Five Companies That Dropped The Ball This Week

Juniper Loses Key Channel Exec Vitagliano

Frank Vitagliano, senior vice president of Americas Partners at Juniper, is ending his seven-year run at the company on March 31. Vitagliano, a seasoned channel veteran, is credited with building Juniper's channel nearly from scratch.

No word yet on whom Juniper has in mind to replace him, but partners told CRN they're keen to know, as soon as possible, who will be taking his place.

EU Slaps Microsoft With $731 Million Fine Over IE Misstep

Longtime Microsoft nemesis the European Union has hit the software giant with a $731 million fine for not allowing Windows users to choose Web browsers other than Internet Explorer. Microsoft accepted blame for its misdeed and chalked it up to a technical problem, according to Reuters.

"If companies agree to offer commitments, which then become legally binding, they must do what they have committed to do or face the consequences," Joaquin Almunia, the EU's competition commissioner, said in a press conference, as reported by Reuters.

Google Sheds More Employees From Motorola Mobility Team

The $12.5 billion Google paid to acquire Motorola Mobility looks even worse after the search firm revealed plans this week to lay off some 1,200 employees, or roughly 10 percent of the struggling unit's remaining staff. In an internal email sent to employees, Google said "while we're very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges" according to The Wall Street Journal.

Google trimmed 4,000 Motorola Mobility jobs last August and is apparently still having a tough time getting the unit's cost structure in line.

Oracle Scrambling To Secure Java As Attack Toolkit Surfaces

Oracle continues to wrestle with security vulnerabilities in its Java software framework. The vendor rushed out an emergency update for Java early in the week, repairing two browser-related vulnerabilities, including one that is currently being exploited in ongoing attacks. Later, security researchers at Webroot uncovered a new automated attack toolkit that facilitates Web-based attacks targeting Java vulnerabilities.

Although both vulnerabilities have been patched by Oracle, miscreants are clearly setting their sights on Java and will likely continue to do so as long as some folks ignore their Java configurations.

Nokia Patent Claim Against HTC Rejected By German Court

A court in Germany dismissed two Android-related patent claims that Nokia filed against rival HTC last May, according to a report from CIO. Nokia still has 34 active patent claims against HTC, but this is still a setback for the Finnish handset maker, which settled a similar claim against RIM in December via a licensing agreement.