EU moots EUR500m MS fine

The European Union Competition commissioner, Mario Monti, has proposed a record fine of EUR497 million ($613 million) on US software giant Microsoft, in connection with an expected ruling that the company abused its dominant market position, sources said.

Microsoft said EU regulators were unjustified in proposing such a large fine as agreement had been reached on nearly all issues, reports AFP.

Microsoft this week gave an overview of forthcoming product updates from its Business Solutions group, reports InfoWorld. Products that will be updated this year include Microsoft CRM, Great Plains, Solomon, Business Portal and Navision.

Microsoft CRM will be updated in mid-2004 with software that allows users to synchronise Pocket PC handheld computers with the CRM application. Great Plains and Solomon will get version upgrades in July: Great Plains 8.0 and Solomon 6.0. The new releases will offer better integration with Business Portal, which in July will get a point upgrade to version 2.5, Microsoft said.

In October, Microsoft plans to release version 4.0 of its Navision ERP product. It will offer greater functionality for manufacturing and an improved user experience, Microsoft said.

A software industry regulator in China has become the second organisation from that country to join the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a group that develops and promotes Linux, reports CNet.

The Beijing Software Testing Centre (BSTC) will focus on developing and refining internationalisation features for the Linux operating system. BSTC was set up in 2002 by two Chinese government departments: the Beijing Government Science and Technology Commission and the Beijing Products Quality and Inspection Institute. Besides serving as the regulator for China`s software industry, the centre has been given the task of accelerating the country`s software exports.

Both Hewlett-Packard and Dell have announced new storage products aimed at making network-centric storage more attractive to the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) marketplace, reports IDG.

Dell has begun shipping a replacement for its rack-mounted network-attached storage server, called the 745N. In addition to a faster processor speed, the 745N has a capacity of 4TB of SCSI attached storage - four times the limit of the 725 - and includes snapshot software that allows customers to easily backup and restore the system.

Meanwhile, HP has announced it will begin shipping a new member of its networked storage arrays for SMEs by July, which will be based on Serial ATA interconnect.

Tech giants are calling IP phone technology the cellphone industry`s next big thing, saying it will help solve old problems and create new services, reports CNet.

Sun Microsystems used the CTIA Wireless 2004 show to announce that VOIP plays a key role in a prototype device that is aimed at eliminating office phones. The technology is based on the company`s Java Card, which lets smart cards and other devices with limited memory securely run applets on any computer.

Nextel Communications uses a form of wireless VOIP in its push-to-talk feature, which works like a walkie-talkie. VOIP is also on the minds of executives at Verizon Wireless, the largest US cellphone service provider. The carrier is building a $1 billion wireless broadband network fast enough to create a high-quality VOIP telephone service. And Cisco Systems believes the technology will play an enormous role in the shift modern communications are making to what the company calls "IP mobility".

Senior citizens, the fastest growing group of Internet users, are the least likely to become online fraud victims, according to a survey released this week by Symantec. The Indianapolis Star reports that only 13% of people 65 and older say they have ever responded to a phoney or fraudulent e-mail offer, while 21% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 19% of 30- to 64-year-olds have, the survey said.

Meanwhile, TechWeb reports that the relentless flow of spam is so distressing to Internet users that many of them have become disillusioned to the point of curtailing their use of online mail. The Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 29% of e-mail users have reduced their use of e-mail because of spam, and 77% said spam has made the whole online experience "unpleasant".