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The One Laptop Per Child Project and Microsoft plan to make both Windows and Linux available on a version of the project's XO laptop, the companies said Thursday.

The parties expect to deliver a dual-boot XO system in August or September that will have both the traditional Linux-based Sugar operating system of the XO and a low-cost student version of Windows XP, according to Kyle Austin, an OLPC representative.

OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte has referred in the past to a dual-boot XO model, but this is the first official announcement of such a system. The XO was developed by OLPC for children in developing countries. The availability of Windows on the system will give customers more choice in operating systems and let them use Windows-based educational software and tools, the parties said. Customers and partners worldwide have asked for Windows on the XO, they said.

Austin said the dual-boot system will have Sugar and Microsoft's Student Innovation Suite, a US$3 software offering that Chairman Bill Gates announced last year. Gates said the suite would include a version of Windows XP, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office and Windows Live Mail.

A Microsoft representative confirmed the XO would have a version of Windows XP but said the specifics were yet to be determined.

Trials of Windows on the laptops will begin in June in select countries, they said. During the trial, Windows will reside on an SD (Secure Digital) card in the laptop's SD slot, according to Austin, but in the final shipping machine, both OSes will be on the hard drive.

OLPC is working with third-party developers to have the XO's distinctive Sugar user interface placed on top of Windows, but the dual-boot systems coming later this year will use the Windows interface for Student Innovation Suite, Austin said.

Microsoft and OLPC did not specify the price of the dual-boot system on Thursday.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reached an agreement to make available its Windows operating system software for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation's XO Laptop, the company said on Thursday.

Microsoft was not part of the project started by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte to develop an inexpensive laptop computer for elementary school children in developing countries.

In recent months, the two sides have engaged in more serious talks and started testing the XO Laptop's Sugar software package on Microsoft's Windows operating system, which runs on more than 90 percent of the world's computers.

Microsoft said it plans to start trials of Windows on the low-cost laptop in key emerging markets as early as June. Customers will be able to choose to run the computer on either a Windows or a Linux operating system.

Sugar was designed only to work with a free Linux operating system that engineers from Red Hat Inc (RHT.N). Eventually, the goal will be to develop versions of the laptop to run both Linux and Windows, leaving the user to decide which operating system to run when the machine boots up, Negroponte said.

Sugar is a suite of educational software that includes a user interface for the green-and-white machines with a display that switches from color to black-and-white for viewing in direct sunlight.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi; Editing by Gary Hill)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. sales of video game hardware and software rose 47 percent from a year earlier, as Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's “Grand Theft Auto 4″ and Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii console stole the show.

The popularity of “Grand Theft Auto 4,” however, failed to boost sales of Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3, which both saw unit shipments fall sharply from the previous month.

U.S. consumers bought 188,000 Xbox 360s and 187,000 PS3s in April, data from market research firm NPD showed on Thursday. That was down from 262,000 units and 257,000 units in March.

“The Easter shift from April to March this year I think had an impact on sales during the month,” Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian said.

“I know on the hardware side it was a little light but let's see what a month of 'GTA' sales does for those platforms as well as a month without a holiday shift,” Sebastian said.

“Grand Theft Auto 4″ launched on April 29 and sold nearly 2.9 million copies in the United States in its first five days, NPD said.

Because the criminal action game can only be played on those two systems, Microsoft and Sony were counting on the title to convince those who hadn't bought a new gaming system to seize the opportunity.

“It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier wrote in the report. “However, since the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data.”

Sony said PS3 sales were still up nearly 130 percent from a year earlier, and pointed to upcoming games such as “Metal Gear Solid 4″ and “Resistance 2″ as ones that would spur sales.

“For us it doesn't end after GTA ships,” Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, told Reuters. “We've got a great back half of the year.”

Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii juggernaut rolled on, selling more than 714,000 units in a sign of unabated demand for the slim white box and its friendly, simpler games.

Gamers bought more than 1.1 million copies of Nintendo's cartoony racing game “Mario Kart Wii,” which was the No. 2 game in the month.

“It has a broad appeal that brings in a diverse audience,” Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, told Reuters, referring to the game.

Sony's “Gran Turismo 5 Prologue” racing game was the No. 6 game, selling 224,000 copies. Other top games included Nintendo's “Wii Play” and “Super Smash Bros Brawl,” Activision Inc's “Guitar Hero 3″ for the Wii and “Call of Duty 4″ for the Xbox.

(Editing by Gary Hill and Braden Reddall)

NEW YORK - Americans spent $1.23 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in April, up 47 percent from a year earlier, even as the price of more essential items like food and gasoline soared.

Nintendo Co. again took the crown in hardware sales, with its Wii console selling more units than Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 combined, according to data from market researcher NPD Group, released late Thursday.

Software sales jumped 68 percent, fueled by “Grand Theft Auto IV” from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., by far the month’s top-selling game.

