Microsoft is worried that its customers, especially governments, will reject its proprietary file formats in favour of the OpenDocument format.

A row is brewing over an effort by Microsoft to have a new file format it helped create accepted as an international standard. A local standards subcommittee has recommended that a proposal to fast-track adoption of the format be rejected.

Industry has warned the science and technology department that its plans to create a radio-quiet zone around the proposed site of the US 1bn Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope could have costly and unintended consequences.

If the new Kenya Communications Amendment bill becomes law, all Kenyan techies and computer owners will have to pay a fine of shs 1 million, or risk a jail term or both if they are not licensed. Why?

Section 86 of the KCA bill states that "-No person shall: -Operate an electronic Certification system -Update a repository -Administer a sub-domain in the ccTLD, to do so requires a license, or face the penalties."

Two new African content channels one in the USA and the other in the UK - are fighting hard to get the attention of Africas diaspora populations. Early results from both seem to show a significant preference for IP-TV as a delivery mechanism, particularly amongst younger users. Although user figures are modest, both companies are looking at global rather than territory rights, thus breaking down more traditional industry approaches by using IP-TV. All this is good news for Africas film and TV industries as the payments being made for global rights should be a significant additional financial shot-in-the-arm for programme and film producers and directors.

Sony has recently announced a $ 100-00 PS3 price cut, but Xbox makers Microsoft and Nintendo, who makes the popular Wii, seems unperturbed. Microsoft says that Sony does not have the games to compete against the Xbox while Nintendo says that the PS3 is still not competitive on price.

The 2010 Soccer World Cup will need a great deal of bandwidth, something that South Africa does not current have. Many projects like EASSy and Seacom are being planned, but it is not progressing at a pace which all countries are happy with. Kenya for example has subsequently asked for private funding for their own project.

Despite recent upgrades to the existing SAT3/SAFE cable systems to 120 Gbps and 90 Gbps respectively - there are still concerns about whether enough international bandwidth will be available to South Africa to serve the 2010 World Cup bandwidth needs. South Africas Telkom is however planning their own cable called SAT 4 for additional bandwidth.

A new trend in the global mining industry is said to have emerged, which sees companies moving their on-site systems onto the Windows platform and away from Linux.

The supply of electricity to cellular towers in Africa is not an easy task. The development of hydrogen-powered cells in remote areas has started last year, and the use of biofuels in the forum of pumpkin seeds has been suggested to power mobile networks. Here is a new look at a solution to the growing problem of powering base stations in Africa.

Microsoft is punting its latest pre-paid Office software offering in developing countries, allowing people to pay a quarterly price of around $ 30-00 for having the software on their computer. MS says that this should NOT be interpreted as a tacit admission that its products are too expensive.