Yahoo doubles storage capacity

Yahoo is more than doubling the storage space available to its account-holders in a bid to tackle its biggest rivals.

As of today, the company will offer up to 250MB of storage space, up from the previous 100MB limit. According to Daily Times, the move follows Microsoft`s recent decision to boost the free storage on its Hotmail service to 250MB per account.

Both Yahoo and Hotmail have dramatically increased their storage limits since Google rolled out its free e-mail service offering in April, which allows up to 1 000MB of e-mail storage. But the offering is only available through invitations from Google or existing accountholders.

Yahoo says it has also upgraded the tools for verifying the identities of e-mailers and improved the features used to search e-mail content.

Companies are changing their mind about open source, and are starting to view it as a viable option, InfoWorld reports.

Speaking at the SDForum conference, titled "Open Source Entering the Mainstream," SpikeSource CEO Kim Polese told delegates that open source is creating a new age. "Increasingly, open source software is of a higher quality, and increasingly is starting to meet the capabilities of commercial software - and in some cases is overtaking it."

Eric Friedman, part of an infrastructure architecture team at Wells Fargo, adds that attitudes towards open source are also changing. "In the last two years, I`ve seen a tectonic shift in this area of corporate attitudes toward open source."

Friedman says businesses are now starting to ask "why are we buying a vendor product when we could use this open source thing?"

The UK`s largest electronics chain has announced that it will no longer sell VCRs, possibly signalling the end of its 26-year run.

Dixons will phase out VCRs due to the boom in DVD players, sales of which have grown seven-fold in five years, BBC reports.

It aims to concentrate on their successor, the DVD which has charmed consumers with its speed and superior quality, says marketing director John Mewett. "We`re saying goodbye to one of the most important products in the history of consumer technology." Demand for VCRs has fallen dramatically since the 1990s, Mewett adds.

While Dixons is the only major chain to abandon sales of VCRs so far, BBC business reporter Hywel Jones says others will likely follow. "VCRs are likely to join record players and Rubik Cubes as objects of nostalgic affection."