Open source to kiss EU patent goodbye?

A European Parliament vote today is expected to have enormous implications on the worldwide software market. The vote will be on whether to adopt a report by its Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee, which recommends that the rules on patenting of software be relaxed in line with existing laws in the US and Japan.

It appears that the report will be adopted despite widespread and deep criticism, The Register reports. And this will probably mean a shift of power from small software companies and the open source community to large multi-national corporations.

Time is running out for Windows NT 4 Workstation. After today, Microsoft won`t be taking support calls for the venerable operating system.

Techweb reports that part of the put-out-to-pasture plan that Microsoft calls Support Lifecycle - where aging products go through a several-step process of increasingly-diminished support options - the move means NT 4.0 Workstation users can turn only to the self-help online support for problem solving as of 1 July.

AMD has cooked up the best value for PC buyers all year long, reports PC World. The site reports that the vendor`s newest chip continues to do so. "In our first tests, production-level systems from Polywell and Sys based on the 2.2GHz Athlon XP 3200+ chip easily outran top Pentium 4-based PCs on business applications. And each saves you $100 to $400."

The site further recommends the Athlon XP 3000+. "To find the sweet spot of power and price, though, consider an Athlon XP 3000+ PC. These models run many apps at much the same pace and save you another $150."

The 3200+ offers only minor design changes over the 3000+. AMD has, however, raised the frontside bus speed slightly, from 333MHz to 400MHz. Intel`s latest 3GHz P4 chips sport an 800MHz frontside bus, but this made little difference in the site`s tests.

eBay has used its Annual eBay Live! event to outline future plans for the online auction house, the day after its corporate annual general meeting. The Register reports that CEO Meg Whitman has outlined changes and improvements to be made to the site. Top of the list was cutting down on fraud on eBay. A buyer protection programme that sees the $200 insurance currently offered on goods that failed to arrive or were "substantially different" from goods advertised will be increased to $500. In eBay`s case, this is the bulk of the business.

In the eBay big extravaganza, US comedy musician Weird Al Yankovic performed his eBay song to wild whooping. eBay chose to highlight the lyrics: "Tell me why I need another pet rock, they say they love me on eBay" in its press release.