Netbook growth cuts MS earnings

Although computer makers have bought more copies of Microsoft's operating systems, the company's resulting revenue has decreased, reports SFgate.

Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell says the explosive growth of a new category of ultra-cheap laptops, known as netbooks, which typically run cheaper versions of Microsoft's operating systems, attributed to this decrease.

It is too early, Liddell said, to determine whether netbooks will cannibalise sales of the company's traditional operating systems or create a new market. The answer could determine how much Microsoft's flagship division grows in the years ahead.

Dell is producing self-encrypting laptops with Seagate encrypting drives and McAfee Security software, states The Register.

The company is building Seagate FDE drives into its Latitude and Precision notebook lines, self-encrypting laptops, and the OptiPlex 960 desktop.

The idea is that such drives will prevent any data loss when the notebook or desktop is disposed of, lost, stolen or loaned to a third-party. The encryption key never leaves the drive and so is not susceptible to the cold boot attack.

Intel's dominance of the netbook CPU market will come under threat from AMD and Via in 2009, as each reveals their plans to woo vendors away from the Atom, says APCmag.

Barely six months after its release, Intel's Atom processor has become the chip of choice for the fast-growing netbook market, but it now faces renewed competition from AMD and Via.

Via's new game-plan cedes the high ground of mainstream netbooks to Intel, but sets its sights on the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China.