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• Gates, Barrett tout Wintel for workstations
  Time: 19:43 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Workstations using the Windows operating system and Intel chips are displacing Unix servers not just on the basis of price, but now also on the basis of performance, Intel chief executive Craig Barrett said today.

  Barrett and Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates took the stage at the Workstation Leadership Forum here today to show a united front in the war against the old guard, machines using RISC chips and the Unix operating system.

   
• Creative Dumps S3 Savage4
  Time: 13:16 GMT Source: MaximumPC Posted By: Alex R.

  MaximumPC reports that Creative has decided to stop shipments of the S3-based Savage4 3D cards.  This is, of course, in response to S3's purchase of Diamond Multimedia.

   

• Aliens Versus Predator - Review
  Time: 12:41 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of Fox Interactive's Aliens Versus Predator. Here is a short snippet from the review:

  Aliens Vs. Predator isn't like your usual 3D shoot-em up, it offers an excellent range of different settings and the game can be played three different ways as either a marine, alien, or predator. Each is different from the other, with differing speed, skills and weapons.

   
• Windows 98 Service Pack 1 Stuff
  Time: 09:51 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Well we posted the Service Pack 1 news hours before everyone else yesterday but as per usual our exclusives get ignored heh. Remember that the actual download of end users will still appear on Windows Update. Here are a couple of other takes on it:

  Microsoft posts bug fixes for Windows 98 - News.com
  Microsoft posts free fixes, patches - ZDNet

   
• Microsoft launches home page-building service
  Time: 09:50 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  MSN, Microsoft's Web portal, is launching a new service that will allow users to build homepages on its site. Called MSN Homepages, the service will borrow technology from TalkCity, another homepage community on the Web.

  The latest wrinkle in the software giant's portal strategy takes aim at the many home page builders that have become popular on the Web. Early movers, such as GeoCities and Tripod, are highly regarded for their ability to attract millions of users.

   

• I Want My MP3
  Time: 09:49 GMT Source: OS Site Online Posted By: Byron

  MP3 is better than sex. Well at least as far as the net is concerned. With search engine requests for sites with MP3 downloads now exceeding those for porn, the net is becoming a Digital Audio swap shop. It's free, fun, fairly illegal and its scaring the hell out of record companies.

   

• W3C issues XML layout standard
  Time: 09:48 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  The World Wide Web Consortium has approved a specification that allows developers to design the layouts of XML documents.

  The specification by the Web standards group is the first step in allowing developers to use style sheets with their Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents. Style sheets let users define how a document is presented, specifying color, font, or font size, for example.

   

• e-mail Tax A Hoax Says US Postal Service
  Time: 09:46 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The US Postal Service has branded as "completely false" rumours circulating by email that the US government is planning to levy a surcharge on email usage.

  The email claims the per-message fee would be donated to the Postal Service to cover the $230 million in revenue it has lost as people send letters electronically rather than through the mail.

   
• Coming Soon: The New MSN
  Time: 09:43 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Ok - we posted the URL to MSN's beta site earlier in the month but everyone else finally seems to be noticing it now:

  "In an effort to catch up to the portals that have outmaneuvered it, Microsoft Corp. is adding new Web features that will provide more user interaction and collaboration.

  In addition to adding new user-generated Web communities to MSN.com, the company is putting finishing touches on a long-awaited instant messaging feature, according to beta testers on the BetaNews.Com Web site."

   
• Intel Offers Sneak Peek At Merced
  Time: 09:41 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Intel continues to try to entice developers to adopt its IA-64 platform, whose first member -- Merced -- is due mid-2000.

  At an invitation-only event held recently for software developers, Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) showed a prototype of a four-way Merced server with 64GB of memory. Sources say Intel showed a diagram of the machine at its Fall Intel Developers Forum and also has run software simulations of four-way Merced servers. Intel would not comment, other than to say that Merced's design is ongoing.

   
• You've Got AOL 5.0
  Time: 09:39 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Updated: America Online's latest version of its software, AOL 5.0, is slated for release later this year and will include new features, such as an interactive calendar and enhanced search and downloading capabilities.

  As reported by CNET News.com, available on AOL 5.0's new "Welcome Screen" is something called "You've Got Pictures," which was developed in conjunction with Eastman Kodak and allows users to share photos online as easily as they would send an email message, the company said.

  The "You've Got Pictures" icon appears with an audio message when photos arrive. The photo feature began testing this week in three cities, the company said.

   

• Java standard vote opens door for Microsoft
  Time: 09:39 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Sun's control over the effort to standardize Java has slipped, and Microsoft is waiting in the wings with a list of enhancements.

  Last week in Kyoto, Japan, a standards body called ECMA (formerly the European Computer Manufacturers Association) voted overwhelmingly to set up a technical committee called TC41 to elucidate the standardize "write once, run anywhere" Java technology Sun invented.

• MSN to let users create communities
  Time: 19:57 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. plans to add organic Web communities to MSN soon, in an effort to attract more home users and bolster its struggling portal site, according to sources close to the company.

  Several companies, including Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) and Excite@Home Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHM), already offer the user-created communities, which let people build personal forums where they can chat uninterrupted about a variety of topics.

   
• Microsoft Year 2000 Product Analyzer
  Time: 19:49 GMT Source: Netigen Posted By: Byron

  With the millenium just around the corner it's about time you checked your system for compatibility. Although most hardware concerns have been dealt with -- software is another issue altogether. While your PC will likely continue to run after January 1 most software is expected to experience minor bugs. Thus it would be in your best interest to locate the latest versions of your software or check for Year 2000 upgrades.

  To ease your concerns over Microsoft products, the software giant has released the MS Year 2000 Product Analyzer. It scans the user's hard drive searching for MS products and generates a compliancy report.

   
• RealNetworks Adds Slide Show
  Time: 19:47 GMT Source: AP Posted By: Byron

  RealNetworks Inc. is venturing into the world of sound-enhanced slide shows. The Seattle-based company today announced software that will enable computer users to make sequential displays of images, accompanied with sound, that can be played on the Internet. The free software, called RealSlideshow, lets home computer users make family photo albums, wedding albums, personal movies and advertisements, the company said in a news release.

  Businesses can use it for apartment tours on the Internet, as well as product promotions, online auctions and photojournalism reports, the company said.

  Until now, the ability to make slide shows with sound has required programming, said Ben Rotholtz, general manager of the company's systems and tools division. The software allows fixed images in the popular JPEG or BMP formats to be synchronized with audio. Audio can be recorded from CDs, a microphone or WAV files, and automatically mutes when spoken captions describing the slides are recorded.

  Slide shows can be played only from Web sites hosted by Internet Service Providers that own RealServer.

   
• Windows 98 Service Pack 1 Components Released
  Time: 14:49 GMT Source: e-mail Posted By: Byron

  Exclusive First: Windows 98 Service Pack 1 Components and information have been posted on the Microsoft Windows 98 Corporate downloads page http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp

  The components are as follows:
  
  

  • Windows 98 System Update
  • Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 2
  • Windows 98 Year 2000 Updates
  • Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2
  • Outlook® Express Year 2000 Update

   

• MS gives Win98 SE update away for free - in the UK
  Time: 14:47 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  If you thought Microsoft's Windows 98 SE upgrade strategy couldn't get any more complicated, you were wrong - Microsoft UK is giving it away free. This simplifies matters immensely for users who'd been puzzling over whether to download the free go-fasters or free service pack (as and when you can download that one) or splash out on the SE upgrade CD.

  Well it simplifies it in the UK anyway, but in a reversal of the usual situation, US users are still being charged $19.95 for the SE update for Windows 98. Microsoft UK's generous offer is available here, and simply requires you to fill in a form and fax it off together with your receipt from your original copy of Windows 98. Presumably, as the bulk of copies of Windows 98 shipped with new PCs rather than separately, the receipt for the whole PC will be acceptable.

   

• USB Concerns Arise
  Time: 10:29 GMT Source: Infoworld Posted By: Byron

  THE UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB), promoted as an easy-to-use universal connector for adding peripherals, remains a specification with major compatibility problems and a cause of great concern for IT organizations.

  The blame can be laid at the feet of a number of different industry players, but the results are always the same: Most devices end up being incompatible with an IT organization's host system.

  IT organizations recognize the benefits of using USB devices, but in its present state, USB will not be the panacea the industry has promised.

   
• New cards speed network access for handhelds
  Time: 10:23 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Xircom today began shipping network cards for Windows CE handheld devices, bringing high-speed network access to these devices for the first time.

  Xircom introduced the Xircom CompactCard Ethernet 10; this ethernet card, which fits in the PC card slot, allows Microsoft's Windows CE handheld users high-speed access to information stored on corporate computer networks.

  The move comes at a time when communications and connectivity for mobile devices is gaining momentum. Microsoft and its partners announced last week an initiative that would bring wireless connectivity to some Windows CE devices via cell phones, an apparent response to Palm Computing's Palm VII wireless device.

   

• Microsoft to add plain-language searches
  Time: 10:22 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Centraal, whose RealNames system offers a plain-language alternative to traditional Web addresses, today said Microsoft will incorporate its system into MSN search engines and the Internet Explorer 5 browser.

  The deal integrates RealNames into MSN's search engine, which means users of both MSN and Internet Explorer-based searches will start turning up RealNames results.

  In addition, Centraal is making headway with another Web superpower. In a little-noticed provision of America Online's deal with search technology provider Inktomi, announced last week, AOL will start serving up RealNames both on AOL.com and throughout the AOL proprietary service.

• Graphics chip leader ATI pushes into new markets
  Time: 20:13 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  ATI Technologies chief executive K.Y. Ho is steering his company down new avenues, much like a player driving a virtual race car along the unfamiliar roads in the video games powered by ATI's market-leading graphic chips.

  In recent years, most of the world's big computer makers have turned to ATI for components that create rich, crisp pictures for games and other applications.

   
• New Win98 Bug?
  Time: 11:56 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Tech site BigFix.com is warning of a recently-found bug in Microsoft's System File Checker (SFC) tool that might make Windows 98 unbootable. BigFix has determined the problem affects certain computers from Hewlett-Packard, Sony and eMachines. Others are being tested. Microsoft has posted a work-around.

   
• Intel Twister Set To Wreak Havoc
  Time: 11:54 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The news that Intel has decided to take action against Via over its PC-133 chipset strategy will have serious repercussions for the entire PC industry. (Story: Intel busts Via over PC-133, this time it's personal)

  The twister has touched ground and will devastate vast tracks of engineering effort amongst third party players.

  At Computex, earlier this month, the vast majority of Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers announced their support for the PC-133 standard. And the island's largest memory manufacturer, Mosel-Vitelic, also announced it would support PC-133, at the same time making it clear there were problems with Direct Rambus.

   

• Merced...Kinda Dead? Or Kinder Dead?
  Time: 11:52 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Some intriguing reports are trickling our way about the progress of the Intel Merced project and so we thought it worth our while to revisit the subject, once more.

  It's hard for us to firm up the story that nine months ago, Intel CEO Craig Barrett carpeted Dr Albert Yu and got very irritated at the progress of the processor. We weren't there, and neither was our fly on the wall, but those rumours are doing the round.

  More intriguingly, we hear that Intel has made some attempts to get samples of the Big Cartridge out of the door to OEMs, but that performance figures on those liken its performance to a PII/233 rather than the 800MHz behemoth world+dog was expecting.

• Mailing List
  Time: 14:11 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Our mailing list is yet again have a few teething problems, it doesn't always send out to everyone on the list due to the program we use timing out, we are working on a better way of sending out the daily HTML mailing but would still like you all to keep signing up for it.

   

• Site News
  Time: 14:10 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Just a note to thank everyone for all the visits you have been putting in over the last few weeks, you have helped to make the last two days our best ever in terms of unique visitors.

