Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi and Carl Lundstroem were given jail sentences of one year each by a Stockholm district court yesterday. The court ordered the defendants to pay compensation and damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million), below the more than 100 million kronor claimed by prosecutors. The defendants said they plan to appeal.

The ruling is the industry’s biggest triumph since successful lawsuits against music-swapping sites Napster Inc., Kazaa and Grokster Ltd. The International Federation of Phonographic Industry(IFPI)  estimates 95 percent of all downloaded music is pirated, as consumers can get access to files free of charge within minutes, often before commercial release dates.

Pirate Bay is the largest file-sharing site using BitTorrent software, which allows users to download and share files in 34 languages for free, according to IFPI. Pirate Bay has said the site is a network where users put up content to share with other users and that there is no copyrighted material on the site. Pirate Bay had 22 million simultaneous users in February.

Content owners have successfully sued to stop file-sharing services such as Napster and Grokster from allowing consumers to download copyrighted material without permission. Napster began in 1999 as a free music-swapping Web site. Roxio Inc. purchased the company out of bankruptcy to start a paid download service and adopted its name in 2004.

Yes, This indeed is a lesson for not only the people who create such sites but also who download the copyrighted materials for free.

DELHiTECHiES strongly condemn illegal downloads!

Don’t worry,we will pass the exams for sure…(By Hook or Crook.. ).

I was reading a article in the Times of India dated 11th April, about the ways and means the students (of course the Duffers!) go about cheating without being noticed . And they get through with flying colors.

I thought of sharing them with you all.. So here are the Kinds of Cheaters (Duffers, please read these carefully  )

Kind 1: Book Worms– Don’t get me wrong.. They are different kind of bookworms !!…They wont read at home ,bus or train..instead they would start reading between the “Three Hours” paper.. roaming around in the corridor or in the bathroom where they store their miniaturized books..

Kind 2 :Chit Makers–These are the kinds who will not read the books all nights, but copy them neatly into small pieces of papers to copy next morning in the exams … Even CIA cannot decipher the codes … They would place them..below the collar,in the tie,in socks,in shoes….and the list goes on..If a cheater would get caught we can collect enough written material that will be more than he has written in the paper!!!

Kind 3-Sheet Changers– These are the most lazy ones… they dont even try the above two formulas …they want the “paki pakai kichdi”(cooked hotchpotch ).As soon as the inviligator turns around, without wasing a microsecond they change their sheets…And voila ..PASS!!

Kind 4:  Tattoo Makers–These are the creative kinds..They would write all the formulas and definitions on their handkerchiefs,on hands,legs..Even jeans…WoW…

So what’s your Pick?  

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the two companies “are in the final stages of negotiations” on a deal that would see IBM pay $9.55 per share, or about $7 billion, for its smaller rival.

IBM and Sun officials have not commented on reports about the deal. Sun shares were up 1.95%, to $8.37, in late-morning trading Friday. IBM shares were up 0.29% to $101.11.

To proceed with the merger, Sun is seeking assurances that IBM will stick with the deal even if it faces stiff regulatory opposition, according to the paper.

A tech industry group largely made up of IBM rivals says a merger between Big Blue and Sun would be harmful to competition in the IT industry and lead to higher prices for software and hardware.

“If this merger is announced, it will require careful, extensive review by antitrust authorities because of the wide range of products both companies now produce,” said Ed Black, CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, in a statement last month.

CCIA is a D.C.-based lobby group whose member includes Microsoft , Google,  and Advanced Micro Devices , as well as mainframe maker T3 Technologies.

Some analysts believe a deal would make sense for both IBM and Sun. Sun’s proprietary hardware business has all but dried up in the face of competition from commodity players such as Intel, and it’s struggling to keep pace with larger players in the software business, such as Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM itself.

Yet the company retains key, widely used assets, including the Solaris operating system, the open source MySQL database — which boasts more than 11 million installations — and the Java programming language.

IBM also is in a good position to better monetize Sun’s open source assets.

IBM doesn’t charge for open source software directly, instead bundling it with lucrative services and consulting engagements. The business model represents a threat to pure-play software vendors like Microsoft and Oracle. Adding Sun to the mix would serve to extend IBM’s dominance in the market for middleware that businesses use to connect a vast range of computing devices and applications.

IBM is well positioned to take advantage of low market valuations for Sun and other industry players. The company’s profits and revenue have held up better than most of its competitors during the recession, largely because of long-term services engagements that generate a steady stream of predictable revenue, and a number of cost-cutting moves.

Rohit Sharma