WASHINGTON: Thirteen years after the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the software giant of using its market power to pummel potential rivals, the case will soon be history.
"And so May 12 will close an important chapter in the history of antitrust law," said Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly during the last oversight hearing on Wednesday at the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The oversight will expire on May 12 with no further hearings.
The investigation of Microsoft began with the Federal Trade Commission, which also enforces antitrust law.
But it was soon shifted to the Justice Department which, backed by a number of states, filed suit in 1998 alleging Microsoft illegally used its dominance of the Windows operating system market to shut out rivals to its Internet Explorer.
Two years later, a district judge ruled in favor of the government.
But an appeals court overturned that ruling, and in 2001 the Justice Department reached a settlement with Microsoft, which critics saw as inappropriately weak. But it was approved, and the oversight required by the settlement ends next month.
"It is appropriate for the final judgment to be allowed to expire on May 12," said Adam Severt, speaking for the Justice Department on Wednesday.
Stephen Houck, who has been involved in the case for years, told the hearing that extreme market power grew quickly in the high-tech industry but that the Microsoft case proved that it was not immune to antitrust law.
"When we first brought the case, critics said it was impossible to bring an antitrust case against a high-tech, fast-moving industry," said Houck, appearing for a group of states led by California.
Microsoft changed as a company during the legal battle and subsequent court oversight, going from a politically naive company that brushed off regulators to one who played the Washington game.
Also during that time, the tech world changed almost entirely, said Marc Schildkraut, an antitrust attorney with the law firm Dewey and LeBoeuf.
"Obviously Microsoft still has a very large share of the laptop/desktop operating system world," he said. "They're obviously trying to compete with Google, with Bing, but I don't think they're getting anywhere."
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Akshay Kumar back in action with 'Rowdy Rathore'
New Delhi, May 2 (ANI): Prabhu Deva is all set to direct Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in an action packed film 'Rowdy Rathore'. The film is to be co-produced by Sanjay Bhansali and designer Shabinaa Khan. Bhansali said, "To me an action film is totally an alien concept. At this juncture as a filmmaker, I want to move out of the comfort zone and do things that are new and untried.'
Source: news.yahoo.com
Source: news.yahoo.com
Pakistani actress Meera now turns a singer
Mumbai, May 2 (ANI): Pakistani actress Meera who shot to fame with the Mahesh Bhatt produced film 'Nazar', began recording of her first music album named 'Mausiqui' in Mumbai on Saturday. Meera hoped that her album 'Mausiqui', which means 'music' in Persian language, strikes a chord with the people.
Source: news.yahoo.com
Source: news.yahoo.com
Lopez doesn't prefer facial treatments
London, May 2 (IANS) Singer Jennifer Lopez doesn't go for facial treatments as she thinks that relaxing, getting plenty of sleep and drinking a lot of water is key to good skin.
'I try to get enough good sleep, about seven or eight hours and I drink a lot of water. If I have a red-carpet event, I'll do a face mask in the morning. And I'll take a nice bath to relax myself because I think the better you feel, the better you look. Then I'll have a coffee and take the day slow. I don't like to rush,' femalefirst.co.uk quoted Lopez as saying.
She added: 'I don't have facials or treatments. I don't like messing with my face or my skin too much. I don't do scrubs or peels or anything like that, I just do the basics. I use moisture masks a lot though.'
The 41-year-old is also trying to get back in the exercise habit following the birth of her twins Max and Emme with husband Marc Anthony..
'I was tired, the babies were my life and I just wasn't motivated. It took a lot of mental energy to get focused again,'she said.
Source: news.yahoo.com
'I try to get enough good sleep, about seven or eight hours and I drink a lot of water. If I have a red-carpet event, I'll do a face mask in the morning. And I'll take a nice bath to relax myself because I think the better you feel, the better you look. Then I'll have a coffee and take the day slow. I don't like to rush,' femalefirst.co.uk quoted Lopez as saying.
She added: 'I don't have facials or treatments. I don't like messing with my face or my skin too much. I don't do scrubs or peels or anything like that, I just do the basics. I use moisture masks a lot though.'
