agreement announced today.

##Microsoft to Sell Siebel Product on New Platform. NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.and Siebel Systems Inc. (SEBL.O) will tighten their already close relationship by jointly selling Siebel's customer management software on Microsoft's fledgling .NET platform, the companies said Monday. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology]  11:52:37 PM   comments ()  

Drivel:  The floodgates have opened.  Everything else will follow.  This may be the boost that the U.S. economy needs to get back in the saddle.  Wouldn't that be interesting.  China giving the U.S. economy a boost.  We may be witnessing a very significant shift in global economic power.  If China can do all of this in just one day, the line outside of their door must stretch for miles.  This is most definitely a flexing of economic muscle on the eve of a diplomatic visit.  Very interesting tactics.  I was just thinking that China may also be dropping a bomb on the U.S. with respect to Iraq during this visit.  This may prove to be a very interesting couple of days.  I will have to watch this unfold.

##China Approves Bunch of High-Tech Deals. NEW YORK (AP) -- China approved a raft of multimillion deals with American and European businesses Monday, primarily in the telecommunications sector, a day ahead of the Chinese president's visit to the United States. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology]  11:48:20 PM   comments ()  

Drivel:  This is quite a cool concept and should prove to be a nice carrot for everyone else to chase.  This is IBM leveraging its software expertise in a space that is rapidly moving toward software for answers to difficult problems, such as true virtualization.  It will be interesting to see the responses from Sun, EMC, Hitachi, and Network Appliance.

##IBM outlines storage strategy. Future projects include virtualization engine, 'IceCube' modular storage system [InfoWorld: Top News]  1:15:33 AM   comments ()