  On the reviews front we still have a load more stuff on the way including:

  DVD's: Pi, Grandmothers House, Dark City and Elizabeth
  Games: Aliens Vs Predator, F/A 18E Hornet Attack (DVD Edition) and Shaodan (DVD Edition)

• AMD post K7 Athlon Benchmarks
  Time: 22:38 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron/Alex H

  AMD has posted a number of benchmarks for their newly released Athlon chip. Check them out at the following URL:

  http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon/benchmarks.html

   
• Tweak UI Download Added For Win 98 SE Users
  Time: 22:25 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Because so many of you have been asking where Tweak UI is on the Windows 98 Second Edition CD (The reason why it isn't included on the CD is in our FAQ) we have made it available to download off of our website. Remember that Tweak UI is not supported by either Microsoft or us.

   
• MS Encarta "Facts" Vary Depending On Edition
  Time: 22:00 Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The Wall Street Journal's researchers have clearly been busy. Careful comparisons of the various international editions of Microsoft Encarta, today's edition reports, show that in numerous cases the 'facts' are different in different editions.

  That in itself is quite Microsoftish. More so is the quote from Dominique Lempereur, responsible for Microsoft's international education-related business, who says that "you basically have to rewrite all of the content" for international editions. Even more so is the one from MS European marketing director Richard Lindh, who jokes that the French and British English editions give a very different impression of who won the battle of Waterloo.

   

• Benchmark war: NT drubs Linux again?
  Time: 09:31 Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Get out your flame-retardant suits: Microsoft Corp. NT triumphed over Linux in Round 2 in the Mindcraft Inc. benchmark saga -- in spite of the involvement this time around of representatives from the Linux community in the testing and tweaking process.

  So, are open-source advocates taking these results lying down? You've got to be kidding.

   
• Future Windows To Block Violent Games
  Time: 09:31 Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. says an update of Windows to be released next year will allow parents to control which games their kids can play, based on levels of violence, foul language and gore.

  The feature, which a Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) spokesman said will probably be called Windows Game Manager, addresses the concern of many parents about the influence of violent games on their children. Windows is the dominant operating system in the PC marketplace, which makes up a substantial part of the video-game market.

   
• Microsoft OS/2 - The Picture Proof
  Time: 09:29 Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  A few days ago, there was a little bit of debate on our message forum, with one reader amazed that Microsoft was involved in developing OS/2.

  So we looked into our collection of computing artifacts, and this morning snapped the mug we were given when we attended a Developer's Conference back in those heady days of 1987.

   

• MS Gives Advice On Preparing For Y2K
  Time: 09:28 Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Windows 2000 will be released this year and system builders should pre-install Windows NT Workstation 4.0 prepare customers for the launch, Microsoft said today.

  Matti Suokko, Microsoft OEM product manager for Windows, said Windows 2000 Professional, the business software replacement for Windows NT, was on track for release later in 1999.

  “We’re very confident that it will ship this year,” he said. “We are working with a set of customers at the moment to make sure we get feedback before putting it on the market.

• Dungeon Keeper 2 - Review
  Time: 18:48 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I think we yet again are one of the first sites to review this Dungeon Keeper 2: Here is a snippet:

  To say that if you played Dungeon Keeper you have pretty much played Dungeon Keeper 2 is pretty much close to the truth, but there are a number if new features that manages to make it an even better game than before. If you haven't played Dungeon Keeper then here are the basics. You control the dungeon and all the aspects behind it such as choosing where you want to build rooms, building the rooms for your minions, rooms to hold the gold your imps collect from digging, training up your creatures, building a library so your warlocks can study new spells and slap the imps to make them work harder. The main objective behind the game is to attract as many creatures to your dungeon, crush any rival dungeon keepers and expand your empire in a quest to reach the daylight and invade the world above.

   
• Outcast - Review
  Time: 13:09 Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I think we are one of the first sites to review this excellent new game from Infogrames called Outcast: Here is a snippet:

  Outcast's engine can run in both first & third person camera views, the first time I played the game I thought that the camera angles were awful, but when I realized that I wasn't controlling the game in the right way I then managed to figure out the way you actually control both your character and the camera angles at the same time. You have both walk & run modes, look up & down (Via the mouse if you like), special swimming moves and weapon controls via a sort of laser targeting system which is very easy to control especially when you use the Mouse & Keyboard combination.

   
• Microsoft To Offer Word 2000 For $8 In Korea
  Time: 09:50 Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo is reporting that Microsoft is attempting to introduce a one year licence scheme where users can get Word 2000 at 10,000 won ($8). The paper claims that this is a move by Microsoft to capture the Korean wordprocessing market, which is currently owned by local software Hangul 815. Further, Microsoft will then provide Office 2000 at a higher price, the newspaper claims.

   
• Netscape debuts ten new browser languages
  Time: 09:49 Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  PALO ALTO, California--America Online's Netscape division today introduced versions of its browser in ten new languages to keep up with its target of being available to 99 percent of the worldwide Internet user base.

  The company estimates its browser is used by 32 million non-English speaking users and is available to 200 million in 125 countries. The new browser languages are Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Czech, and Slovenian, as well as U.K. English, with British spellings and local content. The additions bring to 23 the number of languages in which Netscape offers its browser.

   

• What Next For The Creators Of Palm Pilot
  Time: 09:48 Source: Forbes Posted By: Alex H

  DONNA DUBINSKY AND JEFF HAWKINS didn't mean to start a cult. But since they unveiled the Pilot in 1996, more than 5 million people have gone gaga over the gadget and its imitators, doing everything on them from downloading the Hindu horoscope to balancing budgets.

  Now the fashionable parlor game in Silicon Valley is guessing what Dubinsky, 43, and Hawkins, 42, are up to at their startup, Handspring, Inc., in Palo Alto. The only safe bet, fans insist, is that it will be memorably different.

   

• AOL Jumping Into The PC Business?
  Time: 09:46 Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  America Online Inc. appears close to getting into the PC business. MSNBC has learned that the world's No. 1 Internet access company is in talks to produce AOL-branded PCs in conjunction with Microworkz Inc., a manufacturer of inexpensive computers.

  According to Rick Latman, president and CEO of Microworkz, representatives of America Online (NYSE:AOL) are today visiting the Lynnwood, Wash.-based company to discuss Microworkz producing the computers for AOL. But a source familiar with the talks says AOL is interested in buying Microworkz outright.

• Microsoft Releases Another Security Patch (for IIS)
  Time: Past the midnight bell Source: email Posted By: Alex R.

  Whoops... one more post before I head out.  This just crossed my Inbox.  Microsoft has released a security patch for the "Double Byte Code Page" vulnerability in IIS.  Check out the scoop:

  Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in Microsoft(r) Internet Information Server that could allow a web site visitor to view the source code for selected files on the server, if the server's default language is set to Chinese, Japanese or Korean.

   
• Site News
  Time: Past the midnight bell Source: Myself Posted By: Alex R.

  Just a quick little post to let everyone know that despite my recent hire here at ActiveNetwork, I'm running off on vacation!  It's time for an annual IRC LAN party that I take part in... so it's off to North Carolina.  I will return on Tuesday.  Byron and the rest of the gang will keep you up to date, so you won't miss anything.

   
• What Dreams May Come - Review
  Time: 20:48 GMT Source: ActiveDVD Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of What Dreams May Come. Here is a snippet:

  I have always been a big fan of Robin Williams in both movie and television form and felt he never gets enough credit for his performances (Good Will Hunting being the exception) he manages to come across well in both his comedic and dramatic roles. What Dream May Come is an exceptionally sad movie (Emotionally, not in terms of being rubbish) so get your hankies at the ready as all but 10 minutes of the film will have you on the verge of tears.

   

• Windows 98 Second Edition Review
  Time: 20:09 GMT Source: CPU Review Posted By: Byron

  CPU Review has posted a review of Windows 98 SE. The review covers installation and also includes some tips and tricks he used to get Win98 Second Edition installed and up and running.

   

• Another NT Security Patch: CSRSS Worker Thread Exhaustion
  Time: 12:33 GMT Source: e-mail Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft released another security bulletin detailing another new NT security patch.  Here's the short of it:

  Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in the Microsoft(r) Windows NT(r) CSRSS process that could be used to create a denial of service condition against a machine that allows interactive logons.

  The knowledge base article on this situation is:
  http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q231/3/23.asp

  You may also find a FAQ and the patch itself at:
  http://support.microsoft.com/support/bulletins/ms99-021faq.asp

   
• The Poll Is Back
  Time: 11:09 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Thanks to Jonathan we now have our poll back up and running. In theory it shouldn't screw up like it has before, but it is only a test version so who knows?. It is at the bottom of the navigation bar for those of you who would like to vote on the new subject.

   
• New modem standard may mean faster broadband deployment
  Time: 10:22 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  What if getting connected to broadband Internet service were as easy as plugging in your telephone? That vision came a step closer to reality Tuesday with the approval of G.lite, a standard for DSL that makes the technology easier to install for consumers, and easier to roll out for service providers

   

• AMD Ships K7 Processor
  Time: 10:22 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  In one realm at least, struggling PC chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has proven it can outdo rival Intel Corp. When Intel released its low-end processor, the Celeron, the industry poked fun. Now, that AMD has renamed its K7, the struggling company better have a thick skin.

• NT Security Patch: Malformed LSA Request
  Time: 18:25 GMT Source: e-mail Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft has released a patch for the "Malformed LSA Request" that causes a denial of service on NT Server 4.0 and Workstation.  The FTP URL is in the headline.  The knowledge base article on this will be found at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q231/4/57.asp.

   
• Mozilla Milestone 7 Released
  Time: 17:59 GMT Source: e-mail  osted By: Byron

  Mozilla Milestone 7 has been released. It is well worth checking out to see just how well things look as if they will go with Navigator 5.

   
• Frequently Asked Question - Updated & Site News
  Time: 17:59 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  We have made a few changes to the Frequently Asked Questions area including updates to the Windows 98 & DirectX FAQ's sections. We have also added a "Add to My Favorites" link on the navigation menu that makes it really easy for you to bookmark our site.

   
• Sony goggles simulate 52-inch monitor
  Time: 15:44 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  I was wondering around the PC Expo looking for something interesting to tell you about. Things were looking pretty slim. Just when I was about to give up, I saw a large crowd in front of a chair. People were lined up to try on these brand-new goggles. Not one to shy away from such things, so did I. Then I didn't want to take them off.

  These things are so new that the Sony people had no brochures on hand. Just a nice lady who acted as part demonstrator and part traffic cop for the throngs who politely waited their turn.

   
• Petition Against Phoenix Technologies, Ltd.
  Time: 11:47 GMT Source: ICQ Posted By: Byron

  the weslovian gazette is sponsoring a petition against Phoenix Technologies, Ltd. to "help them see the light" about selling advertising in future releases of their BIOS's.

   

• New Creative Labs Drivers
  Time: 11:44 GMT Source: Various Posted By: Alex R.

  Creative Labs has released a full gamut of new drivers for the following cards: Riva TNT2, Savage4, and Savage3 chipsets.  Head over to their site to pick 'em up.

   

• Enemy Of The State - Review
  Time: 12:24 GMT Source: ActiveDVD Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of Enemy Of The State. Here is a snippet:

  Surprisingly for a Disney related DVD, the picture quality is actually quite good. Enemy Of The State has a large range of scenes that range from dark to light. Unfortunately it is yet again a Non-Anamorphic title from Disney which stops it from getting the A grade. Sound is excellent as with most DVD titles. The sound is deep and rich, dialogue is clear and the music is also great.

