America Online launched a free, web-based e-mail service, departing for the first time from a fee-based subscription model in a move to compete with free, and increasingly large, e-mail accounts offered by the likes of Google and Yahoo.
AOL said the service will provide users with 2 GB of storage, along with protection against viruses and spam. Gmail gives users about 2.3 GB of storage, Yahoo offers 1 GB for free and Microsoft's Hotmail allows 250 MB.
The company also gave nearly 80 million paying subscribers unlimited storage space. AOL said it is the first online service to offer unlimited e-mail storage.
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On the go: Microsoft will give away software upgrades to provide Outlook users access to wireless corporate e-mail on mobile devices, in a move that could unseat the mobile e-mail leader, Research in Motion's BlackBerry.
The free upgrades for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0 will lift business e-mail and other Outlook data from corporate computers, and automatically send it to mobile phones running on Microsoft Windows software.
It took Research in Motion seven years to win over 2 million customers, and with one swoop Microsoft will give more than 130 million Outlook users the option to access their business e-mail on the go. Microsoft hopes the move will convince corporations to buy mobile devices running on Windows.
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Look, no fees: Yahoo will quit charging fees for auctions on its U.S. site in an effort to encourage more people to sell their wares. U.S. users of Yahoo auctions have had to pay up to 75 cents to post an item and a 2 percent fee on the closing price of the item if it's sold.
Yahoo has no plans to end the fees it charges users on its other auction sites, including the one for Japan, the company's top auction site. The company also runs auction sites in Canada, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Yahoo said it will generate revenue from U.S. auctions by continuing paid search listings by its Yahoo Search Marketing division, triggered by keywords related to products or brands.
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Diplomacy reigns: Microsoft moved a step closer to ending a long battle with the European Union's antitrust watchdog, winning praise for proposals to comply with demands for server interoperability.
Microsoft could be hit with a fine of up to $5 million a day if the European Commission concludes its proposals would not allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers.
But an EU executive voiced satisfaction with Microsoft's proposed solution -- even though the question of open-source licenses was not fully resolved -- and said the plan would now be put to industry peers for their opinion.
Under the interoperability demands, Microsoft must share information with rival makers of servers used to run printers and retrieve files. Microsoft's proposals for compliance will now be "market tested" with other industry players over a two-week period to enable the commission to make a final assessment.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
