The old Venezuelan switcheroo

Microsoft's confused internet search service could be in for another re-branding, although it faces a potential trademark hurdle.…

Steal in this game. Don't steal this game

The upcoming PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will install SecuROM 7 on customers' systems, although the game maker claims its properly de-fanged the detested DRM technology.…

Monty chides Sun for premature, bug-riddled release

MySQL creator Michael “Monty” Widenius has gone on a noisy rant about last week’s release of MySQL 5.1 because Sun Microsystems has unleashed the database even though it still contains “fatal bugs”.…

You may own the bits. But you can't have 'em

Fail and You Before the internet, software distribution was cumbersome. While it was relatively cheap to reproduce computer code once it was written, sending floppy disks and CD-ROMs about created friction. Now, with heavy adoption of high speed connections, you can easily buy software and download it over the tubes. Bytes are bytes, no matter the medium.…

Two-years and counting

In 2004 Eric Raymond wrote an open letter to Sun Microsystems' then chief executive officer Scott McNealy demanding Sun open up their core Java intellectual property and allow anyone do whatever they damn well please with it.…

'It's about time'

Mac users are finally being offered their own version of µTorrent, the most popular BitTorrent client.…

Silverlight: back to the browser

Cast your mind back to the year 2000. Microsoft has just announced its .NET Framework, complete with a new language called C# - that was in July, at the Orlando Professional Developers Conference.…

And politicos want YouTube exposure

MPs have logged a massive support call with Microsoft after they ended up at the wrong end of the tech world's fitful migration to Office 2007.…

How do you make Lotus Notes cool? With jazz greats

When Microsoft needs an epic suck-up job, there's only one man who can do it justice. Deep in a bunker in Seattle, out comes the special red telephone that instantly dials Steven "Collective Intelligence" Levy.…

Ents officers endangered by e-voting fail

Oxford University Student Union elections have a bad case of the hanging chads after moving to an online voting system dependent on emails.…

But can they run Crysis on full settings?

The US Army plans to spend $50m over five years to develop more video games for training soldiers for combat, according to the Army pub Stars and Stripes.…

'Stability improvements'

Apple has pumped Safari with yet another update less than two weeks after version 3.2 of the browser was released.…

Windows Live Search jumps on fluffy bandwagon

Microsoft has sown confusion across the blogosphere after it registered the domain name Kumo.com and redirected it to several Windows Live servers late last week.…

Gaming engines to model complex aviation projects

Graphic engines used in the latest videogames are set to be see more and more service in the French aerospace industry, according to reports.…

Third beta, then release

The "standards-compatible" next edition of Internet Explorer has been bumped into 2009 by Microsoft.…

Office of Fair Trading not convinced

Capita's £78m takeover of IBS Opensystems Software has been referred to the Competition Commission.…

'Lively' wasn't

Could it be there isn't a pot of gold at the end of the Sadville rainbow? Google doesn't think there is, and will shutter its "virtual world" Lively after less than six months.…

We don't even want to talk about it

Steve Ballmer has said again that Microsoft has got over its infatuation with Yahoo! and has moved on.…

Layoffs be damned!

Adobe MAX Sun Microsystems has promised to deliver on JavaFX despite uncertainty in the wake of massive layoffs and a corporate re-organization.…

Just dollars a user a month

Microsoft added another rung to its online rope ladder yesterday with the general release of its web-based Sharepoint and Exchange products aimed at business customers in the US.…

'Zoetrope' travels into distant past 1990s

A collaborative effort between Adobe and the University of Washington intends to offer a new web archiving and search app called Zoetrope, which would allow users to search past versions of the web as well as what is out there at the moment.…

Here, there, not everywhere

It is a wise manager that does not make decisions based on the survey data put together by the major IT market researchers. But sometimes a skinny bit of survey data is all you have to start with, and that data is better than no data at all - particularly if you're trying to make a case to upper management either for or against the deployment of a specific bit of hardware or software.…

Open source haven thumped for harboring P2P app

The French music industry is suing four US-based companies for distributing P2P applications that can potentially be used to illegally share music.…

Will remain chairman of the board

Symantec has announced that CEO John Thompson will retire in early April, at the end of the company's fiscal year.…

Astro climbs on board openista ship

Adobe Systems has spun out an alpha version of its Flash Player 10 technology for 64-bit Linux software users today, to satisfy the needs of freetards everywhere.…