   

• Consumer NT?... Don't Make Me Laugh!
  Time: 10:03 GMT Source: OS Site Online Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft will soon begin Internal Testing of Project "Jupiter", a consumer version of NT...but it's going to be a tough nut for MS to crack

  Since before the original Microsoft Windows 98 Beta program finished in May 1998 it had been expected that this would be the final version of Windows based on the 9x kernel and that eventually everything would be happily unified with NT making it more robust and stable OS...but in a surprising U-turn earlier this year Microsoft (MS) announced that there would be yet another version of windows based on the 9x kernel before the proposed convergence, which has internally been codenamed Jupiter, while its 9x (or probably 200x by the time its released) interim counterpart has been dubbed "Millennium

   

• Alpha pushes processor to a cool 1 GHz
  Time: 10:02 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Although widespread acceptance continues to elude the Alpha processor, companies backing the platform broke through two major speed landmarks today and rolled out an architectural change that should reduce the cost for adopting Alpha.

  Alpha Processor Incorporated (API) and Samsung, two of the chief proponents of Alpha, demonstrated a computer system running an Alpha processor clocked at 1 GHz (1,000 megahertz) at PC Expo here today that did not require special cryogenic equipment to keep it from overheating. Intel and AMD have both demonstrated 1-GHz chips before but on supercooled computers.

• Microsoft Announces New Line of Keyboards
  Time: 21:45 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Responding to growing consumer demand for more choice and functionality, today at PC Expo Microsoft Corp. unveiled three new feature-filled keyboards, including one split-key (commonly described as "ergonomic") keyboard and two traditional straight models. The new keyboards offer features such as Internet and multimedia hot keys and built-in USB ports. They join the Natural^® Keyboard Elite, currently the top-selling ergonomic keyboard at retail, and mark Microsoft's first offering of the traditional straight keyboard design.

  Related Site Article: New Microsoft USB Keyboards

   
• The Morning Surprise: S3 To Acquire Diamond Multimedia
  Time: 12:15 GMT Source: BluesNews Posted By: Alex R.

  Well, it's still morning in the States!  Just when you thought it was safe to hit the morning shower comes the press release: S3 has announced its intent to acquire Diamond Multimedia.  Click the headline to read up about it on BusinessWire.

   
• Future Phoenix BIOS Will Contain Advertisements
  Time: 12:05 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex R.

  According to a report on ZDNet, there are plans for future revisions of the Phoenix BIOS (used in 70% of motherboards on the market today) to contain advertisements on boot up.

  Opinion withheld.

   
• Newer ICQ
  Time: 11:38 GMT Source: VoodooExtreme Posted By: Alex R.

  VoodooExtreme is reporting the release of a newer ICQ99a, v2.22, build #1800.  Click on the headline to pick up the latest version of the program with the most complex version numbering scheme in the universe.

   
• New Drivers
  Time: 10:20 GMT Source: Various Posted By: Byron

  Creative has released new drivers and a new bios, for their Savage 4 based 3D Blaster. The drivers fix several problems such as Quake 3 lockups and more. You can download the drivers from their website here.

  Voodoo Extreme is reporting that Quantum 3D has released new drivers for their Raven, Voodoo Banshee based card. The drivers include the new MiniGL 1.48, Glide 2 and 3 and of course more 3DNow! support. You can download the drivers from their site here.

   
• K7 is definitely AMD Athlon
  Time: 10:11 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Our feverish request to come up with the definitive new name for the K7 chip seems to have found a response. An OEM, who under no circumstances whatever wishes to be named, tells us that Athlon will be the name of the K7 processor at its launch next week. AMD wouldn't even give us the date of the launch so that we could write a piece ready for the announcement.

   
• Gates is world's richest at $90B
  Time: 10:07 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  So what else is new? Bill Gates is still the richest man in the world.

  The chairman of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) has seen his personal worth rise to a cool $90 billion from $51 billion last year and at one point in April, it actually broke through the $100 billion barrier as the value of his stock holdings rose.

  Gates, who founded the personal computer giant in 1975, is so rich that his fortune is nearly three times the $36 billion of his nearest challenger, investor Warren Buffett, according to the latest edition of the business magazine Forbes. Gates has been the world's richest person now since 1995.

   

• Diamond's new Rio expected Wednesday
  Time: 10:05 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Diamond Multimedia Systems is expected to unveil a new version of its Rio portable MP3 player Wednesday that carries twice the digital music as its current device.

  Diamond confirmed it's unveiling a "new digital audio platform" in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. The San Jose, California-based company declined to give further details.

• The Faculty - Review
  Time: 19:07 GMT Source: ActiveDVD Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of the Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Williamson Sci-Fi movie The Faculty. Here is a snippet:

  The quality of the DVD picture is very good with vivid colors and very little grain. The sound is also excellent, there does have to be a bad point on the DVD though after all of this, and unfortunately it is a big one...There are no extras, ok we have a trailer, but can you really call that an extra these days? No you can't. The lack of extras is a major disappointment for such a good movie and it lets down the rest of the DVD's high quality.

   
• Does Coppermine Have A Bad Core?
  Time: 18:10 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Problems which Intel admitted with its Coppermine core last week point to the platform giving little performance boost. But sources close at Intel suggest that Willamette, as reported here earlier, is the chip giant's secret weapon. The sources told us earlier today that there cannot be a problem with the .18 micron process itself, so it must be the Coppermine design.

   
• Site News
  Time: 11:46 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex R.

  Sometimes, it's just too cool to be recognized :)  PCWorld has a mention of ActiveWindows in their newest issue:

  ActiveWindows This well-designed site houses a galaxy of useful technical information about--but not limited to--Windows. You'll find articles, tips, FAQs, bug alerts, downloads, and reviews collected from around the Web. ActiveWindows contributors generate much of the content, but many items are reproduced from--or simply link to--other computing sites. The interface is a marvel of organization. For quick reference help and troubleshooting, check out the FAQs section, with categories for DirectX, Internet Explorer, Windows 98, and more.

   
• 'Net Population Tops 92 Million
  Time: 11:24 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Alex R.

  Census time: The number of people over 16 years old in the United States and Canada using the Internet has climbed to 92 million, and the number of women making purchases online has risen dramatically, a new survey says.

  Of course, that number doesn't count the number of users in other countries!

   
• Site News
  Time: 11:15 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  You may have noticed that I have changed around some of our CSS and fonts that we use across the site. We have decided that our main font will now be Verdana in place of the Tahoma we used to use. We feel it is a better for reading and far more compatible in other browsers.

   
• IE5 installation kills-off NT remote update service
  Time: 10:07 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  A network administrator for a major US bank has drawn our attention to a serious (for him, at least) breakage of NT caused by Internet Explorer 5.0. In summary it would appear that Microsoft integration/proprietorisation via IE 5 disables a highly useful open systems(ish) routine, the Schedule service.

  This ships with NT, and in the equivalent of the Unix cron service. "We use it extensively at our company to deploy updates and perform functions. We run it under special user account so that it can access network resources."

   
• G4 and other spex make Web appearance
  Time: 10:01 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  A kindly reader has sent us two URLs possibly worth reading if you like the G4 PowerPC 450MHz microprocessor. The addresses are this and that. But go back a bit further just to here and you'll find some stuff about Sony's Emotion, AMD's K7, Intel Coppermine, PA-RISC 8500, Dirk Meyer's RM presentation and gawd knows what else.

   

• Key Linux leader to address Microsoft
  Time: 09:58 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  A key leader of the Linux movement will address Microsoft tomorrow as Windows faces increasing pressure from the rapidly growing rebel operating system.

  Eric Raymond, a founder of the Open Source Initiative, will speak to Microsoft researchers at the company's headquarters here. The address comes as Microsoft searches for a manager to analyze the competitive threat from Linux and after creation of a team to counter the competition, analysts said.

• Site News
  Time: 19:28 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Well it is turning out to be the usual boring Sunday with little tech news around at all so we have been updating sections and we have also started work on the Windows 2000 area. Not only that - we have also been producing our own Active Network mouse mats (Which look darn cool) which we will be using in competitions and selling on the site.

  If you would like to be one of the first to own one - send us an e-mail and we will contact you as soon as we have an image of them online for you to take a look at.

  DVD: Star Trek: Insurrection, A Bugs Life, Elizabeth, What Dreams May Come, American History X, Enemy Of The State, The Faculty, Grandmothers House and Pi
  Games: Hidden & Dangerous, Star Wars: Racer, Alien Vs Predator, Outcast and Mechwarrior 3

   
• SonicVortex2 Review
  Time: 19:27 GMT Source: Betabites Posted By: Byron

  Beta Bites has a SonicVortex2 Review. VideoLogic Systems has moved into the sound card arena with their lower priced SonicVortex2 card that supports A3D 2.0. Here is a snippet:

  The SonicVortex2 in 3D gaming calculates the positioning of the audio. However, the quad speaker support does not go as far as positioning, and only allows for panning of volume in the rear speakers in 3D gaming. The environmental positioning is limited to the front speakers. While playing both Unreal and the Drakan demo, I found the sound to be quite remarkable, and didn't even notice the lack of positioning in the rear speakers. I mean really, who has time to kill and listen at the same time? :)

   
• Logitech QuickCam VC review
  Time: 13:28 GMT Source: USB Workshop Posted By: Byron

  USB Workshop has posted a Logitech QuickCam VC review. Here is a snippet:

  A video camera targeting video conferencing, the QuickCam VC(VC) has all the basics you need.  It has been said that USB connection allows higher frame rate. And because of its USB connection, VC works with both Windows (Win95 OSR2 and Win98) and Mac (iMac System 8.0, driver downloadable from its web site). There are a few different video cameras selling under the Logitech brand name, and VC has the lowest price tag in the currently shipping ones, but providing most support on platforms or connections among all Logitech products.  VC comes with a CD-ROM, and it has a USB cable for data and power (bus-powered).

   

• Microsoft's Jump gives users the bump
  Time: 13:24 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft's honeymoon with the calendaring site Jump Networks is off to a rocky start with a major outage. Jump Networks, which was acquired earlier this year by Microsoft, went offline indefinitely Wednesday morning following what Microsoft described as a database error.

• Slot B pix arrive as API confirms AMD collaboration
  Time: 19:12 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Alpha Processors Inc (API), mostly owned by Samsung but with Compaq holding a minority share, has now confirmed details of its 750MHz and 1GHz Alpha processors.

  It will formally introduce the 750MHz flavour at PC Expo this coming Tuesday, and Miles Chesney, enterprise business development manager at API, confirmed that by this time next year the 1GHz processor will appear in volume.

   
• Ousted: Microsoft Switches Ad Agency
  Time: 14:14 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Software titan Microsoft Corp. shifted a $100 million advertising account to McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising, ending a five-year relationship with Wieden & Kennedy, a Microsoft spokeswoman said Friday.

  McCann-Erickson already had secured the U.S. campaign to introduce Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system, and Microsoft decided it did not need two agencies.

   

• 600MHz Pentium launch sped up
  Time: 14:12 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Intel Corp., aiming to wring greater performance from Pentium III chips based on its 0.18-micron manufacturing technology, has rejiggered its fall PIII launch schedule.

  The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker this week told PC makers it will push back the introduction of a Pentium III for desktop PCs, based on the 0.18-micron process, until November while it tweaks the design to gain greater performance. The chip was expected to debut at 600MHz in September.

• Site Updates
  Time: 21:22 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Alex Harris will now be the main person who updates our themes section on the website, so expect some big updates very soon. On another note - The Windows 98 & Windows 98 Second Edition FAQ has been updated to a new revision.

   
• AMD likely to name new K7 chip "Athlon"
  Time: 21:13 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Athlon. Is it the secret ingredient in medicated shoe inserts? The name of Conan the Barbarian's personal trainer? No, it is the name that AMD will likely give to the upcoming K7 processor.

  The widely anticipated processor from Advanced Micro Devices will not come to market as the K7, according to sources close to the company, but as "Athlon," echoing Intel's strategy of giving processors names that sound like galactic warriors or chemical additives. This could change, but for now it appears that AMD is heading for a branding scheme.

