Microsoft promises good antitrust behaviour

Microsoft has made a set of key promises that will ensure it continues to behave in a responsible way and not fall foul of antitrust laws in the future. The company issued a statement yesterday outlining the 12 tenets it intends to stick to, based around choice for both consumers and manufacturers, opportunities for developers and interoperability for users. Vendors and users will continue to be free to customise Windows, with the former being able to disable access to features such as Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer in order to exclusively promote alternatives, such as Firefox, for example. ...more

And also today (29-August-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. Gateway cull begins Gateway is to cut 25 per cent of its workforce - about 4,600 jobs. At the beginning of the month, Gateway signalled the massive cut backs. ...more

Cisco teleports into virtual meetings

Network comms giant Cisco Systems has unveiled a high-definition, video conferencing system that it says can grow into a billion dollar business in five to seven years. Dubbed TelePresence, it is the latest move by Cisco to expand from its traditional business of network routers and switches into video - a strategy it launched with the February acquisition of cable set-top box maker Scientific Atlanta. A few analysts who were given a demonstration said TelePresence will likely compete with HP's Halo Collaboration Studio and other high-end video conferencing products by specialist technology firms like Teliris and Polycom. ...more

RIAA sword-waving scares off file-swappers

The RIAA's promise to file lawsuits against file-swappers has proved a significant deterrent - for a week. Nielsen//NetRatings has released US traffic figures for several file-swapping services. They show - for the week following the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) announcement that it was committed to tracking down and taking action against file-swappers - a 15 per cent drop. ...more

Filippino company claims to run Windows apps on Linux

Phillippines-based start up company SpecOps Labs claims to have developed software that will allow Windows applications to run on the Linux operating system. Codenamed David (as in he who slew Goliath), the company claims that the package will be available by the end of this year. SpecOps's website is short on specific detail but says that David 1. ...more