PCs for the poor: Which design will win?, Feb 16, 2006

It's easy to list the benefits of bringing inexpensive computers to the billions of people who live in rural villages and urban centers in the developing world.

The triad behind the Cell processor has released a software developer kit for the chip to help foster its popularity.

Alejandro Toledo, president of Peru, signed legislation this week that allows public institutions to consider adopting open-source software, another step forward for the open-software movement. The legislation, which Peru's Congress approved in September, allows government agencies and schools to choose between proprietary software from companies like Microsoft or Oracle, as well as open-source alternatives.

Taiwan's Via Technologies plans to promote PCs that will sell for close to $250 this fall in an attempt to gain ground in the consumer market.

VA Linux, which then specialized in workstations made from standardized components and open-source software, went public in December 1999. The stock opened at $30 and closed at $238.25, a 698 percent increase on the first day of trading. Then-CEO Larry Augustin became a billionaire, in terms of the then-current value of VA stock, the moment trading began.

Buoyed by the success of cooperative ventures promoting Linux in Brazil and a few other developing countries, IBM plans to spread its open-source philosophy to other parts of the globe in 2005.

Michael Robertson--founder of MP3.com, Linspire and SIPphone, which specializes in Internet telephony--has been embroiled in a lot of controversies.

Microsoft has announced that Windows XP Starter Edition is to be made available in Russia, in an effort to combat piracy and the rise of Linux

Microsoft will release a low-price version of Windows in Russia by the end of the year, in an effort to wean Russian consumers off pirated software and Linux.

The server market is growing in the US - but not for everyone.

IBM and Dell each saw server revenue grow by more than 20 per cent in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago, according to researcher Gartner.

The "other" category, made up of second-tier manufacturers, also did well, experiencing year-over-year revenue growth of 25.3 per cent for the overall market and 71.9 per cent for the Linux market - faster than the market as a whole. In most categories, the "other" group generally saw faster growth than nearly all the brand-name manufacturers.