Intel releases compiler software

Intel is shipping its latest compiler software, with increased performance and support for its latest processors. Intel's version 7.0 compilers include four pieces of software: compilers for C++ and Fortran, each with Windows- and Linux-specific versions.

"An awful lot of what's new will be very visible in performance," says Steve Speer, marketing manager for Intel's software products division. He says the compilers will offer a "significant" performance improvement over the version 6.0 compilers.

ExtremeTech reports that the new compiler supports all of Intel's processor families in a single package, including the Xeon, Pentium 4 and Itanium families. Most importantly, however, the software also boasts improved hyperthreading support, a key element of Intel's newest processor designs. [ExtremeTech]

Judge asked to shut down Morpheus, Grokster

The Napster saga may be over, but the battle over music-swapping technology rages on.

Entertainment industry attorneys argued in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday that the new generation of music-trading networks, Morpheus and Grokster, are nothing short of Napster reborn, with added features. They asked a federal judge to skip a trial and find the companies behind these networks guilty of contributing to widespread copyright infringement.

Silicon Valley reports that attorneys for StreamCast Networks, the corporate parent of Grokster and Morpheus, say the companies are merely software vendors that are no more liable for what users do with their technology than Xerox is when someone makes unauthorised copies of a copyrighted published work.

"This is simply Napster with a tweak that makes downloading easier," said David Kendall, a Washington attorney representing the movie studios. The judge, however, questioned how Morpheus and Grokster could be aware of the infringing activities of their users and said he would deliver a decision in due course. [Silicon Valley]

Licensing changes for .Net server

Microsoft yesterday outlined licensing changes that will take effect in April with the shipment of its Windows .Net Server 2003 operating system.

At that time, customers will gain a new option of purchasing client-access licences (CAL) on a per-user basis, according to Bob O'Brien, group product manager in Microsoft's Windows server division. Under current licensing terms, customers need to buy a CAL for each device that accesses the server.

O'Brien says Microsoft is making changes to give customers the flexibility to choose the option that makes the most sense for them, or to take a mix-and-match approach of both per-user and per-device CALs, if that proves more beneficial.

Computerworld reports that pricing has not been announced, but the per-user and per-device options will be priced the same. The new per-user option is expected to benefit companies that have employees accessing Windows servers from a number of different devices, such as workstations, laptops and personal digital assistants.

The per-device option would clearly work better for a factory that has numerous workers visiting the same kiosk, or a call centre that has more than one employee using the same workstation, depending on the shift. [Computerworld]

Spam stinks

And finally, from the stating-the-obvious department comes the news that Symantec, which recently got into the spam filtering business, has commissioned a survey of consumer opinions of spam and, unsurprisingly, most of the respondents said they get a lot of it and they don't like it.

The survey, paid for by Symantec and carried out by InsightExpress, found that 37% of people get 100 or more spam e-mails a week, with 63% getting more than 50 or more. It found that 69% agree spam is harmful, but this went up to 77% for those with children.

As far as productivity goes, 84% of respondents said deleting spam takes too much time, with 65% of people spending 10 minutes per day dealing with spam and 24% spending more than 20 minutes per day. About 42% of respondents do not use spam filters. [CBROnline]

This week in TechNiche:
Sun looks for StarOffice resellers