Software Corner: A Mixed Bag

Microsoft: Moderate Sales Growth

Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a range of software
products for computing devices. During the quarter ended Dec 31, 2006, its
revenues stood at $12.54 bn, a 6% increase from $11.84 bn in the same period
last year. Net profit for the same period stood at $2.64 bn, a decline of 27.95%
from $3.65 bn in the same period last year. For the quarter ending March 31,
2007, its revenue is expected to be in the range of $13.7 bn to $14.0 bn, and
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 revenues are expected to be in the
range of $50.2 bn to $50.7 bn.

During the quarter, Microsoft will launch Windows Vista and
Microsoft Office 2007. It also announced a collaboration with Novell on Windows
and Linux interoperability and support. Further, they also announced a patent
agreement covering proprietary and open source products and a set of broad
business and technical collaboration. It also teamed up with CompUSA to deliver
Windows Vista Business and Microsoft Office Small Business 2007. Microsoft's
shares are traded at $29.39.

Novell: Decline Continues

Novell designs, develops, maintains, implements and supports open source
software for business solutions. It announced financial results for its fourth
fiscal quarter ending Oct 31, 2006. It reported net revenue of $245 mn, a
decline of 15% as compared to revenue of $288 mn for the fourth fiscal quarter
2005. The net income stood at $25 mn, an increase of 316% from $6 mn, for the
fourth fiscal quarter of 2005.

During the fourth fiscal quarter of 2006, Novell reported $13 mn
of revenue from Linux Platform Products, up 32% y-o-y basis. Revenue from
Identity and Access Management was $24 mn, up 3% y-o-y basis. Novell expects net
revenue for the full fiscal year 2007 to be between $945 mn to $975 mn.

During the quarter Novell and Microsoft announced a series of
agreements to jointly build, market and support new solutions for
interoperability, deliver new virtualization capabilities. As part of this
five-year agreement, Microsoft can use, resell or distribute certificates that
customers redeem to receive SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions for
upgrades, updates and technical support from Novell.

Novell appointed a new channel manager, John Bainbridge as
Novell's director of partner sales for the western region. Previously
responsible for business development at Intel, he will now manage Novell's
Territory Partner Sales Team and sales support. During the period, BT chose
Novell's eDirectory as the hub for user services on 21CN, its next-generation
converged voice, data and video network. The directory system will store up to
28 mn user profiles for access to services such as video on demand and IP
telephony. Novell shares are currently traded at $6.90.

Adobe: Strong Revenue Upswing

Adobe is a diversified software company that offers a line of creative,
business and mobile, software and services. It Systems reported financial
information for the fourth quarter ending Dec 1, 2006. Its revenue stood at
$682.2 mn, an increase of 34% from $510.34 mn for the same period last year. Net
income for the period stood at $181.8 mn, an increase of 17% from $156.2 mn in
the same period last year. For the fiscal 2007, it expects its revenue to be
between $640 mn and $ 670 mn.

During the period, Adobe introduced Adobe Document Center, a new
hosted service that enables knowledge workers to protect, share and track the
usage of Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel documents as part of
day-to-day communications and collaboration.

Adobe Systems and the Mozilla Foundation, a public-benefit
organization to promoting choice and innovation on the Internet, announced Adobe's
contribution to source code for the ActionScript Virtual Machine, the scripting
language engine in Adobe® Flash Player, to the Mozilla Foundation.

The company also introduced a beta version of Adobe Photoshop
CS3 software. Adobe is delivering a widely available Photoshop CS3 beta to
enable customers transition to the latest hardware platforms, particularly Apple's
new Intel-based systems. The beta is available as a Universal Binary for the
Macintosh platform, as well as for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista
computers. Adobe changes hand at $40.81.

Supportsoft: Revenues Decline

Supportsoft is a provider of real-time service management software solutions. It
reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2006. Its
revenue for the period stood at $14.2 mn, an increase of 20% from $11.9 mn a
q-o-q basis, and a decline of 10% from $15.8 mn y-o-y basis. License revenue for
the fourth quarter of 2006 was $6.4 mn, up 43% from $4.5 mn in the third quarter
of 2006. Services revenue for the fourth quarter of 2006 was $7.8 mn, up 5% from
$7.4 mn in the third quarter of 2006. During the period, Supportsoft incurred a
net loss of $0.08 mn a loss of 93% from a net profit of $ 1.1mn in the same
period last year. For fiscal 2007, SupportSoft expects its total revenue to be
in the range of $54 mn to $58 mn.

During the quarter, Supportsoft appointed Shawn Farshchi in its
Board of Directors. Previously he served as a senior executive at WebEx.
Supportsoft changes hands at $ 6.44.

Compuware: Marginal Growth

Compuware develops, markets and supports an integrated set of systems software
products in application development, application delivery, application service
management and IT portfolio management. The company also provides services,
which include business systems analysis, design, communication, programming and
implementation, as well as software conversion and systems planning and
consulting. Compuware operates in two business segments in the software and
technology services industries: products and professional services.

Compuware declared its financial results for the third quarter
ended Dec 31, 2006. Its revenue stood at $315.1 mn, an increase of 3% as
compared to $ 305.9 mn in the same period last year. For the third quarter
revenue generated from software license fees stood at $86.0 mn, an increase of
3.25% compared to $83.3 mn in the same period last year. Maintenance fees stood
at were $114.4 mn, an increase of 6.32% compared to $107.6 mn in the third
quarter of the previous fiscal year. Professional services fees stood at $114.7
mn, a decline of 0.26% compared to $115.0 mn in the third quarter last year. Net
income stood at $36.5 mn, a decline of 3.18% from $37.7 mn in the same period
last year.

During the quarter, Compuware introduced an application auditing
solution. It also acquired privately held Proxima Technology for approximately
$31 mn. Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) selected Compuware Covisint to
support the technology needs of the Chinese automotive industry by delivering
EDI training. Compuware shares are currently traded at $9.56.