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• Top News
  Microsoft Engineers Renounce Lives - Release Three Security Bulletins on Friday Evening
  Time: 22:00 EDT/02:00 GMT Source: Three, count 'em - three emails Posted By: Alex R.

  Instead of three posts, I decided it should just be one big post.  Microsoft has released three new security bulletins this evening; two of which contain patches, one of which affects a lot of users.  Here's the skinny:

  • MS99-035: Patch Available for "Set Cookie Header Caching" Vulnerability
    Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in Microsoft(r) Site Server(r) and Microsoft Commercial Internet System(r) (MCIS). The vulnerability could allow a web site visitor to inadvertently access another customer's data, if their Internet gateway caches web pages via a proxy server and the web site authenticates based on a GUID.

   

  • MS99-036: Windows NT 4.0 Does Not Delete Unattended Installation File
    When an unattended installation of Windows NT 4.0 completes, a copy of the file that contains installation parameters remains on the hard drive. Depending on the method that was to perform the installation and the specific installation parameters that were selected, the file could contain sensitive information, potentially including the local Administrator password.

   

  • MS99-037: Patch Available for "ImportExportFavorites" Vulnerability
    Microsoft has learned of a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 that could allow a malicious web site operator to take inappropriate action on the computer of a person who visited the site. Customers can immediately protect themselves against this vulnerability by disabling Active Scripting in IE 5, as discussed in the FAQ. Microsoft also is developing a patch that will restore safe operation to the affected feature; when the patch is available, this bulletin will be re-released.

   

• Expert Casts Doubt on Windows Back Door
  Time: 18:58 EDT/23:58 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  An independent security expert has questioned allegations made earlier this month that the National Security Agency has a back door to Microsoft's Windows platform.

  Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist at a security software company Cryptonym, said one of the two keys that Microsoft uses to digitally sign cryptography suites that secure data is called "NSAKEY" in the code. This led to suspicions that the NSA had the ability to sign cryptography suites or insert a Trojan Horse--both of which could compromise encrypted data on Windows 95, 98, 2000, and NT.

  But respected cryptographer Bruce Schneier, president of Counterpane Systems, a Minneapolis-based cryptography and security consultancy, noted that if the NSA wanted to compromise Microsoft's CryptoAPI, which supports the encryption of data in Windows programs, there are easier ways.

  The NSA could convince the company to divulge the secret-key portion of its signature key, for example; get Microsoft to sign an NSA-compromised security module; or install a module other than CryptoAPI to break encryption strategies.

  "It's not an NSA key so they can secretly install weak cryptography on the unsuspecting masses," said Schneier. "There are just too many smarter things they can do to the unsuspecting masses."

   
• Microsoft eyes next big boom: e-commerce tools
  Time: 18:38 EDT/23:38 GMT Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex H

  Four years ago, Microsoft scrambled from behind to catch up with the "Internet gold rush" as chairman Bill Gates explained it. On Monday, the company will spell out plans to cash in on the next prospecting dream: e-commerce development software.

  Microsoft executives, including president Steve Ballmer and senior vice president Paul Maritz, will unveil new development tools and programming interfaces designed to make the Windows operating system more attractive as a Web development platform, the company said.

  Windows is wildly popular with big companies as an operating system for PCs and smaller networked servers. But as the Web technology battleground shifts from client PCs to servers, Microsoft finds itself once again battling Sun Microsystems' Java programming language.

  Large corporations favor Java and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) for large-scale applications by a 2-to-1 margin over Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) technology, according to a report by Forrester Research.

   

• Microsoft plans no-monopoly argument
  Time: 18:34 EDT/23:34 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. plans to argue in papers to be filed on Friday in its landmark U.S. federal antitrust trial that it holds no monopoly power and the government has been unable to prove otherwise, a company lawyer said on Thursday.

  The monopoly claim is a key element of the case brought by the U.S. Justice Department and 19 states, whose lawyers claimed during months of testimony that Microsoft holds monopoly power in the market for the Windows operating systems that run personal computers. They also argued that Microsoft illegally has abused its power to preserve its monopoly and extend it to other areas of business.

   
• Lotus cans eSuite...
  Time: 18:32 EDT/23:32 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Lotus has abandoned development of eSuite, its Java-based rival to Microsoft Office. The reason: too few people bought the product.

  eSuite was launched a couple of years ago on the back of the Network Computer movement and the concept of the 'Webtop'. Since then, the NC has conspicuously failed to take off, leaving eSuite struggling to make any headway against Wintel application suites like Office and even Lotus' own SmartSuite.

  That said, the timing of the move is surprising. Sun's recent acquisition of StarOffice, a Unix-based personal productivity application suite, has focused attention on this area of the software market.

  For instance, Applix, developer of another application suite for Unix and Linux, has seen its share price rise over the last few weeks since the StarOffice purchase. After months of hovering closely to the $9 mark, the company's stock shot up over $23 at the end of August before settling down to around $17.

   
• New G400 Drivers - Version 5.25 Released & Beta OpenGL ICD Patch
  Time: 16:42 EDT/21:42 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron

  Matrox just fired off an e-mail to me stating that they have released new drivers for their excellent G400 range of cards. These new drivers take the set up to version 5.25. Not only that, but they have also released a beta OpenGL ICD patch that can be used in conjunction with these new drivers to give a slight performance boost in Open GL titles.

   

• Windows 2000 RC2
  Time: 16:06 EDT/21:06 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft won't make Build 2125.??? to be RC2 -- this is very unusual. For now, Microsoft is checking Build 2127 as RC2 candidate. So now no one really knows which build will be FINAL RC2. One thing is for sure: Microsoft is in hurry to wrap up a build for RC2 by this weekend.

  Personal guess, the reason Microsoft dropped 2125 as RC2 candidate must be that 2125 had serious bug(s) MS couldn't just do some final tune up

   
• Top News
  Malformed Telnet Argument - Patch Released
  Time: 08:15 EDT/13:15 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron

  This update eliminates a vulnerability in the Telnet client that ships as part of Windows 98. The vulnerability could allow a web page to take malicious action on the computer of the user who visited the page. For example, this web page could create, delete or modify files, reformat the hard drive, or send data to or from a web page.

  For more information on this update and the Telnet client vulnerability, please visit Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-033.

   

• Zap!  Your PC is Dead.
  Time: 08:01 EDT/13:01 GMT Source: email/ZDNet Posted By: Alex R.

  Okie, not directly Windows/MS related, but definitely a lot of fun :)  I was waiting for ZDNet to post the full article on this after I saw it on the Newsbursts yesterday... but special thanks to Dirk Melvin for letting me know about the article.

  Ex-Navy engineer David Schriner has created a "Computer Killer" gun using standard home electronics, powered by a car battery.  The gun is capable of disabling PCs and automobiles up to 20 feet away.  He did build a larger version of the gun that had a blast range of about 100 feet.

  The amount of money spent on the gun that was demonstrated to ZDNet was roughly $500. 

   

• Microsoft Orders Hotmail Security Audit
  Time: 07:55 EDT/12:55 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex R.

  Microsoft has ordered a security audit of its Hotmail site after experiencing the huge crack that enabled anyone to use any account.

  "We have voluntarily invited a third-party firm to conduct its own inquiry and present us with their findings," Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla told CNET News.com. Microsoft, in conjunction with Truste, had planned to disclose the news on Monday. Truste is a nonprofit group that acts as a privacy watchdog.

