In a bid to cut government spending and to eliminate dependency on individual companies such as Microsoft, the Dutch government has approved a plan to switch the country’s public sector over to open standards.

Despite the BBC drawing criticism from non-Windows users for only releasing Windows-only iPlayer compatible version, the company has decided to officially launch its iPlayer IPTV service on Christmas day.

Just days after an attack code was released for the MPEG-4 codec vulnerability, an increase in activity on ports directed to media players has been noted by security researchers, which could mean that attackers are actively scanning for vulnerable machines.

If the volume of online searches is an indicator of the hottest technology product this holiday season, then the Nintendo Wii will be a clear winner. The combined searches for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 have not matched the volume of searches for Wii in November, according to comScore.

In a bid to increase its brand recognition in the global arena, Acer has signed up to join The Olympic Partner (TOP) Program in 2009.

The percentage of consumer PC buyers likely to get an Apple Mac is rising partly because of the release of Windows Vista and Leopard, according to ChangeWave Research.

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Verizon, on behalf of its clients, the developers of BusyBox, alleging that the company is illegally distributing BusyBox software to its FiOS customers.

Microsoft appears to be serious in getting Windows XP to work on One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) low-cost machine as it disclosed plans to test Windows-based XO laptops starting next month.

MySpace has rolled out a new music program for distributing exclusive content from top recording artists.

While the foundation that runs Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, has never before paid for content, it is now planning to pay illustrators a modest fee for their works.

Two security researchers have discovered an exploit in Linden Lab’s Second Life where hackers can not only steal Linden dollars from a victim’s avatar, but also access a victim’s computer as well.

With the recent release of Google’s Gadget utility for Mac OS X, the company is encouraging developers to make sure their developed gadgets run on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms and to tag those which only run for a particular platform.

IBM is suing a company that is allegedly selling unsafe counterfeit laptop batteries.

An ‘ethical hacker’ based in New Zealand gave a public demonstration of an old Windows flaw at the Kiwicon hacker conference in Wellington after he discovered it was not completely fixed and had exposed some 160,000 computers in New Zealand alone.

Internet users in France who illegally download music or movies or illegally share those files could lose Web access under a new policy against online piracy.

While Myspace has been playing its role to curb the threat of Facebook, Web traffic statistics now show Facebook has finally overtaken Myspace in daily page views and reach.

Five Hollywood studios have sued Beijing-based Jeboo.com and an Internet café in Shanghai for copyright infringements, the state media reports.