Neowin.net

Microsoft Corp. appeared to have survived the worst the MyDoom worm could throw at it Tuesday. Experts say the virus, a variant of the MyDoom.A virus that knocked out another company's Web site Sunday, was programmed to fire continuous volleys of debilitating data at Microsoft's site Tuesday. But there was no visible impact on the software giant's Web site, http://www.microsoft.com, which barely flickered as the MyDoom.B Internet worm's trigger time of 8:09 EST passed. Microsoft had said Monday it was taking a series of technical precautions to ward off any attack. The company declined to give any immediate comment Tuesday.

MyDoom.B is a low-grade variant of the original MyDoom.A virus, the fastest-spreading e-mail contagion to ever hit the Internet, security experts said. MyDoom.A has infected hundreds of thousands -- and possibly over one million -- PCs, generating a torrent of spam e-mails and crippling corporate e-mail servers, plus slowing traffic for some Internet service providers. The biggest victim of MyDoom.A was Utah-based computer software firm SCO Group. The week-old worm, also dubbed Novarg or Shimgapi, knocked the SCO site offline Sunday with a barrage of data known as a denial of service attack.

News source: Reuters

Tim Sweeney, of Unreal developers Epic Games, agrees: "For a console to really have a useful online component, it has to have the hard drive to store downloaded maps and other data. If Microsoft waits for Sony, it is in effect allowing Sony to design Microsoft's box."

Meanwhile, as the chips at the core of the original Xbox are from different manufacturers (Intel and Nvidia) to those that will be in Xbox 2 (IBM and ATI Technologies), Microsoft have voiced concern that hardware and licensing fees would cost too much to enable the machine to play old Xbox games. However, one analyst has already said, "I can't imagine that Microsoft would be so insanely stupid as to make it incompatible," and some sources suggest that the issue could be resolved by using emulation.

At the core of the machine will be three IBM-designed 64-bit microprocessors, the combined power of which will be greater than current top-end PCs. The ATI Technologies-designed graphics chip will also be faster than its forthcoming R400 which basically means that Xbox 2 will be able to display with the resolution of high-definition TV.

Microsoft's emphasis appears to be on keeping the retail price down and, crucially, launching the machine before PlayStation 3 hits shelves in 2006. Xbox first launched just under two years after PS2 and, so far, 13.7 million of them have been shifted, compared to 70 million for PS2. As soon as we have more on Xbox 2, we'll let you know.