Sun breathes on Java logo and creates new Java portals

Sun has used the JavaOne conference in San Francisco to launch a new design for its Java logo and also launched two new Web sites to promote Java: Java.net and Java.com. ...more

Date set for HP and Compaq votes

Merge while the going's good. Hewlett-Packard has announced that it will hold a special meeting for shareholders to vote on the Compaq takeover on 19 March. Current shareowners, as at close of business 28 January 2002, will be entitled to vote. ...more

Dell promises transparency for terms and conditions

Dell has promised the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to be fairer to the rest of us. The OFT had voiced concerns to the world's biggest PC maker that some of the terms of its contracts with consumer customers violated provisions of Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 or The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. According to the Office, Dell had mixed in terms of its business contracts with those intended for consumer use. ...more

'Government should legalise private CD copying' - report

A think tank has asked the UK government to change a 300-year-old law that would allow private copying of music and films for personal use. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says that such a move would shield those who transfer their CDs onto their iPods and other MP3 players from prosecution. In its report, Public Innovation: Intellectual property in a digital age the IPPR urges the Government to create a legal 'private right to copy' that would allow people to make copies of CDs, or DVDs for their own use. ...more

Europe gives Microsoft one week for antitrust compliance

The European Commission has given Microsoft until 1 June to comply with its sanctions imposed for antitrust violations. Microsoft has still to provide information that would enable other software makers to build full interoperability with Windows servers into their own products. European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that Microsoft has agreed to reach an agreement by the end of this month. ...more