   
• Netmeeting 3.01 Final Released
  Time: 20:14 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Byron

  As we mentioned yesterday - Microsoft have officially released Netmeeting 3.01 final onto their website and servers for you all to download. Certainly much has been improved over previous versions.

   
• J18: International Day of Action(?)
  Time: 12:39 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Alex R.

  MSNBC is questioning whether the rumors are true: hacking groups have picked June 18th as an international day of protest against the "evils of capitalism."  The protest calls for worldwide attacks against financial institutions and government sites (June 18th is the date of the meeting of the G-8).  It could very well be a good day to call in sick if you work in the IT department!

   
• New IIS Security Patch
  Time: 11:13 GMT Source: Email Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in Microsoft (r) Internet Information Server 4.0. The vulnerability could allow denial of service attacks against an IIS server or, under certain conditions, could allow arbitrary code to be run on the server. The patch is fully supported, and Microsoft recommends that affected customers download and install it, if appropriate.

   
• Gates, O'Neal Unveil Web Safety Program
  Time: 10:03 GMT Source: USA Today Posted By: Byron

  Nick Walker wouldn't be able to recognize the richest man in the world if Bill Gates walked up to him in person -- and Gates did just that Wednesday.

  But the 9-year-old boy looked past Gates and toward the man beside him drawing oohs and aahs from all of Nick's friends inside the Boys & Girls Club computer room -- NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers.

  Both Gates and O'Neal visited the center in a residential section of Washington to introduce a new program intended to teach children how to use the Internet safely.

   
• Pentium III Delays Could Give AMD The Lead
  Time: 10:01 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  A two-month delay to Intel's "Coppermine" Pentium III chip could mean that AMD will take the performance crown for desktop processors.

  The delay to Coppermine--a high-performance version of the Pentium III--means that the Intel chip will not appear until November. That may mean that the chip won't appear in many PCs in 1999, since new systems don't often come out so late in the year.

   

• Intel Confirms Coppermine Delay
  Time: 09:58 GMT Source: TechWeb Posted By: Byron

  Intel has confirmed analyst reports that problems ramping faster processors using the company's new 0.18-micron process will delay the launch of its Coppermine microprocessor.

  A desktop version of the Coppermine -- the generic codename given to a 0.18-micron Pentium III with on-chip level 2 cache -- was originally expected to ship in September at 600-MHz using Intel's 0.25-micron process. Instead, a 600-MHz Pentium III without on-chip cache will ship in September, and the Coppermine's ship date will be pushed out until about November, an Intel spokesman said.

• Is Windows Open Wide To Viruses?
  Time: 21:50 GMT Source: Andovernews Posted By: Byron

  Java co-author and Sun Microsystems evangelist James Gosling said on Tuesday that the recent worldwide spate of viruses and worms is a result of how Windows and Windows NT are designed--and that UNIX, Linux, and Java environments are almost entirely immune.

   
• Reah - DVD Edition Review
  Time: 21:12 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of Project Two's Reah DVD Edition. Here is a snippet from the review:

  Your first challenge is to enter the city. This first puzzle - studying symbols on sundials, making logical connections you open the gates and walk into the city - is typical for the rest of the game. The puzzles throughout the game can be mind-numbingly difficult to figure out, thankfully though there are a few "Beginner" puzzles for you to get used to Reah's way of thinking, but they are few and far between. Completing puzzles usually results in a short cutscene and then another puzzle for you to solve will crop up elsewhere.

   
• FrontPage 2000 extensions can kill existing FrontPage search bots
  Time: 20:03 GMT Source: Bugnet Posted By: Byron

  An apparent bug in Microsoft FrontPage 2000 server extensions has crippled searching on some of the 120,000 web sites hosted by Hway.net, the world’s largest FrontPage Web service provider.

   

• Web Server Bug Wrongly Publicized?
  Time: 19:59 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft offered a temporary fix for a problem with its Web server software that lets attackers "inject" a program that can run on a Windows NT-based system. In the meantime, the manner in which the bug was reported and publicized is generating controversy.

   

• Firm exposes WinNT security hole
  Time: 19:51 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Nearly every Windows NT-based Web server on the Internet is vulnerable to a newly discovered security hole that lets a malicious hacker take over the server -- and, in some cases, the network to which it is attached, says a network security company.

  According to the eEye Digital Security Team, which develops network security software, it discovered the bug on June 6 when its Retina network security scanning software -- which automatically employs techniques commonly used to break into computer systems -- succeeded in crashing an NT server.

   
• Divx Bites The Dust
  Time: 13:05 GMT Source: CNN Posted By: Alex R.

  Everyone with ribbons protesting Divx on their web sites can begin removing them - Divx is officially (and finally) dead.

   
• ICQ: Where Does it Stand Now?
  Time: 12:45 GMT Source: C|Net Posted By: Alex R.

  News.com has an interesting story about ICQ and where it stands in the grand plan of America Online.  If you're an ICQ user, you might not like what's coming your way.  Check it out.

   
• New Windows Critical Update v3.0 & New Libraries
  Time: 12:38 GMT Source: Myself Posted By: Alex R.

  I got curious and decided to check out the new Windows Update enhancements.  I see that Microsoft has now added a new set of Microsoft Libraries and a new Windows Critical Update v3.0.

   
• Netmeeting 3.01 To Be Released Tomorrow
  Time: 11:46 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft are to release Netmeeting 3.01 on their website tomorrow. The build number is build 3385 for all of you who like to know that kind of stuff. We'll post the download sites as soon as it is on the MS servers.

   
• MS 'hit team' head takes on geeks in Linux-NT challenge
  Time: 11:26 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  They're off again - and this time it's personal. The latest round of the Linux versus NT grudge benchmarks kicked off at PC Week Labs in Foster City, California at the beginning of this week, and the results should be out in around a week's time.

  A couple of press were apparently invited to the opening skirmishes on Monday morning, but as they forgot us again we're beholden to the excellent Salon magazine for its colourful report.

   

• Windows Update - Updated
  Time: 11:20 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft's Windows Update website has been updated, although nothing new seems to have been added to the site - the Windows Update detection screen has been revamped to detect your updates easier and more efficiently.

• Windows 98 SE Slow Down/Hang On Boot - Getting There
  Time: 19:59 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  We are gradually discovering exactly what is causing a major hang that will stop the user from loading or doing anything for about 5-10 seconds on boot in Windows 98 Second Edition. After taking time to scan my bootlog.txt we have found the following at the end just after Windows starts.

  20:46:36 0.00 Init = TSRQuery (time estimated)
  20:46:36 12.28 InitDone = TSRQuery (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.17 Enumerating Standard Floppy Disk Controller (BIOS\*PNP0700\11)
  20:46:48 0.00 Enumerated Standard Floppy Disk Controller (BIOS\*PNP0700\11)
  20:46:48 0.00 Terminate = User (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 Terminate = Query Drivers (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 EndTerminate = Query Drivers (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 Terminate = Unload Network (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 EndTerminate = Unload Network (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 Terminate = Reset Display (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 EndTerminate = Reset Display (time estimated)
  20:46:48 0.00 EndTerminate = User (time estimated)

  Notice the TSRQuery is taking a massive 12 seconds to fully load up? Well this is the cause of the problem, so If anyone from Microsoft can get into contact with me to discuss any possible fixes for me and the many other people who have the problem, it would be appreciated.

   
• Microsoft Debuts microsoftSF Retail Environment At San Francisco's Metreon Sony Entertainment Center
  Time: 16:30 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. today unveiled microsoftSF, an interactive, hands-on retail environment in which people of all ages, from all walks of life and at all levels of technological expertise can explore the benefits technology can bring them. Far more than just another computer store, microsoftSF is a showcase for the latest technology from Microsoft and the hardware and software companies with which it collaborates. The facility opened here at Metreon, the new Sony Entertainment Center in San Francisco, a first-of-its-kind destination with 15 movie theaters, including San Francisco's first SONY IMAX Theatre, attractions, restaurants and shops covering 350,000 square feet on four floors.

   
• Microsoft and Bridge Information Systems Team To Facilitate Internet Delivery of Real-Time Financial Information
  Time: 16:28 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Today at the Securities Industry Association (SIA) Technology Management Conference and Exhibit, Microsoft Corp. and Bridge Information Systems Inc. demonstrated the results of joint work on an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based schema that allows the exchange of various real-time market data types, including stock pricing, pages, and company news and history. Organizations in the financial industry, long in need of a common language for financial information, will now be able to integrate applications easily, extend existing applications, and share information with customers on the Internet.

   
• Leading Web Hosting Providers Offer Site Hosting Promotions To Celebrate Arrival of Microsoft FrontPage 2000
  Time: 16:26 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  To mark the availability of the newest version of Microsoft® FrontPage®, the world's best-selling Web site creation and management tool, Microsoft Corp. today announced that 12 leading Internet service providers (ISPs) will offer Web site hosting incentives to users of FrontPage 2000. The promotions range from 60 days of free Web site hosting to savings of up to $500 on setup and installation fees (some offer restrictions apply). In addition, customers can now select from more than 1,000 ISPs registered as part of the FrontPage Web Presence Provider (WPP) program; the number of WPPs has doubled in under a year and continues to grow rapidly.

   
• MS Fails To List Intel CPU's As Windows 98 SE Compatible
  Time: 15:41 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  An alert (you may call him sad, we couldn't possibly comment) reader tips us off to the non-existence of Intel CPUs in Microsoft's Windows 98 SE compatibility list. All the other major-to-middling chip companies are there, and Intel products have a whole five pages to themselves in the list, but CPUs? Nope.

  Check it out yourself at the SE compatibility site. If you search by CPU it'll kick up the list of companies covered, and just looking at the list prompts you to wonder what happened to Intel. So aren't Intel chips SE-compatible?

   
• Windows 2000 Released Candidate 1 Due End Of Month
  Time: 10:23 GMT Source: Wininfo Posted By: Byron

  Those that think Windows 2000 won't ship in 1999 are in for a shock. Senior Microsoft Vice President Jim Allchin says that the first release candidate (RC1) of Windows 2000 will ship by the end of this month. Allchin says that Windows 2000 will ship in 1999 right on schedule.

  Allchin also said that Microsoft will release Service Pack 6 for Windows NT 4.0 this fall. And a 64-bit version of Windows 2000 will ship in mid- 2000 with Intel's upcoming Merced chip, the company's 64-bit design.

   
• Microsoft Official Curriculum for Windows 2000!
  Time: 10:20 GMT Source: Windows 98 Central Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft is releasing the latest Official Curriculum for Windows 2000 this month to Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centers worldwide to train IT professionals on Windows 2000 Beta 3. Visit the link above for more information and to download a free HTML course, "Getting Ready for Microsoft Windows 2000."

   
• New ICQ Released
  Time: 10:11 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Byron

  We just got an e-mail stating that a new version of ICQ 99a has been posted on the ICQ FTP site - although I haven't downloaded it to check, the date is the 15th so I assume it is new. ICQ have also posted a handy updating tool for 98a so you can check what bits and pieces you need to update.

   

• Site News
  Time: 10:09 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have been toying with a few new design ideas (some of which we used yesterday on our mailing list) such as transparent tables (Looks tops but doesn't work in the current NS) and a few new graphics, these may or may not appear across the site in the next week or so.

• Windows For All Seasons - Windows Roadmap
  Time: 19:52 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Byron

  It seems Microsoft is announcing another version of Windows every time you turn around. First there was Windows 2000 and its various flavors-Professional, Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter. Then came word of a sequel to Windows 98, dubbed Windows 98 Second Edition. But the biggest surprise of the year was the pre-announcement of an operating system that extends the Windows 9x line even further. Microsoft refers to it as "Consumer Windows in 2000," but you can just think of it as "the operating system formerly known as Windows 98."

