Just last week, there was a flurry of news about how Microsoft and Google were in a bidding war for DoubleClick, the onetime leader in internet advertising. According to people that were apparently close to the situation (always to be taken with a grain of salt), Microsoft had put in a bid for the company, only to be outbid by Google. Since then, however, there's been no news at all on the situation. Larry Dignan throws out some interesting possibilities of what might be going on here. One scenario is that one of the parties has basically secured a deal, but there's still some details to be worked out. It's also possible that Google only feigned interest in DoubleClick so that it could get an inside look at its operations. Another likely situation is that Microsoft and Google are basically fighting a war of words. Instead of actually being interested in acquiring DoubleClick, the two sides might be throwing out feelers just to see how the other side responds. DoubleClick isn't nearly as important as it used to be, but it's still big enough that both companies may not want the other to get its hands on it. Of course, unfulfilled acquisition rumors are thrown out on a daily basis, so it remains possible that the story is completely groundless, in which case DoubleClick's private equity owners better hope that the company's plan to be the NASDAQ of internet advertising takes off.

Chipmaker's decision to hold developer conference in Beijing next week emphasizes how important China is to its future.

Filed under: Desktops

HP looks to be counting on Via to help it snag a bigger piece of the ever-expanding China market, with the company opting to use Via's low-power processors in a new Compaq-branded desktop intended for business use. At 1.5GHz, the processors of choice aren't exactly most powerful, but HP seems confident that the one-two punch of low-cost and energy efficiency will be enough to attract business in developing areas of the country. Exactly how cheap the desktops will be isn't clear, however, and there doesn't appear to be any word just yet on when they'll actually be available. They've certainly got their work cut out for them though, with Dell prepping its own low-cost PC for China, and plenty of the country's own companies already offering even cheaper systems.

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