New Gnome desktop boasts giant leap forward

The Gnome free desktop environment for Linux and Unix has been updated. As well as incorporating the Evolution email and workgroup client, version 2.8 has improved support for removable devices and networking and extra tools for sysadmins. ...more

WorldCom to face fraud charges

The fallen giant WorldCom will face charges of securities fraud, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing the communications company of improper accounting. The official process is not imminent, however. The US District Judge Jed Rakoff has set March 31 as the start date for the World Com case, reports Reuters. ...more

Microsoft claims 'breakthrough' in eleventh-hour talks to soothe EU

Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith emerged from EU talks with what he decribes as a 'blueprint' for compliance as the company holds emergency talks to stave off daily multi-million Euro fines Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith emerged from two days of closed-door discussions with the EU over its alleged failure to fully meet the terms of the antitrust ruling claiming a 'breakthrough' had been reached. The world's biggest software company faces fines of up to €2mn a day for its failure to fully meet provisions that it make data available to rival companies that wish to build products that can interoperate with Microsoft programs. Last month an independent, Microsoft-approved monitoring trustee appointed by the EU described Microsoft's efforts in this respect as 'incomplete, inaccurate and unusable'. ...more

Burn a national flag - online!

Chinese authorities are taking a dim view of a website that encourages surfers to burn the national flag - virtually! The website is in Chinese but attacks Beijing as a "bloody regime" and asks participants to "burn down the symbol of an evil power". A link then takes you to a picture of the Chinese flag desecrated with a Nazi symbol and a political message that invites the viewer to "overthrow the dictatorship." As you can imagine, it is an offence in China to burn or mutilate the national flag and the authorities are desperate to catch the culprits. ...more

Sun promises native Java technology support for the 64-bit AMD Opteron

Sun is promising native Java technology support for the 64-bit AMD Opteron processor, offering a migration path from 32-bit to 64-bit computing for Java applications. It has announced it will be working with AMD to make the 64-bit Linux and Windows ports to AMD Opteron available with the release of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) v1.5. ...more