Ballmer's Asian IP warning set to backfire

When Steve Ballmer wants to make a stir he makes sure that he makes a big one. At the same venue where he spoke of Bill Gates receiving 4 million emails a day he also chose the meeting of Asian Government Leaders Forum in Singapore to spread another generous helping of fear, uncertainty and doubt about open source software. Citing a report published a few months ago, Ballmer said that Linux violates some 228 existing software patents. ...more

Google blunder on stock options threatens IPO

Google is looking at an emergency stock buyback plan after it realised it had forgotten to register staff shares under federal and state regs for securities. The company, which is teetering on the edge of an expected $36bn IPO, is now offering to rescind some 28 million shares and stock options granted to current and past staff, as well as consultants, between September 2001 and June 2004. In an SEC statement filed yesterday, it said: 'These option grants and stock issuances may have violated the Securities Act of 1933 and the state securities laws. ...more

Microsoft slams another spammer

Microsoft has been awarded $4 million in court in California against a man it had alleged had been spamming users of MSN and Hotmail. Daniel Khoshnood and his company Pointcom Inc had been sending unsolicited email to convince users to download a toolbar onto their desktops. Khoshnood had sent many emails purporting to come from Microsoft with such names as hottmail. ...more

CES: Transmeta to exit chip market?

Transmeta is reportedly planning to exit the chip manufacturing business. The company's plans to produce low-powered chips that provide real competition to Intel and AMD was big news five years ago but a lack of success partnering with manufacturers has cost millions of dollars. Things took a turn for the worse when notebook OEMs pulled out of partnerships with the chip maker, and few products using its Crusoe chip were seen in the European market. ...more

PC Fest shapes up

Details are out for the PC Fest computer roadshow that will be hitting the streets in the autumn. It's a chance to get your hands on products from the likes of Sony, HP, Iomega, Handspring, Symantec, Adobe, Canon and Macromedia, and have your questions answered by technical staff on the spot. Whether it's monitors, printers, scanners, PDAs, creative software applications or any other peripheral, the idea is that you get the chance to try before you buy, along with receiving advice. ...more