   

• Enabling ACPI Under Win 98 - Article
  Time: 05:15 EDT/10:15 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron

  Cool Computing have posted an article all about enabling ACPI under Win98 article, the article includes quite a lot of new information. Here is a snippet:

  ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, and its support is one of the new features of Microsoft Windows 98.  ACPI is meant as an improvement over the Advanced Power Management (APM) that is found in Windows 95.   ACPI allows for the operating system to have control over all aspects of power-management.  For example, Windows 98 can have control over the function of the power button.  You can have the computer go into standby mode, hibernation mode, or simply turned off when the power button is pressed.

   
• A Dreamcast Nightmare
  Time: 02:51 EDT/07:51 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Hedgehog's Day. As Sega America launches its much-vaunted Dreamcast, some owners of the high-powered videogame system are disappointed. The reason? Certain games they've bought for the system refuse to load properly.

  Jennifer Walker, a spokesperson for Sega America, explained that Sega Dreamcast CDs (actually a proprietary technology called GD-ROM) are manufactured at four different facilities. Apparently, the first batch of Sonic discs-- which according to Walker accounts for less than ten percent of the total manufactured-- we're faulty. No explanation was given about faulty Blue Stinger discs.

  After calling online game retailer www.ebworld.com, we were immediately asked by the representative whether we were having any trouble with Sonic Adventure. We were also informed that several calls had come in by customers wanting to return or exchange Sonic Adventure. We were also told by the representative that about half of the total shipment of Sonic Adventure games was found to be faulty. A press release is scheduled to be posted on www.ebworld.com by today or tomorrow.

   
• Mozilla's messenger may compete with AIM, others
  Time: 02:51 EDT/07:51 GMT Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex H

  In an ironic twist to America Online's open-source efforts, the AOL-funded Mozilla organization appears likely to support an instant messaging technology in direct competition with AOL's own messaging software.

  Mozilla.org, the group shepherding the open-source development of AOL's Communicator Web browser, is hard at work on a messaging program, or client, for users of the Internet Relay Chat network (IRC).

  The IRC client could be included in Mozilla's first beta release of the browser, expected in the next four weeks. IRC, which is not affiliated with any firm, would compete directly with AOL's market-leading AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ products.

   
• Microsoft joins Global Crossing venture in Asia
  Time: 02:48 EDT/07:48 GMT Source: Seattle Times Posted By: Alex H

  Global Crossing, a 2-year-old company building a worldwide undersea fiber network, will sell 7 percent of its trans-Pacific cable to Microsoft and Softbank for $350 million in cash to expand in Asia, the companies said.

  The three companies will form a joint venture to build a broadband network in East Asia. Redmond software giant Microsoft and Tokyo-based Softbank also will commit to a three-year purchase of $200 million in capacity on Bermuda-based Global Crossing's worldwide network.

  The arrangement is a vote of confidence by Microsoft and Softbank, Japan's biggest Internet investment company, in Global Crossing's Asian plans, which are facing competition from AT&T and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone.

  "Asia has half of the world's population and is the fastest-growing region in the world, but its telecom infrastructure has not kept up," said Gary Winnick, founder and co-chairman of Global Crossing.

   

• Windows 2000 RC2 has not been declared yet
  Time: 02:31 EDT/07:31 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  According to our sources, Windows 2000 RC2 has not been declared yet. Here is what the source had to say:

  First, Microsoft hasn't declared RC2 yet. Second, Build 2125 is just a "ready" build of RC2, that is, FINAL RC2 will be 2125a b c d or whatever subversion. Microsoft will test this "first/original" Build 2125 internally and fix some tiny bugs before releasing to technical beta testers.

  Microsoft also released Build 2126 internally today (9/9).

• Yahoo gets interested in apps service via 'concept' demo
  Time: 17:03 EDT/22:03 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Citrix seems to have hit the spot far more accurately than it had intended with its browser-based "Program Neighborhood" strategy, unveiled at the company's iForum show in Florida today. Citrix is planning to give user any time, anywhere access to multiuser applications via a browser, and ears on the Internet are starting to prick up.

  As far as deployment is concerned, all of Citrix's plans are supposed to be conceptual right now, but the recent demo seems to be turning into a deal.

  Citrix's Charlotte project is intended to allow users to access remote applications via a browser, and to have their own personal settings available to them from any machine. The product won't ship for a few months yet, but as part of the demo today Citrix showed a 'concept' screen of a MyYahoo page. The concept itself didn't have anything to do with Yahoo, but Yahoo was involved in approving it, and is apparently extremely interested.

   
• Cholera virus could attack hard drives
  Time: 16:57 EDT/21:57 GMT Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex H

  A new, self-replicating virus has been discovered that could potentially overload corporate email systems, although no problems have erupted yet.

  Computer Associates executives said its German research lab found the virus on a Web site today that can automatically send itself to every email address on a recipient's hard drive. However, it has not yet been released in the "wild," or infected users at large.

  The new virus--named "Cholera" by CA--is not harmful, but that could change if the virus spreads, or more harmful versions are created. Mutated versions, for instance, could allow the virus to delete data, for example. Cholera infects Windows machines, the company said.

  "It's not doing any harm as of now, but it could overload email servers," said Narender Mangalan, CA's product manager for antivirus software.

   
• Hotmail breach prompts Microsoft security audit
  Time: 16:55 EDT/21:55 GMT Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft revealed today that it is turning to an outside auditor to test the security of its free email service, Hotmail, after a breach discovered last week that threatened its users' privacy.

  Microsoft pulled Hotmail offline for about two hours August 30 after two European Web sites alerted the company that any Net user could access any Hotmail account without a password as long as a user's name, commonly found in a Hotmail email address, was known.

  According to security experts, the potential damage varied from allowing unauthorized parties to see a user's list of messages to allowing them to take complete control of an account.

   
• Study: High cost for Windows 2000 transition
  Time: 16:55 EDT/21:55 GMT Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex H

  Companies considering Microsoft's Windows 2000 to help curb spiraling information technology costs should think again, according to a research report.

  The "migration" cost of a transition to the new operating system could be steep--up to $3,100 per PC, according to a study prepared by the Gartner Group consultancy. That will make it difficult for companies to achieve any return on their investment for at least three years, the report says.

  In product literature for the oft-delayed successor to Windows NT, Microsoft claims that 2000 delivers "increased reliability, availability, and scalability with end-to-end management features that reduce operating costs."

  But Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner, said the price of switching to Windows 2000 is so high that a company won't realize lower costs for three years. "By then, you would have to do a migration to another operating system," he said.

  Karan Kahnna, a Windows 2000 product manager at Microsoft, disputed the study's findings and said Microsoft has conducted studies of its own indicating that companies moving to Windows 2000 will "realize benefits immediately."

   

• Trojan horse infects AOL instant messaging
  Time: 16:53 EDT/21:53 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  A Trojan horse masquerading as a JPEG file is allowing hackers to gain access to ICQ passwords, America Online Inc. officials confirmed today. Only around 200 incidents have been reported, a spokeswoman said, out of the estimated 40 million subscribers. She said that when consumers open the file a "hacker is able to gain access to ICQ passwords," but did not have any more information on how exactly the program worked.

   
• A Real Windows Back Door
  Time: 16:51 EDT/21:51 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Amidst all the spurious hype about the supposed "NSA Back Door" in Windows NT, a real and very dangerous security breach in some builds of Windows 2000 beta 3 has gone almost unnoticed.

  In an email circulated Monday, David Litchfield of security consultancy Arca Systems Inc. described a simple technique that would give an attacker full access to a susceptible machine.

  Microsoft acknowledges it was aware of the breach within days of shipping Windows 2000 Beta 3 in April. The breach will be disabled in its Release Candidate 2 build, which Microsoft could release next week.

  While not the final release of Windows 2000, Beta 3 is the most widely circulated build, and one which Microsoft sold to interested testers and got certain OEMs to agree to preload on new systems. Microsoft claims that more than 650,000 testers are working with the build and the subsequent release candidates which Beta 3 testers receive.

