Business

By gradually migrating to a complete open source desktop and web applications, Gendarmerie Nationale, the French national police force with 105,000 employees, has saved millions of euros. The move cuts Microsoft out of the equation, helping the ... French national police force slash its IT costs by 70 percent. Most of the money saved was on proprietary software licenses, beginning in 2004. Previously, the acquired Gendarmerie Nationale acquired 12,000 to 15,000 licenses annually. Gendarmerie National's decision to adopt a strictly open-standards IT policy began in 2002 with the intention of ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating a pair of Google board members who fulfill similar roles with tech giant Apple. Such a set-up would be illegal if it in any way affects competition between the two companies. The investigation ... involves Google chief Eric Schmidt and fellow board member Arthur Levinson. Neither company, nor the FTC, have commented on the story, which recently broke through the New York Times. (Source: nytimes.com ) The FTC is reportedly looking into potential breaches of the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act which bans people from sitting on the board of two ... (view more)

One of Microsoft's senior executives has fled his post as director of the company's European Xbox operations. Richard Teversham is headed for Apple's business on that continent, ending a decade-and-a-half of service at Microsoft. It's not yet ... confirmed what Teversham will be doing with Apple across the pond, but given the iPhone and iPod Touch's continuing involvement in gaming -- and the promise these games have to eventually challenge the likes of Sony's PSP and even Nintendo's DS -- it's a fairly safe bet that he'll play a significant role in improving interactive entertainment on the ... (view more)

According to reports, Apple is planning to cut its laptop, the MacBook, by around $100-$150. It's as much a response to the competition from netbooks as to the recession. The main source of the rumors is the usually reliable Appleinsider.com site. ... It says Apple's plans to develop a tablet computer -- perhaps like a much larger iPod Touch -- will wind up taking longer than expected. (Source: appleinsider.com ) That's a blow to plans that the tablet will stop users defecting to netbooks, the increasingly popular slimmed-down laptops which offer basic functionality, notably web surfing, at a ... (view more)

Apple has made a move towards constructing its own line of chips by acquiring the services of several IBM and Nintendo designers. It's believed the move is meant to help the company save money in the future. Ask any number of people to name the ... makers of the Mac, iPhone or iPod and expect almost everyone to say " Apple ". However, the truth is that there are many other additional companies needed to manufacture such small, yet complex devices, and so simply answering "Apple" does not tell the whole story. When Apple purchased chipmaker P.A. Semi back in April 2008, many viewed the acquisition ... (view more)

Users of Microsoft's very popular Office 2007 software will be pleased to hear that a free update and download for the program, dubbed MS Office 2007 Service Pack 2, is available now, and promises to improve performance while adding several select ... new features. Unfortunately, there have been some reported issues preventing a full-blown ticker-tape parade. The main draw for users will undoubtedly be Microsoft's decision to add some support for non-Microsoft file formats. Once the download is complete, it will allow users to read and write Open Document Format files, documents used by the ... (view more)

According to reports, it looks like Windows 7 will be released October 23, 2009. That's a few months earlier than Microsoft had publicly committed to, and could mean extra sales for the holiday season. So far, Microsoft has only described its target ... of releasing the new system three years after Windows Vista, which would have been 23 January. But British laptop manufacturer Acer has told a tech website his firm will be selling a Windows 7 PC after October 23. Bobby Watkins told pocket-lint.com that Acer's new Z5600 model, specially designed for Windows 7, will be available with the system ... (view more)

Google has introduced a new feature called 'Google Profile', which lets users control how their information appears when someone else searches for that person's name via Google's products (such as the Google Search Engine). Using Google Profile, it ... is possible to create a personal page that links to your blog or other profiles and keep family and friends up to date with your contact information and pictures. (Source: google.com) Control Over What Others See According to Google, a profile is simply how you present yourself on Google products to other Google users. You control how you appear on ... (view more)

According to reports, Microsoft has met the deadline set by the European Union for addressing antitrust concerns, including the bundling of its Internet Explorer browser with Windows. The European Union has thus far led the fight against what many ... feel are Microsoft's antitrust policies, the most concerning of which include the company's packaging of its ubiquitous Internet Explorer (IE) browser with its equally popular Windows operating systems. Some claim that the packaging practice "shields" IE against competition from Mozilla and other, smaller companies, and that Microsoft owes its power ... (view more)

Microsoft has again denied reports it is planning to launch its own phone despite rumors that suggest it's working on a music-based handset to rival the iPhone. The latest report, one of the most mainstream so far, comes from the Wall Street ... Journal. It says Microsoft has had discussions with Verizon about teaming up to launch a smartphone on the network. Such a phone wouldn't just be another handset running Windows Mobile, but would have enhanced multimedia capabilities and include the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Microsoft's take on Apple's App Store, due to launch later this year. ... (view more)