Innovation
The Week in Review: When is broadband not broadband?
NTL found out the hard way that perception does not always match reality, the Budget gave IT tax breaks to businesses and the RIAA sued penniless students for billions
Weirdly, the Advertising Standards Authority has decided that it knows what is and isn't broadband. NTL's 128kbps product isn't, it said, and mustn't be advertised as such, because people would feel misled. Never mind that Oftel's own rules say that NTL is perfectly entitled to call its slower cable modem service broadband... In the mean time BT Retail revealed that it won't be passing recent BT wholesale broadband price cuts on to consumers, while businesses will get massive price reductions.
NTL 128Kbps product 'not broadband'
No price cut planned for BT Broadband
ISPs unveil business broadband savings Oftel is also pushing BT to lower the cost of dial-up Internet service, which starts to make sense when you consider that NTL's 128kbps broadband service is a similar price to BT's unmetered dialup. The proposals would cost BT £15m a year, the company complained.
Oftel pushes for cheaper narrowband Internet Gordon Brown pleased businesses -- not to mention IT vendors -- by extending a provision in the Budget that gives companies a tax credit for IT purchases. Firms will also be able to write off R&D expenses on software.
Government gives new life to tech tax break Microsoft is getting ready to launch its latest mega-operating system with a lot of mega-hype. Pirates will now also be eagerly awaiting the launch, following the leak of codes that allow the software to be installed without going through the draconian Product Activation process.
Code leak spurs Windows Server 2003 piracy A UK company is planning to launch a 'downloaded music chart' later this year, but it won't include the services most people use to download music -- that is, Kazaa, Grokster and the rest. In the mean time, the RIAA is busy suing students for an amount that adds up to several times the industry's annual revenues.
Official MP3 music chart to ignore Kazaa
Music industry sues students over piracy The latest Microsoft programme to imitate the appeal of open source is an addition to the 'shared source' stable. The new plan lets you modify almost any code you like, excepting a few things that Microsoft has licensed from others. The catch is that you must license your modifications back to Microsoft under a no-royalty agreement or give the rights entirely back to Microsoft. This might sound like a pact with the devil, as one analyst put it, but Redmond insists developers are keen on the idea.
Microsoft defends Windows CE code-share
NTL 128Kbps product 'not broadband'
No price cut planned for BT Broadband
ISPs unveil business broadband savings Oftel is also pushing BT to lower the cost of dial-up Internet service, which starts to make sense when you consider that NTL's 128kbps broadband service is a similar price to BT's unmetered dialup. The proposals would cost BT £15m a year, the company complained.
Oftel pushes for cheaper narrowband Internet Gordon Brown pleased businesses -- not to mention IT vendors -- by extending a provision in the Budget that gives companies a tax credit for IT purchases. Firms will also be able to write off R&D expenses on software.
Government gives new life to tech tax break Microsoft is getting ready to launch its latest mega-operating system with a lot of mega-hype. Pirates will now also be eagerly awaiting the launch, following the leak of codes that allow the software to be installed without going through the draconian Product Activation process.
Code leak spurs Windows Server 2003 piracy A UK company is planning to launch a 'downloaded music chart' later this year, but it won't include the services most people use to download music -- that is, Kazaa, Grokster and the rest. In the mean time, the RIAA is busy suing students for an amount that adds up to several times the industry's annual revenues.
Official MP3 music chart to ignore Kazaa
Music industry sues students over piracy The latest Microsoft programme to imitate the appeal of open source is an addition to the 'shared source' stable. The new plan lets you modify almost any code you like, excepting a few things that Microsoft has licensed from others. The catch is that you must license your modifications back to Microsoft under a no-royalty agreement or give the rights entirely back to Microsoft. This might sound like a pact with the devil, as one analyst put it, but Redmond insists developers are keen on the idea.
Microsoft defends Windows CE code-share
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