Piracy of audio CDs rises by 25 per cent

Forget the threat of Napster, it seems that the real threat to the music industry still comes from the professional pirates who duplicate CDs. According to the Music Piracy Report 2001 from the IFPI, the sale of pirate discs rose from 510 million units in 1999 to an estimated 640 million units in 2000. It's believed that the growing number of illegal CD-R copying plants has been behind the proliferation of cheap copies. ...more

Microsoft turns the screw on pirate Windows

Microsoft is to step up the pressure on software piracy by extending its 'Genuine Advantage` policy. In future, in order to get free updates and downloads from Microsoft, users will be required to 'validate' that their copy of Windows is genuine. The company says that security updates will be exempted in order to protect the whole Windows community. ...more

Visualising your days

For those with a busy diary, Visual Day Planner v7.3 is a 'network capable' calendar to help you plan your days. Features include alarms, the entry of recurring events, customisation of fonts and images, and the ability to view your future in a monthly, weekly or daily format. ...more

Microsoft establishes 'interoperability council'

Microsoft has established a group known as the 'Interoperability Customer Executive Council' with the aim of identifying areas for interoperability improvements across its range of products and the overall software industry. Among the founding members are Soci?t? G?n?rale, LexisNexis, Kohl's Department Stores, Denmark's Ministry of Finance, Spain's Generalitat de Catalunya and Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI), and the states of Wisconsin and Delaware The choice of founding members says something about Microsoft's business strategy. Many of the companies are from Europe where the EU has been involved in an increasingly bitter dispute over interoperability issues with Windows Server. ...more

And also today (22-October-2001)...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. MS recruits top developer Microsoft has recruited the C++ expert Stanley Lippman to its Visual C++.NET team. ...more