1. Back to basics

2. New economy, old rules, it turns out You can't spend more than you make, at least not for very long. You can't sustain a business without customers You can't sell a product that's more idea than reality You can't head off in pursuit of e-everything and neglect the basics of the business

3. REALITY e-business expectations have been scaled back "The market is drifting toward ‘safe choices’ says Scott Nelson, vice president and research director at Gartner Group. "As such, if clients become concerned that a vendor will not be around, they drift to the big- name players, even if the solution is not adequate to their needs."

4. REALITY Paul Raines, head of global information risk management for investment bank agrees “We're a lot more careful about whom we deal with. We don't want to buy something from someone and then find out that they've gone out of business. Products and services from large, established companies are now much more appealing."

5. Top 5 R&D Spenders Rank Company R&D Spending ($M) Percentage 1 IBM $5,127.05.8% 2 Microsoft $3,886.7 16.3% 6 H-P $2,634.2 5.4% 14 Sun $1,860.6 9.7% 9 Compaq $1,271.5 3.0%

7. TOP 25 http://www.softwaremag.com/SW500_200 1/Top25.cfmhttp://www.softwaremag.com/SW500_200 1/Top25.cfmhttp://www.softwaremag.com/SW500_200 1/Top25.cfmhttp://www.softwaremag.com/SW500_200 1/Top25.cfm