Now “One week from today Apple is hosting what has easily become its most anticipated event since the original iPhone”, says CNet News.

So what’s the story about?

Nothing.

Literally.

Because that’s a “summary” of what CNet says it knows about what Apple plans to unveil at an “event” San Francisco January 27.

“But it’s plenty of fun to do some educated guessing about what they’re cooking up down in Cupertino”, it says.

The BBC, however, reckons Apple is “set to unveil a tablet-style computer”.

It quotes a Deloitte prediction that “Tens of millions” of tablet computers” will be sold in 2010.

“The keyboard and mouse-free devices are likely to be a top trend among consumers,” it says, and, “For every million net tablets sold there will be a corresponding impact on e-readers,” it has Jolyon Barker from Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications department stating.

The report forecasts the tech trends for 2010 and describes tablets as “the Goldilocks of devices (not too big, not too small)”.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

CNet News – Five things to expect at Apple’s next event, January 20, 2010
BBC – Tablets take off in 2010 but solar power may struggle, January 19, 2010

Word.

No Word. You know, its ‘productivity suite’?

Canadian i4i successfully won an order forcing Steve and the Boyz to halt sales of the application, and was also awarded damages and interest totalling more than $290 million, said p2pnet.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed the injunction pending the completion of Microsoft’s appeal against the order and at the time, “Microsoft claims it may have to stop distributing Word and Office in the U.S. market until it can redesign both products,” said i4i Chairman Loudon Owen (right).

Now “D-day has arrived,” says PC World, going on:

“Per court order, Microsoft has removed technology from Microsoft Word which has been judged to infringe on concepts patented by Canadian software firm i4i from the software effective today. Compliance does not equal surrender, though, as Microsoft also continues legal efforts to overturn the ruling.

“Microsoft mounts a new challenge to the appeals court ruling as it complies with the judgment.The dispute relates to an i4i patent entitled Method and System for Manipulating the Architecture and the Content of a Document Separately from Each Other. The crux of the challenge lies with the way Microsoft separates the XML properties from the actual document content in Word.”

The only edition available from the Microsoft Store was Office Ultimate 2007, a $670 “full-version” suite, says The Inquirer, adding:

“Attempts to access all other Windows editions, as well as Office 2008 for Mac, were met with the message, ‘This product is currently unavailable while we update versions on our site. We expect it to be available soon’.”

Not to worry, though. Microsoft has made its money on the product many times over.

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p2pnet – Stop selling Word, Microsoft ordered,   August 12, 2009
PC World – Hobbled Word Goes on Sale as Microsoft Challenges Court Ruling Again, January 11, 2010
The Inquirer – Microsoft falls on its face, January 12, 2010

“Dow Jones Newswires is reporting that the company is going out of business.”

And, “Well short of its second anniversary, the Florida-based Mac cloner’s online presence has gone the way of the dodo, which probably means the company itself is no more, as well,” says Mac.Blorge today, going on:

“Well, at least we can hope as much. PsyStar.com is no longer responding. Given that company largely existed only online — they could come back — it seems entirely possible this could be the end for the hackintosh.”

Was that wishful thinking? Because at 9:15 am, Pacific, the site was online and fully functional, and it was business as usual, as far as we could see.

As p2pnet said recently, “Apple says does it doesn’t want Psystar selling its inexpensive, cloned Mac software or hardware ever again.

“Not ever !”

“Psystar attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones earlier Friday that founder and president Rudy Pedraza will be ’shutting things down immediately,’ and that all eight employees will be let go,” says CNet.

However, “Contrary to a report on Thursday by the Dow Jones Newswire, Psystar is not shutting down for good, said K.A.D. Camara, of the Houston, Texas firm Camara & Sibley LLP,” says Computerworld, going on >>>

Camara represents Psystar in a lawsuit the company filed in a Miami federal court last August that accuses Apple of violating several antitrust laws.

The Dow Jones story quoted Eugene Action, a Fresno, Calif. lawyer who represented Psystar in the lawsuit Apple filed with a San Francisco federal court in 2008. ‘They will not be in business,’ Action said, adding that Psystar President Rudy Pedraza would be “shutting things down immediately” by firing the company’s eight employees.

However, “Camara told Computerworld by e-mail today, ‘Regrettably, Mr. Action was misquoted in an early story that seems to have been picked up elsewhere. Psystar does not intend to shut down permanently’.”