   
• Microsoft takes app-hosting plunge
  Time: 16:49 EDT/21:49 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Speculation has swirled around how and when Microsoft Corp. would enter the application-hosting space. On Thursday, Microsoft answered that question by officially announcing the commencement of one of its many hosting pilots.

  Microsoft's Network Solutions Group (its former Internet Customer Unit) said today it is initiating a pilot program to support application service providers (ASPs--a group Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) prefers to call commercial service providers (CSPs)--in hosting applications that run on Microsoft platforms, especially Windows 2000. Qwest Communications International Inc. became the first member of the so-called Certified Commercial Network Services Provider (CCNSP) program. Qwest is in the hosting assessment phase, according to a Microsoft press release.

  The CCNSP pilot is open to any U.S.-based Microsoft Certified Solution Providers that meet program requirements, which include expertise regarding forthcoming guidelines from Microsoft on hosting platform and architectural specifications. Microsoft plans to identify these guidelines once its pilot is underway. Microsoft plans to expand the program to include overseas participants upon conclusion of the U.S. pilot.

   
• Put Windows on a diet
  Time: 16:46 EDT/21:46 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Why can't Microsoft produce a skinny operating system?

  The company easily could achieve this feat if it wasn't wedded to the idea that more equals more money that can be exacted from OEMs (and, occasionally, consumers).

  Sure, there's NT Embedded and Windows CE. Neither OS is as feature-laden as NT/Windows 2000 or Windows. But I'm talking about a true thin client -- a browser and little else that would be well suited to the emerging class of desktop/Internet appliances.

  Microsoft has dabbled and continues to experiment with the idea of producing a thin client, at least in a roundabout way. There's "Chameleon," its NT-Embedded-based Internet appliance OS, that seems to be in limbo at the moment.

   
• Day of Nines Bug: A Wolf Cry?
  Time: 08:28 EDT/13:28 GMT Source: CNN Posted By: Alex R.

  The Day of Nines bug... the bug that supposedly will cause programs (more specifically, COBOL programs) to terminate unexpectedly because of the date reading 9/9/99 ("9999").  The 9999 string is used as a termination string in some programs apparently.  CNN asks the question... fact or fiction?  Or worse... is it a preview of the Y2K problem?

   
• Cost of Ownership of Windows 2000: High
  Time: 08:20 EDT/13:20 GMT Source: news.com Posted By: Alex R.

  An independent study offers the antithesis of a different independent study announced yesterday by Microsoft.  This independent study claims that the cost of ownership for Windows 2000 remains around $3,100 per PC, based on a large-scale example network of roughly 2,500 clients.  The study also claims that businesses will not see a return on their investment for about 3 years, which is about the time it would be to switch operating systems yet again.

   
• Patch Available for "Fragmented IGMP Packet" Vulnerability
  Time: 08:17 EDT/13:17 GMT Source: BetaNews Posted By: Alex R.

  A new patch is available for a TCP/IP vulnerability that affects Win 96/98 and NT 4.0.  This vulnerability can cause Win 95/98 machines to crash, although the attack is somewhat harder to mount against NT systems.  The patch will appear on Windows Update by the end of the week or so.

   
• Browser apps will dent Windows' market share - IBM exec
  Time: 03:23 EDT/08:23 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The need for organisations to deploy new applications faster will accelerate a trend towards browser-based applications and away from client/server, IBM network computer guru Dave McAughtry told The Register today. And as this process occurs, it could spell doom for Microsoft's hold on the desktop - because if you're running your apps via a browser, why should you need or care about having Windows as your underlying operating system?

  McAughtry has been pushing IBM's NetWork Station thin client family for over three years now, and although he concedes it's been an uphill struggle, he says companies are now more convinced about the validity of the model, and the market itself is starting to turn in the right direction. IBM's latest models, the 2200 and the 2800, were announced today at Citrix's iForum in Orlando, Florida, and McAughtry describes them as combining the best browser, best Citrix ICA client and best Java.

   

• 'Cyberterror' public enemy No. 1?
  Time: 03:19 EDT/08:19 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  The threat of attacks on civilian and government computer networks by rogue nations and terrorist groups is growing as the United States becomes increasingly wired, defense officials and a U.S. Congressman said Wednesday. Speaking at the InfowarCon conference to a crowd of uniformed military personal, corporate IT managers, computer security consultants and at least one screenwriter, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., of the House Armed Services Committee placed "cyberterrorism" at the top of his list of modern threats to the American way of life.

   
• MP3 player dispenses with PC
  Time: 03:17 EDT/08:17 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Pine Technology introduced a portable music device that combines a radio, CD drive, and MP3 player, severing the Net's popular music format from relying on PC storage.

  Dubbed the SM-200C, Pine's portable MP3 player allows users to listen to music stored on CDs--whether it originated on the Web, from a traditionally manufactured CD, or even FM radio. Since compact discs can hold up to 100 songs stored in the MP3 format, users can access to hours of music without being tethered to their computers, the company said.

  In essence, the Pine is one of the first MP3 players to operate independent of the PC, because it can obtain music from sources other than the Web or a computer hard drive.

  Unlike other portable MP3 players, however, it cannot store music, a potential drawback. Also, while existing MP3 players require users to download from the Internet, the vast majority of music stored in the format resides there, making the value of MP3's emancipation from the desktop somewhat dubious, observers say.

   
• Japan awaits Apple's iBook
  Time: 03:15 EDT/08:15 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Japan's response to Apple's forthcoming iBook portable could prove an important barometer of both the notebook's appeal and Apple's continuing comeback abroad. Having taken the wraps off its much-anticipated consumer portable in the United States, Apple today said the iBook will be available in Japan starting early October.

  Sales in the Asian country, one of the largest markets for Apple products outside of America, will be closely watched. The Japanese have favored smaller computing devices, and should prove to be receptive to the colorful iBook.

  GFK, an independent market research firm, said Apple's share of the retail computer market in Japan reached 13.1 percent in the second quarter, up from 7 percent the same period a year ago, Apple has reported. Apple's share of the notebook market is considerably less, in part due to the popularity of so-called ultralight notebooks (which Apple no longer offers), but the style of the iBook is likely to help turn around those numbers.

   

• Cholera virus could attack hard drives
  Time: 03:13 EDT/08:13 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  A new, self-replicating virus has been discovered that could potentially overload corporate email systems, although no problems have erupted yet.

  Computer Associates executives said its German research lab found the virus on a Web site today that can automatically send itself to every email address on a recipient's hard drive. However, it has not yet been released in the "wild," or infected users at large.

  The new virus--named "Cholera" by CA--is not harmful, but that could change if the virus spreads, or more harmful versions are created. Mutated versions, for instance, could allow the virus to delete data, for example. Cholera infects Windows machines, the company said.

  "It's not doing any harm as of now, but it could overload email servers," said Narender Mangalan, CA's product manager for antivirus software.

  Like the Melissa and Worm.ExploreZip viruses that attacked computers this year, Cholera is self-propagating. The Cholera virus comes in an email attachment that looks like a self-extracting program, and can replicate by sending itself automatically to all the email addresses in a computer's hard drive, CA's Mangalan said.

• Flight Simulator 2000 Beta 1
  Time: 19:45 EDT/00:45 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: E-mail

  We have received word that Flight Simulator 2000 Beta 1 was shipped to testers today, the beta kit includes 2 cds, one for installation and the other for scenery. There is also a manual included with over 320 pages!

  We'll keep you updated.

