SAP may be saying the Business ByDesign is not dead. But rival NetSuite is telling the world that the online program is going the way of the dinosaurs. On its home page, NetSuite has posted what it is calling "SAP Business DyDesign Sunset Migration Program" replete with an art element that represents lovely, glowing sunset.

Abila, which acquired the former Sage Nonprofit Solutions, has brought the MIP name back to the nonprofit software market. We should say, it has formally brought the name back because MIP, short for the former Micro Information Products, has been in active use among the reseller and user community despite its official disappearance. Abila says the decision was in response to customer feedback. "We listened to our customers and brought back the MIP name for our fund accounting solution, signifying a rich tradition in software going back 30 years," says Abila CEO Krista Endsley. Micro Information Products first released the product in 1982. After it was acquired by Sage in 2001, it disappeared under Sage's rebranding and was finally known as Sage 100 Fund Accounting. The product is now Abila MIP Fund Accounting. For the other products acquired from the Sage, the renaming was simply a matter of replacing the name Sage with the word, Abila. The other renamed products are Abila Fundraising 50, Abila Fundraising Online, Abila Grant Management, Abila Nonprofit Online and Abila Millennium

Revenue for the Netherlands-based Unit4 rose by 5 percent for the third quarter ended September 30. The company, which markets the Agresso and Coda applications, reported revenue of about $150 million for the most recent period as SaaS and subscription revenue rose by 40 percent while product license revenue fell by 3 percent. The company is also the majority investor in FinancialForce.com whose revenue was almost 80-percent higher than the year-ago figures. EBITDA hit about $33.million, a rise of 16-percent over a year earlier despite the company's increased investment of FinancialForce.com. In its official statement, Unit4 commented that "North America performed well including further sales into the education and travel sectors." CFO Edwin van Leeuwen noted the potential for large cloud deals to have a negative impact. If larger deals that are normally seen in the last few months of the year are sold as cloud installations that will cut into the fourth-quarter margin. That is because the company can recognize only a small percentage of revenue from cloud deals immediately.

Sage UK has introduced Sage One Accounts Extra, a souped up version of its low-end online accounting package. And the company clearly sees this as a big deal with the official announcement calling it "one of its most significant technology launches in the UK." It seems to me that in the past year Sage has mentioned this kind of functionality hitting the wider market. In any event, the launch covers both the United Kingdom and Ireland.