Zotob spreads among Windows 2000 users

A new worm discovered over the weekend exploits a flaw that primarily affects the Windows 2000 platform, reports ZDNet Australia. Microsoft released a patch for the flaw last week.

Anti-virus experts say the Zotob worm, which does not affect Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 systems, is the first major program since the Sasser worm to target a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows computers to spread. It uses a flaw in Microsoft Windows plug-and-play capabilities to spread.

Instructions on how to install Apple Computer`s Mac OS X operating system on any PC with a chip from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices were posted to the Internet last week.

According to pcworld.com, Apple announced in June that Mac OS X will run on Intel`s x86 architecture chips from 2006. The company has been working on a version of Mac OS X for Intel`s chips since 2000, even though Macs currently use PowerPC chips from IBM and Freescale Semiconductor.

Apple said Mac OS X would only run on x86 chips used in Apple-developed hardware. Intel PCs distributed to Apple developers with the x86 version of Mac OS X used a security chip to prevent developers from copying Mac OS to other Intel PCs.

However, hackers have bypassed the security chip and run the developer`s version of MacOS for x86 on any x86-based PC, according to a posting on the Web page of The OSx86 Project. Posters on that site, as well as other sites within the Mac community, claim to have used the instructions to run Mac OS X on their Intel or AMD PCs.

A plan by the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) to help protect open source projects from patent lawsuits has been criticised in the US and Europe, reports Techworld.com.

The OSDL`s Patent Commons initiative, introduced at the LinuxWorld trade show last week, aims to collect the software licences and patents pledged to the open source community into a central repository. The aim is to provide easier access to developers, and to encourage more patent holders to pledge their intellectual property to the cause.

Critics say the project will be effectively useless against the patent threat.

Google will suspend its scanning of copyrighted material in libraries while publishers decide what books they want to show up in the search engine, reports Internetnews.com.

Google has been scanning copyrighted and public domain works under a project called the Google Library but will hold off on in-copyright works for the time being, says Adam Smith, product manager for Google Print.