   
• The End of the OS?
  Time: 19:32 EDT/00:32 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Dennis

  The need for organisations to deploy new applications faster will accelerate a trend towards browser-based applications and away from client/server, IBM network computer guru Dave McAughtry told The Register today. And as this process occurs, it could spell doom for Microsoft's hold on the desktop - because if you're running your apps via a browser, why should you need or care about having Windows as your underlying operating system?

   
• Independent Study Highlights Value of Windows 2000 Over Previous Microsoft Operating Systems
  Time: 17:50 EDT/22:50 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Bob

  In anticipation of the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft Corp. today announced the results of an independent study, conducted by the Arthur Andersen consulting firm, concluding that Windows 2000 would allow customers using previous versions of Microsoft operating systems to lower their total cost of ownership, in many cases, by consolidating servers, workstations and laptops on a single operating system, and that Windows 2000 Beta 3 is currently robust enough for immediate customer evaluation. By integrating features relevant to Web-enabled business throughout the operating system, and by improving reliability, scalability, usability and management, Windows 2000 creates a platform geared to electronic commerce, as well as improved capabilities in the traditional areas of network operating systems, departmental line of business computing and end user computing.

   
• Site News
  Time: 17:50 EDT/22:50 GMT Source: Site News Posted By: Bob

  We updated the FTP Downloads page today. Check it out for the latest on FTP download software recommended by ActiveWindows.

   
• Microsoft Partners with Softbank and Global Crossing to Increase Broadband Connectivity in Asia
  Time: 17:50 EDT/22:50 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Bob

  Microsoft, Softbank and Global Crossing today announced a joint venture to bring increased broadband connectivity to the Asian region. The venture, called Asia Global Crossing, will create an advanced fiber optic communications network connecting business centers in the East Asian region to Global Crossing's worldwide fiber optic network. Microsoft and Softbank also committed to purchasing at least $200 million in Global Crossing Network capacity over the next three years.

   
• Quality control delays Mac version of IE5
  Time: 16:50 EDT/21:50 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Macintosh users are facing a second delay in the launch of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 browser. Microsoft today confirmed that IE5 for the Mac will be pushed back from a fall to a winter release. The delay follows another, acknowledged in July, that moved back the release from summer to fall. The most recent delay was first reported by Macweek.

  "We're doing a number of things that are taking some time, and we don't want to ship before they're ready," said Irving Kwong, product manager at Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit. "It's all in the interest of providing a really high-quality product but really cool stuff."

   
• Microsoft set to unleash Java-killer Cool
  Time: 16:50 EDT/21:50 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft's 'Java killer' object-oriented language, Cool, looks set to be released publicly in the next few weeks, The Register has learned.

  And the language will ship with tools to translate Java source code into Cool. Cool isn't a language in its own right -- rather, it's a series of extensions to C++ designed to make C++ as easy to program as Java, in the hope that programmers will, frankly, stop using the Sun product. The technology comprises a programming framework that will hook into the next version of Microsoft's Common Object Model, COM+, part of Windows 2000.

  Cool started life as an internal Microsoft project to create an alternative to Sun if the latter's legal battle over the 'purity' of Microsoft's implementation of Java, from its virtual machines through to its Visual J development environment, went against the Gates Gang.

   
• Citrix tilts away from MS, towards Solaris, Linux
  Time: 16:50 EDT/21:50 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Citrix today mounted a demonstration of how its MetaFrame product might run on non-NT platforms. The general idea, according to company VP of product development Dave Weiss, seems to have been to run it up the flagpole to see if anybody saluted.

  Any saluting at the moment is likely to be from major companies running Solaris server systems, as that's the OS that was used for the server side of Weiss' demo.

  Weiss showed "project Charlotte," a browser-based system which gives access to a server applications in a "Program Neighborhood." This allows any time, anywhere access to server apps with the aid of nothing more than a browser, so it's as applicable to low resource devices and appliances as it is to PC platforms. In terms of sales models, it's pretty similar to Citrix's current ICA protocol. Right now ICA is free, and Citrix makes its money out of the server, and when Charlotte ships it'll be free too.

   
• Compaq tries Alpha NT trade in plan
  Time: 16:48 EDT/21:48 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Corporate Compaq customers cussing the company for unilaterally dropping NT support on Alpha boxes are being offered a cunning and cute completion to the conundrum they face.

  According to sources close to Compaq, the large corporations can now trade in their Alpha servers or workstations running Windows NT, after the Big Q canned the platform two weeks ago.

  A similar plan is currently being floated in Asia, with a trade back option allowing the corporations not to be caught after Compaq abruptly changed its course.

  The trade-in depends upon how much money individual large businesses have spent on Alpha NT boxes, with the trade up option replacing the system with a Wintel box. The size of the Wintel box depends upon how much Compaq corporate customers have committed to.

   

• MS cuts prices by 60% -- in Estonia
  Time: 14:37 EDT/19:37 GMT Source: Reuters Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) said on Wednesday it was cutting prices on its software sold in Estonia by 60 percent to fight piracy problems. Microsoft said in a statement its offer, which would give clients the possibility to legalize their software, would be effective until the end of 1999. The announcement follows similar moves in Latvia and Lithuania earlier this week. Microsoft said that in 1998, 615 million new business software applications were installed worldwide, of which 231 million, or 38 percent, were pirated.

   
• Microsoft offers name-your-price travel feature
  Time: 14:36 EDT/19:36 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Expedia travel site is offering a new service that will allow consumers to name their own price for hotel rooms. Consumers list the price they are willing to pay, along with the destination, dates and other details they are seeking, and the service checks to see if any hotel will meet their request.

   
• Mitsubishi to develop portable Net access device OS
  Time: 05:52 EDT/10:52 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  US software developer Integrated Systems yesterday said it is working with Japanese giant Mitsubishi on an operating system for hand-held Internet access devices.

  The project essentially has Integrated building an OS for a series of microcontrollers coming from Mitsubishi. Around that core, the duo will develop a complete device along the lines of the current crop of Windows CE and Palm devices, an Integrated spokesman told Japanese daily Nihon Keizai.

  Whether Mitsubishi will offer the device itself isn't known, but the Integrated spokesman said that Hitachi, NEC and Fujitsu are interested in getting involved with the project.

   
• Excite Email Down
  Time: 05:38 EDT/10:38 GMT Source: Wired News Posted By: Alex H

  Technical troubles sparked by an overload of user traffic left millions of Excite Email users unable to access their messages for a good part of Tuesday. Officials at Excite@Home, which runs the email service, say the troubles began around 7 a.m. EST, when a flood of traffic from workers and students checking e-mail after the Labor Day holiday caused a jam.

  Added to that, the company had just launched a radio campaign for its Internet-based VoiceMail service, which put even more strain on the system.

   
• Psion to take on MS with notebook-style machines
  Time: 05:34 EDT/10:34 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Psion is returning to the notebook market this week, years after it abandoned development of a brace of intriguing, but commercially unsuccessful, lightweights. This time around the company is scheduled to launch the netBook, announced earlier this year and aimed at the corporate market, plus an unexpected consumer version, the Series 7.

  Both machines are A4 with approximately full-sized keyboard and colour VGA display, and as with Psion's previous foray into this area they're effectively bigger implementations of the current Series 5 platform (a plausible explanation of where the Series 6 went would be welcome, by the way). The applications that come with Psion's EPOC OS are sufficiently functional to make this translation with relative ease, so it's not particularly difficult for Psion to split its range into pocket computers and larger versions that compete with sub-notebooks and CE devices.

   
• AOL says to block Tribal Voice messaging users
  Time: 05:30 EDT/10:30 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Just as it moved against Microsoft, America Online today said it will block an instant messaging service developed by software company Tribal Voice from communicating with AOL users.