  At this point, you might be confused about where Microsoft is going with all these new operating systems. And if you're one of the many business users still working with Windows 95 or 98, you're probably wondering what your next Windows will be. Well, it doesn't appear as though Microsoft has nailed down its plans for the long-term future of Windows. But at least for the short run-this year and next-it's possible to start connecting the dots.

   

• Office 2000 Setup Bug - Work Around
  Time: 19:48 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Byron

  No guarantee that this works - but it is worth a try:

  1. Create a Microsoft Office folder in Program Files on the C:\ drive.
  2. Create a Office folder in the Microsoft Office folder.\
  3. Copy the Mso9.dll from either Microsoft Office 2000 CD-ROM Disk 1 or Disk 2
  to the Office folder.
  4. Run Setup from Microsoft Office 2000 CD-ROM Disk 2.
  Setup will now complete successfully.
  5. Delete the Microsoft Office folder created in Step 1.

   
• Office 2000 Setup Bug
  Time: 13:15 GMT Source: BetaNews Posted By: Alex R.

  Having trouble with CD #2 in your brand-new copy of Office 2000?  Turns out that there's a bug in that CD #2 will never find a qualifying product to upgrade your installation, no matter what drive you point it to.  Apparently, Microsoft published the wrong CD key for it.  You must call (425) 635-7140 to obtain a new product key.

   

• Worm.ExploreZip Worms Through Networks Without Email
  Time: 13:13 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Alex R.

  Worm.ExploreZip continues to threaten corporate and other networks worldwide.  Coders have now discovered that it contains more than one transmission method - Worm.ExploreZip will also use mapped network drives to propagate itself into the LAN.

   

• Netscape Communicator 4.61 Released
  Time: 13:03 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Byron

  A new version of Netscape Communicator (v4.61) has been released. As usual it's mainly bug fixes and security updates.

  ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/communicator/english/4.61/windows/windows95_or_nt

   

• Support Software Lags Windows 2000 Effort
  Time: 12:16 GMT Source: Infoworld Posted By: Byron

  Well aware that an operating system is only as good as the applications that run on it, Microsoft is turning up the heat on ISVs to get behind Windows 2000 with months to go before the release.

  Despite planning to spend almost $48 million on this effort, the software giant expects only 10 applications to fit the criteria of so-called "vision applications" that exploit specific new Windows 2000 technologies when the OS debuts later this year.

• Windows 98 SE USB Troubleshooting Guide
  Time: 14:50 GMT Source: USB Workshop Posted By: Byron

  Our new affiliates USB Workshop have posted an excellent troubleshooting guide to USB on Windows 98 Second Edition. Here is a short snippet:

  This guide provides some early warnings and precautions users should take when upgrading to Windows 98 SE with the USB devices listed on this page.  Check to see if you have these USB devices before installing Windows 98 SE.  Some of the problems can be solved by changing BIOS settings, and driver updates; however, some USB devices do not work with OpenHCI-standard USB controllers.  In this case, a hardware upgrade to UniversalHCD-standard USB controller is required if users intend to install the USB device on their systems.

   
• Microsoft Announces Television Software Platform: Microsoft TV Platform Adaptation Kit (TVPAK)
  Time: 14:38 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. today announced the product details of its client and server software for the television industry - the Microsoft^® TV Platform Adaptation Kit (Microsoft TVPAK) - and confirmed that it has released the software in different forms to key industry leaders. The client software, Microsoft TV, operates a range of television-centric appliances from Internet terminals and advanced set-top boxes to integrated televisions, while the server software, Microsoft TV Server, will be used by network operators to deploy and manage a rich, scalable, enhanced TV service. More than 30 industry-leading companies are already actively working with the software, which merges Internet and television technologies, to create new devices, services and content to enhance the entertainment value and usefulness of television for consumers.

   
• Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Commercial Internet System 2.5, A Comprehensive, Integrated, Commercial-Grade Server Suite
  Time: 14:38 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Building on the momentum of Microsoft^® Commercial Internet System (MCIS) version 2.0 launched last year, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled MCIS 2.5, a comprehensive, integrated suite of server applications that makes it easy for commercial service providers (CSPs) to deploy higher-margin Internet services more cost effectively.

   
• Widespread Deployment of Interactive TV Gains Steam With Fall Lineup Of Enhanced Programming for WebTV Plus and WebTV for Windows
  Time: 14:35 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Today at Cable '99, the National Cable Television Association show, Microsoft Corp. announced cross-industry support for providing interactive cable television programming to consumers via WebTV^® Plus Internet Receivers and the WebTV for Windows^® feature of the Windows 98 operating system. Three top entertainment-based cable TV channels have announced their summer and fall interactive programming lineups, which range from major sporting events such as "HBO World Championship Boxing" to educational shows geared toward the entire family such as "Savage Earth." In addition, two leading cable channels announced they are extending their interactive television offering with enhanced programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

   
• Microsoft Launches MSN Mobile on MSN.COM to Deliver Wireless Content To Cellular Phones, Handheld Devices and Pagers
  Time: 14:35 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of MSN Mobile (http://mobile.msn.com/), the newest addition to the MSN™ network of Internet services. From MSN.COM, consumers can now sign up to receive a host of wireless information services on their interactive pagers and cellular phones. MSN is the first of the major Internet portal sites to provide wireless information services, which include news, sports, weather, stock quotes, horoscopes and personal alerts.

   
• Microsoft Access 2000 Client/Server Features Now Available To Enable Easier Integration With SQL Server
  Time: 14:33 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. today announced new features in Microsoft^® Access 2000 that make it easier for users to build Access applications as a front end to Microsoft SQL Server™, and new tools that help IT organizations upsize existing Access applications to SQL Server 7.0. In addition, Access users qualify for a special promotional price for a limited time to obtain SQL Server 7.0 for approximately $699, less than half of the estimated retail price.

   
• Linux PPC 5.0 Ships
  Time: 14:26 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Mac-oriented Linux distributor LinuxPPC has begun shipping version 5.0 of its eponymous implementation of the open source OS on PowerPC.

  The new release brings LinuxPPC up to date with not only the latest kernel, 2.2, but the glibc 2.1 shared library. The kernel supports the iMac's USB ports, and is compatible with the new blue'n'white Power Mac G3 machines.

   

• ...and There's a New Java VM!
  Time: 13:05 GMT Source: BetaBites Posted By: Alex R.

  What a coincidence. Microsoft has released a new Java Virtual Machine. Seems like just yesterday I picked this up from Windows Update and there's already a new one. The link is in the headlines.  This new JVM is not in Windows Update yet.

   

• MS Turning To Open Source Outfit For Java Clone
  Time: 11:36 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Various

  Microsoft has turned to a small Java-cloning outfit, Transvirtual Technologies, to dig it out of the legal hole it's currently in, according to this morning's Wall Street Journal. If the Journal story is true it would appear that Transvirtual, which has previously espoused open source, has performed an interesting pirouette.

  Microsoft's problem stems from the latest legal rulings in the Sun-Java case. Microsoft is said to have infringed Sun's copyright, but has been given permission to clone Java. This of course is easier said than done if you haven't been operating clean room development from the start (and anyway, the concept of 'clean room' is probably anathema to Microsoft). So Microsoft has to buy in the technology if it's to rejig its Java strategy on the basis of a Java clone.

• MS Finally Puts Win98 SE Full Version On Sale At $209
  Time: 15:18 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Various

  Microsoft has finally got its act together and started selling the full version of Windows 98 SE from its Web site - at the somewhat less than bargain estimated price of $209. As we've been pointing out for the past couple of days, (MS dozy Webbies story) the company seems to have been trouble figuring out the Ts and Cs of this particular permutation, but now it has.

• Member Homepages
  Time: 11:59 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Various

  We have added a Member Homepages area so you can keep up to date on each member and their very own website. Most of these are updated regularly, so check them out.

   
• Intel Acknowledges Delay in Profusion Chipset
  Time: 20:15 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex R.

  Intel has acknowledged a delay in production of the Profusion chipset.  The new chipset will provide support for 8-processor servers.

   
• 3dfx Sues Creative Labs for Copyright Infringement and Breach of Contract
  Time: 20:09 GMT Source: Yahoo Posted By: Alex R.

  From the "It's-a-given-they-had-it-coming-department," 3dfx has filed suit against Creative Labs for the release of the "glide wrapper" for their TNT cards (named the Unison driver).  The driver allows owners of Creative Labs TNT and TNT2 cards to play "Glide only" titles without 3dfx's drivers.

   
• Off Topic: DeForest Kelley Passes On
  Time: 20:05 GMT Source: Mr. Showbiz Posted By: Alex R.

  Sad news in the entertainment world.  DeForest Kelley, the fabulous "Dr. Bones" from Star Trek has died.  Anytime a star that I grew up watching passes away, I feel this ominous sense of loss.  DeForest Kelley is one of those stars.

   
• FBI Tracking Down Author of Worm.Explore.Zip
  Time: 20:02 GMT Source: CNN Posted By: Alex R.

  The FBI is (trying to be) hot on the trail of the Worm.Explore.Zip virus author.  The part worm-part virus struck a huge amount of corporations this week.  Here locally, I know of at least five major technology companies that were hit all in the same day.

   
• Creative Ultra TNT2 - Sharky Review
  Time: 18:51 GMT Source: Sharky Extreme Posted By: Byron

  Sharky Extreme has posted up a review of the Creative Ultra TNT2. Here's a snippet:

  We currently play the Quake III: Arena test on UltraTNT2's and the Creative 3D Blaster UltraTNT2 performed as well as all other Ultra's set at the 'default' speeds (when it didn't crash). The UltraTNT2's TwiN Texel engine (supporting single pass multi-texturing) wasn't really being used efficiently on the original TNT due to the lower clock speeds and other architecture pipeline rendering limitations (original TNTs were clocked at 95-105MHz). The Ultra TNT2's clock speed is not only higher but the architecture has had some improvements made to its rendering pipelines (NVIDIA claims some 20% improvement over a TNT at the same speed). Thus Quake 3 performs extremely well at around 60 frames per second.

   
• Should You Wait For The K7?
  Time: 18:47 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Byron

  Should I stay or go? Should I fish or cut bait? Should I buy six of one or half-dozen of another? Applying these axioms to today's high-performance computing market, the suitable platitude might be, Should I buy the PIII or wait for the Merced?

  We know they're coming--revved-up Pentium III chips, Intel's 64-bit Merced CPU, and AMD's supercharged K7 microprocessor. We just don't know whether we should wait to buy them. Will the flavor of the week really be the fastest chip available--and for how long?

   

• Site News
  Time: 18:35 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Sorry about the lack of updates - I had some important other stuff to do, and it has taken up most of my Saturday. - We are still looking for someone who would be interested in updating our Desktop Themes section - The section would have to be updated on a weekly basis - FrontPage 2000 knowledge is a bonus. If you are interested - please e-mail me at byron@activeie.com.

• Microsoft Confidential Updated
  Time: 23:27 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft have updated their Confidential website with information on Windows 98 Second Edition and the new upcoming Microsoft Mouse - The Intellimouse Explorer.

   
• Site News
  Time: 21:10 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  We are looking for someone who would be interested in updating our Desktop Themes section - The section would have to be updated on a weekly basis - FrontPage 2000 knowledge is a bonus. If you are interested - please e-mail me at byron@activeie.com.

   
• "There Are 3000 Bugs In Windows 98" - DOJ Expert
  Time: 19:49 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Could this be true? In court yesterday government witness Edward Felten, he of the IE uninstall program, claimed that he'd found 3,000 bugs tagged by Microsoft programmers in the version of Windows 98 source code he'd looked at. And the code he was dealing with only amounted to one seventh of Win98 in total.

