Eight hours into “Grand Theft Auto IV” (Rockstar Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99), I’ve stolen 17 cars, run over 20 people and killed another 15 (some of whom had it coming). I’ve shaken down a couple of store owners and beaten up an old lady. I’ve driven while drunk and, perhaps worse, while talking on a cell phone.

I’ve also bowled and played pool. I’ve listened to some really cool tunes and watched a surprisingly lame standup routine by Ricky Gervais. I met a nice young lady and took her out to dinner. I bought some new clothes and got my car washed.

I haven’t murdered any prostitutes or engaged in any graphic sex acts. (Although, for the record, there’s a very brief, non-interactive S&M scene right at the beginning of the game — which almost serves as a warning that this isn’t “Pokemon.”) And the violence has been relatively tame: Certainly, the number of bodies dropped per hour is less than in the last two Oscar-winning best pictures, “No Country for Old Men” and “The Departed.”

Still, protests are inevitable, because any game that puts the player in the shoes of a criminal is bound to be seen as perverse. It’s hard to argue with critics who find the “Grand Theft Auto” games immoral, because the developers at Rockstar Games seem to revel in their nihilism. I’ve attacked Rockstar in the past for such cynical, ultraviolent games as “Manhunt 2,” but I’d never argue that they don’t have the right to publish them.

Just so we’re clear, “Grand Theft Auto IV” is not for the kids. It’s rated “M” for mature, so people under 17 shouldn’t be able to buy it. It has lots of blood, some nudity and a nearly constant stream of filthy language. And it’s very entertaining.

It’s the story of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European who’s just arrived in America. As soon as he lands in Liberty City (which looks an awful lot like New York), he’s greeted by his cousin Roman, who’s been in America for 10 years. Roman has lured Niko with promises of glamour and riches, but all he really has to offer is a dilapidated apartment and a crummy job at a car service.

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Intel Corp. aims to launch a new architecture of computer microprocessors for low cost laptop PCs, code-named “Diamondville”, in early second quarter next year.

Diamondville will be focused on the low cost mobile PCs such as the Eee PC by AsusTech Computer, the XO laptop from One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) and Intel’s Classmate PCs. These laptops are designed for children and for economiies requiring long-lasting and durable batteries and dust proof casings.

In order to maintain the high quality of mobile computing even at a low cost price, Diamondville is designed as an all new architecture, with a new RTL (register transfer language) and a new silicon.

The new microprocessor will be of lower voltage than the ULV (ultra-low voltage) Core 2 Duo processor, said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the mobile platforms group at Intel. Intel launched two versions of ULV Core 2 Duo in April, each with the thermal design power of 10 watts.

These laptop PCs in this user category will probably cost between US$199 and $250, he said. For that reason, Diamondville will also be extremely low cost.

On Tuesday, an Asustek executive said his company has already received an order for 1 million Eee PCs from a government he declined to name. The OLPC group has also confirmed orders from several countries.

Microsoft is moving to deliver more software technology over the Internet as a service, forced to follow an industry trend led by Google, its newest archrival.

But its strategy is a careful balancing act, adding Internet services without offering online versions of its most lucrative desktop products like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Microsoft is making announcements today that it plans to offer a free service, called Office Live Workspace, that will allow people to store, access and share documents online. A user will be able store up to 1,000 documents on a workspace on the Web.

But a Word or Excel document in the online workspace can be edited only if the user has bought Microsoft’s Word or Excel software. “The ideal case is where a person has Office,” said Rajesh Jha, a vice president for Microsoft Office Live products.

In an offering for larger companies, Microsoft will host the data center software for e-mail, workgroup collaboration and instant messaging and provide those as online services to corporate customers with 5,000 or more users of Microsoft Office desktop software, a product second only to Windows as a profit maker for the software giant.

Microsoft has long had online services for consumers, including its Web-based e-mail, Hotmail, and instant messaging service known as Windows Live Messenger. Last year, the company introduced an online service for small businesses, providing them with their own Web sites and e-mail accounts. It also has a customer relationship management service, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which competes with Salesforce.com, another leader in the software-as-services trend.

The moves by Microsoft, analysts say, represent an effort to quicken the company’s pace in Internet services. “Microsoft is recognizing that it needs to be seen as a fast follower in this space, and now it is seen as a slow follower,” said David M. Smith, an analyst at Gartner, a market research firm.

Microsoft describes its strategy as “software plus services.” Increasingly, industry analysts say, software will be a blend of online and offline abilities. Google, for example, introduced programming tools called Google Gears in May to help people use its Web-based applications like e-mail and word processing when a user is, say, on an airplane.

Yet Microsoft champions a vision of Web-based services that is firmly moored in the company’s mainstay products. Office Live Workspace, for example, can be used by anyone with a browser for tasks, ranging from a business team jointly drafting a sales proposal to a family sharing and updating a household calendar. (Individuals can sign up for a workspace at www.officelive.com, though the service will not begin until later this year.)

Microsoft has so far resisted the advice of some industry analysts and company insiders who say Microsoft should offer simple, online versions of its most popular desktop applications like Word and Excel. It would be better for Microsoft, they say, to offer those alternatives itself than to allow rivals to seize this emerging market.

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