  The statement came the same day that Freeserve, a British free ISP which competes with AOL, announced it has licensed Tribal Voice's Powwow instant messenger software. As part of the announcement, Tribal Voice said Powwow would communicate with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users.

  But what Tribal Voice considers a step toward opening channels of communication, AOL criticizes as an unauthorized attempt to access its servers. "We will block it because it's unauthorized access to our servers that jeopardizes member security and privacy," said Tricia Primrose, an AOL spokeswoman.

   
• Expedia to customers: name your hotel room price
  Time: 05:28 EDT/10:28 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Taking a cue from Priceline.com, Microsoft travel site Expedia is now allowing customers to name their price on hotel rooms.

  A feature added to the site yesterday allows customers to search for hotels at specific prices in 1 of 14 areas, including New York City, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In contrast, competitor Priceline offers hotel rooms in more than 1,000 cities and towns nationwide.

  The new service comes as analysts are predicting a shakeout in online travel sites. Though Expedia is already one of the top-ranked travel sites, its "Hotel Price Matcher" service could help push the site further ahead of competitors.

  But that's only if Expedia can distinguish it from what Priceline already offers. The one-time start-up currently offers its popular name-your-price service for airline tickets, hotel rooms, new cars, home mortgages, refinancing, and equity loans.

  As with Priceline, the new Expedia service requires customers to name the price they are willing to pay, the area they plan to stay in, and the class of hotel they desire.

   
• Internet Explorer 5 for the Mac due this winter
  Time: 04:39 EDT/09:39 GMT Source: Internet Eye Posted By: Byron

  Internet Explorer 5 for the Mac is coming this winter and Outlook Express 5.0, which won Best of Show at Macworld New York, will ship this fall.

  "In the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft we strive to deliver the most innovative and quality applications for Mac customers," says Irving Kwong, product manager, Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit. "IE5's new rendering engine, 'Tasman,' which debuted at Macworld New York 99, demonstrates that its support for open Internet standards will help ensure that Web pages just work."

  Besides its new rendering engine, IE 5 will offer beefed up support for Internet standards and an Auction Manager. Outlook Express 5.0 will sport a more Office-like look and feel, a Mailing List Manager, and Junk Mail Filter.

   

• ActiveWindows Community Reminder
  Time: 04:28 EDT/09:28 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Just another reminder about signing up for our ActiveWindows Community on MSN. It allows you to chat with us in our chat room (First chat coming up this Friday night) or via our message board, it also lets you post your own screensavers and backgrounds for other ActiveWindows readers to download.

   

• ActiveWindows Mouse Pads
  Time: 04:37 EDT/09:37 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Bob

  The Mouse Pads have been so popular that we have had to order another batch so don't forget that the first ActiveWindows piece of merchandise is now available to order. The first product in our new range of logos is the ActiveWindows Mouse Pad.

   

• Will USB 2.0 Douse FireWire?
  Time: 04:36 EDT/09:36 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Byron

  Like an unloved house plant, IEEE 1394--the high-speed peripheral serial bus also known as FireWire--appears to be dying on the vine as Intel nourishes instead Universal Serial Bus (USB) as the best low-cost solution for attaching peripherals to PCs.

  In October, at Intel's USB developer conference in San Diego, the chip giant is expected to release the final specification for USB 2.0 which will, it now appears, have an equivalent performance to IEEE 1394. USB is expected to perform in the 360- to 480-megabits-per-second range (or up to 60 megabytes per second), while current shipping versions of IEEE 1394 perform at 400 mbps.

• Microsoft Vizact 2000 Ships
  Time: 16:28 EDT/21:28 GMT Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate worldwide availability of Microsoft^® Vizact^™ 2000, which allows users to communicate more effectively by adding the dynamic and engaging features of the Web to their HTML documents.

  The innovative Vizact 2000 technology allows users to add multimedia functionality such as timing, animation and interactivity to their Web documents, turning them into "active documents." Vizact 2000 helps reduce information overload and enables users to make their message memorable by easily taking advantage of the latest dynamic Web technologies using the familiar Office interface.

   
• Another skirmish in the McNealy-Gates feud
  Time: 16:28 EDT/21:28 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Scott McNealy hates microsystems. Especially microsystems where all the computing stuff is crammed into a box sitting on your desk or lap. And he especially, especially hates microsystems with all the computing stuff crammed into a box and running an operating system and applications coded by his richer-than-anyone-else-on-the- planet antagonist, Bill Gates. This conflict, where digital barbs instead of bullets are traded, is a variation on the 30-year Hatfield-McCoy feud in the 1800s.

   
• Dvorak's search engine showdown
  Time: 16:25 EDT/21:25 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron

  Every three months, I do a real-world test of Web search engines, coming up with a common but sometimes difficult search query.

  This time around, I decided to look for information regarding Paris's Astor Hotel, a hot little establishment run by Starwood/Westin. I wanted to go there because famous French chef Joel Robuchon has opened his new restaurant in the place. Would I be able to find out anything about it on the Web? Would it be easy? I knew there was a page highlighting the Westin Demeure minichain of hotels, but could any search engines find it quickly? That seemed like a practical test to me. Boy, was I was shocked by the results.

   
• Hacker ruse can exploit ActiveX Controls
  Time: 06:52 EDT/11:52 GMT Source: CNN Posted By: Byron

  If you're using Microsoft Outlook Express in Internet Explorer 5.0 for e-mail and you don't disable the ActiveX Controls feature, someone could send you a message that could wipe the files off your hard drive or put a new file onto it.

  Bulgarian computer consultant Georgi Guninski recently showed how the deceit can be done by embedding malicious script in an Internet mail message that can delete files while the victim is reading the message with Microsoft Outlook Express. This exploit takes advantage of ActiveX Controls, Microsoft's technology for executing a program on the Web, and doesn't appear to work with Internet Explorer 4.0.

   

• Site News
  Time: 05:22 EDT/10:22 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  Hi all - well we are back from the ECTS now...We still have a few screenshots and photos to post on the site, we will hopefully have those up in the next couple of days.

  When we got back the new Microsoft gamepads (The Zulu DualStrike and Gamepad Pro) were both here waiting for us, so the reviews should be up within the next week. Here is a list of reviews on the way:

  Hardware: Microsoft Dual Strike (Zulu), Microsoft Gamepad Pro, Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer, Palm Pilot V
  Software: Nocturne, Sinistar Unleashed, Atlantis 2, Firestorm, X: Beyond The Frontier, System Shock 2, Heavy Gear 2

• Microsoft readies x86, Nvidia-based rival to PlayStation
  Time: 16:29 EDT/21:29 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  In an attempt to widen industry support for Windows CE, Microsoft has begun development work on a games console reference design based on the PDA-oriented OS.

  According to Next Generation magazine, the console will be driven by a 500MHz Intel CPU... or maybe an AMD Athlon... or perhaps... well let's just say the point appears to be open. Handling the graphics side of the equation will be Nvidia's recently announced GeForce 256 chip.

  Microsoft is naturally keeping schtumm on the machine, allegedly codenamed X-Box, but Next Generation said sources had told it that the box would shop in the Autumn 2000 timeframe.

  The source also implied that the machine is aimed at PC vendors who want to break into the console market.

   
• Win CE Rival Launches Business netBook
  Time: 14:48 EDT/19:48 GMT Source: TechWeb Posted By: Byron

  U.K. handheld computer maker Psion has announced it will release the netBook sub-notebook later this month, with its eye on the enterprise market.

  The Psion netBook uses EPOC, the operating system widely seen as the key rival to Microsoft's Windows CE in the mobile computing market. The product is to be available both earlier and cheaper than previous announcements had suggested.

