Microsoft plans to argue that the penalties - which include forcing Microsoft to release a "modular" version of Windows in which Microsoft features can be removed in favor of third-party alternatives - are not just Draconian, but impossible to carry out.
"Third party applications that rely on (the removed Windows software) will stop working as they're supposed to," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's incoming general counsel. "It's going to create new security vulnerabilities in the Windows product because as people move code they're going to create holes in the software." ... "At the end of the day it wouldn't offer any benefits that would make those problems justifiable," Smith said.
Microsoft has tapped VoiceStream Wireless and Verizon Wireless to debut a Windows-powered PocketPC device in the United States, the company announced Monday at the 2002 Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association conference. The "Thera," which will cost about $800, tops a list of new products and services that will debut this week as thousands of cellular-industry executives, battered by miserable financial conditions from 2001, look for a turnaround this year.
Microsoft returns to court on Monday for what could be the climactic showdown to its nearly 4-year-old antitrust case. The software giant will pit its ingenuity and resources against the combined forces of nine states and the District of Columbia, as the combatants engage in a contest that could determine a final remedy for Microsoft's antitrust violations. Monday marks the beginning of potentially eight weeks or more before a federal judge, as testimony resumes for the first time since the main trial's nearly 80 days in court concluded in September 1999.
A vulnerability involving an obscure UDP protocol might permits crackers to obtain remote control of Unix workstations, security experts have warned. Security firm ProCheckUp has issued an advisory warning that anonymous XDMCP connections allow remote attackers to obtain a remote console identical to a local X-Windows session, using a command enabled by default on most Unix boxes.
U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft wanted to settle the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case to allow the government "to focus on other things," according to an e-mail from an Ashcroft family friend to a leading opponent of a proposed settlement between the firm and the Justice Department. The e-mail was sent to James Barksdale, the former head of Netscape Communications Corp., who was hoping that he and Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems Inc., could speak with Justice Department officials after hearing that a deal with Microsoft was imminent.
The PC maker, whose previous consumer notebooks sold for around $1,200, on Monday will launch a new sub-$1,000 model under its SmartStep brand. The non-configurable machine will be aimed at first- or second-time PC buyers looking for portability on a budget, according to Dell. Dubbed SmartStep 100N, the $949 notebook will offer a 1.06GHz Intel Celeron processor, 128MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, a 14-inch display and a CD-ROM drive. The 6.8-pound SmartStep 100N aims to offer the lowest price possible and the easiest buying process, Dell said.
Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, said Friday that he did not expect the economic downturn to have an impact on the technology sector's long-term development. "Certainly business is not as good as a lot of people would like right now. But in a 10-year sense, I don't think it will make any difference," Ballmer said at a business conference in Copenhagen hosted by IBC Euroforum and Danish business daily Borsen. Ballmer said the next major technological leap after the arrival of the Internet would be to integrate different systems, enabling information to travel freely between computers, phones and wrist watches.
Microsoft launched its Xbox games console across Europe on Thursday, completing the third and last leg of its entry into the $20 billion a year video game industry. The supercharged gaming machine is already on sale in the United States and Japan with a global marketing budget of $500 million. It pits Microsoft against established Japanese games companies Sony Corp and Nintendo. Microsoft said the Xbox launch had gone smoothly across Europe where parties were held in more than a dozen nations and retailers threw open their doors at midnight to sell it.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will tout recent developments with the company's remote-display technology (code-named Mira) at the CeBIT trade show today in Germany. The technology includes a new generation of Mira-enabled flat-panel display screens (expected to ship late this year) that the user can pick up and carry around a house or office; the user interacts with the PC using 802.11b-based wireless networking, Windows 2000 Server Terminal Services technology, and a stylus. This week, four major new partners, including LG Electronics and Philips Electronics, signed on with Microsoft to deliver Mira-based displays.
In Germany for the CeBIT trade show this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer underscored the importance of his company's Mira technology, which will enable a new generation of detachable, smart, tablet-like display devices which can be carried around the home. The Mira technology, which will ship as part of Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) this September, lets consumers experience XP away from their PCs, Ballmer says, and that will usher in a new era of more relaxed computing.
"Mira does for monitors what the cordless handset did for telephones," Ballmer says. "It frees consumers from their home offices and allows them to enjoy the complete Windows XP experience, including full Web browsing, sending and receiving e-mail messages, listening to music, and editing and displaying digital images, from any room in their homes."