Microsoft hits eight bootleggers with lawsuits

Microsoft has stepped up its campaign against the counterfeiters by issuing eight lawsuits against companies in the US, who allegedly have been selling bootleg copies of Windows software. Each of the companies that are being sued by Microsoft is accused of distributing counterfeit versions of Windows, other Microsoft software or the Certificate of Authenticity. Over the past couple of years, Microsoft has tightened up the loopholes that made it easier for counterfeiters to operate. ...more

European Commission tells Microsoft to reveal patented information

The European Commission has told Microsoft that it must reveal what information is protected by certain of its patents in order to comply with server interoperability requirements. Competition director general Philip Lowe told Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer at their emergency meeting earlier this week that the company must move quickly or face new fines in addition to the 497mn euros it has already had to pay. As part of the antitrust ruling last year, Microsoft must make interoperability information available to other software makers. ...more

Microsoft makes midnight dash to meet EU antitrust deadline

Microsoft waited until close to midnight last night before submitting its final proposal for conforming with European Commissions penalties imposed in March 2004 for antitrust violations. The Commission will begin to assess the submission, before deciding whether to implement daily fines for non-compliance of five per cent of its daily turnover, which amounts to around $5mn per day.. ...more

Advertising keywords pop up from website text

A new Internet advertising technology is threatening to invade the last area of most websites that until now has remained ad-free: the text. Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT system searches content for specified keywords and converts them into a link. Only a difference in colour - the sponsored links will appear in green will distinguish the advertising from editorial links that commonly appear in blue. ...more

Computer virus update - at large in May

The most unwanted computer viruses of the month. Most prevalent: Homepage Last month's most frequently reported offender was the Homepage virus, aka VBS/VBSWG-X. This visual basic script takes its victims to pornographic Web sites while mailing itself to addresses stored in Outlook's address book. ...more