Microsoft confirmed this weekend that Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates underwent two days of deposition questioning related to the company's ongoing antitrust problems late last week. In a meeting room at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Gates responded to queries about two private antitrust class action lawsuits that the company is facing in the wake of its guilty verdict in the wider federally- launched antitrust case. The cases Gates discussed are separate from the two antitrust suits brought by the federal government and 18 US states.
Cars in BMW's new line, the BMW 7 Series, are equipped with a special kind of Windows: the Microsoft kind. Microsoft's Windows CE software will allow BMW drivers to navigate, make calls and control many of the cars' other features. The BMW 7 Series was launched in Germany last fall and has just been released in the United States. The new line of BMWs use a navigating system from Siemens, called the Siemens VDO Automotive AG, which includes Microsoft's operating system. Microsoft also recently announced the launch of Windows CE for Automotive v3.5, the newest version of its software for cars based on Windows CE.
Intel is bringing more power to people on the go. The chipmaker on Monday launched the Pentium 4-M, the first mobile version of its flagship Pentium 4 processor. Intel said the new chip offers clock speeds of 1.6GHz to 1.7GHz, increases the speed of the front side bus from 133MHz to 400MHz and adds faster Double Data Rate SDRAM memory technology for an overall performance increase of as much as 49 percent compared with its top-of-the-line 1.2GHz Pentium III-M chip.
With the extra performance on tap from the Pentium 4-M, many analysts expect consumers to adopt notebooks in greater numbers. At the same time, PC makers are counting on corporations to begin buying PCs and notebooks again after the shrinking economy of 2001 caused them to put hardware upgrades on hold.
Microsoft combined its mobile devices and hosting divisions into one unit, and appointed Pieter Knook to head its push into mobile software and services. Knook will be Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's amalgamated Network Service Provider (NSP) and Mobile Devices groups, the software giant said Friday. Knook, a 12-year veteran at Microsoft, has also worked in the company's service provider and software businesses, and served as leader of the company's NSP group and president of Microsoft's sales group in Asia.
As head of the combined unit, Knook will work with the Windows CE, Pocket PC and smart phone projects to integrate them into the company's mobile strategy. Microsoft unveiled parts of that strategy in February, when it said it would develop blueprints for phones that will run its Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 operating system.
Microsoft Corp. plans to argue in court hearings next week that if antitrust sanctions sought by state prosecutors are granted, the company would be forced to pull its latestWindows computeroperating systems off the market and be unable to develop new systems. In court filings late Friday, the company said the recently released consumer operating system, Windows XP, and the business-oriented Windows 2000 system could not be redesigned to satisfy state demands that they be made available in separate versions, with and without key programs, such as the Internet Explorer Web browser.
The states want Kollar-Kotelly to withhold judgment on the agreement until after they present their case. Microsoft and the Justice Department want Kollar-Kotelly to quickly rule on the agreement and then impose the same terms in the state case. The judge has given no indication of how, of if, she intends to marry the two judgments. Microsoft has asked the judge to dismiss the states' case, challenging their legal right to pursue national antitrust penalties.
Thanks to NeoWin for this link!
America Online users, you have unwanted packages -- due either to the activities of malicious hackers, aggressive pop-up ads or a sudden widespread epidemic of shopping amnesia. AOL has billed thousands of its users for products presented in pop-up ads after users clicked a "no thanks" button to refuse the offer, according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The charges were made public late Monday.
A group of hackers who focus on finding security holes in AOL's systems contend the most likely culprits are a bunch of bored kids who hacked into AOL accounts, perhaps with the assistance of disgruntled AOL employees. Members of this group recently reported two major security holes in AOL's Instant Messenger program.
Thanks to ActiveWin for this link
Last week came AOL Time Warner's long-threatened lawsuit against Microsoft over the browser wars of the ancient 1990s, the loser of which, Netscape, was later acquired by AOL. All media companies are struggling with a bad ad market, and AOL has been whacked lately for failing to keep the promise of its 2000 merger with Time Warner. Maybe AOL hopes to boost its lagging stock price by dangling in front of handicappers the prospect of a big settlement, but we don't see it.
What we do see is that when companies become preoccupied with prosecuting their rivalries in courts and through politics, it's usually a sell signal. And AOL's case is not as lead-pipe as its media spin suggests. Microsoft's sin amounts to making a better browser than Netscape's and giving it away free. Not even the Justice Department managed to prevail with a claim that Microsoft was a browser monopolist. AOL will have to argue to a judge that Microsoft should have stayed out of the browser market so Netscape could soak consumers for an inferior product.
Somebody is also bound to point out that Netscape's biggest problem lately hasn't been Microsoft but AOL's management. AOL could have promoted Netscape's browser to millions of AOL subscribers but chose to let the company atrophy instead. Now Netscape's market share has fallen to single digits.
Bonus Pack is a review of stories and goodies that happened in past month, perfect of slow news weekend. Featuring awesome PocketPC 2002 screenshots; why does Lunix - Red Hat doesn't think they will beat Windows; When will "hyper-threading" and Intel Mobile Pentium 4 be available; Microsoft Security Initiative; Lunix's and Oracle's bad security reputation revealed; New 27GB DVD standard; Why are nine States still pursuing Microsoft Case, the story behind the close doors. Plus a ton more...
AOL Accused of Overcharging
As if $23.95 a month wasn't already too expensive for a dial-up account, AOL has found itself on the receiving end of a bogus-billing lawsuit, in which customers accuse the company of unlawfully charging them for merchandise they didn't order. AOL, known for spamming nonusers with coaster-like sign-up disks and for spamming members with annoying pop-up ads, says it's done nothing wrong. But a California law firm quickly received more than 200 complaints from users about the practice after it announced a suit and now has thousands of potential complaints. Class action, anyone?
Intel Launches Xeon DP Processors
The company announced several new advances at its developer forum; one cool new product is a server-oriented microprocessor called the Xeon DP. Intel says the new chip will eventually scale to speeds of 10GHz, although current models top out at 2.2GHz. But the chip and its corresponding chipset are important to Intel because they finally bring the server line up to speed with Intel's desktop products, which have received most of the company's focus. A multiprocessor version, the Xeon MP, will ship later this quarter.
Raymond: Cheap PCs to Doom Microsoft; Thurrott: Windows to Doom Raymond
Open-source guru Eric "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" Raymond says that Microsoft is doomed because lower PC prices will squeeze out the Windows market. "When the price of a PC falls below $350," Raymond says, "Microsoft will no longer be viable." You mean the way the Xbox got squeezed out, Eric? I have a news flash for open-source central: People have been predicting Microsoft's death since the Lotus 123/WordPerfect for DOS days. Falling PC prices won't cause the company's demise.
Microsoft will deliver the first Windows XP service pack in late 2002, several months later than originally planned, a Microsoft representative told me last night. But Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) will consist of more than just bug fixes. The company representative said that the service pack will contain new Mira and Freestyle technology, several changes required by its proposed settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and any critical updates Microsoft has issued since XP shipped last fall.