Truffle Capital reveals the 8th Truffle 100 list-- a ranking of the top 100 European software companies according to revenues, complete with analysis on the current state of the industry.

According to the list European 2012 software revenues total €41.1 billion, up by 10% from 2011 (€37.2bn), with 76% of revenues generated by the top 25 companies.

All companies had 2012 revenues of over €46 million, with 46 showing revenues of over €200m, 62 making over €100m and 97 earning over €50m, even if total profits are down by -8.7% to €5.8bn.

SpectraCal releases what they claim is “the most powerful calibration software ever made available for personal computer monitors:” CalMAN RGB.

“We’ve been able to calibrate computer monitors precisely before,” Derek Smith, SpectraCal’s founder and Chief Technical Officer, explains “And there have been one-button monitor calibration solutions for a long time. What’s new is being able to do both. There’s never been a fast, automated solution that provides the level of accuracy CalMAN RGB delivers.”

For most users, calibrating a computer monitor with CalMAN RGB will be as simple as centering a meter on their screen and pushing a button.

Various devices currently get 3 versions of Windows-- 8, RT and Phone. However Microsoft head of devices July Larson-Green suggests the company might merge the three operating systems into a single, ultimate, version of Windows.

"One Windows to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them," as Tolkien might have put it if he were writing about the IT industry and not elves and hobbits...

Speaking at the 2013 UBS Global Technology Conference, Larson-Green says "We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We're not going to have three."

Such plans for convergence of major products makes sense following the massive Microsoft management reshuffle of June 2013 creating the so-called "One Microsoft." As part of the reorganisation work on Windows across console, mobile and PC now falls to new OS engineering group headed by former Windows Phone group leader Terry Myerson.

What are the drivers of enterprise software growth? According to IDC the answer is Big Data/analytics, content applications and system software, as the global H1 2013 software market grows by 5.5% Y-o-Y to $179 billion.

Such growth is higher (if slightly) than the 5.1% Y-o-Y experienced during H1 2012, and can be seen as a sign of recovery following the uncertainty caused by Eurozone turmoil, even if the W. European market remains slow with 5.1% Y-o-Y growth.

"Enterprises are seeing new opportunities to drive new and improved products and services by leveraging information," IDC says. "Therefore, it stands to reason that software to manage, access, and share information (structured and unstructured) continues to be a priority for competing in today's economy and a driver of software market growth,"

The three segments making the software market as IDC sees it-- applications, application development & deployment (AD&D) and systems infrastructure software-- see H1 2013 growth of 5-6% Y-o-Y.