Microsoft battles for Paris

News that Paris may soon follow other European cities like Munich and Bergen by switching to open source programs has led Microsoft to offer discounts of more than half to city authorities.

Associated Press reports that Microsoft has agreed to cut prices to suppliers who work with the city by around 60%. Paris plans to spend $195 million on computers and software in the next three years to upgrade obsolete systems.

Open source software has grown increasingly competitive as performance, usability and interoperability with Microsoft`s software have improved.

Motorola`s newest mobile phone is being seen by many as a strong indication that mobile phones could soon start making inroads in the standalone MP3 player market, reports ZDNet.

The new Motorola E398 has a built-in MP3 player, vibrating stereo speakers, a large colour screen for MPEG-4 video clips and rhythmic flashing lights.

The report says although this kind of device is still rare, the E398 points to a convergence between cellphones and MP3 players.

ZDNet says cellphone makers` push to assimilate other products has been driven by wireless companies` need to find new sources of revenue to help offset the huge investments made in the new 3G spectrum to allow more bandwidth.

China has issued new regulations on the filtering of short text messages (SMS) in a move that expands its censorship controls over wireless technologies and the Internet, reports AFP.

The report quotes the Chinese state media as saying the new standards are aimed at weeding out pornographic, fraudulent and illicit messages. The standards provide the framework for China`s largest mobile phone service provider to contract out the policing and filtering of short messages.

So far 10 such companies have begun the policing work in 20 categories of content. China has some of the toughest Internet regulations in the world, with reportedly up to 30 000 people policing the Internet for illegal content.