Free Download - The Reg Guide to Storage and Storage Platforms

Apple fails to shoot from hip with latest browser

Mac fans have given the latest version of Apple’s Safari browser a frosty reception after complaining that the update is causing frequent crashes.…

$34.95 for 3 support calls, update button

Little more than a month after the release of OpenOffice 3.0, Sun Microsystems has officially unveiled a major update to StarOffice, the OpenOffice twin that comes with a price tag.…

Outside the norm

Mozilla’s open-source Firefox browser accounts for 20 per cent of the worldwide browser market. So there’s no doubt Reg readers are outside the norm.…

Under the influence

OpenOffice is being pimped out by Sun Microsystems, just as Microsoft takes Office online, if Sun's chief executive latest blog entry is anything to go by.…

Wants to sync with customers' digital lives

Microsoft is giving its Windows Live services a social networking makeover in the hope of being a contender in the ulcerative Web 2.0 world.…

Free Download - The Reg Guide to Storage and Storage Platforms

Laggard 2.x users urged to upgrade

Users of Firefox need to update their browser software again following the publication of patches by Mozilla on Wednesday.…

3D model travels back to 320AD

Google Earth has hooked up with the University of Virginia to produce a 3D rendition of Rome in the year 320AD featuring 250 "highly detailed" and 5000+ other buildings:…

Intros yet another installable app

Google has added new video and audio conversion tools to its free email service – Gmail – in an effort to eat into some of Microsoft and Yahoo!’s market share.…

Put up and shut up

Microsoft has told The Register that its Hotmail email service is running “normally” today and that the firm is working “to remedy the minor issues faced by some of our users”.…

MS scrambles to fix distorted views

Microsoft isn’t having much luck with the redesign of Hotmail, which is currently playing havoc with thousands of user’s emails.…

The old checked-by-default trick

Sun is now distributing Microsoft's Live Search toolbar atop its Java Runtime Environment, after parting ways with Google's browserware.…

Change not always a good thing

Many Hotmail users are up in arms at Microsoft after it decided to shelve the “classic” interface in its free email service.…

Loses touch with reality

World of Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment's lawsuit against MDY Industries is getting a little dose of bat-shit insane before the case rolls to trial.…

Terminal jive

Redmond is giving a select bunch of software startups thousands of dollars worth of development tools and server software at a big discount for up to three years.…

Mozilla gets its jiggy on

Popular browser Firefox has snatched more than 20 per cent market share during two separate weeks in October, according to new statistics.…

Open source independence

Open source groupware software maker Open-Xchange has reeled in $9m in its second round of venture capital funding.…

Apps trainspotter challenge

Dreamforce 2008 Google has stepped up efforts to have business customers dump Microsoft's PC and server-bound productivity and business software for Google Apps.…

Dutch Rail not happy either

Berlin public transportation company BVG has banned a popular iPhone application which helps to navigate the city's vast metro system with over 170 stations.…

And linear optimizing Mactards

Review In a brilliant execution of public relations, OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released without enough capacity to handle the demand for downloads. Servers buckled under the traffic, and some of us in the media took the bait: Shit, this thing must be hot. Are people really getting that excited over an open source productivity suite?…

Anything but government oversight

In an effort to win the approval of the Department of Justice, Google and Yahoo! have (apparently) sent regulators a revised version of their monopoly-expanding search advertising pact.…

Giant enemy crabby kids

Studies connecting video games with real world violence have historically been... conflicting. It's almost as if the human brain is complex and doesn't dictate behavior based entirely on one particular stimulus.…

Philosophy, computing, and Republican desperation

USA '08 In a last-ditch attempt to spook credulous Americans into voting for John McCain, a Republican congressman and his brother-in-law have offered $10,000 to a software-wielding Oxford don, asking for proof that Barack Obama's memoir was written by former domestic terrorist William Ayers.…

Those who can't do, teach

No-one's ever accused Sun Microsystems of knowing how to sell software, yet the giant is about to start telling other people how they should go about it.…

Steve says no

Apple won't let Opera release its Mini browser for the iPhone, says the Opera boss. Jon von Tetzchner made the comments to the New York Times last week.…

Free Download - The Reg Guide to Storage and Storage Platforms

Works in Firefox, Safari and IE

PDC Microsoft has finally announced a version of its Office productivity applications for the web with the next full edition of its suite.…