New York company E-Data said on Tuesday that it has settled a patent infringement suit filed against Microsoft and others, based on music download services in Europe.
Last October, the small company sued a European division of Microsoft, along with the HMV Group, Internet service provider Tiscali and digital music company On Demand Distribution (OD2), charging them with violation of a patent that covers the downloading of information onto a tangible object such as a CD. Music download services operated by the four companies allowed consumers to burn downloaded music to a CD.
Linux adversary the SCO Group sued rival software maker Novell on Tuesday, alleging that Novell has falsely claimed that it controls the Unix operating system. The suit, filed in Utah's Third District Court in Salt Lake City, accuses Novell of slander and seeks an order that would require Novell to assign to SCO all Unix-related copyrights and to withdraw any statements claiming ownership of Unix.
"SCO takes this action today given Novell's recent and repeated announcements regarding their claimed ownership of the Unix and UnixWare copyrights," SCO lawyer Mark Heise said in a statement. "SCO has received many questions about Novell's actions from potential customers, investors and the press. Although SCO owns the Unix and UnixWare copyrights, Novell's efforts to claim ownership of these copyrights has forced this action."
Microsoft has sent an e-mail soliciting prospective beta testers to fill out a questionnaire concerning their typical use of digital media on the PC, as well as television viewing habits.
Completing out the survey qualifies individuals to participate in testing out new digital media experiences for Windows-based consumer PCs. The beta test fits the timetable for the upcoming release of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, code-named "Symphony."
Microsoft has admitted it may have taken things too far and has promised to treat Rowe fairly. A Microsoft spokesperson said, "We appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name. We take our trademark seriously, but maybe a little too seriously in this case."
Under the law, Microsoft is required to take action to protect its trademark against widespread infringement. Struan Robertson, editor of legal IT Web site Out-Law.com, explained that if a trademark holder does not take action to protect its trademark whenever it is aware of a potential infringement, it risks losing that protection.
As LinuxWorld Expo begins this week, Microsoft and IBM are offering up migration tools and programs to gain customer and partner converts to their respective platforms.
Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., will try to encourage Unix-to-Windows migrations with its Windows Services for Unix Version 3.5 upgrade, which was formally unveiled late last week, while IBM is trying to push Windows NT-to-Unix migrations though programs for its customers and partners.
In the professional world, most programming can be summed up in two words: data manipulation. And these days, much of the data being manipulated comes prepackaged in XML documents or SQL tables.
So why do languages like C# force programmers to use obtuse APIs to access those data structures? It would be much more convenient if C# had a notion of XML and SQL built directly into the language--and if Microsoft has its way, it soon will.
Xen, a new programming language coming out of Microsoft Research and developed in conjunction with the University of Cambridge, promises to bring together three disparate but integral components of programming, wrapping them together in .Net. Xen's creators use a geometric metaphor to illustrate this conjoining, calling the language a means to program with "circles, triangles, and rectangles."
I still remember my first meeting with the Microsoft Smart Display team, back when the project was still known by the code-name "Mira." I came away unimpressed, unable to understand why any of them considered the wireless screen technology even close to being ready for release--especially when a much more functional Microsoft Tablet PC was waiting in the wings. "This product is several revs from ready," I told the Microsofties. "You're going to get killed in the first reviews."
Wall Street analysts expect Microsoft to report another solid quarter when it reveals its latest financial results this week. It would be nothing new for the company, which routinely reports rising revenue and earnings. Despite relatively consistent financial performance, though, Microsoft has been lagging others in the tech sector in one key area.
The software company's share price has remained relatively flat during the past 12 months, even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has climbed more than 48 percent. Shares of Microsoft ended trading Friday afternoon at $27.81, not much changed from their price around the same time last year.
A cadre of former Lotus software employees is leading a reinvigorated push at Microsoft to lure Lotus customers to .Net with new products and services. Over the next six to eight months, the Redmond, Wash., company plans to roll out a series of initiatives, including a tool kit, due this summer, that allows Domino developers to create Notes- and Domino-based Web services using Microsoft development tools such as Visual Studio .Net and Visual Basic.
In an apparent softening of its antipathy toward Microsoft, Sun Microsystems plans to begin certifying its hardware to run the Windows operating system, a Sun executive said on Thursday. "We'll certify Windows," said Larry Singer, Sun's senior vice president of global market strategy. "We're getting off of our religious crusade and we're going to sell people what they want to buy,"
Though Sun has no plans to start selling Windows itself, the certification will give Sun's customers new options outside of running the Solaris and Linux operating systems that Sun supports, Singer said. "If you have a Windows license, you can load it on that machine, and it means that Microsoft will take your support calls," said Singer.