   

• Privacy Groups Dismiss Microsoft NSA Denial
  Time: 14:47 EDT/19:47 GMT Source: TechWeb Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft moved swiftly on Friday to deny allegations that it included an NSA (U.S. National Security Agency) back door into the Windows operating system.

  "The report is inaccurate and unfounded. The key in question is a Microsoft key. It is maintained and safeguarded by Microsoft, and we have not shared this key with the NSA or any other party," the company said in a statement.

• Today's ECTS Photo Round Up
  Time: 14:34 EDT/19:55 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron & Alex

  Here are a few of the bad pictures we took at the ECTS today:

  South Park: Chef's Love Shack
  UBI Soft
  Amerzone
  Age Of Empires II
  Women

   
• From ECTS: Blizzard Entertainment announces WarCraft III
  Time: 12:34 EDT/17:34 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Dennis

  Direct from ECTS once again, Blizzard has announced Warcraft III! More information will be available about this game, but from the screenshots and preview it looks like its going to rock the gaming world!

  Here are some links to find more information about Warcraft III:

  Blizzard Entertainment Homepage
  Warcraft III Homepage
  Press Release
  PC Gamer will have more information on Warcraft III in their November issue.

   

• DIRECT FROM ECTS: Creative Labs nVidia GeForce 256
  Time: 07:40 EDT/12:40 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Dennis & Byron

  Direct from the ECTS in London, England, Creative has shown a preview of their new GeForce 256 video card. Byron and Alex saw this card live and are happy to report the quality is excellent, and it was used to play Quake 3! This looks like the beginning of a new wave a products designed for Quake 3!

  You can read the press release regarding this here at Creative's website.

  ActiveWindows will continue to keep up updated on what's happening at ECTS.

• Debate flares over MS 'Spy Key'
  Time: 14:26 EDT/19:26 GMT Source: Wired News Posted By: Alex H

  Questions lingered Friday over whether or not security experts overreacted to a scientist's charge that Microsoft built a backdoor in Windows for a US spy agency to enter. Microsoft vehemently denied the claims of Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist for security software company Cryptonym.

  "It is a non-story," Microsoft Windows NT security product manager Scott Culp told Wired News. "We don't leave backdoors in any products."

  NT4 SP6 RTM date has been pushed up to late Sept. (it was planed for early Oct.)

   
• Microsoft Going Console?
  Time: 12:01 EDT/17:01 GMT Source: Bloomberg Posted By: Byron

  The device, which is expected to be primarily for games but may have other functions, will feature a 500-MHz chip from Intel or an Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon chip, Nvidia's NV-10 graphics technology, and a modified version of Microsoft's stripped-down Windows CE operating system. Microsoft declined to comment on the machine, which could be built and sold by computer makers such as Dell Computer or Gateway, and is planned for release in fall 2000 for less than $300, said Next Generation, which is owned by Imagine Media.

  Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the fourth-largest publisher of computer games, last year said it planned to boost by 50 percent its gaming business, which includes the MSN Zone gaming Web site.

   
• Top News
  DirectX 7 Release Date
  Time: 09:06 EDT/14:06 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  We have been sent a note that the official release date for DirectX 7 is Friday, September 10th so not long for you all to wait now.

   
• DirectX 7 RC4 Released To Testers
  Time: 03:53 EDT/08:53 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft have released the final release candidate, RC4 of DirectX 7 to testers. DirectX 7 is expected to be available for public download later this month.

   
• Site News
  Time: 03:31 EDT/08:31 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Alex H

  Sorry about the lack of updates across the site, Byron wasn't feeling to well yesterday and I had work all day. We are also getting ready to go to the ECTS tomorrow and report back with our findings. Also a reminder of the Mouse Mats and the Active Windows Community that is available to you.

   
• Microsoft Says Speculation About Security and NSA Is "Inaccurate and Unfounded"
  Time: 03:26 EDT/08:26 GMT Source: Press Pass Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. said today that speculation about Microsoft^® Windows^® security and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is "inaccurate and unfounded."

  In response to speculation by a Canadian cryptography company that Microsoft had somehow allowed the NSA to hold a "backdoor" key to the encryption framework in its Windows operating system, Microsoft issued the following statement:

  "This report is inaccurate and unfounded. The key in question is a Microsoft key. It is maintained and safeguarded by Microsoft, and we have not shared this key with the NSA or any other party.

  "Microsoft takes security very seriously. This speculation is ironic since Microsoft has consistently opposed the various key escrow proposals suggested by the government because we don't believe they are good for consumers, the industry or national security.

  "Contrary to this report, the key in question would not allow security services to be started or stopped without the user's knowledge."

  Microsoft said the key is labeled "NSA key" because NSA is the technical review authority for U.S. export controls, and the key ensures compliance with U.S. export laws. The company reiterated that Microsoft has not shared this key with the NSA or any other company or agency.

  Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

   
• Microsoft tells managers: Cut temp reliance
  Time: 03:20 EDT/08:20 GMT Source: Seattle Times Posted By: Alex H

  An internal Microsoft document suggests the company is encouraging managers to rely less and less on temporary workers, and perhaps increase the number of full-time jobs.

  The memo, dated last month, tells managers working on the soon-to-be-released Windows 2000 operating system to prepare contract workers on their staffs to find new work.

  It's unclear whether the memo is part of a broad shift at Microsoft to reduce its dependence on temporary workers or a reminder for Windows 2000 staff to get ready for the end of a long production cycle. What seems clear, though, is that Microsoft is stepping up its enforcement of a year-old policy that could ultimately thin its temporary-employee ranks.

  The memo, in a question-and-answer format, lays out the procedures the company wants managers to follow. One question - "Are we really telling the temporaries their current temporary assignment will be ending?" - is answered directly with a "Yes."

  The memo goes on to tell managers to set "expectations for the remainder of the temporary assignment that it is short term and could end sooner than may have been expected."

   

• MS says it doesn't plan to sell Carpoint
  Time: 02:44 EDT/07:44 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) on Friday said it had no plans to sell its Carpoint auto sales Web site, clarifying comments its president Steve Ballmer made on Thursday. "Microsoft remains completely committed to building the best online experience for consumers and Carpoint remains a critical element of the offering," Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing for the Microsoft Network online service, said in a statement.

• Security Experts Warn Of 'Thursday' Virus
  Time: 15:26 EDT/22:26 GMT Source: Tech Web Posted By: Alex H

  Computer security watchers have set their sights on a virus that infects Microsoft Word 97 documents and has the potential of destroying information stored on hard disks.

  Nicknamed "Thursday" because its code contains the letters "Thurs," the virus is programmed to open Dec. 13 and attemptto erase files on the C drive of infected PCs. Thursday is a so-called macro virus, written in the "macro" programming language that is used to automate processes in Microsoft applications.

  To date, Thursday has been detected in about 5,000 PCs, according to Network Associates. Network Associates, Symantec, and TrendMicro all said their antivirus software can easily detect and eliminate the virus.

  Avert, the research arm of Network Associates that monitors security threats, gave the virus a high-risk rating because the infection has managed to spread rapidly through several banks and financial institutions by passing infected documents between unprotected machines. Network Associates said the Thursday virus will turn the Word 97 Macro warning feature off and infect all documents opened from that point on.

   
• NSA Builds Security Access Into Windows
  Time: 15:20 EDT/22:20 GMT Source: Tech Web Posted By: Alex H

  A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has shown that special access codes for use by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) have been secretly built into all versions of the Windows operating system.

  Computer-security specialists have been aware for two years that unusual features are contained inside a standard Windows driver used for security and encryption functions. The driver, called ADVAPI.DLL, enables and controls a range of security functions including the Microsoft Cryptographic API (MS-CAPI). In particular, it authenticates modules signed by Microsoft, letting them run without user intervention.

