Global News

OpenSolaris launched Sun and the OpenSolaris community have announced the launch of the official first version of the open source OpenSolaris operating system. The OS was launched at the CommunityOne conference in San Francisco. It was earlier available in a pre-release version to developers. The company hopes to popularize the operating system with developers, students and other traditional Linux users. In addition, Sun has also partnered with Amazon.com to release the operating system as an on-demand service as part of Amazon.com’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). The company said that OpenSolaris would be available for operating system and storage services as part of the overall EC2 service, which starts at 10 cents per CPU-hour. OpenSolaris is based on the Solaris kernel, and incorporates features such as the Zettabyte File System (ZFS), and Dynamic Tracing (DTrace). ZFS is the default file system, which offers instant rollback and check-summing.

Adobe opens up Flash on mobiles Adobe has announced the launch of its Open Screen initiative targeted at increasing the penetration of Flash player on mobile phones. Under this initiative the company will lift restrictions on the use of its multimedia software. It also intends to stop charging the license fees for mobile versions of Flash and plans to publish information about the inner workings of the code. The aim of this initiative is to make it much easier for TV and film makers to send their content to mobiles and other devices such as set-top boxes. Adobe plans to do this by creating one flexible player technology that can run on any small form factor device but that only requires developers to write code once for it. To achieve this target, the company has put in place a four step plan involving, ending license fees; removing restrictions on the use of files in SWF and FLV format; publishing detailed information about the program interfaces for its Flash player and opening up information about its Flash streaming technology.

Microsoft abandons acquisition, Yahoo’s shares fall Microsoft has announced that it has dropped its nearly three month long pursuit of Yahoo, thereby ending a historic acquisition attempt. The failure to acquire Yahoo puts Microsoft back to square one against its effort boost its online business to compete with Google. In a statement issued by the software giant, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company’s goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for the stockholders and employees of both companies. In response, Yahoo issued a statement maintaining that Microsoft’s offer was too low, and saying that many Yahoo shareholders agreed with its position. In a statement, Jerry Yang, CEO, Yahoo said that with the distraction of Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal now behind it, Yahoo could continue with the most important transition in its history. Microsoft had earlier raised its initial bid by about $5 billion, but that didn’t convince Yahoo. The collapse of the deal was clearly visible, as Yahoo’s shares fell by approximately 15% in New York, erasing a big chunk of the 50% gain made since the takeover approach. In Frankfurt, Yahoo’s shares ended down 12.59% at 15.83 euros.

Ruckus sues Netgear over Wi-Fi Ruckus Wireless has sued the networking firm Netgear over infringement of its patent on the Wi-Fi technology. The company has claimed that Netgear has used its technology in two products, one of which is still shipping, under a 2005 licensing agreement for improving Wi-Fi performance and reliability. Ruckus Wireless has come out saying that Netgear has used the company’s intellectual property in the RangeMax WPN 824v3 wireless router without taking permission or paying royalties, and that Netgear is not meeting Ruckus’s quality standards for the technology. The wireless company has filed suit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. In addition to Netgear, it has also sued Rayspan, which worked with Netgear on the WPN 824v3 router, charging contributory infringement. The company is seeking a permanent injunction to bar both companies from making or selling the product. It also wants damages and reasonable royalties from the sale of the router and possibly other infringing products, and statutory damages. Ruckus has a system for using antenna arrays to form and direct Wi-Fi signals over the best path at any given time. The company has more than 70 patents granted or pending worldwide.

GTA smashes UK sales records Critically acclaimed video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV is on course to beat the record for highest first week sales of any video game in the UK. The title sold a record 609,000 copies on its first day of release, generating an estimated $48.5 m. The record was earlier held by GTA: San Andreas, which sold 501,000 copies in 24 hours in October 2004. Despite this success, the game has been hit by reports of software problems coupled with crashes on some consoles. Though this problem was initially thought to be confined to the 60GB version of the PlayStation 3, even other models running the game have reported problems, including the Xbox 360. Rockstar, the makers of the GTA series, has acknowledged the problem and is reportedly working on a fix. That said, according to Gamerankings.com, which amalgamates reviews from all publications, the GTA IV has an average review score of 98.7%. Another UK-based games Web site Eurogamer, has called it ‘game of the year’, and handed it a 10 out of 10 review score. According to Chart Track, GTA IV has not only recorded the highest sales for any game in its first 24 hours, but has also set new records for first day sales for any game on both the PS3 and the Xbox.