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 AOL, Microsoft Resume Talks
After suspending discussion in midsummer, Time Warner and Microsoft are resuming talks about combining America Online and MSN, according to sources. The companies are interested in merging Microsoft’s search engine with AOL’s Web content, although they could also potentially merge their dial-up businesses. Sources indicated that if a deal isn’t reached by the end of this year, the alliance likely will not happen.
Microsoft, RealNetworks Reach Settlement
Microsoft has agreed to pay RealNetworks $761 million as settlement for an antitrust lawsuit that RealNetworks filed against Microsoft nearly two years ago. In turn, RealNetworks will drop all antitrust claims against Microsoft, including one that the European Union is investigating. The two companies have agreed to work together on digital music and gaming projects from which both could profit. “We’re ending one chapter and opening another in the relationship between the companies,” says RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.
Forrester Predicts Slowdown In Spending
Forrester Research published a report predicting IT spending will decrease in 2007. After spikes of 7% for this year and next year, the firm forecasts only a 2% increase in 2007. New technology adoption and overall economic growth are major drivers in the IT sector, and Forrester predicts GDP growth slowing in the next few years because of increasing energy costs and dropping interest rates. Forrester expects IT spending to rebound in 2008 and after, as new technologies such as server virtualization and VoIP progress.
Moving Toward Common Virus Names
A naming convention for malware, Common Malware Enumeration, will seek to help users quickly identify the threat level of viral activity of a certain virus without having to sort through the information from various antivirus and security companies. But several big vendors, including IBM and Boeing, say CME will not make much of a difference and may even further complicate the issue by adding yet another name to an already too long list. US-CERT, which sponsors CME, says CME is not trying to “solve the challenges involved with naming schemes for viruses and other forms of malware but instead aims to facilitate the adoption of a shared, neutral indexing capability for malware.” Currently the same virus is often given different names by each company that discovers it, leaving users wondering if they need to patch against one worm or several.
Forum Works Toward New Wi-Fi Standard
A group of chipmakers and other Wi-Fi-related vendors, including Cisco, NetGear, and Intel, have joined together to speed up the ratification of an 802.11n standard. The new Enhanced Wireless Consortium says its specification will support speeds of up to 600Mbps (using MIMO technology) and would allow for an easy upgrade for products that were released before the standard is ratified. The EWC also claims its specification can operate in both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands and supports both 20 and 40MHz channels.
IBM Drops Counterclaims Against SCO
In an effort to “simplify and focus the issues in the case, and to expedite their resolution,” IBM has dropped four of the patent infringement claims it had filed against SCO. IBM is still countersuing SCO on at least eight counts. IBM still believes that it is in the right about the patents; however, it doesn’t believe it would not win enough money to cover the cost of pursuing those counterclaims, which deal with UnixWare, OpenServer, SCO Manager, and Reliant. The legal battle between IBM and SCO is entering its fourth year.
Cellular Networks Could Suffer DoS Attack
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University say it is possible for hackers to create an SMS attack that could cripple cellular service throughout the United States. Using public databases and some online searches, attackers could create a list of mobile phone numbers in specific regions and then send them repeated unwanted text messages. The researchers suggested mobile operators separate text messaging from call initiation features, which currently use the same portion of the control channel. Mobile carriers have been aware of the potential for attacks for some time and many already have measures in place to prevent such attacks.
Dispute Leads To Internet Problems
A dispute between Level 3 Communications and Cogent Communications means some customers will have difficulties getting to Web sites on the other company’s network. Level 3 and Cogent have had a peering agreement, where they connected their networks together for better traffic exchange. However, Level 3 now believes it has a much bigger network than Cogent, so the agreement is no longer financially viable. Cogent contends its network is at least as large as Level 3’s and refuses to pay for the arrangement. Most businesses have several connections to the Internet, so the dispute’s impact should be relatively small.
IBM Rolls Out New Offerings For SMEs
IBM is launching a number of new products and services geared specifically for the small to medium-sized enterprise market. Elaine Case, IBM’s director of the small and midsized unit, says the company is unveiling these new offerings because of “a realization that we, and the industry, were underserving the SMB market,” and many of the firm’s existing products and services could not be reworked to cater to the SME. The 22 new offerings are part of Big Blue’s Express Portfolio line and include online backup and email recovery, RFID, and managed services for retailers.
Firefox Slips In Market Share
Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser lost about 0.75% in its share of the browser market last month, dropping to 7.55% from 8.27% in August. Net Applications reports that except for a slight increase in August, Firefox’s share has been steadily decreasing since June, when it peaked at 8.71%. Many industry analysts believe Firefox has lost its momentum in its battle with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and will now hover around 7% to 8% market share.
MCI Shareholders Approve Merger
More than 85% of MCI’s shareholders approved of the $8.44 billion merger with Verizon Communications, despite the fact that a large group of investors initially felt the company should have accepted a larger bid from Qwest. The merger now needs approval from state, federal, and international authorities. If approved, the merger should close early next year.
EU Appoints Monitor For Microsoft
The European Union appointed Neil Barrett, a British computer scientist, to be a trustee to monitor Microsoft in its compliance with an antitrust ruling from last year. The ruling states that the software giant tried to illegally dominate the media software market by abusing its near-monopoly status in the desktop computer market. As punishment, the EU ordered Microsoft to share its code with competitors, offer a Windows version that does not contain the Windows Media Player, and pay $599 million in fines. Barrett begins overseeing Microsoft’s compliance efforts immediately.
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