AMD Opteron to shadow Intel Xeon pricing

At the end of July, AMD re-jigged its pricing for the 64-bit Opteron server range to make way for a new release, the Model 246, which appeared earlier this week. From now on, however - according to reports on the Net - AMD will be explicitly shadowing the price charged for Intel's 32-bit server processor, the Xeon. Effectively, AMD is serving notice of higher charges for subsequent Opteron chips. ...more

ISPs to top up revenues on disaster relief schemes

A recent Forrester report on the impact of the war on the Internet predicts ISPs will top up revenues by 'exploiting' disaster relief initiatives. The report suggests that ISPs will get a 'much-needed cash injection' by 'exploiting the billing relationship with subscribers.' This is based on evidence from fund-raising initiatives in the aftermath of 11 September when 'ISPs like AOL helped raise ?150m through online fundraising, of which they took a small cut,' reads the report. ...more

Chinese law bans OS-free PC sales

In a bid to reduce software counterfeiting, the Chinese government has told computer manufacturers that they are no longer allowed to ship PCs without having first installed an operating system. The order was made at the end of last month ahead of a visit by the country's president, Hu Jintao, to the USA. However China insisted that the move was not prompted by pressure from US software companies, who have called for the Bush administration to take action to reduce the level of counterfeiting. ...more

Interview: Richard Stallman, on Free Software and patents

Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU operating system and the Free Software Foundation. The GNU operating system is a fundamental part of the GNU/Linux platform, and at the heart of the Free and Open Source Software community. Stallman and supporters of Free Software take the position that software patents stifle innovation and creativity and are counter to the goals of Free Software: to promote 'computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs'. ...more

IP telephony receives Intel boost

Network chips promote home networks and VoIP apps. Intel has unveiled three new network processors that offer WAN and LAN interfaces as well as VoIP (Voice over IP) and security technologies. Intel has also updated its Integrated Performance Primitives (Intel IPP) to version 3. ...more