The Office Fluent UI, perhaps the most radical UI change since Windows 95, alters the desktop paradigm and, in so doing, draws both frowns and smiles. While they don’t typically concentrate on Apple, security vendors are prepping anti-virus software Mac OS X, citing a threat to Apple’s ostensible immunity — and one firm claims it could have a product ready within days, should a situation necessitate it. Dell on Tuesday is poised to issue its first ruggedized notebook that meets all U.S. Department of Defense standards for operation in extreme conditions. Intel and SAP join forces to release an ERP appliance that includes Business All-in-One, SAP’s MaxDB database, and SuSE Enterprise Linux from Novell, in a Xeon-based box. Microsoft strikes a deal under which Nokia will put Silverlight onto its devices, thereby bringing the tool for rich Internet applications to wireless handhelds. And a German microtrend analysis firm asks Is the 4.0 era upon us? What, prey tell, happened to 3.0 and how did we skip to 4 so quickly, you ask. “Evidence of the ‘4.0’ era — an ‘always-on’ world where humans can ‘self-upgrade’ through technology extensions — is already nigh and being driven by the youngest generation,” according to TrendOne’s CEO. Software Development