Best of the blogs: The question of exactly who owns the software on your fleet of PCs is now the heart of an issue that arose last week thanks in large part to Windows Updates that are apparently installed without user permission. “What I find most fascinating about the incident is what it reveals about the world of EULAs and DRM in which, at least if you listen to the software industry, we all now live,” Ed Foster writes in this Gripe Line post. Even users who don’t want automatic updates are getting them via stealthy downloads on the part of XP and Vista. And Microsoft’s argument, Foster explains, is a Microsoft-knows-what’s-best-for-you approach. “It would be easy for Redmond to make this crystal clear, but I guess just coming out and saying that Microsoft has the right to disable your computer at any time would be a little too blunt.” The news beat: Microsoft loses its appeal against the EU antitrust ruling and, as a result, must reveal interoperability information to other server vendors and offer a version of Windows without Media Player. Apple starts handing out $100 iPhone credits to customers who bought the device prior to Apple lowering the price. T-Mobile buys SunCom for its wireless networks in the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. And Nokia scoops up Enpocket, a mobile advertiser that provides cell phone marketing technology and services. Notes from the field: It’s Prince v. YouTube in Cringe’s latest, a Violet Video Vendetta. “The artists are revolting, and you can take my meaning however you choose,” he begins. “Prince’s handlers — presumably the ones who OK’d his name change to that unpronounceable symbol in the mid-1990s — are touting this as yet another brilliant innovation by the Minneapolis-born artist formerly known to his parents as Rogers Nelson,” Cringe adds. “I dunno.” Me neither. Quoteworthy: Ok, this strikes me as weird. After so many years of bashing Microsoft and saying how other companies were foolish to sell Windows, Sun is now planning on reselling Windows. And Linux. And Solaris. Which they open source. And also sell as closed source. I’m not saying this is a bad strategy. Interoperability between Sun and Microsoft is a good objective, but it needs to be real, not just press releases and announcements. — Zack Urlocker. Sun reselling Windows? Software Development