Microsoft appeals second EC fine

Microsoft has formally lodged an appeal with the Court of First Instance against the €280.5mn fine imposed back in July. The fine was imposed on Microsoft by the European Commission following its failure to comply with the March 2004 Decision, requiring the software giant to publish the details of the interfaces to Windows Server 2003 that would allow rival software companies to develop applications on the same basis as Microsoft's own teams. ...more

Disney eyes Steve Jobs for top movie studio job

Walt Disney's nephew wants Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs to take over at the top of the famous movie studio, according to the New York Post. Roy Disney and fellow former board member Stanley Gold are currently waging a war of words with current CEO Michael Eisner. Both were recently booted off the board, despite Disney being one of the major shareholders. ...more

Global software piracy hits 36 per cent

Thirty-six per cent of computer software in use worldwide during 2003 was pirated, according to the latest figures from the Business Software Alliance. While the global market in legitimate copies was worth $51bn, an additional $29bn was illegally installed. The piracy rate of 36 per cent, calculated by dividing the value of illegal software by the combined value of legal and illegal, was up two per cent on the previous year's figure. ...more

AOL members spend, spend, spend over Xmas

Step forward the first company to blow its own trumpet over Christmas e-commerce. AOL has reported that its members spent a staggering $4.6bn online over the holidays. ...more

Microsoft's Windows 2000 Datacenter

Microsoft will announce the release of Windows 2000 Datacenter at a press conference in San Fransisco later today. The heavyweight version of the OS will be targeted at the high-end Unix server market, running e-commerce Web sites and large-scale applications. The product, already several months behind its summer release date, can handle upto 32 processors and 64GB of memory. ...more