Microsoft acquires Connectix; Mozilla upstart models after Safari; more

Microsoft acquires Connectix Microsoft has bought most of the assets of Connectix Corp. for an undisclosed sum, and apparently plans to continue development of Virtual PC for the Macintosh. In a statement, Microsoft officials state "By deploying supportable virtualization technology from Microsoft, customers can easily migrate to next-generation operating system platforms while leveraging investments in their existing applications. In addition, Microsoft's virtual machine solutions will enable companies to consolidate server resources, thereby reducing hardware capital expenditures and operating costs." More.

Mozilla upstart models after Safari CNET reports on a new development project called Epiphany that has splintered from the Galeon effort, which also was formed to create a simplified Mozilla-based browser for Gnome. "While small size and simplicity were two of Galeon's early goals--just as they were initial goals of Mozilla--the breakaway Epiphany project accuses its predecessor of falling into the downward spiral of unnecessary complexity." More.

Motorola plugs USB on the go ZDNN reports that merging connectivity technology USB On-the-Go is gradually becoming the de facto wired standard, gaining more momentum from a licensing deal with chipmaker Motorola. "More than 1.3 billion devices in the market have ports for USB, which became a widely used connectivity technology when Intel integrated it into its chipsets in 1998. TransDimension is looking to make USB On-the-Go as prevalent in mobile devices as USB is in PCs and PC peripherals by striking licensing deals with manufacturers whose chipsets are used in portable devices." More.

IBM to launch Power5 in '04 IBM will deliver its next-generation Power5 RISC microprocessor architecture sometime in mid-2004, according to a ComputerWorld report. The processors will deliver roughly four times the performance of current-generation Power4 chips and will feature technologies that support application-specific performance boosts and mainframelike partitioning capabilities. "Power5 chips will feature a technology called simultaneous multithreading that will enable up to 80 percent better application-level performance than current technologies permit, according to Karl Freund, vice president of IBM's pSeries product group." More.

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