Reports in the San Jose Mercury News late yesterday said that one reason Intel has got off the Federal Trade Commission's hook is because it promised to be more "sharing" in the future. The newspaper reported sources close to the FTC as saying that it will now give advance information to its customers (such as Compaq) even if they appear to be in some way or other competing with them. According to the report, the FTC is to announce details of the deal when the US gets up out of bed, later today. The settlement did not include discussions of the monopoly Intel is alleged to have, according to the report. Normally, big reptiles, when they lumber around, don't watch carefully enough where their feet land. Tread softly, or you tread on my toes... ®