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Athlon XP debuts with new name, number
AMD is planning an event later Tuesday in San Francisco to announce the new products, twinned with an appearance by AMD Chief Executive Jerry Sanders. AMD issued a short notice that Sanders would be on hand to announce a new strategic initiative and "formally launch a new AMD product." It will call this new effort the True Performance Initiative. The new initiative will seek to educate consumers that megahertz is not the only measure of processor performance.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
StarOffice offers IT real choice
Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StarOffice might not be ready to totally displace Microsoft Corp.'s Office in the enterprise, but eWeek Labs' tests of the StarOffice 6 beta show the suite has the stuff to loosen Microsoft's iron grip on the office productivity market. StarOffice has the interface familiarity and file format compatibility that will enable it to peacefully coexist with Microsoft Office. And its cross-platform support and ingenious use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) will pay dividends in future, more wide-scale deployments. New features aside, the price of StarOffice — free — should be enough to give pause to sites weighing their software options in the context of Microsoft's potentially costly and entangling new licensing schemes.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/co...816213,00.html
Supreme Court denies Microsoft appeal
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Microsoft's request that it hear an appeal of the antitrust case against the software maker. The Redmond, Wash.-based company had appealed not on the merits of the case but because of comments that U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had made to the media. "We're disappointed that our petition is not one of the few the Supreme Court chose to review this term," said Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma. "We will continue to move forward with the case at the District (Court) level and comply with the court's order to work in good faith with the government to settle the case."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Deal clears way for music subscription services
The recording industry has reached a landmark agreement with music publishers that removes the final obstacle to the launch of online music subscription services backed by the major labels. The Recording Industry Association of America and the National Music Publishers Association are expected to announce today that they've reached a deal that ends months of stalemate over how songwriters would be compensated whenever their music is distributed online.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/ne...usic100901.htm
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Waters still rough for online music
RealNetworks-backed MusicNet is giving a sneak peek at the digital music subscription service the music industry hopes will help replace online song-swapping services such as Napster and MusicCity. Strangely enough, it looks and feels much like those same file-trading services, which the record industry has spent two years in court trying to eradicate. But that could turn out to be a benefit, especially if they are to woo a generation of digital music aficionados weaned on Napster and its rivals.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=tp_pr
In stores soon -- floating product ads?
Shoppers may soon be able to see images of advertised products floating in mid-air as they browse in stores. Hungarian-U.S. firm Holomedia on Monday unveiled a new projection device that could make this a reality. "This innovative new media is based on American hardware and Hungarian software," said Csaba Rakosy, managing director of Holomedia, at a news conference. An appliance the size of a vending machine projects still or moving images about 40cm (16 inches) in size. The human eye perceives these images as floating in mid-air, offering what developers say is a very effective marketing tool.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02
Microsoft takes new tack on Java
Microsoft plans to make available this week a test version of a new tool intended to attract Java developers to the company's .Net Web services plan. The tool, Visual J#.Net, won't allow programmers to build standalone Java applications. Instead, it will let programmers use the Java language to write code that works only with Microsoft's forthcoming .Net plan, said Tony Goodhew, a product manager at Microsoft. In January, Microsoft announced its intention to build the tool, along with other tools to let programmers migrate older Java applications to .Net, the company's wide-ranging plan for moving business computing onto the Web.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd
Microsoft revises licensing plan
Customer complaints have forced Microsoft to revise the deadline for a controversial software-licensing plan. Microsoft said Monday that companies have until July 31, 2002, rather than Feb. 28, 2002, to enter Microsoft's controversial Software Assurance licensing program, which will eliminate some discounts and raise software prices for some of Microsoft's business customers. Microsoft also said customers will no longer be required to upgrade to Office XP to qualify for the Software Assurance plan, which is intended to move Microsoft's customers to a long-term licensing model.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Afghan attacks hurt India software firms
India's once-booming software sector, already screeching to a crawl because of the U.S. recession and the attacks on New York and Washington, may be hit again by the U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan. Analysts say a hesitancy to travel to India in the current situation could see key customers holding off from signing offshore services contracts. India's software sector serves about 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and derives more than 85 percent of its revenue from exports. These exports -- more than $6 billion last year -- account for 14 percent of India's total exports and 2 percent of gross domestic product.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh
Sony to invest in "Final Fantasy" maker
Sony will inject more than $124 million in capital into Square, one of Japan's top game software makers, in order to boost its position in the highly competitive industry. In exchange, Square will allocate newly issued shares to Sony's game-making unit, Sony Computer Entertainment. The deal, due to take effect Oct. 26, will make Sony the second-biggest shareholder in Square with an 18.6 percent stake. The Sony unit, maker of the PlayStation 2 video game player, currently has no stake in Square. By forming the capital alliance with Square--best known for its popular "Final Fantasy'' role-playing video game series--Sony will be able to extend its reach further into Square's game titles for its game console.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh
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