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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2004 MyDoom Overwhelms SCO Site PeopleSoft Moves Annual Meeting Gateway to Acquire eMachines Appeals Court to Hear P2P Case MYDOOM OVERWHELMS SCO SITE The MyDoom virus began its denial-of-service attack on Utah-based software company SCO Group on Sunday, crippling the company's Web site and forcing it to relocate the site to a new URL. Officials said the attack is expected to expire on February 12, at which time the former site will be restored. The fast-spreading MyDoom virus has infected an estimated one million computers, with several hundred thousand likely involved in the current attacks on SCO, according to F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen. A separate attack is expected to hit Microsoft on Tuesday. Both Microsoft and SCO have offered rewards of $250,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the virus. CNET, 2 February 2004 http://news.com.com/2100-7349-5151572.html PEOPLESOFT MOVES ANNUAL MEETING In what one member of the PeopleSoft Board of Directors called a direct response to the hostile takeover bid from Oracle, PeopleSoft has rescheduled its annual stockholders meeting, moving the date up to March from May. Oracle is expected to try to influence the makeup of the PeopleSoft board at the meeting, when several director positions will be contested. Last week Oracle announced its slate of choices for the PeopleSoft board. According to Craig Conway, PeopleSoft president and CEO, moving up the meeting is intended to "put Oracle's apparent efforts to interfere with our business behind us as soon as possible." In the meantime, both sides are awaiting rulings from the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission on whether the proposed takeover would receive regulatory approval. Internet News, 2 February 2004 http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3307041 GATEWAY TO ACQUIRE EMACHINES Lagging computer maker Gateway Inc. has announced a deal to acquire eMachines, which has been successful in the low-end PC market. Gateway, which has posted losses in 12 of the past 13 quarters, is looking to enter that market to revive its computer sales, which have stalled despite the company's successful entry into other consumer electronics, such as plasma televisions and digital cameras. The acquisition of eMachines will make Gateway the third largest maker of personal computers, behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard, and most analysts believe the move is a good one for both companies. Gateway's retail stores have not been profitable, and, according to Roger Kay of IDC, the acquisition of eMachines will give Gateway "flexibility in dealing with its stores" as well as an exit strategy to abandon the stores if it chooses to do so. New York Times, 31 January 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/31/technology/31gateway.html APPEALS COURT TO HEAR P2P CASE The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this week will hear arguments over whether Grokster and StreamCast Networks (maker of Morpheus) should be held liable for the illegal trading of copyrighted materials on their networks. In April of last year, a federal court ruled that the P2P companies are not responsible for such activity, striking a blow against the recording and movie industries. Copyright holders argue that unless operators of file-trading networks are held accountable, the continued illegal trading of files "will gravely threaten any possibility for meaningful copyright protection in the digital era." Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and counsel to the two companies said the issue is "whether technology companies are allowed to innovate or whether they have to ask permission from copyright owners before they build new products." A ruling is not expected for several months. Wired News, 2 February 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62112,00.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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