Neowin.net

Serious call-up for those people that are able to write a weekly column (read, not newsposters) for Neowin that will focus on the weeks news. My idea for the column will be an in-sight to the tech world and opinion that can generate debate on the written issue.

Your editorial will be viewed by no less than around 30-40,000 unique connections daily and not to mention the premium affiliation we have around the tech world. It will boost the userbase to Neowin when we can send out own editorials for posting on other sites with unique content. If you are studying to be a journalist this is the position for you.

Serious applicants need only apply, please feel free to send in a editorial so we can see your style in action. We would require this to be at least weekly but can obviously be more frequent.

If you are interested please feel free to email me at neobond@neowin.net where we can discuss the position in greater detail. You can also leave comments if you require more information.

Fish said that InterTrust talked to Microsoft about a possible licensing deal for the driver authentication technology in 1999, but that "certain people in Microsoft thought the idea was impractical" and a contract was never signed. He added that InterTrust has also filed an interference action with the US Patent and Trademark Office to have two recent Microsoft patents overturned on the basis that InterTrust patents supercede them.

Trustworthy Computing is Microsoft's latest initiative to improve its image - a company-wide policy of putting software security as a high priority. As a result of a seemingly unending series of holes being discovered in Microsoft's products, Bill Gates decided it might be a good idea to put security first, before asking the world to trust it with their credit card numbers.

It's no exaggeration to say that InterTrust's lawsuits are now a key part of its business strategy. The company's finances have been on the decline for years, and last week it laid off almost half of its dwindling staff. The company now has less than 100 people on payroll, about a third of October 2001 levels, and Fish said that he has several people working full time on researching the latest Microsoft technologies.

The reductions mean InterTrust will burn through about $7.5m of its $127m cash pile per quarter, meaning it can afford to maintain the litigation for well over four years. Fish admitted that the recent layoffs were made in part to allow the company to pursue the Microsoft lawsuits to a conclusion, "and to be able to appropriately support existing customers". (Again, Lawyers are more important than a workforce or customers - Neowin, ED)

"We need to responsibly act to protect the assets we have," he said, adding that the company is "husbanding resources" to be able to afford to see its litigation through to conclusion.

Last week, the firm reported a loss of over $10m on sales of barely $2m and, more importantly, said it only expects to record revenue of $300,000 in the current quarter. "Any additional revenue that may result from new product sales or IP licenses is difficult to predict, both in terms of amount and timing," CFO Greg Wood said a statement.

While Fish would not talk about how much money the company expects to get from Microsoft if it wins, it is likely to be far more than InterTrust has seen in a while. Fish said Microsoft spends $100m on support a year, a large part of which is allocated to sorting out driver problems. The effect of a reliable OS on Microsoft's reputation is worth far more, he said.

In the past InterTrust has been accused of trying to force Microsoft to acquire it by pounding it relentlessly with lawsuits. Investors either believe this, or believe the company has a good chance of winning its suits, based on the company's 12% share price jump yesterday.

As an aside, it's worth noting that some wag has jumped Microsoft's gun and registered the domain name trustworthycomputing.com. The URL now redirects browsers to a Google search results page for terms such as "Microsoft security flaws," "privacy holes" and the like. There are over 400,000 results on the page, including news articles describing three separate holes discovered this week.