Microsoft Brings EU Fight to Web
In many legal battles, we get highlights of what lawyers on both sides want
us to hear. Those who know how to work the courts and have an unusual interest
in the case can scare up court documents. Microsoft is saving us some of this
trouble by
posting
a 78-page response to the European Union’s antitrust charges online.
The EU is demanding that Microsoft release what could be millions of lines of
source code (especially given the way Microsoft writes software!). Instead of
Ambien, read this document to get to sleep.
Microsoft Goes to the Mat with South Korea
The South Korean government wants to chop apart Windows like a brick in a tae
kwon do tournament. Citing antitrust concerns, South Korea wants Microsoft to
yank out Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger (I guess Internet Explorer is
safe for now) -- more than other governments have asked for.
Microsoft struck
back, claiming the country has plenty of IM and media alternatives.
Is There No End to Censorship?
Some have complained that this newsletter spends too much time on politics.
But politicians and the all-too politically correct are using technology (blocking
and filtering) to restrict what we can view through technology (a little thing
called the Internet).
Here’re the latest goings-on: In what is clearly a case of self-censorship,
Yahoo reportedly
banned the use of the name Allah in an e-mail address, but not Moses, Krishna,
Jesus or Buddha. (The company reversed
its decision soon after the story broke.)
In another self-censorship move, Google in Europe is blocking violence. Violence
portal Ogrish.com is being blocked by Google in Germany. The German government
has worked to block racist speech and Holocaust deniers because such things
are illegal there, but last time I checked there is no law against looking at
dead people. But the Germans had been working to block Ogrish, and it looks
like Google succumbed to the pressure. Not cool. Tell me where I’m wrong
at [email protected].
Here’s the Ogrish
report (clicking beyond this page is not for the squeamish).
The Press Was Right About Vista All Along
Last week we told you about press reports detailing six versions of Vista, all
based on information mistakenly posted on the Microsoft Web site. This week
I have news for you -- the
reports were exactly right! There is a super low-end version for the Third
World, a low-end home version for more well-to-do cheapskates, a high-end home
version for folks that like to mess with video, photos and making their PCs
into entertainment systems, and a version of this version that includes business-class
features dubbed Vista Ultimate (if this thing ain’t stable, Redmond will
take a lot of ribbing over that name!).
On the business side, there’s a standard business edition and a souped-up
enterprise rev sold only to those with the funds to buy Enterprise Agreements
or Software Assurance. Is this too many versions? What will you run at home
or work? Tell me at [email protected].
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Bandwidth for the Highest Bidder?
U.S. carriers recently
went before Congress to lay out their vision of a future Internet, one where
big telcos are guaranteed big profits, big customers are guaranteed big bandwidth,
and the rest of will fight over the scraps.
Expensive private networks are on the outs like a washed-up pop star, leading
to more and more corporate traffic traversing the public Internet. Big corporations
like GM and Coca-Cola hate not knowing when their data will arrive and are willing
to pay for premium service. But if those with the fullest pockets hog all the
bandwidth, the rest of will wait longer for our e-mails, podcasts and Web pages
to load.
What do you think? Should the big telcos be able to add more and more private
lanes that run through the public Internet? Tell me what you think at [email protected].
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.