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While the MSI Wind is expected to be available shortly, new details are clearing up the operating system options and pricing. We have already learned that the Wind will feature (in the US) a 10-inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, and have other options to include a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam, 4-in-1 card reader along with Wi-Fi 80.211 b/g and an 80GB hard drive.

It is now clear that the Wind will also be offered with your choice of either Windows XP or Novell’s SUSE Linux pre-installed. The Windows XP based model will retail for $549 and offer a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth and a six-cell battery that is expected to give up to six-hours of life. The SUSE based model will be priced a little lower, coming in at $399 and offer up 512MB of RAM, however it will be missing the Bluetooth and also come with just a three-cell battery which is expected to give around two and a half hours of life.

Hopefully the Wind will launch as expected on June 3.

Via [CrunchGear]

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Cheers to those Linux users, as Novell is going to be releasing the successor of Linux 10, which is the SuSE Linux Enterprise 11. Sadly, Novell has only released some details at this point, but look on the bright side, at least it’s going to be released. Novell stated that, SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 will work on a vast variety of products such as edge and infrastructure servers, to data centers and servers.

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Microsoft and Novell recently signed a historic agreement, promising not to sue each other’s customers over patent infringement of Linux operating system software. Barely a month after the signing, the software companies are reportedly not on good terms. It all started when Microsoft began trying to take advantage of the agreement. The software giant had issued statements that the deal with Novell proved that Microsoft’s intellectual property does exist in Linux operating system. Novell, however, quickly issued a statement of disagreement, saying the deal is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property.

“We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents,“ Hovespian’s letter said. “When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.“

Now we know why Microsoft doesn’t mind spending quite a handsome amount of money, which is a piece of cake for Microsoft, for the agreement. I think the tactic of entering into such agreements with their rival and referring to the agreement to their advantage is quite sleek, and almost worked in favor of Microsoft.

Executives at Red Hat and other Linux variants must be watching the whole episode in disbelief. I wonder what will happen to the deal next. Anyone like to guess?

Read [Ecommerce Times]

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Microsoft and Novell had signed a deal the other day with a promise not to sue clients of either party, even if the Linux software from both signatories violate patents of the other company. Pretty sleek arrangement the way I see it. 

The agreement with Novell is referring to some of the Linux technology that Microsoft claimed it has patents right to, even though the details of which patents involved were not disclosed.

I am not sure what to call of this kind of agreement, but Microsoft agreed to pay Novell $348 million, while Novell pays Microsoft $40 million, on the basis that Novell has fewer customers. 

The supporters of Linux are said to be preparing a challenge to the deal, but the details of the counter measure are still not available.

The prospect of a drawn-out legal battle with Microsoft, an experienced litigator, could push users of Linux into the hands of Novell (Nasdaq:NOVL - news) and away from dominant Linux provider, Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT - news), which does not have such a deal with Microsoft.

Read [Yahoo News]

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• Xbox 360 Arcade units confirmed to include 256MB onboard memory
• Microsoft using Office’s AutoUpdate feature to check licensing