The 10 Biggest Software Stories Of 2012

3. Dell Becomes A Serious Software Vendor

Dell started out in PCs, later moving into server and storage hardware. But 2012 was the year the company really got serious about adding software to its product lineup and becoming a full IT technology and service provider.

While the company has made a number of software and cloud technology acquisitions in recent year, Dell took a major step in February when it created a separate software group and hired ex-CA Technologies CEO John Swainson (pictured) to run it. That was quickly followed by the company's acquisition of SonicWall, a developer of network security and data protection software. But the real leap came later in the year when it bought Quest Software, a supplier of security, storage and application management software, for $2.4 billion.

Early in 2012, CEO Michael Dell declared: "Dell is not a PC company." Competitors should have listened ...