Microsoft commits to AMD flavour of 64-bit Windows

Microsoft is to produce 64-bit versions of its Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems for AMD processors. The native versions will be for AMD's soon-to-appear Opteron processor for servers and workstations, and upcoming 64-bit Athlon processors, for both desktops and notebooks. Beta releases from Microsoft are expected to appear this summer. ...more

EC hints at fresh moves against Microsoft

The European Commission has hinted that it may bring a fresh case against Microsoft after receiving new complaints about the company. But EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said that the Commission would wait for the result of Microsoft's appeal against the first penalties imposed after the first investigation into anti-competitive behaviour before deciding whether to press ahead. 'We have had informal complaints, and we are using our time now to look at them,' Kroes said. ...more

Sony drives out all-format DVD drives

Tomorrow Sony will announce internal and external all-format DVD burning drives The drives will read and write both DVD-R and DVD+R formats at 2x DVD-RW, 2.4x DVD+R/RW, 4x DVD-R, 8x DVD read, 10x CD-RW, 24x CD-R and 32x CD-read. The speeds are the same across the internal and external drives, with the latter connecting via USB 2. ...more

Microsoft picks up a COO from Wal-Mart

Microsoft has appointed Wal-Mart executive Kevin Turner as its new chief operating officer, filling a position that has been vacant for three years since the departure of Rick Belluzzo. Turner will effectively become number three at the company, behind CEO Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates. 'Turner's experience as a proven leader of people in Wal-Mart's incredibly dynamic sales environment; his IT background as CIO of a world-class company and his familiarity with our products and technologies as a Microsoft customer for more than a decade uniquely qualify him to serve as our COO,' Ballmer said in a company-wide email. ...more

Apple narks developers by closing off source code

Apple has begun restricting access to the source code of key components of Mac OS X, in what looks like a bid to prevent the Intel version from being hacked to run on non-Mac hardware. Two open-source developers have separately reported that code which was previously available is now behind lock and key. 'With the release of Mac OS X for x86 processors, Apple has chosen to not release source to key components of the OS, such as the kernel and all drivers, writes Rob Braun in D?mon News. ...more