  Felten had just had a possible bug in his own program sprung on him by Microsoft's lawyers, and was protesting that bugs in software are by no means unusual. Indeed not, if his 3k figure is correct.

   
• Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition FAQ
  Time: 19:44 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft has posted their own Frequently Asked Questions section for Windows 98 Second Edition. Check it out for a few known issues and the such like. There is also a first known official bug (Apart from that start up delay for some people):

  Lowercase Drive Letter in System.ini May Cause Windows 98 Second Edition to Hang During Suspend

   
• MS Squeezes Out Free Service Pack Distribution
  Time: 11:01 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Further evidence that Microsoft is moving to control and/or charge for distribution of fixes and updates has emerged. Yesterday (Win98 SE hits stores) the company began taking orders on its Web site for direct sales of Windows 98 SE and for the latest Windows 98 service pack, although the latter is not as yet available for free.

  Microsoft's motivation at this juncture would seem to be to establish strong links between itself and Windows users, rather than to increase its revenues by charging for what are essentially bug-fixes. But that's a logical next step - Microsoft documentation revealed earlier this year showed that the company wished to move to an 'annuity' model for operating system sales, where users would effectively end up paying an annual fee for continued use of the product. By exerting greater control of the distribution of fixes and updates, by tightening up on product registration procedures and by introducing Windows 98-specific systems such as the Windows Update site, the company is starting to evolve some kind of 'rental' system.

   
• MSN's Identity Crisis
  Time: 10:21 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  After a long and trying attempt to create a compelling Web content offering, Microsoft is focusing its Internet strategy on what it does best: selling software. And while Microsoft has not given up fully on content, its recent moves suggest that it would rather buy content than create it from scratch.

  Matt Kursh, business unit manager of MSN, said it is "conceivable" that Microsoft will strike partnership deals with existing businesses and develop what he calls a "broad-based Switzerland approach" to its Web strategy. That approach could involve outright sales of some properties, analysts have speculated.

   

• Malicious "Worm" Virus Hits Companies
  Time: 10:18 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Byron

  Disguised as e-mail from an acquaintance, a malicious computer "worm" capable of destroying data on infected machines was spreading Thursday, forcing at least a handful of major businesses to shut down their e-mail systems. Computer security companies said the worm represented a new level of danger, combining the rapid-spread capability of the recent Melissa virus with a far more dangerous payload.

• Microsoft Makes Windows 2000 Dev Team Available
  Time: 20:07 GMT Source: TechWeb Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft is making the development team behind Windows 2000 readily available to the general public through a series of weekly question-and-answer sessions, as well as an online chat event next week during which users can watch demonstrations of Win 2000 deployment.

  The event, scheduled for June 16 and sponsored by Microsoft's Technet group, is a half-day affair that will be broadcast over the Internet on the Windows 2000 Beta Users' website. It will feature live discussions, product demonstrations, and how-to videos. The goal is to provide step-by-step information on deploying Win 2000 in a midsized organization, according to Karan Khanna, lead product manager for Win NT.

   

• Microsoft DirectX 7.0 Technology Ignites Enthusiasm at Meltdown 99
  Time: 14:46 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft^® DirectX^® 7.0, the new version of the powerful multimedia technology behind the Windows^® operating system, was showcased this week before an audience of the game industry's most discriminating users of DirectX: hardware and software developers.

   
• Is Windows 98 SE Upgrade Worth It?
  Time: 14:39 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  Today's launch of Microsoft's Windows 98 SE operating system will be a decidedly low-key affair, at least compared to the introduction of its predecessor.

  Some of the improvements to the operating system also lack punch, analysts say. The average Windows user may not need the update, they say. "It's an incremental upgrade," said Dwight Davis, an analyst with Summit Strategies. "It's hard to get really excited, because there's really nothing new. Even Microsoft is treating this as a yawn."

   

• Windows 98 Service Pack 1 Update
  Time: 14:33 GMT Source: Various Posted By: Byron

  Just a note for all those of you e-mailing us about the Service Pack 1 mentioned on the Microsoft Windows website - It isn't due for release for 2-3 weeks.

   
• Windows 98 SE Available To Buy Online
  Time: 10:09 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Yes you can finally buy Windows 98 Second Edition online via the Microsoft Windows website. You can choose the version that is best for you (This includes the $19.95 upgrade for Windows 98 users to update to the second edition, it includes all the new features, bug fixes and drivers all on the CD)

  For those of you who haven't decided whether to upgrade or not, check out our review of Windows 98 Second Edition.

  It's easy to buy Windows 98 Second Edition, and get all the new advantages built into the latest release. Whether you're shopping for a new computer or want to upgrade an out-of-date system, you can choose the option that works best for you.

   

• MSN's New Beta Site
  Time: 10:07 GMT Source: e-mail Posted By: Byron

  The Microsoft Network has posted a sneak preview of their new upcoming homepage - due at the end of next month. Check it out at http://www.beta.msn.com

   
• Microsoft To License Creative's EAX
  Time: 10:07 GMT Source: GA-Source Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft today announced a licensing agreement with Creative Technology Ltd. for a number of recording-studio-quality audio effects found in Creative's Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX), an application programming interface (API) used to add environmental sound effects to 3-D games. The licensed effects include flange, chorus, EQ and environmental reverberation.

  Microsoft plans to incorporate these EAX effects into its next version of the Microsoft DirectX API, the multimedia technology behind the Windows operating system. Creative's EAX API is a popular environmental audio standard among developers and is supported in more than 50 PC games currently shipping. Combining EAX technology from Creative with applications written to the Microsoft DirectSound and Microsoft DirectMusic APIs will allow developers to take audio to a new level of realism in multimedia applications, encouraging the proliferation of high-quality PC audio

   

• Office 2000 ID Controversy
  Time: 10:07 GMT Source: Newsbytes Posted By: Byron

  Despite the outcry that greeted the original plan to establish PC IDs in Office 2000 registrations, Microsoft Corp. does not seem to have modified its earlier restrictions. The "easy-to-use" registration wizard is included in versions of Office 2000 offered in Australia, Brazil and New Zealand, as well as in academic packages distributed in the US and Canada.

  Office 2000 was officially unveiled worldwide this week. The ID requirement does not apply to customers with volume license agreements. For the first time, Office 2000 also places a hologram on the CD to identify the authenticity of the product and thief-deterrent packaging to block the ungodly from stealing the CD out of the box in retail stores.

  To register, you name your country so it automatically generates an installation ID number. However you don't have to provide personal information and can register anonymously. Customers can install a copy of Office on a single computer, plus a second copy for a portable. Installations on additional computers that allegedly violate the license agreement will not qualify for registration. Microsoft Australia reports some big organizations, such as the Australian Tax Office, are being attracted to Office 2000 for its workgroup possibilities.

• Windows 98 SE Available Tomorrow
  Time: 19:54 GMT Source: C|Net Posted By: Alex R.

  Windows 98 Second Edition will be on the shelves tomorrow at all retail outlets and on Microsoft's web site. The prices? Suggested retail price for Windows 98 SE full is $109 U.S. For existing Windows 98 users, the asking price is $19.95, which you can order from Microsoft's store.

   

• Microsoft Reveal Windows 2000 Release Date
  Time: 19:59 GMT Source: TechWeb Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft has penciled in Oct. 6 as the day it will launch Windows 2000. Although the date is not absolutely definite, Microsoft said it was confident enough with the development of the operating system's Beta 3 that this would be the launch date. This also should be preceded by a release of Windows 2000 Release Candidate 1 in the first week of July.

  Steve Riley, regional technical director of Microsoft Europe, Middle East, and Africa, said the feedback on Beta 3 had been very positive and that the company was confident that Windows 2000 would easily ship this year.

   

• Microsoft Steps Up Directory Push For Windows 2000
  Time: 16:29 GMT Source: PC Week Posted By: Byron

  Continuing its Windows 2000 prep work, Microsoft Corp. on Friday updated its Active Directory Services Interface, preparing users who want to integrate currently deployed directories with the directory the software giant will ship with the next-generation OS later this year.

   

• Apple Releases QuickTime 4
  Time: 11:38 GMT Source: BetaBites Posted By: Alex R.

  Apple has released QuickTime 4 into the wild. The new version offers many new features and improvements, as well as special deals with content providers for live programming. You can download QuickTime 4 from the Apple website.

   

• Microsoft Teams Up With Inprise
  Time: 11:26 GMT Source: Andover News Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft has entered into a strategic alliance with Inprise, developer of the Borland C++ products. The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) will be incorporated into Borland as part of the alliance.

   

• PrettyPark Hits Windows Users Hard
  Time: 11:20 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Alex R.

  The newest virus that spreads via email (a la Melissa) increased its infection rate by 2000% over the last few days.

   

• New WinAmp Released
  Time: 11:11 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Alex R.

  A new version of WinAmp has been released, bringing it up to version 2.23. Nitrane technology has been re-incorporated into WinAmp, thanks to the recent lawsuit settlement with PlayMedia. Curiously enough, there's still no mention of AOL's purchase of WinAmp on their web site.

   

• ActiveDVD Update
  Time: 10:11 GMT Source: ActiveDVD Posted By: Byron

  We have begun our daily DVD news. We will also be starting regular site updates as the DVD section here on ActiveWindows has become pretty popular over the past month or so. Reviews on the way include:

  Star Trek: Insurrection, Alien Legacy, A Bug's Life, Elizabeth and What Dreams May Come.

• Microsoft Demonstrates SQL Server for Windows CE To Developers of Mobile and Embedded Solutions
  Time: 20:34 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Today at the Windows^® CE Developers Conference, Microsoft Corp. demonstrated Microsoft^® SQL Server™ for the Windows CE operating system. This event marks the fulfillment of Microsoft's strategic goal to provide a scalable, reliable and easy-to-use SQL Server solution that extends from productivity appliances such as handheld, palm-size and embedded Windows CE-based devices up to the enterprise.

   

• Microsoft Announces Global Data Access Architecture for Windows CE
  Time: 20:32 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  During his keynote address today at the forth annual Windows^® CE Developers Conference, Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Business Productivity Group at Microsoft Corp., laid out a new data architecture for the Microsoft^® Windows CE operating system that will enable data access for a new range of productivity appliances. This Global Data Access architecture, based on ActiveX^® Data Objects (ADO) and OLE DB, provides a flexible and efficient database architecture that offers applications, compilers and other database components access to Microsoft and third-party data stores through a consistent set of open interfaces. The Microsoft SQL Server™ team, Sybase Inc. and Simba Technologies Inc. also announced today that they will build products based on this open architecture. The data access components for this new architecture, including OLE DB, are scheduled to be available in beta release later this year and to be distributed via the Microsoft Platform Builder for Windows CE.

   

• Microsoft Promises Unified Messaging Services
  Time: 20:30 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp is preparing a new version of its Exchange Server software specifically optimized for adoption by telecommunications services providers as a platform for unified messaging services, said Microsoft President Steve Ballmer on Tuesday. Ballmer, delivering a keynote address here at Supercomm '99, said the new version, code-named Platinum, will include broadened support for multiple data types.

   

• MS, Voice & DirectX 8
  Time: 20:21 GMT Source: Voodoo Extreme Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft has made an announcement yesterday, that they have picked up Shadow Factor Software, Inc., the lads behind Battlefield Communicator, which was also known as BattleCon.  Here's a bit from the press release:

  ``BattleCom's real-time voice-over technology is amazing, and we're excited to make it a part of the Windows gaming platform,'' said Kevin Bachus, group product manager for DirectX at Microsoft. ``The ability to talk to other players over the Internet without the hassle of typing dialogue in midplay adds a new dimension to online gaming.''