Total hardware sales grew 26 percent to $426.2 million, with the Wii selling 714,200 units, followed by the handheld Nintendo DS at 414,800.

Except the Wii, which saw a small increase, sales of every gaming system declined from last month’s figures. The Xbox 360, the PS3 and its predecessor, the PS2, each sold less than 200,000 units.

This was the first time in many months that sales of portable games and hardware declined, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. But she noted that a calendar shift put Easter in March this year — compared to April last year — which could account for some of the decline.

Nintendo, meanwhile, continues to be “very pleased” with sales of the DS, whose audience is expanding, said Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America.

Software sales surged to $654.7 million from $389.4 million in April a year ago, but still below what some analysts were expecting. Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter had estimated software sales of $830 million.

“Grand Theft Auto IV,” which launched April 29, was the month’s best-selling game. Take-Two previously announced that the title had sold more than 6 million units worldwide in its first week out.

In the U.S., GTA IV sold about 2.9 million units in April for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 the only two systems it is available for. Of this, nearly 1.9 million copies went to the Xbox.

Microsoft and Sony both expect the game, which follows gangster Niko Bellic on crime missions around a fictional Liberty City, to buoy sales of their consoles.

“May will probably give you a better read on (its) impact on hardware,” said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management at Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

Other top-selling games included Nintendo’s “Mario Kart Wii,” “Wii Play,” “Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl” and “Gran Turismo 5: Prologue” from Sony.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's proxy fight for Yahoo is aimed at reigniting merger talks between the Internet company and Microsoft, but he may have to prepare a backup plan in case Microsoft is unwilling to return to the bargaining table.

After Microsoft walked away from its US$44.6 billion bid to acquire Yahoo, the company has been clear, publicly at least, about moving on, and executives said they are not interested in purchasing Yahoo anymore.

“It's not clear that Microsoft is still at the [bargaining] table,” said Ned May, an analyst with Outsell. “That's a bit of a problem.”

If Icahn can't woo Microsoft back as a Yahoo suitor, he may end up in the position of being the director of a company that no one wants to buy. And as Icahn has never seemed very interested in actually running someone else's business, this would put him in a rather risky situation.

Having made his $14.5 billion fortune by taking calculated risks, however, it's likely Icahn is preparing himself for the worst-case scenario. A source close to the billionaire investor said he may be consulting with IAC/InteractiveCorp CEO Barry Diller as he mounts his proxy battle for Yahoo.

One possible topic of the talks could be a plan to sell off parts of Yahoo to IAC, which owns Ask.com, a competitor to Yahoo's search engine.

IAC has faced its own troubles of late as it prepares to split itself into five pieces, and could be bolstered by acquiring Yahoo's advertising network and users.

However, it's unlikely that IAC, with a market cap of $6.6 billion, could afford such a deal, although it's clear Diller is interested in expanding his company's media properties, however far-flung they may end up being. On Thursday, IAC's Ask.com announced plans to buy Lexico Publishing Group, the owner of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.

It wouldn't be surprising if Icahn also was speaking with other executives to prepare himself for the event that Microsoft won't return to negotiate a deal. News Corp. has been rumored as a potential suitor now that Microsoft is out of the picture; however, on a May 8 conference call, executives said the company is not in talks to purchase Yahoo at this time.

News Corp. did not reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

One analyst noted that “cash is pretty tight these days,” which might make it risky for any company to invest in Yahoo if Microsoft won't bite.

Moreover, “Yahoo worked pretty hard to find other suitors to counter Microsoft, and were apparently unsuccessful in lining those up,” said the analyst, who asked not to be named. If no one besides Microsoft came forward during the two months it haggled with Yahoo over a price, it's unlikely anyone would be willing to buy the company now, he said.

A multimedia deal between Icahn and Diller is not unprecedented. Two years ago, the two billionaires were rumored to be interested in joining forces to link up pieces of IAC and Time Warner, in which Icahn is an investor. However, nothing concrete ever materialized.

Right now it seems Yahoo investors will be supportive of Icahn's proxy battle, even as Microsoft remains silent. IDC analyst Caroline Dangson pointed out that Yahoo shares rose 5 percent after his proxy fight was unveiled, indicating some support for the plan.

Indeed, Paulson and Co., an investment firm that holds 50 million shares of Yahoo, came out in favor of Icahn's proxy fight on Thursday in an e-mailed statement, but said it hopes the end result will be a deal with Microsoft, not Icahn taking over the company.

Other major shareholders that had expressed ire over Yahoo's not accepting Microsoft's offer and are likely to support Icahn's proxy fight are Capital Research, which owns 16 percent of Yahoo, and Legg Mason, which owns 7 percent.