The 41-year-old is also trying to get back in the exercise habit following the birth of her twins Max and Emme with husband Marc Anthony..
'I was tired, the babies were my life and I just wasn't motivated. It took a lot of mental energy to get focused again,'she said.
Source: news.yahoo.com
BlackBerry maker seeks security 'balance' in Russia
MOSCOW: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said Russia could help development of new technologies by finding a balance between state security and innovation.
Co-chief executive Jim Balsillie said that the Canadian company had "ambitious plans" in Russia and offered President Dmitry Medvedev -- an avid user of Apple's iPad -- a new Blackberry tablet at a meeting on developing new technology.
RIM, whose BlackBerry products are used by executives and politicians including US President Barack Obama, has faced demands from countries such as India and Saudi Arabia to give authorities access to its encrypted communications services.
Speaking to reporters before the Medvedev meeting, Balsillie said: "A very important (question) for Russia is how do they balance the need for letting innovative things happen, but managing state security. Many countries grapple with this around the world," he said, adding a balance was needed that "allows innovation to happen, but still state security to be looked after".
India this year demanded full access to BlackBerry services as part of efforts to fight militancy and security threats over the internet and through telephone communications.
RIM said in January it has given India the means to access its Messenger service but reiterated no changes could be made to allow the monitoring of secure corporate emails.
RIM encrypts email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The company has said it does not have a master key to decode these emails and only the sponsoring business or organisation has the technical capability to grant access to encrypted enterprise email.
BLACKBERRY IN RUSSIA Russia's two biggest carriers began offering BlackBerry services in late 2007, after years of negotiations between RIM and the Federal Security Service (FSB) that did not involve handing over encryption codes.
The FSB domestic spy service called earlier this month for access to encrypted communication providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Skype, saying uncontrolled use of such services could threaten national security.
Russia's communications minister, Igor Shchyogolev, told Reuters ahead of Medvedev's meeting the government wanted international companies like RIM to be present on the Russian market, offering "the most up-to-date technologies".
"If there are some network security demands, and they exist globally, we need to seek compromise to provide security and at the same time not to set up barriers for companies," he said.
Balsillie said Russia was still a relatively small market for RIM meaning it had "extremely ambitious plans to sell Blackberry in Russia, invest in R&D, (and) also to invest in start-ups".
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Co-chief executive Jim Balsillie said that the Canadian company had "ambitious plans" in Russia and offered President Dmitry Medvedev -- an avid user of Apple's iPad -- a new Blackberry tablet at a meeting on developing new technology.
RIM, whose BlackBerry products are used by executives and politicians including US President Barack Obama, has faced demands from countries such as India and Saudi Arabia to give authorities access to its encrypted communications services.
Speaking to reporters before the Medvedev meeting, Balsillie said: "A very important (question) for Russia is how do they balance the need for letting innovative things happen, but managing state security. Many countries grapple with this around the world," he said, adding a balance was needed that "allows innovation to happen, but still state security to be looked after".
India this year demanded full access to BlackBerry services as part of efforts to fight militancy and security threats over the internet and through telephone communications.
RIM said in January it has given India the means to access its Messenger service but reiterated no changes could be made to allow the monitoring of secure corporate emails.
RIM encrypts email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The company has said it does not have a master key to decode these emails and only the sponsoring business or organisation has the technical capability to grant access to encrypted enterprise email.
BLACKBERRY IN RUSSIA Russia's two biggest carriers began offering BlackBerry services in late 2007, after years of negotiations between RIM and the Federal Security Service (FSB) that did not involve handing over encryption codes.
The FSB domestic spy service called earlier this month for access to encrypted communication providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Skype, saying uncontrolled use of such services could threaten national security.
Russia's communications minister, Igor Shchyogolev, told Reuters ahead of Medvedev's meeting the government wanted international companies like RIM to be present on the Russian market, offering "the most up-to-date technologies".
"If there are some network security demands, and they exist globally, we need to seek compromise to provide security and at the same time not to set up barriers for companies," he said.
