MANILA, Philippines -- Summer is supposed to be fun. Summer days are for frolicking on the sand and making love to the sun, while summer nights are for drinking yourselves blind.

All those opportunities for fun, both the wholesome and the not so wholesome, make us bear with summer’s extremely hot and sweaty days. The chance of living it up, even if only for a day out of the two months of sunny weather, makes people want to forget about the suffocating heat.

And focus instead on the possibilities.

But in a world with its climate gone haywire, everything is no longer reliable. Today’s sunny weather may be tomorrow’s gloomy, even stormy conditions.

I guess, we just have to be ready for whatever fate throws at us.

Sour as Lime

Media reports last week revealed that file-sharing software company LimeWire has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with Recording Industry Association of America, the organization that represents the major record labels. RIAA chairman, Mitch Bainwol, has expressed satisfaction with the $105 million out-of-court compromise deal.

For several years, LimeWire had allowed Internet users to share digital songs, videos, and other files online. For several years, the company had been fighting legal battles with the RIAA, which argued that the LimeWire software enabled and encouraged consumers to illegally share copyrighted music files via the Web.

LimeWire tried developing business models that included legal distribution and sharing of files online. Apparently, the company’s efforts failed.

Now, would this settlement mark the company’s transit into that place where failed businesses go?

NTT DoCoMo Ups PLDT Stake

Japanese telecom giant NTT DoCoMo has signed an option deal with JG Summit Holdings, Inc. to acquire about 2% of the total issued and outstanding shares of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the largest telecommunication service provider in the country. The option, which expires in 30 days after the shares are listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, is worth about $263 million.

The deal is aimed at keeping the NTT Group’s PLDT stake at about 20%, which was “unsettled” by PLDT’s planned acquisition of a majority stake in Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc.

Antitrust Ruling Ends

Microsoft’s antitrust judgment has expired on May 12, marking the end of the software company’s long-running battle with the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal agency claims a grand victory in the case, saying the ruling has helped bring about an IT market with enhanced competitive environment.

Microsoft’s statement seems more like a sigh of relief.

The software giant’s antitrust problems began after the company released its Internet Explorer browser, bundling it with the Windows operating system. It just so happened that Windows was the dominant (near monopolistic level of dominance, that is) OS in the PC market.

Vendors peddling rival browsers, of course, cried foul. And the rest was history.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.