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

CNet News – Report: Psystar closes up shop, December 18, 2009

Mac.Blorge – PsyStar website goes dark, company officially calls it quits, December 19, 2009

p2pnet – Ban Psystar forever: Apple, November 26, 2009
Computerworld – Contrary to report, Psystar not shutting down, lawyer says, December 18, 2009

Not ever !

Its new Rebel EFI lets users boot and install any OS on their hardware, it said recently, continuing:

Psystar has decided to take Open Computing to its next level. Psystar`s next step in helping to provide open computing for all will be to begin distributing our Rebel EFI software that will allow users to operating systems of their choosing, including OS X, on their computers —-

—- for 50 bucks.

The software is available free to download and try, though with limited hardware functionality, it said, pointing out The trial version is limited to a two hour run-time.

Now, “Apple has filed a motion asking for a permanent injunction against Psystar, statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs,” says Groklaw, going on

“Unless Psystar is permanently enjoined, Apple says, it won’t stop. And by stop, Apple means Snow Leopard too.”

For Psystar, “this isn’t the fun part,” says the story.  “Apple’s expert calculates [PDF] statutory damages from copyright infringement at ‘between $1500 and $300,000 and the statutory damages to Apple as a result of Psystar`s violations of the DMCA are between $449,500 and $4,495,000′.”

Says the Mac Observer »»»

Psystar received a crushing blow on November 13 when Judge Alsup ruled the company has been infringing on Apple’s copyrights by selling PCs with Mac OS X, and that it violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing the code that binds Mac OS X to Apple hardware.

Apple unsuccessfully tried to convince Judge Alsup to dismiss the Florida case in September, but may have better luck convincing Judge Hoeveler to dismiss the case now that the summary judgement ruling in the California case has been issued.

“The true purpose behind Psystar’s attempt to move the parties’ dispute to Florida is to forum shop and buy Psystar more time to continue its ongoing acts of infringement,” Apple said in its filing.

“If Psystar’s luck in California is any indication, the PC maker could have a hard time convincing Judge Hoeveler that it isn’t shopping around for a more sympathetic court,” it adds.

Stay tuned

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

any OS – Psystar Mac cloneware: Rebel EFI, October 23, 2009
Groklaw – Apple Asks for Permanent Injunction Against Psystar – Updated 2Xs, November 24, 2009

“For the first time, it is truly easy to turn your stuff into money at a fair price.”

Not. because actually, and obviously, Glyde is a long way from being the first company to decide second-hand stuff can be sold online.

But it’s the latest. And there are differences —- including a return policy and no up-front fees.

List an item for sale, and it sends the packaging, it promises, and sellers can donate part or all of their proceeds to charity “with a click”.

“Glyde Corporation is based in Silicon Valley and was started by internet veterans from eBay, AOL and Excite,” it says.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

November, 2009

Or if it isn’t now, it soon will be — and possibly “around the time the markets open tomorrow,” says the story.

A settlement “between a consortium of private equity investors, who successfully bid for Skype in September, and the original founders of Skype, who have filed several lawsuits in an effort to scuttle the consortium`s $1.9 billion deal to buy a majority of Skype from eBay,” was on the verge f being agreed, p2pnet posted yesterday, quoting the New York Times.

The deal would restructure the group that is buying Skype, it said, aso noting, Index Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm whose partner, Michelangelo Volpi, was at the center of litigation over the Skype sale, is most likely withdrawing from the deal”.

All Things Digital has sources sayng, “lawyers are apparently putting the finishing touches on the paperwork and have signature papers completed by both sides to be able to wrap it up quickly.”

So, “while nothing is ever over until it is over, it looks like it is over,” and, “Sources also said that as part of the deal to end the legal madness, Zennström and Friis will get 10 percent of Skype back for rights to key software technology they control, an option to pay $83 million for another three percent of the Internet telephony service and two seats on the 23-member board.”

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All Things Digital – I Love the Smell of Settlement in the Morning: Skype Founders Set to Get 10 Percent, Option to Buy Three Percent More and Two Board Seats, November 4, 2009
p2pnet – Zennstrom and Friis: Skype, the sequel, November 4, 2009
New York Times End to a Fight Over Skype May Be Near, November 3, 2009

“Not that long ago, Michelangelo ‘Mike’ Volpi, 42, was one of the most important people in Silicon Valley,” says the Mercury News.

He was the Cisco Systems “golden boy,” its says.