  Once integrated into the DirectX application programming interface, BattleCom technology is expected to be applied to a full spectrum of multiplayer online game titles. The ability to communicate verbally while interacting online, from casually chatting during a game of Bridge to taunting opponents while immersed in the latest 3-D action game, will enhance players' enjoyment.

   

• Midtown Madness Review
  Time: 14:15 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have just finished posting my review of Microsoft's latest racing game - Midtown Madness. Here is a snippet from the review:

  Racing in Midtown Madness is easy to get the hang of thanks to the first couple of courses really being training runs before the action really heats up later on. While racing around the city you come up against a number of city environments that try to slow you down, they include traffic: the cars actual follow the road laws by stopping at traffic lights and driving down the correct lanes. Police who chase after you at every opportunity you give them, once they catch up with you they will do everything they can to smash you off of the road and then arrest you. In the event that you smash into any of the oncoming traffic then damage starts to show up on your vehicle, if you crash into enough cars then your vehicle will turn into a steaming wreak and your game will end.

   

• Network Solutions Competitor Goes Online
  Time: 12:49 GMT Source: Newsbytes Posted By: Alex R.

  Network Solutions, Inc.'s government-sanctioned monopoly over Internet domain registration came to an abrupt end today when the firm's first official competitor, register.com went live.

   

• Office 2000 Hits Desks
  Time: 10:53 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft’s big summer release, its Office 2000 software suite, came out Monday. The package includes spreadsheet, word-processing and e-mail programs for business users. One new feature lets businesses set up Web-like pages to share documents inside a company. “Office lets people really participate with others in brainstorming ideas,” Microsoft president Steve Ballmer told CNBC Monday, “but the Web is at the heart of the software.”

  Other Microsoft Office 2000 Articles:

  • Office 2000 Tools Sure to Entice Developers
  • Microsoft Office 2000 is Ready to Roll
  • Office 2000: What's Hiding Inside the Box?

   

• Microsoft Buys Internet Gamer
  Time: 10:44 GMT Source: Reuters Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp on Monday purchased privately-held Canadian company ShadowFactor Software Inc., the maker of a technology called BattleCom that allows players to talk while playing games on the Internet. Microsoft did not disclose the amount of the transaction.

   

• 3Dlabs Demonstrates Geometry Acceleration In DirectX 7
  Time: 10:41 GMT Source: GA Source Posted By: Byron

  3Dlabs today provided the first public demonstration of accelerated geometry and lighting using Microsoft's newly-enhanced DirectX 7 application programming interface (API). The demonstration used the 3Dlabs Oxygen GVX1 board that provides high-speed geometry and rasterization acceleration on a single AGP card and included a demonstration of a highly-detailed flight simulator written by Simis, the well-known game developer. The demonstration showed that applications with complex geometry run up to three times faster due to the increased polygon throughput made possible by hardware geometry acceleration.

  Geometry acceleration offloads the floating point intensive transformation and lighting calculations in the 3D graphics pipeline from the host CPU and processes them in high-speed hardware on the graphics board. Geometry acceleration hardware provides significantly higher geometry throughput than even the fastest CPU -- while liberating the host CPU for faster application performance. 3Dlabs has been shipping OpenGL geometry acceleration in its range of Oxygen workstation boards for over a year. DirectX 7 is the first version of Microsoft's 3D API that enables geometry acceleration and will allow games and consumer applications to deliver significantly enhanced visual complexity and realism.

   

• ActiveDVD Info
  Time: 10:12 GMT Source: ActiveDVD Posted By: Byron

  We are to begin with our daily DVD news starting from tomorrow. We will also be starting regular site updates as the DVD section here on ActiveWindows has become pretty popular over the past month or so. Reviews on the way include:

  Star Trek: Insurrection, Alien Legacy, A Bug's Life, Elizabeth and What Dreams May Come.

• Office 2000 Released In The UK Tomorrow
  Time: 20:07 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Just a note that Microsoft's Office 2000 is released in the UK tomorrow. It should be available in most large stores across the UK. I've been using the final version for just over a month and it is well worth it.

   
• Microsoft Office 2000's HTML is a Little Peculiar
  Time: 19:27 GMT Source: CNN/IDGNet Posted By: Alex R.

  CNN/IDGNet is reporting that Office 2000's "save as HTML" feature has a few problems... most notably, large files containing macros or other Office-related functions may cause your resulting HTML file to be incompatible with browsers other than MSIE 5.0.

   

• Microsoft ActiveStore Reaches Key Milestones
  Time: 15:15 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  At the Retail Systems 1999 Conference and Exposition, Microsoft Corp. today announced that its ActiveStore™ initiative, which is aimed at developing an integration framework to reduce the cost and risk of deploying retail solutions, has reached two key milestones. The company released ActiveStore System Framework Services (SFS) 1.0, a fully tested and supported technology for the retail industry, and also announced significant progress with the second phase of the ActiveStore initiative, highlighting the formation of six Retail Business Interface (RBI) teams to develop common retail interapplication messages and interfaces. Albertson's Inc., Brinker International Inc., Gadzooks Inc., London Drugs Ltd., Publix Supermarkets Inc., Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), Starbucks Corp., SUPERVALU Inc., Tricon Restaurants International and Wendy's International Inc. are among the retail enterprises that support ActiveStore.

   

• Windows CE Developers Conference Showcases Innovation, Momentum For World of Connected Productivity Appliances
  Time: 15:13 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  With the theme of "Computing Everywhere, Connecting Everything," the latest in hardware and software innovations relating to the Microsoft^® Windows^® CE operating system are being highlighted June 7-9 at the fourth Windows CE Developers Conference. With more than 2,000 software developers and systems integrators in attendance, the conference will offer more than 90 technical sessions on all aspects of Windows CE. In addition, more than 135 vendors will display the latest in software, hardware and peripherals for productivity appliances and embedded systems powered by Windows CE at the on-site trade show.

   

• Infoworld Outlook 2000 Review
  Time: 14:34 GMT Source: Infoworld Posted By: Alex R.

  InfoWorld has posted their Outlook 2000 Review. While it's not as extensive as I'd like it to be, it does offer some insight into Microsoft's newest Outlook update.

   

• Microsoft Set To Launch Office 2000
  Time: 14:29 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) is set to unveil Monday its Office 2000 software that will shift the focus of the work desktop from paper to the Internet, in an upgrade of Microsoft's widely used suite of applications already installed on 60 million computers.

• The Birth of TechnoConnect
  Time: 15:43 GMT Source: BluesNews Posted By: Alex R.

  TechnoConnect is a free personal IP listing service. The service will list your dynamic IP when you connect, so others can find you.

  <editor>While this is useful for folks trying to find you for gaming purposes or whatnot, this can also present a wee bit of security danger. I think part of a good personal security model is not letting the world see your IP address... then how would they be able to nuke you? </editor>

   

• Mailing List Update
  Time: 13:27 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Just a final reminder that our new HTML mailing list will begin today (Although little has changed since the last one) so if you haven't signed up yet - make sure you do.

• Windows 98 & Windows 98 SE FAQ Updated
  Time: 23:57 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Updated the Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE FAQ to a new revision, both adding, removing and updating various questions and answers.

   

• Outlook 2000 Tips
  Time: 23:37 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  We have started to post some of our Office 2000 tips and trick, we begin with a few Outlook 2000 tips to help you get started. Over the next week or so we will add tips and tricks for all components of the Office 2000 pack such as Excel, Word and Access. On another note - not only has the Office Update site been revamped with new info and downloads, but the Office site has now had a make over with the usual blurb about Office 2000 cropping up.

   

• Microsoft To Announce Wireless Phone Alliances?
  Time: 23:22 GMT Source: Newsbytes Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp has been talking with makers of wireless telephones and operators of wireless phone services, and may shortly announce alliances with several companies, the Bloomberg news service reports. Bloomberg quoted industry analysts as saying Microsoft may announce alliances with Nokia Oyj, Motorola Inc., Ericsson AB, Sprint Corp., and AirTouch Communications Inc. at its Windows CE Developers Conference in Denver next week.

  Windows CE is a version of the Windows operating system designed for handheld computers and other portable devices, including wireless telephones. Analysts said Microsoft wants to catch up with Psion plc and 3Com Corp., whose handheld devices already have wireless data capabilities. The report suggested Microsoft might use some of its $17 billion in cash reserves to invest in one or more wireless carriers and possibly makers of portable phones.

  Last year, Microsoft and Qualcomm Inc. set up a wireless joint venture called Wireless Knowledge, which provides services to major carriers, including BellSouth Corp. and GTE Corp., that let users connect to the Internet and their own corporate networks from digital wireless phones and mobile computers.

   

• Office Update Site - Updated
  Time: 19:35 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft has revamped bits and pieces of their Office Update site, it now includes downloads and information for all you new Office 2000 users. They include Web Archiving, Visual Keyboard and Digital Certificate Add-ons, new Stationery and Sounds. There are also some excellent tools which allow you to remove Office 2000 specific tags out of pages you created and turned into HTML.

   

• Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - Game Review
  Time: 19:35 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of LucasArts new Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace game. Here is a short snippet from the review:

  The game begins in the same place as it does in the movie, on a Trade Federation battleship. You take the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first level as you work alongside Qui-Gon to escape from the clutches of the battle droids. The game gets off to a good start as you walk into a corridor full of Battle Droids and then you fight them off with you extremely cool lightsaber, the John Williams soundtrack booms into action. Your lightsaber cannot only cut your enemy to shreds but it can also deflect off laser shots and fire them back at the enemy. You can also use your Force Push to "Push" the battle droids onto the ground and then finish them off with a few lightsaber swings. The rest of the opening level has you opening a series of doors and switches before you can complete it by flying off to Naboo.

   

• New NeoPlanet Build Release
  Time: 17:14 GMT Source: Netigen Posted By: Byron

  Netigen Web have sent us a note about the latest build of NeoPlanet. Build 613 of 2.1 has been released and offers some new bits and pieces. Give NeoPlanet a try. - Download Now!

   

• New TNT/TNT 2 Drivers
  Time: 13:22 GMT Source: AGN3D Posted By: Byron

  NVIDIA has released new TNT/TNT2 detonator drivers for the AGP and PCI versions of the cards based upon their chips. Here is the info and download links to the drivers:

  Detonator Build #1.88 for Win9x PCI

  Download from ftp site 1
  Download from ftp site 2

  Detonator Build #1.88 for Win9x AGP

  Download from ftp site 1
  Download from ftp site 2

• Windows 98 SE In Stores
  Time: 13:19 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Byron

  We have received a number of e-mails stating that Windows 98 Second Edition is now available in various stores, remember to phone before you head down though.

• Linux Is Outselling Windows 98 Says Microsoft
  Time: 20:09 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Desperate stuff? Yesterday Microsoft produced one of its own internal emails as evidence -- if it's to be believed, Linux is outselling Windows 98 in key retail channels.

  The email, sent to MS executives on 25 May, could possibly be just a big fiddle. The judge accepted it as evidence, but commented that it was self-serving. Microsoft is currently absolutely desperate to prove that it really has competition, or it will really have competition real soon now, so yes, it is self-serving.

   
• Startup Paves MS Way To Make DirectX Web Standard
  Time: 20:07 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Now here's an interesting snippet; software developer WildTangent has gone to beta 2 with a piece of software that will allow Web designers to incorporate games-style DirectX special effects into their sites. This is of course good news for Microsoft, which wants to get the Windows-only DirectX established as a general standard - so far it's been pretty successful in getting it into the games market, but clearly further leverage would be helpful.

  WildTangent's Web Driver for Streaming Interactive 2D/3D Media allows designers to stream hardware-accelerated graphics and sound to Web pages using basic scripting, taking advantage of DirectX APIs. Says WildTangent: "With the current beta release, web designers can create web pages incorporating nearly all of the effects found in the most popular PC video games."

