"Because "quickie" has a sexual connotation, we shall from now on use the string "Quick Mention: ""Sometimes we find a particular piece of news which is only worth a mention, but is not worthy of a whole story or further commentary. In the past we prepended, on very few occasions, the string "Quickie: " to flag such items (for filtering purpose, whether mental or actual filters). Because "quickie" has a sexual connotation, we shall from now on use the string "Quick Mention: ". This will be an indicator in items that contain little original content and are mainly pointers to breaking and/or important news.

Today, the quick item you may wish to be aware of is this: Will Microsoft follow European open source edict worldwide?

The Guangzhou Daily in southern China, near Hong Kong, reports the company has not yet agreed to fulfill the conditions of its European agreement in China.

[...]

China just recently passed an anti-trust law, the paper writes, which is not yet in effect, and Microsoft (China) Co. Ltd. did not tell the paper when or if it would release the code outside Europe.

This could play a big role in fair interoperability debates, where Novell has become a foe (sidling with Microsoft plan for Linux 'patent fees').

For context:

• Chinese antitrust law said to be imminent

Because of their products’ large market shares in China, companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Kodak are among those with obvious reason to be watching these developments closely.

• Intel Settles Legal Dispute in China

In 2005, a unit of Shenzhen Donjin countersued, saying Intel engaged in monopolistic practices.

• Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users

Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:

"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

• Korean software firm sues Microsoft

According to Korean newspaper Chosun, the US software mammoth has been accused of causing a loss in sales revenue estimated at W30bn (US$1=W918) because the firm's Windows operating system comes pre-loaded with a media player and instant messaging.

Seoul Central District Court confirmed yesterday that Digito was suing Microsoft in the US and Korea, claiming that the software giant had violated the Fair Trade Act since 2000.

• Microsoft sued by Beijing student for privacy infringement

Lu argued that Microsoft had violated his legal rights by providing a formal contract which had to be accepted in order to proceed with the installation.