  At last year's Crypto 98 conference, British cryptography specialist Nicko van Someren said he had disassembled the driver and found it contained two different keys. One was used by Microsoft to control the cryptographic functions enabled in Windows, in compliance with U.S. export regulations. But the reason for building in a second key, or who owned it, remained a mystery.

   
• Alpha NT: More disappointed two per cent speak up
  Time: 15:14 EDT/22:14 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Further evidence that Compaq has left its corporate users in the lurch after it abandoned Alpha NT has emerged.

  Yesterday, we reported that a large Fortune 500 was girding its loins for a legal battle with Compaq after it was persuaded to shift its strategy from VMS to NT on Alpha.

  Now we have received news of a European corporate user who also feels that Compaq has treated its user base appallingly.

  The user wrote: "We run a generic transaction processing system and some internet lotteries. We have been running our database and web servers under Windows NT and alpha for the past 4 years, and have a considerable investment in Alpha.

  "Just over a year ago I met with Digital in Switzerland where I was shown the roadmap to 64-bit NT and Alpa/NT. On the basis of the commitment to NT on Alpha I spent over Swiss Fr 200,000 on two 7300 machines which are fantastically fast and were cheaper than the 4100 (Unix version) because they have been crippled to only run NT. I was in discussions in the past month to buy another Alpha for our database. We currently have 4 x 4100 (about 100K for each machine +more for memory etc.) and 5 x 1000A (about 30K each).

   

• Ballmer promises a Web-based Office
  Time: 15:12 EDT/22:12 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Former SGI chief executive officer Richard Belluzzo--who, as of Thursday became Microsoft Corp.'s group vice president of its Consumer and Commerce Group--has his work cut out for him. Besides fixing a division that Microsoft officials characterize as one beset by a disproportionate share of "fits and starts," Belluzzo will be charged with helping Microsoft chart a hosting strategy for its applications, especially Microsoft Office.

  During a conference call to acknowledge Belluzzo's appointment on Thursday, Microsoft president Steve Ballmer told press and analysts that Microsoft will definitely have an answer to Sun Microsystems Inc.'s acquisition this week of Star Division Corp.'s StarOffice suite. Sun already is making StarOffice available for download from its Web site and will enable users to rent the desktop software via its StarPortal service.

  "We will have Web-based Office productivity services. Full stop, yes," Ballmer said, in answer to a question on Microsoft's intentions in the hosting arena. But Ballmer declined to provide a timetable for providing these services.

   

• Expert says Windows has a security breach
  Time: 15:09 EDT/22:09 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  A security expert at a private company in North Carolina today has allegedly revealed a weakness in Microsoft Windows that would allow hackers to seize control of the operating system, a computer network, or corporate data center.

  The weakness exploits a little-known back door to Windows, involving how it authenticates software programs, such as software drivers, the security expert said.

  The alleged flaw was discovered by Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist with Cryptonym, a Canadian software/consulting firm with offices in North Carolina. A copy of the program is posted at this Cryptonym Web site.

   
• Microsoft delays a Windows 2000 release version
  Time: 15:06 EDT/22:06 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft has delayed the sending of the latest so-called release candidate of the Windows 2000 operating system, although the company insists the eventual ship date of the finished version will not be pushed back.

  Originally slated to ship to beta testers by Labor Day, Release Candidate 2 will now ship "sometime in September," according to a company spokesperson. Microsoft has promised that Windows 2000, the successor to the company's Windows NT operating system for businesses, will be out by the end of the year.

  Windows 2000, once known as Windows NT 5, has been beset by delays throughout its development process. Microsoft has done everything but promise that the software will ship by the end of the year, but the company admits that if the code is released to CD-ROM manufacturers in December, the product will not be available until January or February. The OS is shipped via CD.

  "The manufacturing cycle takes 6 to 8 weeks," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "Microsoft hasn't said it will be on store shelves by the end of the year, just that we hope to finalize the code by the end of the year."

  In the meantime, the release candidates are coming fast and furiously. "The plan is to release a new release candidate every six to eight weeks," said David Cole, vice president of the Consumer Windows division at Microsoft at this week's Intel Developers Forum in Palm Springs, California.

   
• Hackers answer Microsoft's Windows 2000 dare
  Time: 15:04 EDT/22:04 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Hackers have answered Microsoft's dare and disabled part of a Windows 2000 server, but both sides are claiming victory.

  A group of hackers say they disabled part of the server that Microsoft put on the Web as a test for those who think they can breach the system's security.

  Two attacks that took down the guest book section of the Windows 2000 Beta Internet Test Site took place yesterday. The group sent "poison packets" to the server. The packets masqueraded as small chunks of information but actually were quite large, said George Davey, a leader of the effort.

  Microsoft confirmed the attack, saying technicians manually disconnected the attackers. While the server's CPU was working to swallow the larger-than-expected data packets, the guest book page was inaccessible. However, the overall system didn't crash and the attackers didn't seize control, said Keith White, director of marketing for Microsoft's business and enterprise division.

   

• Net emerging from its 'Stone Age'
  Time: 03:40 EDT/08:40 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  The founding fathers of the Internet gazed into their crystal balls on what is arguably the 30th anniversary of the first Internet connected computer. And they said we have only just begun.

  "We're just emerging from the Stone Age of the Internet," Leonard Kleinrock, a University of California at Los Angeles computer scientist, told the packed room of more than 300 people here Thursday.The crowd had gathered to hear Kleinrock and the other "fathers" of the Internet -- Vint Cerf, Robert Kahn and Lawrence Roberts -- recall the events of Sept. 2, 1969; the day at UCLA that Kleinrock oversaw the first node connected to ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.

   
• 'Thursday' virus upgraded to 'high risk'
  Time: 03:38 EDT/08:38 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  IT managers should be on the lookout for a nasty but easily contained virus that has infected PCs at eight financial institutions over the last several days.

  The virus, called the "Thursday" or W97M/Thurs.A virus, was first discovered nearly two weeks ago. It wasn't given much notice until the last two days, when it was reported at financial institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Latvia and Poland.

  About 5,000 seats have been infected so far.

  The Word 97-based virus carries a payload that will try to delete all files on a user's C: drive on the trigger date, Dec. 13. It does not appear as though it will do any damage until that day, which oddly enough falls on a Monday this year.

   

• Microsoft office software to go on Web
  Time: 03:36 EDT/08:36 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp has revealed plans to offer its top-selling office software as a service on the Internet, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The move comes just days after Microsoft rival, Sun Microsystems Inc, announced plans to offer word processing, spreadsheets and other office applications on the Internet free of charge. "We certainly will have Web-based office productivity services, no doubt about it," the Times quoted Microsoft president Steve Ballmer as saying.

   
• Microsoft splits TV efforts, mulls MSN integration
  Time: 03:34 EDT/08:34 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft's WebTV has a new chief, but the company's television strategy remains fuzzy as it weighs the possibility of deeper integration with Microsoft's other Internet efforts, according to company executives and outside observers.

  Microsoft's confusion about its Internet strategy has hampered WebTV's evolution, observers say. This turbulence has led Microsoft to take some significant steps to get the business back on track. Microsoft confirmed that it has labeled half of its television business Microsoft TV and is considering an integration with the company's other Internet efforts, namely its MSN portal and Internet service.

   

• Microsoft to counter Sun software giveaway plans
  Time: 03:31 EDT/08:31 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft confirmed plans to offer its top-selling office software as a service on the Internet. "We certainly will have Web-based office productivity services, no doubt about it," Microsoft president Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying in tomorrow's Financial Times.

