Microsoft Corp. is set to release five security patches Tuesday, including a fix for an Internet Explorer bug that hackers have been exploiting during the past two weeks. Microsoft will also offer fixes for three bugs in Windows and another for an unspecified problem in the Micro-soft Office bundle. Microsoft offered few details on other patches, except to say that some will require that the computers be restarted.

SAP slowly enters hosted app business

SAP AG will gradually expand its hosted software business, as long as it doesn't "cannibalize" its enterprise software business, CEO Henning Kagermann told reporters last week. Kagermann said SAP will work to keep up with the on-demand business of rivals Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. but added that "we'll never substitute our core business. [On-demand] will be an additional revenue stream."

Turbolinux buys maker of PHP tools

Linux operating system supplier Turbolinux Inc. has agreed to buy a 90 percent stake in Zend Japan Ltd., a maker of tools based on the PHP scripting language. Turbolinux bought the stake from Open Source Japan Ltd., Zend's parent company, with a view to increasing distribution of Zend's tools for building Web-based database applications.