Scottsdale Heart Group, a local group of cardiologists, acquired the Ironwood Office Suites office building at 10101 N. 92nd St. in Scottsdale, AZ, for $5.47 million, or about $272 per square foot. The 20,110-square-foot property was built in 2003. Tenants include Roy H. Long Realty, Magnus Title Agency and Keller Williams Arizona Realty. Mark Linsalata, Tim Phillips, Bill Blake and Colton Trauter represented the seller, Ironwood Office Building, LLC. Tracy Rizik of American Realty Brokers represented the buyer.

via costar.com

Microsoft is set to begin a pilot of a new Genuine Advantage anti-piracy mechanism for Office that will add a “nag-like” feature, akin to what is now part of Windows Vista, to Office. Office already currently includes an Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) validation mechanism (for Office XP and Office 2007), but Microsoft doesn’t do a whole lot to “punish” those it deems to be running non-Genuine versions of Office. However, as part of a new OGA notifications pilot program — which Microsoft is launching in Chile, Italy, Spain and Turkey, according to an April 8 announcement buried in a Q&A on Microsoft’s Web site — Microsoft is set to turn up the unpleasantness a notch.

via keznews.com

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) last Friday signed an agreement with Microsoft Group to buy Microsoft Office 2007 software. Under the agreement, VNPT has the right to use Office 2007 and its follow-up versions which are released within three years of the day of signing forever. VNPT’s staffs also have the right to use Microsoft Office at their homes. Tran Viet Hung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Data-Communications Company (VDC), the representative agency for VNPT in signing the contract, said the agreement shows VNPT’s respect for copyrights in its international integration process.

via english.vietnamnet.vn

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is teaming up with European systems integrator Sourcesense to develop open source software for its Microsoft Office line of products. As part of the effort, the two companies will jointly contribute to the development of a new version of Apache POI -- an open source, Java application programming interface for accessing and managing Office's binary formats. Microsoft said Tuesday that the goal is to make it easier for open source developers to write programs that are compatible with Microsoft's Office Open XML format, which is the default format for Office 2007 applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

via informationweek.com

Federal technology professionals have an online community where government employees, private consultants, and outside observers can discuss improving their agencies. Dubbed NextGov, the site is geared toward federal IT officials, program managers, private experts, and outside observers. Government Executive Media Group, a division of Atlantic Media, launched the site this week as a one-stop community site for news, research, and discussion. The research section contains pages specific to federal IT topics, and the site provides benchmarking tools to measure agency and program performance.

via informationweek.com

(Business Wire) IDG Communications technology media brands have been recognized with six Neal Awards and the prestigious Grand Neal at the annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards in New York. Also, at the awards ceremony last week, organized by American Business Media (ABM), PC World Vice President and Editor-in-chief Harry McCracken received the Timothy White award for editorial integrity. CSO (Chief Security Officer) won Best Single Article and the Grand Neal award for “Red Gold Rush,” a special report in the February 2007 issue on how the construction boom in China is leading to the theft of semi-precious metals in the U.S.

via earthtimes.org

Windows Vista is a Microsoft gender-challenged operating system, after it has survived the Longhorn sex change. Just bear with me, it will all make sense in the end, I promise. The short story on Windows Vista is bound not to produce any Wow reactions. At least not in the range Microsoft was aiming for with the $500-million Wow campaign for its latest Windows client. Released to business users in November 2006 and to consumers in January 2007, Vista went over the 100 million sold licenses milestone as of the end of the past year, according to Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates.

via keznews.com

When a company needs to hire, they've got two places to look: inside their ranks or outside their organization.

Human Resource experts will tell you that the first option is the favorable one, and not just because it may seem more convenient: hiring from within is seen as a huge boost to employee morale. In workplaces were employees continually see managers and directors brought in from outside company ranks, employees are more likely to feel stagnant and find themselves looking toward the door. Read the rest of this entry »

via blogs.eweek.com