Microsoft
has said that it is considering a fresh deal with Yahoo, but this time,
however, said the software giant, it would not involve a full buyout of
Yahoo. Microsoft’s previous offer to buy Yahoo for $33 a share—a
figure that valued the company at $47.5bn was turned down by the latter.
In a statement, Microsoft has said that it is discussing
an alternate transaction with Yahoo, and that this time it is not proposing
to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo, but reserves the right to reconsider
that alternative. The company, however, refrained from divulging any further
details.
After Microsoft issued the statement, Yahoo confirmed
that it was looking at a number of ‘value maximizing’ alternatives
with Microsoft, and would assess offers made by the firm. The Internet
firm said its board would evaluate each of the alternatives including
any Microsoft proposal, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value.
Yahoo had wanted Microsoft to increase its bid of $33 a share to $37.
Microsoft had earlier announced that it has dropped its
nearly three month long pursuit of Yahoo. In a statement issued at that
time, it said that the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for
us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees
and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.
OLPC to get Windows
The
OLPC Project and Microsoft have agreed to make Windows available on a
version of the project’s XO laptop. Microsoft has said that it has
reached a deal to make its Windows XP operating system available on the
notebook for distribution to students in developing countries. As things
stand now, OLPC will offer the XO notebook both with Windows XP and Linux.
OLPC is expected to deliver a dual-boot XO system in
August or September that will have both the traditional Linux-based Sugar
operating system of the XO and a low-cost student version of Windows XP.
Microsoft will charge OLPC a highly reduced Windows XP licensing fee of
$3 per unit under a program it calls Unlimited Potential.
The dual-boot system will house Sugar and Microsoft’s
Student Innovation Suite, which the software giant launched in 2007. The
suite will include Windows XP, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007,
Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and
Windows Live Mail.
Trials of Windows on the laptops will begin in June in
select countries. During the trial, Windows will reside on an SD (Secure
Digital) card in the laptop’s SD slot, but in the final shipping
machine, both the operating systems will be loaded on the notebook’s
flash storage.
Intel invests in Malaysian WiMax provider
Intel
has announced an investment of 50 million ringgit ($15.3 million) in Green
Packet, the parent company of Malaysian WiMax operator Packet One Networks.
This investment in Green Packet marks the latest in a string of investments
made by the chipmaker to help spur the deployment of WiMax technology.
Green Packet has said that this investment would be used to support its
WiMax business.
Intel it seems is counting big on WiMax, a technology
that offers high-speed data connections over a wide area, to give users
high-speed Internet access from mobile computers. Later this year, Intel
will add WiMax support to its Centrino chip package with the release of
Centrino 2, formerly known as Montevina, which offers WiMax as an option.
Packet One’s WiMax network will begin commercial
operations in June. The operator will offer the mobile version of WiMax,
called 802.16e, and use the 2.3 GHz spectrum. That is the same frequency
spectrum used by WiMax operators in South Korea, although most global
operators are planning to use the 2.5 GHz to 3.5 GHz spectrum bands.
20% of the US has never sent e-mail: Survey
According
to the research firm Parks Associates, roughly one-fifth of all the US
households are disconnected from the Internet and have never used e-mail.
In a recent phone survey of US households done by Parks, 20 million households
are without Internet access, approximately 18% of all the US households.
The firm has said that nearly one out of three
household heads has never used a computer to create a document. This underscores
the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the
homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer.
The survey further elaborates that one-half of those who have never used
e-mail are over 65, and 56% had no schooling beyond high school.
The survey also states that 7% of the 20 million
disconnected homes plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the
next 12 months. In 2006 Parks found that 29% of all US households—31
million homes—did not have Internet access.
Intel to launch Itanium servers next year
Intel
has announced that it will start shipping a quad-core version of its Itanium
processor, code-named Tukwila, to system vendors in about six months,
with the first servers based on the chip due in early 2009. According
to the chipmaker, the new processor would roughly double the performance
of the current, dual-core version of Itanium.
Besides additional cores, the new quad-core processor
includes 30 megabytes of on-chip cache memory—about 15% more than
its predecessor- and Intel’s QuickPath Interconnect technology to
speed data transfer between components. It will be manufactured using
a 65 nanometer process, a step up from the current Itanium.
Itanium has not lived up to the expectations of Intel,
which at one time thought it would eclipse x86-type processors such as
the Xeon and Opteron. It suffered from frequent delays and a lack of compatible
applications, and from Intel’s and AMD’s extension of the trusty
x86 design by adding 64-bit extensions. Therefore, Intel and HP, which
helped develop Itanium, is keen to show momentum behind the chip.
Itanium is designed for high-end servers running large
data warehouses, databases, and transaction-heavy business applications.
Intel positions Itanium as a substitute for RISC-based processors like
IBM’s POWER and Sun’s SPARC, and as a lower-cost alternative
to mainframes. Most Itanium servers are sold by Hewlett-Packard, although
they are also offered by Fujitsu, NEC and others.
Microsoft
has said that it is considering a fresh deal with Yahoo, but this time,
however, said the software giant, it would not involve a full buyout of
Yahoo. Microsoft’s previous offer to buy Yahoo for $33 a share—a
figure that valued the company at $47.5bn was turned down by the latter.
The
OLPC Project and Microsoft have agreed to make Windows available on a
version of the project’s XO laptop. Microsoft has said that it has
reached a deal to make its Windows XP operating system available on the
notebook for distribution to students in developing countries. As things
stand now, OLPC will offer the XO notebook both with Windows XP and Linux.
Intel
has announced an investment of 50 million ringgit ($15.3 million) in Green
Packet, the parent company of Malaysian WiMax operator Packet One Networks.
This investment in Green Packet marks the latest in a string of investments
made by the chipmaker to help spur the deployment of WiMax technology.
Green Packet has said that this investment would be used to support its
WiMax business. 
According
to the research firm Parks Associates, roughly one-fifth of all the US
households are disconnected from the Internet and have never used e-mail.
In a recent phone survey of US households done by Parks, 20 million households
are without Internet access, approximately 18% of all the US households.
Intel
has announced that it will start shipping a quad-core version of its Itanium
processor, code-named Tukwila, to system vendors in about six months,
with the first servers based on the chip due in early 2009. According
to the chipmaker, the new processor would roughly double the performance
of the current, dual-core version of Itanium. 
