Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon to fight Google book deal

The fight against a legal settlement that would give Google Inc. the digital rights to millions of copyrighted books is starting to resemble a heavyweight brawl in the library.

Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are joining a coalition that hopes to rally opposition to Google's digital book ambitions and ultimately persuade a federal judge to block or revise the Internet search leader's plans.

The group, to be called the Open Book Alliance, is being put together by the Internet Archive, a longtime critic of Google's crusade to make digital copies of as many printed books as possible. A growing number of critics already have filed objections to Google's book settlement, but none have the clout that the Open Book Alliance figures to wield with three of the world's best-known technology companies on board.

Peter Brantley, the Internet Archive's director of access, provided some of the details about the alliance's members and objectives in a Thursday interview. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have confirmed their intention to join the alliance. Amazon declined to comment because the group hasn't been formally announced yet. The Open Book Alliance also will include an assortment of nonprofit groups.

Among other things, the alliance will try to persuade the U.S. Justice Department that Google's broad settlement with authors and publishers could undermine competition in the digital book market just as more consumers are gravitating toward electronic readers like Amazon.com's Kindle.

In a bit of irony, the alliance is working closely with Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer who helped convince the Justice Department to file an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft that tormented the software maker during the late 1990s. Reback didn't respond to a message left late Thursday.
The Justice Department already is assessing the possible fallout from Google's book settlement, which is scheduled to be reviewed by U.S. District Judge
Denny Chin in an Oct. 7 court hearing in New York.

Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon all have financial reasons for objecting to the class-action lawsuit settlement that Google reached with authors and publishers 10 months ago. Amazon may have the most at stake, given that it's a major book seller and is mining the Kindle for even more sales.
Google plans to offer free access to some books through its search engine and sell others as part of a registry that will share revenue with authors and publishers if the class-action settlement is approved.

Opponents of the deal believe it will give Google too much pricing power, and have raised concerns about the company's ability to stockpile more personal data about the users of its search engines by tracking what they're reading.

"We see many disadvantages in this settlement," the Internet Archive's Brantley said. Others see tremendous benefits. A wide cross-section of libraries, colleges and authors have endorsed Google's book settlement.

Mountain View-based Google argues that the settlement will be a boon for consumers, who will have easier access to potentially valuable information now gathering dust in remote library shelves. And, Google says, authors and publishers will be able to make more money from out-of-print books.

"The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it's understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition," Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said. "That said, it's ironic that some of these complaints are coming from a company that abandoned its book digitization effort because it lacked 'commercial intent'."

Stricker was taking a stab at Microsoft, which abandoned its efforts to make digital book copies to focus on more profitable online opportunities.
Microsoft and Yahoo could be hurt if Google's expanded index of digital books propels even more traffic to its search engine. If that were to happen, Google might process even more search requests than it already does, allowing the company to show more of the text ads alongside search results that generate most of its revenue.

Hoping to siphon advertising away from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo last month announced a planned partnership in search. The proposal, which still must be approved by the Justice Department, calls for Microsoft to run the search engine on Yahoo's web site in return for 12 percent of the revenue generated by accompanying ad sales.

Oracle wins approval to buy Sun Micro

Software giant Oracle Corp has won US antitrust approval to buy computer maker Sun Microsystems, clearing a key hurdle in the companies' plan to close the $7.4 billion deal before the end of this month.

Oracle said that the deal cleared the US Justice Department with no restrictions. The takeover also requires approval by the European Commission. US officials in June said they wanted to scrutinise the deal over questions about Oracle's plans for licensing Sun's Java software, one of the world's most widely used computer languages. Since then, investors have been waiting to see how long that might delay the deal.

Analysts have said that the delay has worked to the advantage of Sun's two chief rivals in the server market, IBM and Hewlett Packard Co. They have been courting Sun's customers during the past few months, trying to persuade them to change suppliers amid uncertainty about Oracle's plans for running the server business.

Until Oracle closes the acquisition, it cannot say much about its strategy for Sun's hardware division. Oracle has said it expects to close the deal by August 31. Sun's shareholders have approved the deal.

Oracle agreed to buy Sun in April after the collapse of weeks of talks between the struggling hardware and software maker and IBM.

The deal gives Oracle's outspoken billionaire CEO, Larry Ellison, control of Sun's Java software and the Solaris operating system for Unix servers.

Ellison has said he wants to build and sell Sun computers preloaded with Oracle software and also tweak Java software so that it is easier to use on smartphones and netbook computers.

