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Issue no. 27, 2004 Published: Jul 23, 2004
Court blow for SCO's Linux campaign
Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits
Microsoft plans biggest ever payout
Handheld PC virus holds ominous promise
'Spam King' escapes $20m fine
Trillions more internet addresses may emerge
Study exposes downside of virtual work
Speaker system lets flowers sing

Court blow for SCO's Linux campaign
A US judge on Wednesday dealt the SCO Group a significant setback in its campaign to profit from Linux by throwing out much of the software company's lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler. The DaimlerChrysler lawsuit centred on the company's use of Unix. SCO's suit was widely viewed as a tactic to investigate whether the automaker had deployed Linux. But the judge ruled that SCO was requesting more information than DaimlerChrysler was required to provide. SCO argues it acquired rights to Unix from Novell and says that parts of Unix have been incorporated into Linux by IBM without authorisation. SCO has also filed suits against IBM and AutoZone in what some industry analysts consider to be an assault on free software. SCO's position has been undercut in recent week by Novell's contention that it still controls Unix rights. SCO has also failed to convince Linux users buy SCO licenses and it has been hit by an IBM countersuit alleging patent infringement.
Financial Times Jul 22, 2004	back to top

Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits
Microsoft will pay upstart Linux seller Lindows $20m to settle a long-running trademark dispute. In exchange for the payment, Lindows - which recently renamed most of its products 'Linspire' to work around European trademark suits - will give up the Lindows name and assign related web domains to Microsoft, according to the registration statement Lindows filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal calls for the company to permanently change its corporate name and drop all 'Lindows' references from its products by September 14. Lindows will also drop any petitions for trademark protection for the name, along with abandoning any legal cases based on the name. The settlement also covers Windows Media components included in early versions of the Lindows OS. Lindows agreed to drop disputed files from its software in exchange for a limited four-year, royalty-free license to 'certain Windows Media software components'.
ZDNet Jul 19, 2004	back to top

Microsoft plans biggest ever payout
Microsoft plans to return more than $75bn in cash to shareholders over the next four years in the largest corporate payout ever. Shares in the company rose 5 per cent in after-hours trade following Microsoft's announcement that it planned to buy its own stock, double its dividend and issue a special one-time dividend. Microsoft, which generates about $1bn in cash per month, said it would still have sufficient funding for research and to make acquisitions. Microsoft has been under mounting pressure from investors to return cash to shareholders as its sales growth has slowed, its share price has stalled and it has successfully settled major legal disputes with governments and competitors. By pledging to return $75bn in cash over the next four years, Microsoft effectively will use up all of its cash reserves, expected to top $60bn in the just-ended quarter. The company's biggest shareholder, Bill Gates, said that he would be giving his estimated $3bn payout to his charitable trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Yahoo / Reuters Jul 21, 2004	back to top

Handheld PC virus holds ominous promise
The first virus designed to infect handheld devices powered by Windows CE software has renewed debate over whether a flood of mobile malicious software could be on the way. The new virus, known as 'Duts', has not as yet succeeded in infecting any computers outside of the laboratory. It was developed as a 'proof of concept' program by an underground group calling itself 29A. The same group created the first virus for mobile phones, Cabir, in June 2004. To spread itself, the new virus buries copies of its code within normal software applications. Handheld computer users often share software by beaming them between devices using the infrared link. Programs can also be emailed to regular PCs and then installed by connecting the devices. When a user loads and runs a program infected with Duts, the virus infects all applications larger than 4 kilobytes inside found on the main program folder on the system.
New Scientist Jul 20, 2004	back to top

'Spam King' escapes $20m fine
Last week, self-proclaimed Spam King and ladies underwear seller Scott Richter, was staring down the barrel of a $20m fine courtesy of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. Now, Richter has agreed to play by the rules and Spitzer has agreed to drop his price by $19.95m. Richter, proprietor of 'email marketing' company OptInRealBig.com - dubbed the world's second most prolific spammer by anti-spam organisation SpamHaus - had been in Spitzer's firing line for repeatedly breaking the terms of the 2003 CAN SPAM Act. As part of the agreement between the two, Richter has said he will play by the rules of the CAN SPAM Act: no more spoofed addresses, dodgy email accounts and deceptive subject lines, and no more sending messages to people who have not requested them. Richter will now pay $40,000 in penalties and $10,000 in costs. A separate suit by Microsoft against Richter will carry on as planned.
Yahoo / silicon.com Jul 21, 2004	back to top

Trillions more internet addresses may emerge
A new identification technology has been built into a number of the internet's root servers, which supply subsidiary servers, the internet governing body ICANN announced on Wednesday. The internet uses a numerical system to identify computers connected around the world. Numerical addresses are mapped to names by domain name servers. There are 13 root domain name servers that hold the master records for all such address mappings. But the range of numbers used under the current system, IPv4, is slowly running out and about two thirds of the 4.3bn numbers allocated have been used up so far. So a new set of rules, called IPv6, has been designed to take its place. IPv6 will increase the number of numerical addresses massively, allowing for virtually any number of new computers or devices to be connected to the internet in the future. IPv6 will also introduce reliability and security enhancements. To achieve a smooth transition IPv6 has been designed to run in parallel with IPv4 and is expected to do so for around 20 years.
New Scientist Jul 21, 2004	back to top

Study exposes downside of virtual work
Workers collaborating with others in virtual teams are worried that they are contributing to their own demise, a study by Stanford's Graduate Business School claimed Monday. According to the years-long study, while virtual teams - where members spread across distances and time zones work together using technology such as collaboration software, e-mail, and instant messaging - may be a boon to employers, the workers themselves worry that as they contribute information to a common pool, they are actually sowing the seeds for their own replacement. Virtual workers also see their physical alienation from others as making the problem worse because they lose the chance to learn from colleagues. To remedy the situation, the study recommends that enterprises make it easier for virtual team members to learn from others by offering mentoring programs or sending workers to conferences, and providing them more advanced collaboration tools, such as video conferencing, to better mimic the interaction found in on-site teams.
Internet Week / TechWeb Jul 19, 2004	back to top

Speaker system lets flowers sing
An audio technology that turns plants and flowers into loudspeakers has been developed in Japan. The speaker system, designed by technology firm Let's Corporation, mimics the way conventional audio speakers work. But it uses flowers instead of the conventionally used cone made of paper, plastic or metal, to generate sound waves. Flowers are inserted into an acrylic tube containing a magnetic coil and an oscillating component. Applying an alternating electrical current causes the tube, and the flowers, to vibrate at high speed, producing audible sound. Let's has not released any information on the performance of the system but says it can be used to reproduce audio from a CD or the radio. The system is designed for use in stores, as part of a floral display, for example. The company says it also plans to develop versions that include a self-contained FM radio and power source. Let's says it will sell different sized units for between 5,000 yen ($46) to 50,000 yen ($460).
New Scientist Jul 20, 2004	back to top