Shareholders try to tell HP something

Shareholder anger reared its head at the annual Hewlett-Packard meeting in Atlanta, reports Siliconvalley.com, saying three proposals that management fought hard to defeat passed or came closer to approval than the company hoped.

The site reports that the measures were an attempt to rebuke CEO Carly Fiorina and send a strong message for corporate governance reform.

Voters approved by 55% a proposal that would require shareholder approval of any future "poison pill" measures designed to thwart hostile takeovers and preserve management control. About 43% were against the proposal and 2% abstained.

"That`s a big win,"` said Charles Elson, director of the Centre for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "These resolutions always do well but in this company, given the substantial opposition to management that you saw last year, it`s not surprising it did as well as it did. It`s a clearly anti-management vote."`

The 20 most widespread malicious programmes for March, according to Kaspersky Labs, are, in order of percentage share of total virus incidents:

1. I-Worm.Klez 37.60%
2. I-Worm.Sobig 10.75%
3. I-Worm.Lentin 9.03%
4. I-Worm.Avron 3.30%
5. Macro.Word97.Thus 2.62%
6. I-Worm.Tanatos 1.38%
7. Macro.Word97.Marker 1.21%
8. Worm.Win32.Opasoft 1.13%
9. I-Worm.Hybris 1.04%
10. Win95.CIH 0.69%
11. Worm.Win32.Randon 0.58%
12. VBS.Redlof 0.57%
13. Backdoor.Death 0.51%
14. Win95.Spaces 0.51%
15. I-Worm.Roron 0.49%
16. Trojan.PSW.Gip 0.49%
17. Backdoor.NetDevil 0.48%
18. Win32.HLLP.Hantaner 0.45%
19. TrojanDropper.Win32.Delf 0.42%
20. TrojanDropper.Win32.Yabinder 0.41%
Other malicious programmes: 26.33%

Windows CE, Microsoft`s embedded operating system, is poised to add voice-over-IP (VOIP) functions to handhelds, Windows-powered smartphones and other devices, through enhancements to version 4.2 being unveiled at the Voice on the Net conference this week in San Jose, California.

PC World reports that several major vendors, including Casio, Hitachi, Samsung and Symbol Technologies, are already developing VOIP devices using Windows CE .Net.

Meanwhile, component-makers, including Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, ARM, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, are optimising CPUs and reference boards for VOIP devices that will run the new operating system.

This week on TechNiche:
Not another bubble, please
Urbanology in retail
The spoils of war