Ratner bounces back to the Web

The one thing a retailer shouldn't do is to describe his own wares as "crap". Gerald Ratner learnt this the hard way, but is now planning to make a World Wide Web come back. Gerald Ratner will probably never live down his comment that undermined his jewellery empire, but he's attempting to put it all behind him and set up a new Web site that will sell - surprise, surprise - jewellery. ...more

Microsoft responds to EC over anti-trust settlement claims

Microsoft is fighting its corner on anti-trust issues against the European Commission. Under the shadow of fines of up to €2 million a day for non-compliance with the original settlement, it claims to have answered - on a deadline day - the European complaints. Microsoft was originally fined a record €497 million by the European Commission in March 2004, and was ordered to licence important parts of the source code for Windows Server to competitors. ...more

Facebook opens up for Web applications

Facebook.com has unwrapped its highly anticipated makeover. Instead of being a members-only club, it is aiming to become an operating system for all sorts of Web applications and Internet media. ...more

BT opens up with openreach

The setting up of openreach follows the conclusion of a new regulatory settlement with Ofcom. From January 2006 it will be responsible for ensuring that all the UK's Internet Service Providers have 'transparent and equal access' to the local BT network, the so-called 'last mile' that connects homes and businesses to the BT exchange. Openreach will include BT's 25,000 field engineers whose 22,000 vans will be resprayed with brightly coloured waves, a little over two years after BT last repainted its fleet. ...more

RPC threat forces new Microsoft security bulletin

Microsoft has issued another security update for Windows users, Security Bulletin MS03-039 to be precise. Three new vulnerabilities have been identified, relating to the way Microsoft handles Remote Procedure Calls (RPC - an inter-process communication protocol, which has been the subject of another recent update). Specifically, an attacker could send malformed RPC messages to a vulnerable system, targeting the RPCSS Service. ...more