IBM to support OpenDocument early next year

IBM plans to support early next year the OpenDocument standard in its desktop software, a product the company intends to market aggressively in developing countries.

CNet reports in The New York Times (4 December) that, at a press conference in Delhi, India, IBM executives planned to announce Monday that the company's Workplace Managed Client will be able to read, write and save documents in the OpenDocument format. OpenDocument, or ODF, is a standard set of document formats for desktop productivity applications.

IBM has already publicly endorsed OpenDocument, which the company views as a way to loosen Microsoft's dominance over desktop software. But the forthcoming Workplace products will be the first to support OpenDocument, a standard ratified in May of this year.

The CNet report in the NYT says that, in a high-profile case, the state of Massachusetts in September decided to standardise desktop applications on OpenDocument.

That decision, however, is being contested by other branches of the state government. The governor's office this week said it is "optimistic" that Microsoft's Office formats, once standardised, will meet the state guidelines for "open formats."

The report adds that, rather than create an analog to Microsoft Office, IBM is offering editors for creating documents, spreadsheets or presentations within a web browser. Documents are delivered via a Web portal and stored in shared directories. Access control and document management tools allow people to share and edit documents with others.

{mospagebreaktitle=Open source v. proprietary: Microsoft's Gates to visit India}Open source v. proprietary: Microsoft's Gates to Visit India
 
When Microsoft chairman Bill Gates begins a four-day visit to India this week, he'll see a country moving increasingly toward open source operating systems -- the chief rival to his company's Windows software.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (4 December) that the head of Microsoft's India division, Ravi Venkatesan, said Gates plans to focus ''on realising India's potential'' during his visit.

Microsoft has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a fast growing economy, as a potentially huge market, and this will be Gates' fourth visit. He'll meet with senior Indian officials, business leaders and programmers and detail Microsoft's long-announced plans to invest US$400 million in India in the coming years.

AP says that Gates is an icon to legions of programmers in India, and Indian leaders and business moguls line up to shake hands with him when he visits.

But, says AP., Microsoft has found itself contending with the fact that many Indian companies are increasingly turning toward open source operating systems, particularly Linux, as a low-cost alternative to Windows.

The report adds that open source operating systems allow users to copy, distribute and modify the program's code, and are relatively cheap compared to proprietary systems like Windows, which does not allow users to modify its secret code.

''Gates' visit comes at a time when Microsoft's domination is very much being eroded,'' said Javed Tapia, head of Linux vendor Red Hat's India operations. ''This time, we have a lot of success stories to show him.''

According to AP., while exact figures are hard to come by, a survey of Indian companies by Network Magazine released in June found that nearly 40 percent use Linux to run their servers. The magazine polled 340 companies, and offered no margin of error.

However, Microsoft insists its market share in server operating systems grew from 57 percent in early 2004 to 65 percent in late 2005.

{mospagebreaktitle=Year zero for Sun's recovery}Year zero for Sun's recovery

The Register reports that Open source and subscription-based pricing are taxing the best brains of software providers. Sun Microsystems became the latest to grapple with the issues this week, announcing it would no longer charge for its software.

According to The Register, lucky developers can now download Sun's Java Enterprise System (JES) middleware stack, N1 grid engine and management software, C, C++ and Fortran tools and the SeeBeyond development and integration suite for free.

Sun's chief operating officer and president Jonathan Schwartz validated the decision by citing JBoss and MySQL as examples of where the software market is headed.

The Register says that JBoss's chief executive Marc Fleury returned the compliment, telling The Register Schwartz had made a "ballsy, bold and visionary" move that endorses services.

Sun's business - and its software business in particular - has been on the comeback trail for years. After being treated as the illegitimate child of the product family, software has enjoyed a renaissance under Schwartz, says The Register.

{mospagebreaktitle=RealNetworks moves Rhapsody to the web}RealNetworks moves Rhapsody to the web

RealNetworks' core music subscription service is migrating onto the web, in a move that includes some of the first fruits of its recent antitrust settlement with Microsoft.

In The New York Times, CNet reports (5 December) that the company is creating a new version of its Rhapsody digital music service that will let people search and listen to its catalog of songs from a Web page, instead of requiring them to download software. Along with that new version, Microsoft will begin promoting Rhapsody over the next week through its Media Player software and on the MSN Music site.

The report says that RealNetworks executives hope the new version, in conjunction with a previous offer allowing people to listen to 25 songs for free, will make it easier for Web surfers to understand what a subscription music service is all about.

According to CNet., RealNetworks' move is part of a broader drive to make music services more accessible on Web pages, rather than through the downloadable software that is typical of most music stores and subscription plans today. Companies are hoping they can reach an audience that has so far stayed away from paying for digital music, by making their products simpler to find and launch from any Web browser.

America Online, which recently purchased Circuit City's MusicNow division, is developing a new Web-based subscription plan, for example. Napster also recently said it will begin offering more music though its Web site.