   
• New mIRC Released
  Time: 12:37 GMT Source: BluesNews Posted By: Alex R.

  A new version of mIRC has been released - version 5.6.  The new revision includes many bug fixes and a few new features (of course).

   

• Site News
  Time: 10:39 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  We have a few new reviews coming your way this next week or so. They include

  DVD: Star Trek: Insurrection, A Bugs Life, Elizabeth, What Dreams May Come
  Games: Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Pod Racer, Midtown Madness, Alien Vs Predator, Outcast and Mechwarrior 3

  Remember to sign up for our mailing list which will start going out from this weekend onwards.

• Yes, Game Addiction Can Get You a Job
  Time: 21:52 GMT Source: EQ Stratics Posted By: Alex R.

  Now it's official.  Yes, Brian Hook joined Verant Interactive to work on Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games.  Check out the press release on EQ Stratics for the full copy.

   

• SoundBlaster Liveware 2.0 Review
  Time: 13:11 GMT Source: 3D Sound Surge Posted By: Byron

  3D Sound Surge has posted a Sound Blaster Liveware 2.0 review. Here is a snippet:

  On May 13th with great fanfare Creative Labs launched Live!Ware 2.0. According to Creative, the Live!Ware Upgrade Program is designed to offer new features, enhancements and software to Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Live! Value owners and is possible in part due to the re-programmable nature of the EMU10K1 audio processing chip used in the Sound Blaster Live! family of cards. Before I unwillingly restart an old battle, let me clarify that the 10K1 is not a general purpose DSP. It is a highly specialized audio DSP that is very good at what it does and that's process sound. As we mentioned in a past edition of the Week in Review, the release did not go off very well. This was nothing to do with the quality of the new drivers. It was a result of the Creative Labs severs being swamped with downloads directly as a result of Creative not setting up official mirrors in a similar manner to other software companies such as id for the Quake3Test and other big releases. This led to many frustrated users. We set up a download links page on 3DsoundSurge and in just a couple of days over 6,000 people tried to access the files in that manner

   

• Game Addiction Can Win You a Job?
  Time: 13:11 GMT Source: GameSpot Posted By: Alex R.

  I'm glad I didn't make a real wager about my guess on where Brian Hook was going.  According to a GameSpot rumor ("from a reliable source!"), Brian Hook is expected to show up at Verant Interactive as a developer on the successor to Everquest.  A press release stating his official relocation should be out by tomorrow, so this is just speculation.  Brian Hook is a self-proclaimed Everquest addict.  He has written many essays with his thoughts on the game in his .plans and editorials on Voodoo Extreme, so this move wouldn't surprise many people.

   

• DirectX for the 'Net
  Time: 13:05 GMT Source: Voodoo Extreme Posted By: Alex R.

  Here's an interesting little tidbit of technology.  A company by the name of Wild Tangent has released beta 2 of the "WildTangent web driver."  This software allows web developers to make API calls to DirectX... making use of it to produce hardware-accelerated graphics and synchronized audio in web pages.

   

• Microsoft Considers Renting Software
  Time: 09:33 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Whether software rental is a fad or the future, Microsoft Corp. doesn't want to be left behind.

  Consequently, the company is in the midst of several different pilot programs aimed at testing the financial and technological feasibility of hosting Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) operating system and server applications.

   

• Pentium III Glitch Hangs 810 Chip
  Time: 09:32 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  PC makers with plans to offer low-cost desktops using Intel Corp.'s Pentium III chip will need to go back to the drawing board lest their machines hang.

  An erratum that affects the Pentium III's SSE or Streaming SIMD multimedia instruction set is keeping Intel's new 810 chip set from working with the chip.

  The erratum, called MaskMovQ, is a Pentium III glitch. And while Intel has created a workaround for it, the 810 doesn't support it, making it incompatible with the Pentium III. Intel isn't supporting the workaround in the chip set because the 810 was not designed or validated to work with the Pentium III, said Intel spokesman Dan Fancisco.

• FrontPage 2000 -- Review
  Time: 15:42 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of Microsoft's FrontPage 2000 that is due for public release later this month. Here is a short piece from the review:

  The layout of the FrontPage 2000 has had quite an overhaul, not in terms of the way it looks, but because both the FrontPage Editor and the FrontPage Explorer have been combined into one. This is a far better way of doing things as it means you no longer get multiple windows opening up all over the place like previous versions.

   

• Proposed Software Licensing Law Legalizes "Repossession."
  Time: 13:06 GMT Source: InfoWorld Posted By: Alex R.

  Not a whole lot going on this morning (well, where I am it's morning anyway).  Stumbled across this article on InfoWorld that discusses a proposed law that will allow companies to "repossess," or disable your software remotely, if they detect that you are violating a license agreement.   The law is being hotly contested right now, with few companies ready to comment on it.  Not surprisingly, Adobe and Microsoft are listed as being in support of the new law.  The UCITA also contains other provisions dealing with software licenses that are quite radical; one of them being a requirement that you contact the software vendor to acquire permission before you can transfer your software to another party.

   

• Brian Hook Leaves id Software
  Time: 13:00 GMT Source: BluesNews Posted By: Alex R.

  Why is it that most of the gaming news happens overnight?  Brian Hook announced last night in his .plan that he is leaving id Software for an offer that he couldn't refuse.  That's a rather large shocker, as Hook was one of the more celebrated and vocal members of id Software.   No word on where he's headed just yet, but if I had to make an educated guess... I'd say that based on his enthusiasm, he may return to 3dfx to write their OpenGL drivers.   That's just a guess, not a fact.  We're supposed to hear more later this week on where he's really going

   

• New WebTV Boxes Dropping Hard Drives
  Time: 10:10 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  The next generation WebTV set-top boxes mark a significant departure from some of the traditional features of the original devices, sources say.

  Television set-top box maker WebTV is expected to relaunch its WebTV Classic and Plus products tomorrow. The new boxes will be the first from the Microsoft subsidiary based on the software giant's Windows CE operating system, and they will run on faster processors than previous editions. Despite the spate of new features, the new class of WebTV devices may be significant more for what they lack: namely, a hard drive.

• AOL Buys Spinner.com & NullSoft for $400 Million
  Time: 23:58 GMT Source: C|Net Posted By: Alex R.

  AOL has apparently purchased spinner.com and NullSoft (creators of the popular MP3 player, WinAmp) for $400 million in stock-for-stock transactions.  Spinner.com had planned an IPO by September of this year.  Not much is said of what is to become of WinAmp and the ShoutCast technology that was developed by NullSoft.

   

• BT Officially Announce Free Weekend 0800 Calls (UK Only)
  Time: 21:23 GMT Source: BT Posted By: Byron

  As expected, BT have now officially announced that they will be running free 0800 internet calls at weekends starting from this weekend June 5th. You can check out their site for more info.

   

• Internet PCs Grew By 50% In 1998
  Time: 20:04 GMT Source: ZDNN Posted By: Byron

  The number of PCs connected to the Internet jumped 50 percent to 67.5 million between January 1998 and January 1999, according to a study from InfoBeads, the market research subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Inc. (Ziff-Davis operates ZDNet.) That means that most users online today are relative newcomers, according to InfoBeads researchers. The study shows that 56 percent of all PCs installed in the U.S. now connect to the Internet, and most of them (31 million) are home/family PCs. The work place contributed the largest growth in Net computers, increasing 76 percent to 28 million

   

• Sega Slashes Dreamcast Price
  Time: 14:18 GMT Source: ZDNN Posted By: Byron

  Sega Enterprises Ltd. said on Tuesday it would slash the price of its Dreamcast video game machine by one-third in June in an effort to grab a larger share of the ultra-competitive domestic game market.

  The Japanese game maker said it would reduce the price of its Internet-capable, 128-bit Dreamcast game console to 19,900 yen ($164) from 29,800 yen on June 24.

   

• Hackers Target U.S. Government and FBI Sites in Protest
  Time: 13:22 GMT Source: MSNBC Posted By: Alex R.

  A new round of hacker attacks on FBI and U.S. Government Internet sites began yesterday.  The attacks are in apparent protest of the FBI's proclamation of a crackdown on hacking.  The latest series of attacks have been concentrated on web pages maintained by the Interior Department and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

   

• ABIT Announces New Technology at Computex 1999
  Time: 13:13 GMT Source: ABIT Press Release Posted By: Alex R.

  ABIT has announced new motherboard technology in their newest BX motherboards.  One new feature is the addition of UDMA/66 support, and there's word they have a dual Socket 370 motherboard (the BP6) in the works as well.

   

• Microsoft Releases Vizact 2000 Preview
  Time: 13:01 GMT Source: Microsoft Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft has released a preview version of its upcoming dynamic document creation application, Vizact 2000.  Vizact is advertised as being part of the Office 2000 family.  To download the preview, you'll have to create a login to Microsoft's registration wizard (if you haven't already).  The preview version requires an installation of MSIE 5.0.  If you already have MSIE 5.0 installed, the download is 8.8mb.  If you don't have MSIE 5.0 already, it'll rack you up to 24.4mb.   Another item of note: Microsoft does not recommend installing the preview version on Windows 2000 beta.

   

• MS Unique IDs To Reappear In Windows 2000
  Time: 12:07 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  The addendum to the Intel-Microsoft PC99 specification, PC99a, finally shipped a few days ago. It was originally due in April, in time for Microsoft's WinHEC, but shenanigans over operating system roadmapping seems to have torpedoed that.

  PC99a is now therefore out in time to furrow brows at Computex Taipei instead. The specification is intended, as with all PC9x specs, to provide manufacturers with design guidelines for the next generation of machines. On a preliminary reading there doesn't seem to be that much to furrow brows, but a "clarification" on unique system ID numbers is intriguing. "The initial use of the unique system ID will be for creating a Machine Account Object for the Windows 2000 Remote Installation Services." (our italics)

   

• Introductions
  Time: 10:37 GMT Source: Myself Posted By: Alex R.

  As Byron said, they're adding some newshounds to ActiveWindows, so here I am - a newshound.  :)  I figured it would be nice to introduce myself instead of just adding a bunch of posts in with a different name... so...

  My name is Alexander Rayborn.  I live in the States, in a little off-road town in southern Virginia.  I'm currently the editor of a 'zine by the name of the weslovian gazette.   I've edited that zine for years, even when it was a BBS and a print magazine.   I've been a member of the Internet community since its inception, and a reader of ActiveWindows for quite some time.  I crave news, and every morning my computer spends about half an hour downloading a bunch of news while I sleep.  So, hopefully I'll have much to add to this already fabulous site.  I'm also a very hardcore avid gamer and a lover of gadgets, so if Byron lets me get away with posting some news on those fronts I will.

  I look forward to spreading the good word to you all.  My ActiveWindows email address is alexray@activeie.com should you need to contact me.

   

• WebTV Adding Windows CE
  Time: 10:10 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Byron

  WebTV Networks next week will unveil its next-generation WebTV Classic and Plus television set-top boxes, sources close to the company say.

  The new boxes are significant because they are the first new hardware offerings from the company in almost a year and the first based on Microsoft's Windows CE platform, a goal the two companies have been working toward since WebTV's acquisition by Microsoft in 1997.

   

• FrontPage 2000 Review
  Time: 10:06 GMT Source: Net Unlimited Posted By: Byron

  Net Unlimited has posted a review of FrontPage 2000, the long awaited follow up to FrontPage 98. Here is a snippet:

  If you are a previous user, you will also know that the biggest let down of previous versions is the way FrontPage replaced already created HTML code from other programs, sometimes causing incorrect results in your page. This is one of the reasons the great divide occurred between the two groups of people (WYSIWYG and purist HTML coders) and at long last, Microsoft claim they have fixed it. As far as I can tell, i think they have.

Read more of the past months news in our News Archive for April and Previous May News.

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