Too early to predict PC sales upswing

Intel CEO Craig Barrett has warned against over-optimism in the market, following the semiconductor giant`s announcement that it is raising its third quarter sales forecast. Barrett says it is too early to say whether a PC recovery is under way.

He cautions that the sales rebound could be temporary, and should not be seen as a sure sign that the sector is emerging from its three-year slump.

Market research firm Gartner has raised its 2003 growth forecast for global microchip sales, pointing to better chip prices as demand picks up and factory usage rates recover. "We`ve upgraded our annual forecast for semiconductor sales, as pricing has stabilised in the industry, and that has fuelled our revenue forecast," Gartner VP Richard Gordon told Reuters after a briefing.

Gordon estimates that worldwide microchip sales will rise about 11% this year to $173 billion, versus $156 billion in 2002, as the industry continues to recover from its worst-ever slump in 2001.

The SCO Group`s Web site was shut down by another denial-of-service attack this weekend. The group is caught in an increasingly acrimonious row with the open source community over the company`s legal campaign against Linux.

Cnet news.com reports that the attack left SCO`s site largely out of commission until yesterday. SCO could not say where this weekend`s strike originated, but open source news site postings suggested a Linux supporter had launched the attack.

Reuters reports that Hollywood has won a victory in its fight to protect movies from illegal copying, with a decision by the California Supreme Court that protection of a trade secret trumps the First Amendment.

The state`s highest court ruled that courts can enjoin computer users from posting on the Internet a decryption code that enables the illegal copying of DVD movies. While the justices` 7-0 decision in the closely watched case left unresolved the question of whether the DVD decryption code, known as DeCSS, is a trade secret, it said that posting of legitimate trade secrets online is a violation of California`s law protecting such content.