Gates to pay over antitrust

Reuters reports that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has agreed to pay $800 000 for violating antitrust regulations in two stock purchases. The US Federal Trade Commission said it had reached a settlement with Gates on charges that he failed to properly notify antitrust officials about his acquisition of voting securities of two companies.

The matter is unrelated to the landmark antitrust case the government settled with Microsoft in 2001. The general counsel for Gates` private investment fund said in a statement that the problem was the result of a mistake and that Gates was never personally involved in the transactions.

Microsoft has developed a new version of its digital rights management (DRM) software code-named "Janus", reports BetaNews.

Janus is a secure clock DRM technology that allows rights-protected content to be distributed to customers through a subscription pricing model. Devices supported include PCs, portable media centres, PDAs and pocket PCs, smartphones, and even Microsoft eHome networked devices.

There is a new crop of competitors challenging the dominance of Apple`s iTunes Music Store. But try, so far, is all they`re doing, reports Freep. Apple, which unveiled its service offering legal downloads of digital music a year ago last week, currently has about 70% of the market, with 4.9 million customers.

Rivals, offering different prices and features, include Wal-Mart, Napster 2.0, Musicmatch, BuyMusic and Rhapsody.

PC vendors` support for Athlon CPUs is helping AMD challenge Intel`s market dominance, reports IDG News Service.

Desktop PCs with processors from AMD outsold Intel desktops for the week ending April 24, according to research released late last week from Current Analysis. The results are a high-water mark for AMD, although Current Analysis has been tracking this market for only a few quarters, says analyst Toni Duboise.

It`s the first time AMD-based desktops have surpassed Intel desktops since last November, when Current Analysis began tracking the data, Duboise adds.