Australia to tighten visa rules for students

Faced with sharp increase in student visa applications, Australia is set to tighten its visa policy to ensure bonafide and genuine candidates come to the country for higher studies. The department of immigration and citizenship is strengthening checks on student visa applications to stamp out fraud and ensure that students have the financial capacity to live and study in Australia, an official statement said.

The measure is likely to affect the mobility of international students who come in the name of pursuing education but end up working as unskilled labourers. Minister for immigration and citizenship Chris Evans said applications for student visas grew 20% to 362,193 in 2008-09 while about 28,000 student visas were refused.

“While overall student visa compliance rates remain high, there are elements of concern within this large caseload,” the minister said in the statement. The measures will address the documents related fraud and other issues like identification of financial capacity. The measures include upgrading interview programme to check visa access through agents who are suspected of fraud or inactivity.

The minister said these measures are consistent with those used by other countries that receive large numbers of student visa applications, such as the US. “The message is clear: genuine international students remain welcome in Australia, but we will not tolerate fraud in the student visa programme,” the minister said.

There are about 97,000 Indian students pursuing studies in education in Australia. Many of them lack financial support and engage themselves in courses like hairdressing, cookery to go for part-time unskilled work in various units.

Accenture to cut 7 percent(336) of senior executives

Technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture Ltd (ACN.N) said on Thursday it cut 7 percent of its senior executives and would take charges that will lower its fiscal fourth-quarter profit.

The New York-based company also said it is also taking steps to reduce office space as it seeks to drive growth. Accenture said the cost-cutting actions would result in a pre-tax restructuring charge of around $247 million in the fiscal fourth quarter ending Aug 31.

Accenture said it continued to expect net revenues for the fourth quarter in the range of $5 billion to $5.2 billion with operating margins between 13.4 percent to 13.7 percent.

The company said it expects the restructuring charges to reduce its earnings per share for both the fourth quarter and the full year by 24 cents.

Wall Street analysts had on average been expecting Accenture to post profits of 63 cents in the fourth quarter and $2.68 for the full year, according to a poll by Reuters Estimates.

Indians earn 20 times less than developed world peers

Indians might be known for their hard work but when it comes to their wages, they are paid nearly 20 times less than their counterparts in developed nations like the US and Switzerland.

According to 'Prices and Earnings' study by Swiss banking major UBS, workers in New Delhi and Mumbai earn an average net salary of $1.6 and $1.2 per hour, respectively.

In contrast, Swiss cities -- Zurich and Geneva -- have topped the charts with the highest average net incomes in the world of as much as $22.60 and $20.40 per hour.

"Swiss workers earn the most. Zurich and Geneva top the rankings in our international comparison of wages. By contrast, the average employee in Delhi, Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai earns less than one-fifteenth of that amount," the report stated.

Workers in the US also earn at the higher end of bracket with people in New York earning an average salary of $19 per hour, while those in Los Angeles get $13.90 per hour. Workers in London receive an average net wage of $13.90 per hour, it added.

In terms of the gross hourly wages, workers in Western Europe and North America have the highest gross hourly wages averaging at $20.2 and $21.0 respectively, the survey said.

While, in Asia and Eastern Europe, workers receive an average of $5.5 per hour before taxes and social security contributions are deducted from the salary.

Every three years, UBS economists publish Prices and earnings report, which is a global review of the prices of goods and services, wages, payroll taxes, working hours and purchasing power in 73 cities on every continent.

The survey also pointed out that earnings do not just differ from country to country but also vary between employers within a single city.

However, the earnings gap between public and private-sector jobs is particularly stark in emerging and developing countries, it added.
Source: YahooNews

Wipro BPO to host Mega Job Fest in CT Group of Institutions

Wipro BPO, the BPO arm of global IT giant Wipro, and CT Group of Institutions have joined hands to host a Mega Job Festival for the youth of the region to explore a career opportunity in the fast growing BPO Industry.

The "Job Fest" will be held on August 22 and August 23 at the CT Group of Institutions. Announcing the launch of the Job Fest, Vikas Dua (Head - Campus Initiatives) of Wipro BPO said, "It is our privilege to join hands with CT Group of Institutions, one of India's most reputed education institutions, and offer career opportunities to the youth. We are always on the outlook to partner with quality institutes to meet our rapid growth of talent.

Wipro BPO provides the talent pool an opportunity to create a career in the fast growing BPO industry - where students can choose locations from across the country where we have centres".

Also, on the occasion, Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman of CT Group of Institutions said "The association with Wipro BPO re-iterates our commitment to career-oriented education. We are pleased to become a platform for enabling youth to take up rewarding careers with such a leading organization."

Asked whether there was any adverse impact of the economic recession on BPO sector, Dua said that there was not much adverse impact on the BPO industry and rather the industry spread its wings.