But, it continues, he “surprised the tech world by walking away in December 2007, falling off the valley’s radar. Until now. In early September, he helped orchestrate the winning bid to acquire Skype from eBay. But his triumphant return to the valley’s dealmaking spotlight took an ugly turn.

“Volpi is now enmeshed in a legal swamp over his role in assembling a consortium of private investors to buy Skype in a deal worth $2.75 billion. It turns out that while Volpi was putting together this bid, he was working as CEO for another startup called Joost, whose founders were also interested in buying Skype.”

However, “A resolution of the litigation surrounding the service, which is owned by eBay, could be announced as soon as this week, according to several people who have been briefed on the situation,” according to the New York Times, which goes on:

“The proposed settlement is between a consortium of private equity investors, who successfully bid for Skype in September, and the original founders of Skype, who have filed several lawsuits in an effort to scuttle the consortium`s $1.9 billion deal to buy a majority of Skype from eBay.”

The deal would “restructure the group that is buying Skype,” says the story. Kazaa creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who came up with Skype and sold it to eBay in 2005, “would take a significant stake in the new Skype”.

“Index Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm whose partner, Michelangelo Volpi, was at the center of litigation over the Skype sale, is most likely withdrawing from the deal,” it states.

How much of Skype II will Zennstrom and Friis own?

That isn’t clear, says the story, “although they would receive at least one seat on the new company`s board”.

But it’s “crucial” they “drop their various lawsuits against eBay and the other Skype buyers,” it adds.

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Mercury News – Silicon Valley golden boy caught in legal battle, November 2, 2009
New York Times – End to a Fight Over Skype May Be Near, November 3, 2009

It was hard to miss the launch. Microsoft had bought every advert in that day’s edition of The Times and even licensed the Rolling Stones song `Start Me Up’ to promote their brand-new operating system.

I knew what Windows 95 looked like and had seen the Start button and all the other innovations in the user interface, file system and control panel, because I worked in the tech industry and had access to the Windows 95 launch website, and also because I had been to a conference where Microsoft’s Jeremy Gittings showed it all off to a select few outside the developer community, but for most users it was all relatively unknown.

Sometime this week a package containing Windows 7 that I pre-ordered months ago from Amazon will arrive in the post, strike action permitting,  and I’ll get to play with the latest Microsoft technology. However I’ve been using the pre-release version for over three months, so I doubt I’ll be very surprised by it.

There is perhaps no clearer sign of how the technology world has changed in the years between Windows 95 and Windows 7.

It isn’t that Microsoft is no longer significant in the technology world, since despite the adulation of the Mac using community Windows continues to dominate all sectors of the marketplace and outsell the competition by a factor or eight or nine to one.

It isn’t that Microsoft has become an irrelevance in the new networked world, though some would like to think so when our attention is entirely focused on Google and its latest strategic move.

What has happened is that the internet and the revolution it has wrought have completely transformed the relationship between suppliers and customers and reset the expectations that any consumer of software has about access to early versions of key technologies.

Windows 7 has been available in some form or other for years. The key innovations that make it a worthy successor to XP and may succeeed in consigning Vista to the memory hole of computing’s Ministry of Truth have been public since their inception, the bug reports are available to search, and the slow move from early beta to release candidate have been exhaustively documented online in Microsoft’s own forums and elsewhere.

This is how it is done these days. It may be closed, proprietary code but the release process is as open as it can be, partly because it is what we demand in the network age and partly because every developer knows that it makes for better software.

The primary responsibility for that change clearly belongs with the Internet, the global network of networks based on adherence to a set of technical standards for computer-to-computer communication and a shared desire to build an open network for the world, but Microsoft deserves its share of credit. If it had not done so much to fulfil its corporate goal of putting a computer on every desk and in every home and classroom then the network’s global reach would be much less relevant.

In the fifteen years that have passed since my excitement at installing Windows 95 as a replacement for the venerable, clunky and woefully inadequate `Windows for Workgroups’ which ran on my computer at the time Microsoft has wrought more change in the world than even Alexander the Great could dream of, and we should allow the company due credit for this. Whatever our criticisms of its corporate ethics, security practices or licensing model, we cannot deny its impact and success.

But what of the new operating system itself

Microsoft should note that I skipped Vista entirely. I have never had a Vista license, run it on any computer that I own or relied on it for any task, however trivial. I stuck with Windows XP on my ageing desktop and only retired it earlier this year when I got Windows 7 RC to run reliably under VMWare on my Mac.

