Microsoft claims EU censure could mean substandard Windows

Microsoft has insisted that if the EU rules that Windows Media Player must be removed from PCs it will result in a 'substandard' Windows. Giving evidence at the European Commissions enquiry into alleged anti-competitive practices, the company 'ruled out removing Media Player from Windows as part of any settlement', according to Reuters. Microsoft's hardline stance would appear to make an out-of-court settlement unlikely. ...more

SCO cuts losses but cash reserves dwindle

SCO has set out its Q3 results, claiming a profitable Unix business, but there's still no sign that the trickle of Linux licensing revenues are anywhere near the cost of squeezing them out. The Unix company stated a net loss of $7.4mn on revenues of $11. ...more

Liteon has announced new top-end DVD burners

While the technology has already reached the maximum 16-speed write limits, there is still room for improvement when it comes to rewrite: erasing existing data and writing fresh data in its place. Liteon's new drives claim an 8-speed rewrite for + media and 6-speed rewrite performance for - media. The +RW format is supported by the DVD Alliance, while the -RW format is championed by the DVD Forum. ...more

Gartner warns over Google Desktop

Research firm Gartner is the latest company to warn organisations of the security risk presented by Google's Desktop 3. In a report, Gartner concludes that the danger of company confidential data being intercepted outside the corporation's firewall represented an 'unacceptable risk'. Version three of the Desktop file management tool includes a controversial 'Search Across Computers' feature which allows a user to set certain files held on a particular machine to be made available as part of the search results from another PC. ...more

Motorola admits the ROKR doesn't ROLL

Motorola's chief executive has admitted that the company may have got it wrong with the recently released, iTunes-compatible ROKR phone. Ed Zander was responding to news that the number of people returning the phone is six times higher than normal according to American Technology Report. 'We got off to a little bit of a rough start,' Zander said. ...more