The news beat: CEOs are busy this week, criticizing competitors mostly. Symantec CEO John Thompson said that one company providing both an OS and security for it is a conflict of interest, though he opted to not specifically mention the ‘M’ word. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, harped on Google for focusing too much on ad-supported search rather than reinventing itself as, he says, Microsoft has done many a time.Notes from the field: Robert X. Cringely has a thought for Intel: hire convicted hacker Randal Lee Schwartz to manage your e-mail. Then again, Intel might be left with no excuse for losing e-mails involved in the AMD antitrust case, methinks. At least ASUS was up front when it initially told John M. there were no replacements for his bogus battery, though the company eventually rescinded. Luckily, those batteries did not explode, but “Office 2K7 nukes all of Outlook Express’ spell check libraries,” Cringe writes in Intel mislays its mail, ASUS batteries fail. Video: The Commodore 64 is back. You read that right, and it’s on display at the CeBit trade show. “These days the name is being attached to a new generation of gaming PCs,” reports Martyn Williams of the IDG News Service. Commodore CEO Bala Keilman explains, “that’s really where the essence of the brand is.” Watch it here. Software Development