WinInsider

Microsoft Boots PlayStation 2 Out of CeBIT
This one is pretty funny: Microsoft officials complained to CeBIT show organizers this week that Sony was allowing showgoers to play PlayStation 2 games in its booth. Well, it turns out that CeBIT has specific rules about video games, since the show is designed for business resellers and purchasers only. So Sony was told to take down its PlayStation 2 displays, cart 'em up, and get on out of there. Pay no attention to that maniacal laughing you hear in the background.

Red Hat calls net loss of $139 million a year of success. So what is a bad year? Like Apple Computer, Linux-maker Red Hat likes to put a positive spin on things. Witness its recently completed fiscal year 2002, which Red Hat referred to as "a successful year for [the company]." How successful was the year for Red Hat? Well, it reported a net loss of $139 million, a dramatic increase over its loss of $87 million the year before, and a figure that's higher than the company's actual sales for the year. Most alarmingly, sales of embedded products dropped dramatically as well (and yet we continue to read about the embedded market as the new frontier for Linux sales). Anyway, after announcing its successful yearly results, the company eliminated its network consulting group, cut staff, and announced a move of its corporate headquarters that will save $700 million in real estate costs. I'm coming around to the idea that the Linux phenomenon might be best expressed in the hundreds of tiny companies that support the technology, rather than large corporations like this that simply try to ape Microsoft.