MS locks out ex-MSN Music users

Microsoft late yesterday stirred controversy by telling former customers of its shuttered MSN Music service that it will shut down its licence activation system for the service by the end of August, reports Electronista.

Although it allows customers to play any purchased songs on existing operating systems and computers, any music transferred to a new PC or OS install after the cut-off date will no longer be authorised to play.

The company doesn't provide a reason for the shutdown, but it is believed to be a question of cost-cutting measures, as well as a means of steering customers towards newer and more active stores, including Microsoft's own Zune Marketplace.

Microsoft has started shipping the first versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to PC manufacturers, says PC Authority.

Current XP users can expect to see the service pack become available for download on 29 April.

Windows XP SP3 contains minor performance and stability enhancements, in addition to a cumulative security update. It is the first service pack to be released for Windows XP since SP2 in 2004.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has introduced three triple-core Phenom desktop processors for less than $200, according to InformationWeek.

Combined with the AMD 780 series chipsets, the new chips are aimed at high-end PCs for entertainment and games. For additional power, an ATI Radeon graphics process from AMD could be added.

The card's "hybrid graphics technology" makes it possible to run the graphics processor in conjunction with the processor on the chipset to give PC performance an added jolt, AMD said.

One day after the resignation of One Laptop Per Child's president was publicly revealed, the educational project's founder and chairman says the group's XO laptop may evolve to use only Windows XP as the operating system, with open source educational apps, such as its home-built Sugar, running on top, says InfoWorld.

OLPC's founder Nicholas Negroponte also told the Associated Press on Tuesday that an insistence upon using only free, open source software had hampered the XO's usability and scared away potential adopters.

For instance, the Sugar graphical user interface aimed at children "grew amorphously" and "didn't have a software architect who did it in a crisp way," he said. Also, the laptops do not support the latest versions of Flash animation, which is widely used on children's and educational Web sites.