But I will install it use the new version, and I’m more tempted to buy a low-cost, high-spec Windows laptop for occasional use than I have been for years.

I also look forward to its successor, because while advocates of cloud computing, ultra-thin clients and distributed systems argue that Windows 7 marks the last major release of a Microsoft operating system, and perhaps of any operating system, I am not so convinced.

Some see a world in which Google’s Chrome OS or something similar provides a lightweight, network-oriented set of services and a translucent user interface, offering trouble-free access to a range of applications and tools in an always-on world, and though I used to share this vision I’ve started to feel differently.

For the last few weeks I’ve been living the life of a digital nomad as I’m between houses. I’ve relied on the kindness and the network connectivity of both strangers and friends, and although I’ve managed to get most things done the pain of the slow wi-fi on a recent train journey from London to Newcastle, the general unreliability of my 3G dongle when away from the centre of large towns, and the continuing inability of O2 to provide decent data coverage for iPhone users have cast me into the fourth circle of network hell on far too many occasions for me to feel comfortable about the cloud.

As I’ve come to rely more and more on the applications and data that reside on the hard drive of the laptop that I carry everywhere I can see why Microsoft’s decision to walk a careful line between a full operating system loaded with all the applications you can ever need and its Azure cloud platform makes sense.

Windows 7 is not going to be the end of the line for Microsoft operating systems. It just remains to be seen whether it can bring the company back after the `new Windows’ debacle that was VIsta.

Bill Thompson – andfinally.com
[Thompson is a UK-based writer and broadcaster. He has a weekly column on the BBC WebWise site, and contributes both on and off-line to The Guardian, The Register and The New Statesman, among others. His "inappropriately-titled 'billblog' "appears weekly on BBC News Online in the technology news section.]

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

October, 2009

It’s been competing with Apple and ‘competition’ is a dirty word in Apple’s lexicon.

“When computer upstart Psystar had the unmitigated gall to launch an affordable Mac clone, Stevo hit the roof and sued Psystar out of existence,” said p2pnet recenty.

Or so he`d thought. But it came back.

And not quietly.

Starting at $600, its Open 3 runs not only on Mac OS X (of course), but also on Windows Vista and XP ($550), and Linux, it said.

And its Psystar Open 7, with an Intel Xeon processor and good for up to 12 gigs of RAM, was, and probably still is, going for or $1,500.

When life gives you apples, make apple sauce, it said in a letter to customers.

Now, with that philosophy still in mind, with Rebel EFI, “Boot and Install any OS on your hardware,” it says, going on:

“Psystar has decided to take Open Computing to its next level. Psystar’s next step in helping to provide open computing for all will be to begin distributing our Rebel EFI software that will allow users to operating systems of their choosing, including OS X, on their computers —- ”

—- for 50 bucks.

“The software is available free to download and try, though with limited hardware functionality,” it says, pointing out “The trial version is limited to a two hour run-time”.

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p2pnet - Psystar is Back! The sequel , July 3, 2009

October, 2009

Or, “Ding dong, Windows Vista is dead!” – as PC World puts it, going on, “Perhaps that is a bit premature. Windows 7 hasn’t been officially released for 24 hours yet, so its understandable if the jury is still deliberating. There are certainly those who think Windows 7 is nothing more than Windows Vista with an extra bell or whistle thrown in for eye candy.”

And, “Microsoft Corp launched Windows 7 on Thursday, its most important release in more than a decade, aiming to win back customers disappointed by Vista and strengthen its grip on the PC market,” says Reuters.

“The world’s largest software company, which powers more than 90 percent of personal computers, has received good reviews for the new operating system, which it hopes will grab back the impetus in new technology from rivals Apple Inc and Google Inc.”

When your thingy is installed on 90 percent of PCs whether buyers like it or not, how can you fail?

Meanwhile, “just to play devil’s advocate, let’s take a look at 5 ways Windows 7 could become another Vista,” says PC World, to wit »»»

1. UAC still there. UAC– the bane of Windows Vista– hasn’t gone away.
2. Hardware and Drivers. Windows Vista stumbled and fell right out of the blocks as a result of lagging hardware and device driver support.
3. Performance improvement minor. A lot of fuss has been made about performance tweaks that ostensibly make Windows 7 faster than Windows Vista or Windows XP.
4. Expensive. Face it. Windows 7 is not cheap.
5. No direct upgrade from XP.

