Microsoft offers surplus IP for sale

Microsoft has opened the doors to its research labs a little and is offering what it says are 'hundreds' of innovations which can be licenced by start ups and venture capitalists. The announcement of Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP) Ventures was made to a gathering of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. 'Our research labs and efforts across the company have created a large portfolio of innovative technologies that extend the reach of personal computing today, with much of it going into Microsoft products,' commented Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research. ...more

Microsoft widens the release of the new 'Avalon' UI

Microsoft has released a preview version of its next generation graphical interface. Originally intended for the 'Longhorn' version of Windows, slated for release in 2006, Microsoft now says that it will be releasing versions for Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. According to Microsoft, the ambitious Avalon project 'unifies how Windows creates, displays, and manipulates documents, media, and (the) user interface'. ...more

Microsoft offers new schools deal

Microsoft has amended the terms of its '$1 billion' offer of software, computers, training and cash to US schools in return for the settlement of one of the outstanding anti-trust cases hanging over it. Under the changed proposals, the foundation that will oversee the allocation of the monies will be joined by representatives of Connectix - which makes Virtual PC - and education software company Key Curriculum Press. In addition the foundation will assume responsibility for the allocation of the $90 million of training funding. ...more

Windows costs just $50, Microsoft tells court

Microsoft has outlined its defence of the latest of the several class-action antitrust lawsuits it has faced, this time in the US state of Iowa. In his opening statement, Microsoft's lead attorney, David Tulchin, started by assuring jurors that the issues involved are not as complex as the plaintiffs' attorneys had suggested in their opening remarks. 'The real issues are not complicated,' Tulchin said. ...more

Sober epidemic reveals strength of its botnet origins

The Sober epidemic may be a testament to the size of the botnet used to spam it out, rather than any indication of actual infection levels, according to antivirus experts Kaspersky labs. Many security companies, including Kaspersky, noted high levels of Sober-infected email traffic in the 'epidemic' that kicked off 2 May. Sophos said that about 80 per cent of virus reports were Sober-related and that infected mails accounted for nearly 5 per cent of all traffic. ...more