Green IT: Virtualization is the highest form of sustainable business technology, asserts Ted Samson in Factor sustainability into your SaaS decision. And alongside virtualization is SaaS, “an interesting proposition indeed as the model becomes increasingly popular and viable.” Centralized datacenters, by nature, can result in less energy consumed and fewer carbon emissions. Best of the blogs: Oracle just might be ready to delay, again, the upcoming Fusion platform, rumor has it anyway. SAP has had problems with its NetWeaver and this week when Microsoft unwrapped Office Communications Server 2007 it took care to point out that it is not a platform play, Ephraim Schwartz explains in Are we witnessing the demise of the big platform? “Perhaps SOA was the final nail in the coffin of the platform view of the world.” Thus, another question: Will NetWeaver and Fusion slowly die from neglect? Columnist’s corner: There are differences between Oracle’s push to acquire BEA Systems and its hostile takeover of Peoplesoft. This time around “nobody really cares,” writes David Margulius. “We’re unlikely to see a court case, a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit, customer protests, or lots of media hand-wringing,” he adds in BEA vs. Peoplesoft: Top 10 reason it’s different. For one, Oracle could really use application-neutral middleware right about now to tie together all the disparate legacy platforms it sells. “It’s a ‘tuck-in’ acquisition, like going to the doctor’s office to get a little hit of Botox.” Notes from the field: Amazon’s 1-click patent has always struck Cringely as excessive. “Apparently Peter Calveley thought so too,” he writes in Click on this, Amazon. “The USPTO ruled in the Caveley’s favor, rejecting 21 of Amazon’s 26 patent claims as overbroad.” Cringe, of course, has a patent of his own in incubation. Technology Industry