Microsoft faces EC crisis as anti-trust talks break down

Talks between Microsoft and the European Commission over a settlement that would satisfy the EC's investigation into anticompetitive practices have broken down. Instead, Commissioner Mario Monti is to recommend that the EC adopts the proposals that may see penalties running into hundreds of millions of euros, that the company share some proprietary information on the Windows code with rivals to ensure interoperability and to introduce versions of its operating systems without Media Player. Monti said in a statement: 'In the end, I had do decide what was best for competition and consumers in Europe. ...more

Amnesty International targets Sun, Nortel, Cisco and Yahoo!

Human rights group Amnesty International has launched global campaign against internet repression, targeting companies including Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and Google which it says are among those implicated in helping governments censor the Internet or track down individual users. The campaign aims to claim back the Web as a force for change in the face of what the campaign group describes as increasing willingness on the part of technology companies to aid censorship and repression. 'From Iran to the Maldives and Cuba to Vietnam, governments are both cracking down on those who use the Internet to communicate their views and denying their citizens access to its wealth of information,' Amnesty said. ...more

Microsoft takes on Symantec with OneCare Live

Microsoft has officially launched its OneCare Live security software package in the United States. Retailing at a suggested price of $49.95, an annual subscription to the service can cover up to three PCs. ...more

EU pressures music industry to simplify online licensing

The European Union is increasing the pressure on record companies to simplify the licensing of music to online stores. As things stand, store operators such as Apple and Napster have to secure separate licensing deals for each country in which they wish to sell downloads. Naturally this has slowed the introduction of services, with only Apple established beyond the core markets in the UK, France and Germany and some services including Yahoo!'s yet to break out of the US. ...more

Windows source code leaked onto the Internet

The tightly guarded source code for the Windows operating system has been leaked onto the internet, it has been revealed. The code is said to consist of parts of the Windows 2000 and Windows NT versions of the OS. Microsoft says that it doesn't know how the code appeared on the internet but that the company was made aware of it on Thursday. ...more