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Microsoft is slashing the price of its Xbox video game system from $299 to $199 in a move to compete with Sony's industry-leading PlayStation 2. The $100 price cut mirrors an identical reduction announced Monday by Sony. "Price reductions are part of being successful in this business," John O'Rourke...

Bill Gates and Microsoft reportedly have as much as $40 billion in cash. That has not escaped the notice of analysts, who have gone out on a limb and predicted an acquisition spree over the next several years. If Microsoft really goes shopping, it will have to do so very carefully. If Gates buys ...

Sun Microsystems has released its new StarOffice suite of applications, touting the package as an alternative to proprietary software and noting that StarOffice has fewer licensing restrictions. With enterprise pricing as low as $25, StarOffice 6.0 can run on Linux, Solaris and Windows and will reta...

Languishing Napster's high-profile CEO, Konrad Hilbers, and its cult-hero founder, Shawn Fanning, both have quit abruptly, leaving the once-soaring music-swapping site facing an uncertain future. The departures led to widespread speculation that Napster would file for bankruptcy and that rumored ...

There has been no shortage of software designed to transfer catalogs to the Web. But as e-commerce has matured, the market has started to evolve and leaders have begun to emerge. This process has been accelerated by the collapse of many software firms in the post-boom era. One major benefactor of...

Mothers were not the only ones delighted by the traditional flood of gifts and flowers last Sunday. According to Internet audience measurement service Nielsen//NetRatings, online retailers that targeted Mom as a gift recipient saw a significant spike in traffic. The rise in traffic at sites that o...

Yahoo! is learning an important life lesson, courtesy of the French courts: Make a mistake, and it will always come back to haunt you. The only unusual thing is that Yahoo's error -- allowing Nazi memorabilia to be sold on its auction site in France -- is doing its haunting in ultra-slow motion. ...

Sears Roebuck & Co. has announced it will pay a staggering $1.9 billion to buy Lands' End, the largest specialty clothing retailer in both online and catalog sales, in an effort to edge ahead of competitors like J.C. Penney. The deal will let Lands' End work its Internet magic on the Sears.co...

RealNames CEO Keith Teare was not shy about naming the company he holds responsible for shuttering his business, citing Microsoft's refusal to renew its contract with RealNames as the catalyst for the firm's closure. On his Web site, the RealNames founder provided an explanation of why he and 79 ...

Sun Microsystems has forged an alliance that will bring Yahoo's content to its enterprise portals. The pact is designed to drive adoption and use of such portals, which allow business users to access company e-mail and information on a single Web site. "We believe that ... populist apps -- things ...

Despite Microsoft's legal woes, it has forged ahead in a number of areas, including e-commerce. According to research firm Giga Information Group, the software giant generated $135 million in revenue from e-commerce products and client services during 2001. But as the company grows its e-business...

Auction giant eBay has renegotiated a long-term advertising deal with AOL, which now must meet performance targets to keep the partnership active. EBay also warned its members that it will begin testing an in-house pop-up ad campaign in coming weeks. "I'm sure there will be an outcry from eBay's ...

When Amazon.com executives said earlier this year that they planned to build their business by lowering prices whenever possible, the statement raised more than a few eyebrows. "All of our research shows that consumers are most interested in convenience, not price," GartnerG2 research director Da...

Despite deal sweeteners like discounts, only about one-third of Microsoft customers have signed up for the company's new subscription-based upgrade program -- and a July 31st deadline is looming. "From Microsoft's perspective, it's possible that they can make more money with this arrangement even...

In an effort to recapture ground lost to such competitors as Hotwire and Orbitz, reverse auction company Priceline has become the latest travel service vendor to climb aboard the fixed-price marketing train. "Moving toward the fixed-price model helps margins," Yankee Group analyst Lisa Melsted to...