Shareholders will get to officially weigh in on Icahn's proposed new board at an annual stockholder meeting July 3. Unless Microsoft and Yahoo iron out a deal by then, Icahn may walk out of the meeting the proud new leader of a $38 billion Internet company.

James Niccolai in San Francisco and Juan Carlos Perez in Miami contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. sales of video game hardware and software rose 47 percent from a year earlier, as Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's “Grand Theft Auto 4″ and Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii console stole the show.

The popularity of “Grand Theft Auto 4,” however, failed to boost sales of Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3, which both saw unit shipments fall sharply from the previous month.

U.S. consumers bought 188,000 Xbox 360s and 187,000 PS3s in April, data from market research firm NPD showed on Thursday. That was down from 262,000 units and 257,000 units in March.

“The Easter shift from April to March this year I think had an impact on sales during the month,” said Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian.

“I know on hardware side it was a little light but let's see what a month of 'GTA' sales does for those platforms as well as a month without a holiday shift,” Sebastian said.

“Grand Theft Auto 4″ launched on April 29 and sold nearly 2.9 million copies in the United States in its first five days, NPD said.

Because the criminal action game can only be played on those two systems, Microsoft and Sony were counting on the title to convince those who haven't bought a new gaming system to now seize the opportunity.

“It was surprising not to see bigger hardware sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 given the release of GTA IV,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier wrote in the report.

“However, since the game was only in the market for 5 days during this reporting period, that sales lift could very well be evident in May data.”

Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii juggernaut rolled on, selling more than 714,000 units in a sign of unabated demand for the slim white box and its friendly, simpler games.

Gamers bought more than 1.1 million copies of Nintendo's cartoony racing game “Mario Kart Wii,” which was the No. 2 game in the month.

“We are quite excited about the strong launch of 'Mario Kart Wii,” Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, told Reuters.

“It is a broad appeal that brings in a diverse audience.”

Although the overall figures fell shy of analyst estimates, NPD said they still painted a picture of an industry in robust health, with revenue in the first four months up 31 percent over last year's record levels.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis, editing by Phil Berlowitz, Gary Hill)

NEW YORK - The New York Times won three accolades for its Web sites and USA Today won two as the “EPpy Awards” were announced Thursday.

Also among the 13th annual EPpy Awards for media Web sites, from Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, was one for The Associated Press for its Katrina recovery coverage.

The Times’ DealBook won for best business blog, while the general news site NYTimes.com was lauded as the best news Web site and best overall newspaper-affiliated site among those with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors.

USAToday.com was crowned best sports Web site with more than 1 million visitors and its Pop Candy was named best entertainment blog overall.

Judges received more than 450 nominees in 36 categories from nearly 100 outlets. In many cases, sites with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors competed separately from less-trafficked sites.

The AP won for special enterprise feature in a Web site with more than 1 million visitors, while the Web site for The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post got honors among smaller sites for its coverage of “Diabetes: The Invisible Epidemic.”

For special news or event feature, the Web site for the Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul won among larger sites for its coverage of last August’s highway bridge collapse. The award for smaller sites went to The Oklahoman’s NewsOK.com for “Oklahoma Centennial.”

The contest was open to news organizations, Internet service providers, colleges and universities.

Cars.com won for best classified Web site with more than 1 million visitors, while The FanHouse from Time Warner Inc.’s AOL was named best sports blog. Metromix.com won for best overall design among smaller sites.

The best college newspaper Web site went to The Daily Reveille of Louisiana State University.

___

On the Net:

Winners’ list: http://royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2008.html

LOS ANGELES - Federal authorities said Thursday that former Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. chairman Henry Yuen is a fugitive after he was indicted on a felony obstruction charge that carries a possible five-year prison term.

Yuen was convicted in federal court in 2006 of securities fraud for inflating Gemstar’s revenue by $248 million to boost its stock price.

Gemstar and its TV Guide channel listing service were acquired this month by Macrovision Solutions Corp. for $2.3 billion in cash and stock.

The indictment against Yuen, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, charges him with deleting documents and e-mails from his computer that the Securities and Exchange Commission sought in the earlier prosecution.

“I’ll call him a fugitive,” said U.S. Attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek. “We don’t know where he is right now. And by now, he should be aware of the charges against him.”

The U.S. Attorney directed those with information about Yuen’s whereabouts to contact the FBI.

Yuen’s lawyer, David Scheper, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Yuen has failed to pay the $22.3 million in fines and penalties from his conviction in the Securities and Exchange Commission case. That judgment was affirmed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April.

The court said the later revelation of the fraud caused the company to lose $3 billion in market value after it corrected its accounts.

The SEC has been unable to seize Yuen’s assets and claimed in a previous court filing that he gave $42 million to third parties and moved substantial amounts of cash offshore in an attempt to evade seizures of his assets.

SEC senior trial counsel John Bulgozdy said he expected Yuen to pay eventually.