Now you know.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

PC World – Five Ways Windows 7 Could Become another Vista, October 22, 2009
Reuters – Microsoft launches Windows 7, eyes PC sales rebound, October 22, 2009

“Microsoft Office will then only be installed at IBM with prior approval. The instructions from the end of August stipulate that Symphony has to be installed on all company computers within ten workdays. 330,000 employees have reportedly already switched.”

Report says IBM is switching from Microsoft Office to Lotus Symphony – Heise Online, September 11, 2009

[On Saturday I usually try to do half-a-dozen or so posts, but today it`ll just be briefs. Normal service will be resumed on Monday . Cheers! Jon ]

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

September, 2009

Its Echostar / Dish money.

It’s been awarded a further $200 million, this time in sanctions against EchoStar (SATS) and Dish Network (DISH), “for violation of a permanent injunction against violation of TiVo`s DVR patents,” says Barron’s, going on:

“That brings total damages in the long-running case to about $400 million, plus attorneys fees.”

TiVo, “pioneered digital-video recording technology more than a decade ago, allowing consumers to record TV programs by storing them on a hard drive, enabling full DVD-like functionality including pause, rewind and fast-forward,” explains MarketWatch, adding:

“The company filed suit against EchoStar Communications in 2004, claiming that EchoStar infringed upon TiVo patents when it unveiled its own DVR. EchoStar said it created its DVR in good faith, with no intention of copying TiVo’s technology.”

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Barron’s – TIVO Gets $200M Contempt Award In DISH/SATS Case, September 4, 2009
MarketWatch – EchoStar hit with further contempt sanctions by court, September 4, 2009

Canadian i4i successfully won an order compelling it to halt sales of the application, one of its oldest.

The Toronto company won the permanent injunction and damages and interest totalling more than $290 million, said p2pnet.

But the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now stayed the injunction pending the completion of Microsoft’s appeal against the order, slated to go into effect on October 10.

Says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer »»»

Last week, computer manufacturers Dell and HP filed amicus curiae briefs stating their support for Microsoft.

Those companies said a ban on selling Word would upend the industry and affect more than just Microsoft. Microsoft has said it would need several months to re-engineer Word without custom XML support, if so forced by the courts.

“Defendant-Appellant Microsoft claims it may have to stop distributing Word and Office in the U.S. market until it can redesign both products,” i4i Chairman Loudon Owen (right) said in a statement.

“Microsoft’s scare tactics about the consequences of the injunction cannot shield it from the imminent review of the case by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal on the Sept. 23 appeal.

“To paraphrase the great heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, ‘They can run, but they can’t hide,’” he added.

“Microsoft’s time will eventually run out.”

Stay tuned.

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p2pnet – Stop selling Word, Microsoft ordered,   August 12, 2009
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Court grants Microsoft’s motion to stay Word injunction, September 2, 2009

The illustration is funny, but Sony is dead serious, coming up with an application which, “picks up on metadata, which includes laughter recorded by the microphone and a user’s expression from the camera”.

The devices are linked to a game console which, “identifies the user, notes emotions, and transfers the data over a network”.

Asks the story, “How will Sony identify emotions? – answering the patent, “mentions identifying body gestures and tracking group interactions ’such as when two individuals give each other a ‘High Five.’  Sony also developed smile detecting software for their Cyber Shot W120 camera which could be used too.”

But, adds Siliconera, the technology can also identify emotions such as sadness, excitement, anger, joy, interest —-

—- and boredom.

Say no more.

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Siliconera – SCEA Experimenting With Laugh Detecting, Emotional Tracking Software, August 14, 2009

Now it wants the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to let it to keep Word o the shelves, “as it fights an unfavorable patent ruling,” says the Associated Press.

It claims it and the public, “will both suffer if Word goes off the market while the company devises a workaround,” says the story.

The Toronto company won the permanent injunction and damages and interest totalling more than $290 million, said McKool Smith, the company`s US lawyers.

Microsoft infringed i4i patent US Patent No. 5,787,499 issued in 1998 to cover software designed to manipulate document architecture and content, said Toronto’s i4i, stating:

The software covered by the patent removed the need for individual, manually embedded command codes to control text formatting in electronic documents.

Judge Leonard Davis, ruled that Microsoft should pay i4i an additional $40 million for its willful infringement of the i4i patent, said company lawyers, adding:

Microsoft also was ordered to pay slightly more than $37 million in prejudgment interest, including an additional $21,102 per day until a final judgment is reached in the case. The court also ordered Microsoft to pay $144,060 per day until the date of final judgment for post-verdict damages. [The] permanent injunction prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.

