Microsoft surprises again with record second-quarter revenues, beating Wall Street expectations.

 The business software maker taps William McCracken as its new chief executive and eases past analysts' forecasts in its latest quarter.

 The e-commerce giant tops estimates and says fourth-quarter sales were up 42 percent over a year ago.

 CIOs are looking for IT workers with a variety of skill sets and are investing in virtualization and Software-as-a-Service projects to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

 "We're not cutting Sun to profitability, we're growing Sun to profit."

 Oracle details its post-Sun plan for delivering integrated and engineered systems to the enterprise. Want a hint? Think IBM in the 1960s.

 Software giant blames weak global economy for lackluster sales and earnings in its most recent quarter and offers up a less-than-spectacular forecast for 2010.

 Reports of solid Windows 7 sales may, but there are other issues to consider.

 With renewed optimism and strengthening balance sheets, IT execs see opportunities in security, healthcare, green IT and virtualization.