Microsoft hastens virtualisation support

Microsoft, faced with virtualisation competition and customer demands, is working to bring some technologies to market sooner than it initially said, reports CNet News.

The company this week announced its Virtual Server product would be free, matching the price of the comparable and more popular VMware Server. It might also make pricing changes to accommodate customers who aren`t happy counting how many copies of Windows are running on each server.

Another change that could come sooner than Microsoft previously said is the arrival of Windows Hypervisor, software code-named Viridian that runs beneath the operating system and manages resources for multiple virtual machines.

The music industry has launched a new wave of lawsuits and criminal proceedings against file sharers across Europe, reports ZD Net. About 2 000 cases were launched yesterday in 10 countries, bringing the total to 5 500 people in 18 countries.

That figure does not include the US, covered by its sister group the Recording Industry Association of America, which has filed about 18 000 lawsuits.

Among the countries targeted was Portugal, where sales of physical formats like CDs have slumped by 40% in the past four years amid heavy file-sharing usage, especially by college students.

Walkman-maker Sony has released its competitor to the iconic iPod, reports The Inquirer.

According to BetaNews, the E Series Walkmans will come in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB sizes.

It can play MP3, unsecured Windows Media Audio and Sony`s proprietary ATRAC format, and will connect to a computer through a USB port. The 2GB version has a radio and FM tuner.

Perhaps trying to take a leaf from Apple`s book, the Walkman will come in six colours: pink, violet, blue, silver, black and lime green. It is tiny, but unlike Apple there will be no pistachio, or 'Bulgarian sunset` style colour chart to go with it.