“We fully expect that now that the 9th Circuit has ruled that Mr. Yuen will honor the judgment,” Bulgozdy said.

A spokesman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Macrovision Solutions Corp. declined to comment on the matter.

Join the discussion.

AMD has jumped to a 12-core chip, skipping 8 cores altogether. Smart move, or not? Some of you say that the number of cores doesn't really matter. Tell us what you think.

Can Bill GatesShare your thoughts with us.

Popular stories this week include laptop buying advice, SP3 for XP, malicious code in a Firefox plug-in, and the Microsoft/Yahoo saga. To vote for your own favorites, click one of the thumbs-up icons on an article's page.

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Hollywood Wants $15 Million from Pirate Bay

RNR19952 says: I thought that search engines were not liable. Do they actually host content? And who in the hell would watch The Pink Panther more than once?

ImaPhake says: The Pirate Bay does not actually host any copyrighted content. Torrent metafiles (which is what The Pirate Bay does have) do not hold any copyrighted data either. It's just like Google!

pOpS says: Maybe those that are losing revenues on their product should beat them to the punch by releasing Web versions with their own sponsors embedded in the movie, TV show, or whatever media is causing their loss of revenue.

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

AMD Jumps to 12-Core Chip, Skips 8-Core Chip Plans

tenney67 says: AMD should have not said anything, [but instead it should] speed up development and surprise Intel. By 2010 Intel could be running 18 cores.

Mpheadley says: Are these multiple cores just a big delay until another big leap in computing comes? I realize the benefits in multitasking and multiple programs and things going on at one time, but what about higher performance for a single task? Are these multiple cores becoming like how many blades we can put on one razor?

ImaPhake says: So far, the use of multicore CPUs requires that software be multithreaded and optimized to take advantage of additional cores, otherwise they merely exist and contribute little to performance. Only now are we actually starting to see their utilization beginning to happen.

Technicalhitman says: Yawn. What makes AMD think that 12 cores is going to really help them if we aren't even taking full advantage of dual-core processing today? By the time 2010 rolls around, they'll probably be just getting to coding for quad cores. If their inferior products today don't hold a candle to today's cores, all you'll end up with is 12 inferior cores. AMD had their moment and lost it to Intel.

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

Gates: Creative Capitalism Can Fight Poverty

bobbobbob says: The only problem I have is “working with government.” Typically those governments are the source of poverty. Socially conscious businesspeople would do better going directly to the people and working with them. Unfortunately, capitalism gets a bad rap, being confused with the corruption that you see in many of the socialist/communist countries. A few leaders benefit and the populace suffers.

Muqtaar says: I think this is a new idea and I think a lot of poor countries will benefit from this program. I hope for the end of poverty in Africa and the rest of the world.

Leeland28659 says: Does Mr. Gates not realize there are poor people in the United States that have neither a computer nor a cell phone, and don't know what a smart phone is, but could benefit greatly by some of his benevolence? You don't have to go to Third World or developing countries to find poverty–just look next door. Please, Microsoft, consider the Americans who could benefit from any type of computer.

Dennisdesai1 says:Third World poverty is not to be confused with First World poverty. Forget about not having a phone to communicate. Think about not having soap to bathe with. Third World poverty is more basic and life threatening. It is about not meeting basic human needs. Hence, it occupies a higher priority and greater urgency in Gates's agenda.

Read the posts in this thread and contribute your own opinion.

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Timeline of events in the Megan Meier Internet suicide case:

September 2006: 13-year-old Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., begins communicating online on the MySpace social network with “Josh Evans,” who she thinks is a good-looking boy living in her area.

Oct. 15, 2006, she receives a message from Josh, saying he doesn’t want to be her friend anymore.

Oct. 16, 2006: Megan receives cruel messages through MySpace, including one from “Josh,” allegedly telling her the world would be a better place without her. Megan runs upstairs. About 20 minutes later, Megan’s mother finds her daughter has hanged herself in her closet.

Oct. 17, 2006: Megan dies at a hospital, a few weeks before her 14th birthday.

Fall 2006: Megan’s parents learn from a neighbor that Josh was the creation of another neighbor, Lori Drew, her teenage employee Ashley Grills, and Drew’s teenage daughter, a former friend of Megan. They are told the MySpace profile was created to see what Megan was saying about Drew’s daughter online. Drew, through her attorney, later disputes she helped create the site or knew of mean messages prior to Megan’s death.

Fall 2007: Media accounts of Megan’s suicide fuel public outrage in the case.

Dec. 3, 2007: St. Charles County, Mo., prosecutor Jack Banas says he reviewed laws related to stalking, harassment and child endangerment and couldn’t find statutes allowing him to file charges.

May 15, 2008: A Los Angeles federal grand jury indicts Lori Drew for her alleged role in the MySpace hoax, charging her with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization.