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| | | February 29, 2004
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Sunday, February 29, 2004 |
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Microsoft to reload and postpone Longhorn
Microsoft is considering an interim Windows XP release before the next major overhaul of the popular operating system debuts. Company executives have confirmed that a Windows XP upgrade, internally dubbed 'Windows XP Reloaded', is being discussed. There is, however, no clarity as to what enhancements the new version would potentially include. As the idea circulates the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, the largely security-oriented Service Pack 2 for Windows XP is slated to be released by midyear.
With the news of an interim release on the table, analysts were quick to point to yet another delay for the long-awaited Windows overhaul, currently codenamed 'Longhorn'. Two major reasons are being offered for the 'reloaded' plan apparently in the works. First, Microsoft is fearing it may lose its grip on some portions of the desktop market as Linux is increasingly proving to be a potent challenger. Secondly, the software maker is facing development problems and delays in its preparations for Longhorn.
In the past months, senior Microsoft executives have insisted there will be no interim Windows releases, and even this week some have denied Longhorn's debut is being postponed. Still, analysts are saying a delay is inevitable, especially if considerable efforts and enhancements are put in a Windows XP Reloaded release.
More from: CNET News.com | Computerworld | CRN | eWeek 1 2 3 | NewsFactor | Reuters | VNUNET.com
U.S. denies Oracle the PeopleSoft gulp
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the $9.4 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft by Oracle. The government alleges that a PeopleSoft takeover would hurt the competition in the market for software sold to large enterprises. Attorneys general from seven other states joined the litigation against Oracle, and others signaled they may follow suit.
With what some called a crushing argument, the Justice Department cited a 2002 report by Charles Phillips now an Oracle co-president and then an industry analyst that said: "The market [...] is dominated by an oligopoly comprised of SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle." The government also claimed the combination of the two companies will cause an unreasonable rise in software prices and will hamper innovation.
Oracle vowed to challenge the claims and continue its fight for PeopleSoft. The world's second largest software company even publicly accused the Justice Department of succumbing to the aggressive lobbying campaign by PeopleSoft's management which utterly opposes Oracle's hostile takeover bid. Oracle alleges the government's arguments do not reflect the reality as the market continues to grow both in dynamics and in competitiveness as new players including Microsoft show up.
More from: AP (via Wired News) | CNET News.com 1 2 | Computerworld | eWeek 1 2 3 4 5 | NewsFactor | The Register | Reuters 1 2 | TechWeb 1 2 | VNUNET.com | The Washington Post 1 2 3
VeriSign challenges ICANN's authority
The parent company of the world's largest domain name registrar, VeriSign Inc., filed a lawsuit against the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) challenging its powers over the Internet. ICANN, a nongovernmental non-profit organization which derives its authority from a 1998 agreement with the U.S. government, regulates the technical structure of the Internet and authorizes companies to become domain name registrars. VeriSign, the parent of the first and largest domain name registrar, Network Solutions Inc., is now claiming in its suit that ICANN oversteps its authority and impedes innovation with its slow decision-making process.
Last year, VeriSign incurred the ire of both ICANN and most Internet users by launching a 'Site Finder' service that redirected all non-existent domain name requests to VeriSign's web search engine. ICANN ordered VeriSign to suspend the service at least until the technical ramifications are made clear. VeriSign backed off after being threatened with a cancellation of its important dot-com and dot-net registration contracts, but vowed to fight for its right to launch such a service.
On this week's lawsuit, Tom Galvin, VeriSign's vice president for government relations said: ICANN "has overstepped its authority by trying to become the regulator of the Internet." ICANN responded that the lawsuit is trying to make progress not by consensus, but by confrontation, a tactic that defies ICANN's work policies.
In addition, VeriSign alleged ICANN's slow evaluation of new products and services is hurting its business. The company sited its proposition to allow domain name registrations including non-Roman characters and its decision to create a waiting list for domain names before they expire. On both, ICANN has decided to take two years before it reaches a conclusion whether to allow them or not.
More from: AP (via CRN) | CNET News.com 1 2 | Computerworld | eWeek 1 2 3 | NewsFactor | The Registry | Reuters | TechWeb | The Washington Post 1 2
In Other News...
 A U.S. judge accepted the amendments to the SCO case against IBM which now seeks damages of $5 billion. IBM did not oppose the changed allegations. The amended complaint charges IBM with copyright infringement of SCO's UNIX intellectual property, but drops a previous charge that Big Blue misappropriated trade secrets.
The founders of Internet's most popular search engine, Google, have made their way into the annual Forbes billionaires list. Sergey Brin and Larry Page saw their fortunes reach the $1 billion mark, while Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates, remained the richest man in the world for the 10th year in a row with over $46 billion.
The European Commission has decided to give Microsoft the option to choose how to solve the European Union's concerns about the software giant's monopoly. Microsoft will apparently be given a more favorable decision rather than being told to unbundle key technologies from its ubiquitous Windows operating system.
Hardware problems with U.S. ISP Level 3 led to a visible Internet slowdown on Monday. Both Level 3's web hosting facilities and its Internet backbone were affected which caused many popular web sites to load slower than usual or even not load at all.
Level 3 wasn't the only company affected by hardware problems. America Online said a "hardware glitch" caused its popular instant messaging service AIM to be intermittently inaccessible on Friday. Company representatives said the problem was swiftly identified, the traffic was rerouted and the service was completely restored within hours.
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