Microsoft faces anti-trust set-back

The nine US states seeking the imposition of tougher anti-trust penalties against Microsoft received a boost yesterday when the case's presiding judge ruled that they could present a modular version of Windows to the court. The states are arguing that Microsoft should be forced to develop a modular version of Windows that will allow other developers to substitute their own applications in place of Microsoft 'middleware' such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. Microsoft has argued that such a sanction would prove difficult if not impossible to implement, would confuse customers and would not work the same way, or as well as, the current all-in versions of Windows. ...more

Samsung announces NAND-based hard disk drive replacement

Samsung Electronics says it has created the first solid-state disk drive based on NAND Flash memory technology popular in consumer electronics and mobile PC devices. The development opens the way to new storage options for PDAs, music players, digital cameras and mobile phones with the first applications likely to appear inside sub notebook PCs. The Korean electronics giant says the NAND-based hard disk is based around the 8Gb NAND Flash devices it announced in September of last year, Samsung says it can build disk drives with a capacity of up to 16GB. ...more

Jobs named in Apple lawsuit

Steve Jobs heads a list of Apple notables named in the recent shareholders' lawsuit over irregularities in the company's issuing of stock options. Apple revealed last week that it faces two lawsuits arising from its own internal investigation into the granting of options. One lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges 'company executives and directors colluded to backdate stock options in order to maximize the return on their options, breaching their fiduciary duties to the company and causing the company millions in losses'. ...more

The checked Czech 3G auction

Further ammunition for those who believe there has been massive over-bidding for 3G licences: the Czech government has now had to backtrack in its national auction. The Czech version of the now-notorious 3G bidding process was effectively boycotted by the leading Czech GSM operators last month, with the initial asking price deemed far too high for the size and maturity of the market. There were no takers for the first round of tender. ...more

Microsoft allows Office to be bundled with new PCs

Microsoft is making the first heave on the Office 2007 bandwagon due at the beginning of next year with a series of new initiatives to recruit new retailers and tempting customers to upgrade. At the Worldwide Partner Conference 2006 in Boston, the company has announced new initiatives that will allow OEMs to bundle Office Home and the Education version with a new PC. Until now they have been restricted to bundling the woefully underpowered Microsoft Works with new machines. ...more