Microsoft had 60 days to comply.

Microsoft has already been accused of infringing the patent.

So what, exactly, does ‘workaround’ mean?

Stay tuned.

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ordered to stop selling – Stop selling Word, Microsoft ordered, August 12, 2009

So says CNet News UK, going on »»»

In the UK, full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium — not an upgrade edition — are going to cost around £65. That’s less than the price the Yanks have to pay just for an upgrade version — $120 (£72) — and half what they’ll have to cough up for a full version — $200 (£122).

Amazon.co.uk is already selling the full version of Home Premium for £65, and Play.com is selling it for a little more at £75, but with free delivery.

Now, “For once, we can sit back and watch Americans shafting Americans, instead of us,” the story adds.

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CNet News UK – Shocker: Windows 7 to sell in UK for half the US price!, August 18, 2009

Tomorrow, Apple will open its 11th Canadian retail store.

Who gives a phlying phk?

Well, US ad company Google does.

The ‘news’ makes Gargle’s Canadian front ‘news’ page, with 10 ’story’ links.

Sadly for Apple, however, its TMC Net PRNewswire post is a total, unmitigated disaster.

When we went to the PR puff piece to see if it really was anything newsworthy about the opening, you couldn’t read it  because the ’story’ was completely obscured by a TMC survey and a floating telephone ad.

However, we say with confidence we’re sure we didn’t miss anything.

No need to stay tuned.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

August, 2009

The Toronto company, ironically named i4i, won the “permanent injunction” and damages and interest totalling more than $290 million, says McKool Smith, the company’s US lawyers.

Microsoft infringed i4i patent US Patent No. 5,787,499 issued in 1998 to cover software designed to manipulate “document architecture and content,” says a statement, going on:

“The software covered by the patent removed the need for individual, manually embedded command codes to control text formatting in electronic documents.”

Judge Leonard Davis, “ruled that Microsoft should pay i4i an additional $40 million for its willful infringement of the i4i patent,” says the law firm, stating:

“Microsoft also was ordered to pay slightly more than $37 million in prejudgment interest, including an additional $21,102 per day until a final judgment is reached in the case. The court also ordered Microsoft to pay $144,060 per day until the date of final judgment for post-verdict damages. Today’s permanent injunction prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”

Microsoft has been told to comply with the injunction within 60 days.

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McKool Smith – Judge Upholds Verdict, Enhances Damages, Issues Permanent Injunction Against Microsoft in Patent Infringement Lawsuit, August 11, 2009

Because Sony won’t be enabling the hardware virtualisation technology needed to operate XP mode in the upcoming Windows 7 release.

“Sony have voiced concerns that running VT would expose it’s system to ‘malicious code that could go very deep in the operating system structure’,” says unbeatable.co.uk, going on:

“That said Sony have tried to resolve the issue by stating they will be enabling Intel’s Virtual Technology, which will run Windows XP mode in Windows 7, [but] unfortunately this function will only be available with selected VAIO models with a higher ticket price.”

Says The Register »»»

The consumer electronics giant has said it will enable Intel’s Virtual Technology (VT), which supports Windows XP Mode in the forthcoming Windows 7, only on selected Sony Vaio models in the future. The Z series Vaio – priced $1,719 – won’t be one of the machines selected.

Until then, Vaio Z users join everybody else buying one of 10 Vaio PC brands that will also be incapable of running Windows 7’s Windows XP Mode.

“That means customers whose old Windows XP applications don’t work with Windows 7 will find their software unlikely to run on Windows 7,” the story adds.

(Cheers, catflap)

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unbeatable.co.uk – Sony VAIO drops XP mode in Windows 7, August 11, 2009
The Register – Sony’s Windows 7 virtualization switch-off (partly) reversed, August 6, 2009

So says CNet News.

Like WOW! Hold the presses!

“Apple’s Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing … emailed John Gruber of Daring Fireball to comment on the approval process of Ninjawords, a dictionary application that was initially rejected from the App Store because it supplied the definition of several dirty words,” says the story.

Schiller, “blamed the snafu on poor timing” says the story.

Snafu is World War Two US Army slang for ’situation normal all fucked up’.

Which is situation normal for Apple.

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CNet News – Apple breaks App Store silence, August 6, 2009