Microsoft moves in on chip world

There`s a multibillion-dollar company moving into the chip business, reports CNet: Microsoft.

According to the site`s sources, Microsoft will more actively participate in the design of the brains for the next version of its Xbox gaming console, tentatively called Xbox Next. By switching from using relatively standard parts to more customised silicon, the company can better optimise its console, due in 2005. At the same time, the move potentially gives the company a toehold in a completely new market.

Researchers say Microsoft`s closeness to design will help it avoid hacking incidents and get better performance out of chips by being involved on the front end of the design process.

Microsoft has not had merger discussions with Internet search engine Google, as has been widely reported, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says. "We`ve never been in any talks with Google about any acquisition thing in any way, shape or form," Gates told USA Today.

Gates said Microsoft is developing its own search technology, not looking to buy Google`s. "We made that decision a year ago," he says.

In a first for the Java community, JBoss Group officials have said they would protect customers from legal hassles surrounding any potential patent claims involving the open source application server, reports Internet News.

The announcement signals a change in atmosphere when it comes to open source software, where the perception of the movement has always been one of a benevolent community of developers working towards a common goal, comments the site. The SCO/IBM fracas changed all that, with Unix patent-holder SCO Group threatening to go after individual companies and customers to protect the code it claims IBM developers used to build Linux into an enterprise-safe operating system.

Intel, which will be a "visible presence" at the supercomputing conference in Phoenix, according to CNet, plans to dedicate $36 million for basic research into improving the performance of supercomputers made from off-the-shelf parts.

Meanwhile, the site reports, of the top 10 systems on the new list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers, three are new, one upgraded, and two are based on processors making the list for the first time: IBM`s PowerPC 970 and Advanced Micro Devices` Opteron.