Office 2003 prices leak online

Prices for Microsoft Office 2003, together with a range of other new products from the company, have been released on online retailer Amazon.com`s UK Web site. Microsoft had been keeping a tight lid on pricing and launch information for the new products.

The listings on Amazon.co.uk indicate that the products will be available on 24 October in the UK, reports CNet. An Amazon representative said the prices on the site appeared to be authorised. Microsoft, however, said it has still not released pricing.

Microsoft will not do any more development work on the world`s most popular e-mail client, reports ZDNet.

"Outlook Express just sits where it is," said Dan Leach, lead product manager for Microsoft`s information worker product management group. "The technology doesn`t go away, but no new work is being done. It is consumer e-mail in an early iteration, and our investment in the consumer space is now focused around Hotmail and MSN."

The 802.11g wireless standard is picking up where its predecessor, 802.11b, left off, helping to maintain strong growth in wireless networking as the market prepares for combination products next year.

CNet reports that research by Dell`Oro Group shows sales of 802.11g products in Q2 are more than making up for a decline in revenue from 802.11b-based products. Networks using 802.11b allow maximum throughput of 10mbps (about 4mbps on average). The 802.11g standard enables transmission speeds of up to 54mbps (22mbps on average).

Revenue from 802.11g standard grew 48% and made up 24% of total market revenue, while 802.11b revenue decreased, partly because prices for those products fell an average of 10%.

SCO executives have sold more than 119 000 shares in their company, worth $1.2 million, since it filed a lawsuit against IBM in March, according to TechWeb.

Among the executives was CFO Robert Bench, who sold shares only four days after SCO first accused IBM of illegally inserting code from Unix into Linux. According to Washington Service, a firm that tracks insider transactions, this was the first time in over a year that SCO insiders had sold shares.

Chief executive officers of major US companies make an average of $12 million a year, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs tops the list, according to Bloomberg. It reports that Jobs earned $219 million a year in a review of total pay from 2000 through 2002 for 243 CEOs who run companies with 2002 revenue of $5 billion or more.