Balsillie said Russia was still a relatively small market for RIM meaning it had "extremely ambitious plans to sell Blackberry in Russia, invest in R&D, (and) also to invest in start-ups".
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Micromax, Karbonn, Spice, to replicate India model in Africa
NEW DELHI: Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Spice, Maxx , Olive and Zen have got a new caller tune-waka waka eh ehae...this time for Africa. After giving multinational majors such as Nokia a run for its money in India, and cornering one-fifth of the handset market in the country, homespun mobile handset brands have firmed up plans to start operations in Africa by this quarter end.
The Dark Continent, which is on the brink of an explosive growth, quite similar to what India experienced early this decade, resembles the Indian mobile market in many ways-cellphones account for more than 90% of all telephone lines and the mobile penetration is at about 50%, with customer growth at around 15% per annum.
"There are MNCs and Chinese players (in Africa) leaving a huge gap for us to fill," says managing director of Spice Mobility Dilip Modi . Spice has been selling value-added services to African mobile carriers for over a year.
So, the leading Indian cellphone maker, Micromax, which started selling its cellphones in Brazil last month, is set to launch operations in Nigeria this June, an executive from the company said on the condition of anonymity.
Micromax is putting a sales team in place in Nigeria, Africa's largest telecoms market in terms of customers. The handset maker did not comment on these developments since the company has filed for a public listing and is barred by the market regulator from making public announcements on its operations.
For Zen Mobile, which has been selling handsets in Nigeria so far, volumes have been conservative. It has entered into a JV with a marketing and distribution company in the African country and has sold between 20,000 and 30,000 handsets in the price range of $25-$50.
"When people want to upgrade, there is not much choicea¦ they want music, multimedia, better screen, better sound at a better price," says Zen Mobile director Deepesh Gupta.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The Dark Continent, which is on the brink of an explosive growth, quite similar to what India experienced early this decade, resembles the Indian mobile market in many ways-cellphones account for more than 90% of all telephone lines and the mobile penetration is at about 50%, with customer growth at around 15% per annum.
"There are MNCs and Chinese players (in Africa) leaving a huge gap for us to fill," says managing director of Spice Mobility Dilip Modi . Spice has been selling value-added services to African mobile carriers for over a year.
So, the leading Indian cellphone maker, Micromax, which started selling its cellphones in Brazil last month, is set to launch operations in Nigeria this June, an executive from the company said on the condition of anonymity.
Micromax is putting a sales team in place in Nigeria, Africa's largest telecoms market in terms of customers. The handset maker did not comment on these developments since the company has filed for a public listing and is barred by the market regulator from making public announcements on its operations.
For Zen Mobile, which has been selling handsets in Nigeria so far, volumes have been conservative. It has entered into a JV with a marketing and distribution company in the African country and has sold between 20,000 and 30,000 handsets in the price range of $25-$50.
"When people want to upgrade, there is not much choicea¦ they want music, multimedia, better screen, better sound at a better price," says Zen Mobile director Deepesh Gupta.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Nokia: China approves Motorola network purchase
BEIJING: Nokia says China has approved the acquisition of Motorola's network business by Nokia Siemens Networks.
Nokia Corp. says Beijing gave "unconditional approval" and the $975 million purchase should be completed next week.
Nokia and Motorola were forced to delay the deal while China carried out an anti-monopoly investigation.
Chinese approval comes after Motorola settled a lawsuit by a Chinese network equipment producer, Huawei Technologies.
Huawei objected to the sale on the grounds that Motorola has sold Huawei equipment and commercial secrets might fall into the hands of Nokia Siemens Networks, its competitor.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Nokia Corp. says Beijing gave "unconditional approval" and the $975 million purchase should be completed next week.
Nokia and Motorola were forced to delay the deal while China carried out an anti-monopoly investigation.
Chinese approval comes after Motorola settled a lawsuit by a Chinese network equipment producer, Huawei Technologies.
Huawei objected to the sale on the grounds that Motorola has sold Huawei equipment and commercial secrets might fall into the hands of Nokia Siemens Networks, its competitor.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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