The new online version of Rhapsody will have most, but not all, of the features of the downloadable older version, which will still be available. Unlike the older version, it will also be compatible with Macintosh and Linux-based computers, however.

CNet says that listeners will be able to search the database of 1.4 million songs and make a playlist of up to 25 songs for free. Playing the songs will pop up a small music player in a separate window.

{mospagebreaktitle=World chip sales exceeded US$20bn in October}World chip sales exceeded US$20bn in October

The world's chip makers together sold just under US$20.1 billion worth of semiconductors in October, up 6.75 per cent on October 2004's total and 2.5 per cent more than the sum sold in September this year.

The Register reports (5 December) that the sales figure, reported by the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), represents a dip in sequential growth from the August-September increase of 5.2 per cent. The SIA attributed October's sales to "strong demand for consumer electronics" founded on "a sharp rebound in consumer confidence".

The SIA said demand for chips was strong in all industry sectors, with not a single tracked product line failing to show month-on-month growth.

According to the report in The Register, sequential sales growth was strongest in the Americas and Europe, with purchasing up 4.3 per cent and 4.0 per cent, respectively. Asia-Pacific experienced 2.1 per cent month-on-month growth, while Japan saw sales rise just 0.8 per cent, the SIA's numbers show.

Both Japan and Europe were down year on year, by 4.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. Sales to the Americas were up 2.5 per cent, and to Asia-Pacific a solid 17.7 per cent over October 2004.

The SIA has forecast annual sales of US$228 billion, up 6.8 per cent on 2004's total., reports The Register.

{mospagebreaktitle=Verizon may sell or spin Off Directory Division Next Year}Verizon may sell or spin Off Directory Division Next Year

In the US., telco Verizon Communications has said that it was considering whether to sell or spin off its directory business so it can concentrate more on providing wireless, data and phone services.

The New York Times reports (5 December) that, based on similar sales in the past, the Verizon division could sell for US$17 billion, or 10 times its 2004 profit before taxes and other charges of US$1.7 billion. Qwest Communications, the smallest of the four big Bell operating companies, sold its directories business for US$7 billion in August 2002.

The newspaper reports that Verizon's board has authorised the company, the second-largest telecommunications carrier after AT&T, to hire bankers to explore its options now that its purchase of MCI is almost completed. The company could sell or spin off the directories group, Verizon Information Services, in 2006.

Verizon Information Services publishes 1,750 directories in 44 US states and Washington, D.C. The division also operates SuperPages.com, which it says is the nation's largest online yellow pages. The division generated US$3.6 billion in revenue last year, and it employs 7,300 people. Sales fell 5.7 percent last year, and they may slip another 2.4 percent this year, according to the investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein.

According to the NYT., directories businesses are typically more profitable than many other divisions at phone companies like Verizon because they require far less investment in equipment. Automation and revenue from Web sites have also helped their profitability.

{mospagebreaktitle=Branson in talks to sell stake in cellphone unit}Branson in talks to sell stake in cellphone unit

Sir Richard Branson is in talks to sell his stake in Virgin Mobile's British business to NTL, a British cable and phone provider, an executive involved in the negotiations said Sunday. A deal would create a one-stop shop for customers' telephone and cable television service under the Virgin name.

The New York Times reports (5 December) that any deal is expected to involve a slight premium to the share price of Virgin Mobile Holdings, which has four million customers in Britain.  Negotiators for the two sides were still working out the price on Sunday, but a deal could be announced as soon as this week, the executive said.

Sir Richard, who founded the parent Virgin Group and holds interests in many of its businesses, is expected to sell his 71 percent stake in Virgin Mobile to NTL and take a 14 percent stake in the new company.

The newspaper said that Virgin Mobile's United States business, a joint venture with Sprint, would not be affected by any deal and would continue to operate separately. Virgin has been planning to take the American business, Virgin Mobile USA, public on a stock exchange in the United States, but an offering has been postponed several times because of difficulty in finding bank financing.

NTL is Britain's second-largest pay-television company behind British Sky Broadcasting and the country's second-largest fixed-line telephone company after British Telecom.

{mospagebreaktitle=NEC Elec says developed 55 - nano chip technology}NEC Elec says developed 55 - nano chip technology

Japan's NEC Electronics has said it has developed a technology to make advanced microchips with circuitry width of 55-nanometres, and would aim to start mass-production by the end of 2007.

Reuters reporets in The New York Times (4 December) that NEC Electronics currently makes chips with circuitry widths of 90 manometers, or billionths of a metre, putting it behind some players in the race to finer circuitry, which decreases the size of a chip and cuts per-unit production costs.

Intel and Matsushita Electric, for example, have already started mass production of 65-nanometre chips. South Korea's Samsung Electronics aims to produce 50-nanometre class chips next year.

According to Reuters, NEC Electronics, the world's eighth-largest semiconductor maker that is 70 percent owned by Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC., said it would use the technology to make system chips for cellphones and other mobile devices.