  The services will be based on Microsoft Office, the package of productivity programs that brought in 40 percent of the company's revenues last year. Ballmer would not say when the services might be offered, and did not address the issue of whether Microsoft would charge for use of the programs.

  The move comes just days after Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems announced plans to offer word processing, spreadsheets, and other office applications on the Internet free of charge. A Microsoft representative then said the company was not "threatened" by the initiative.

  "This move by Sun really has no bearing on our product development and marketing efforts," Andrew Dixon, group product manager for Microsoft Office, previously told CNET News.com. Microsoft already has versions of its Office products that run on a central server, he said.

• Matrox Millennium G400 - Review
  Time: 17:50 EDT/22:50 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Byron

  I have posted my review of the Matrox Millennium G400 graphics card. Here is a snippet from the review:

  If you have been into computers for the last 4 years or so, you will know that Matrox used to be the kings of 2D graphics in terms of both quality and speed. With the invention of 3D graphics cards Matrox, unfortunately lost a lot of ground to 3Dfx and NVidia. Since then Matrox has tried to get back into business with the release of the G200 (Which didn't have a OpenGL ICD on release) which wasn't a major performer. But now they are back with the G400, so how does their new card match up to the competition now?

   

• Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard bring Internet printing to Windows 2000, Windows 98 SE
  Time: 15:17 EDT/20:17 GMT Source: PressPass Posted By: Alex H

  The Internet has created new ways to communicate. Now Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have made it a great way to send flyers, presentations and other print documents.

  The two companies recently announced they are providing support for Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) for the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 platform Beta 3, Windows 98 Second Edition and some Hewlett-Packard JetDirect printers. The protocol allows people to send print documents to any IPP-enabled printer connected to the Internet.

  The version of IPP available for Windows 98 Second Edition will also work with Windows 98 and Windows 95.

  "In an increasingly mobile and often virtual work environment, we have seen the need for innovative technologies to address the changing needs of our customers," said Carl Stork, general manager for Hardware Evangelism and Strategy at Microsoft. "By providing support for IPP in Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 Professional and Server, Microsoft is delivering advanced printing solutions to our business and consumer customers."

  IPP makes sharing documents and presentations easier than ever.

  Instead of using a fax machine, overnight mail or e-mail attachments to share documents, employees who are on the road or working at home can send documents directly to a printer. Hotels or conference centers could use IPP to allow business travelers to receive high-quality documents, such as color presentations, and print those documents on site. Internet printing is designed to be faster and easier than other methods of transmitting print documents.

  People using computers at home can also share anything that can be saved on a computer, from family pictures to children's artwork, over the Internet.

   
• New Study Shows Economic Impact of Software Piracy
  Time: 15:17 EDT/20:17 GMT Source: PressPass Posted By: Alex H

  Software piracy continues to severely affect employment, income and tax revenue in states and local communities throughout the United States, according to a state-by-state analysis announced today by Microsoft. The analysis, conducted by International Planning and Research (IPR), shows that 21 states and the District of Columbia had an increase in software piracy rates last year, including leading technology states such as California and Virginia that have fueled much of the recent growth in the technology sector.

  This new state-by-state software piracy study, like similar studies conducted by the Business Software Alliance and the Software & Information Industry Association, compares two sets of data: the estimated installation of new software applications and the legal purchase of these applications. The difference between the number of copies installed and the number purchased represents the estimated piracy rate. IPR then built upon previously published research on the economic effects of piracy to prepare economic estimates for each state.

  Besides taking legal action against 168 resellers last year for engaging in software piracy and working alongside law enforcement officials to address criminal counterfeiting of Microsoft software, the company is giving back to many of the communities that are harmed by software piracy. In addition to its other community affairs activities, Microsoft will donate an estimated $25 million over the next five years - half of its software piracy recoveries - to nonprofit organizations focused primarily on providing access to technology in disadvantaged communities.

  ---

  State-by-State Analysis of Software Piracy in the U.S.

  *States that have seen an increase in piracy

  State	1998 Piracy Rate	1997 Piracy Rate
  Alabama*	42.10%	35.80%
  Alaska*	26.70%	24.60%
  Arizona*	31.80%	28.60%
  Arkansas*	35.50%	34.10%
  California*	29.70%	21.80%
  Colorado*	26.80%	22.90%
  Connecticut	25.80%	38.10%
  Delaware	22.80%	28.10%
  District of Columbia*	25.40%	20.80%
  Florida*	35.50%	32.30%
  Georgia*	24.30%	17.20%
  Hawaii	30.50%	34.50%
  Idaho	27.00%	34.80%
  Illinois	15.50%	22.00%
  Indiana	22.50%	33.60%
  Iowa	23.90%	25.70%
  Kansas*	26.20%	21.70%
  Kentucky*	40.20%	36.40%
  Louisiana*	42.20%	38.30%
  Maine	29.60%	36.60%
  Maryland	16.80%	19.20%
  Massachusetts	16.70%	25.00%
  Michigan	16.80%	25.20%
  Minnesota	21.40%	27.90%
  Mississippi*	46.80%	40.60%
  Missouri	22.60%	22.80%
  Montana*	40.80%	34.40%
  Nebraska	21.70%	30.00%
  Nevada*	45.00%	39.80%
  New Hampshire	21.90%	25.40%
  New Jersey	16.60%	19.90%
  New Mexico	33.00%	34.70%
  New York	18.50%	28.80%
  North Carolina	22.80%	34.60%
  North Dakota*	37.30%	34.90%
  Ohio	19.60%	28.60%
  Oklahoma*	35.10%	29.90%
  Oregon	23.70%	30.80%
  Pennsylvania	13.70%	24.10%
  Rhode Island	20.50%	36.50%
  South Carolina	29.60%	37.00%
  South Dakota*	34.20%	31.80%
  Tennessee	22.50%	34.30%
  Texas	25.70%	30.20%
  Utah*	41.40%	36.30%
  Vermont	26.40%	29.10%
  Virginia*	16.90%	15.50%
  Washington	20.20%	22.20%
  West Virginia*	36.40%	20.70%
  Wisconsin	25.00%	29.20%
  Wyoming*	46.10%	37.00%

   

• Bugging Microsoft
  Time: 15:15 EDT/20:15 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  Despite Microsoft's claims that "advanced" skills were needed to hack into its free Web-based Hotmail service and expose millions of users' accounts, security experts say the exploit was actually very user-friendly and easily shared.

  In a separate development, a fix for security holes in Microsoft Office is flawed, according to one software expert.

  The Office security problem hit the headlines last week. But the Hotmail hack, first publicized in Sweden on Monday, has become Microsoft's latest public relations fiasco. The Hotmail hack became widely known after a Swedish Web site administrator posted a URL that linked to a Hotmail log-in page. That page let anyone enter a user name and access that user's account. The Web site owner says he did not create the exploit code, but only copied the URL to the log-in page from another Web site.

  Microsoft fixed the hack later in the day. Deanna Sanford, a product marketing manager for the Microsoft Network, attributed it to "a malicious hacker with very specific knowledge of advanced Web-development languages."

  However, several security experts chuckled at that explanation.

   
• IBM to Offer Free Windows 2000 Upgrades
  Time: 14:09 EDT/19:09 GMT Source: Cool Info Posted By: Alex H

  IBM continued to outline its broad commitment to Windows 2000 this week. The company announced it would offer free upgrades from Windows NT 4.0 Workstation to Windows 2000 Professional, a new technical support program, and new server hardware to be unveiled later this month. The new Windows 2000 Ready PC Program, to be in place by year's end, will be staffed by some 500 certified engineers. The program will offer a range of technical services and support for thin clients and portable and desktop systems, according to Phil Hester, chief technology officer for IBM's Personal Systems Group.

  "Users are telling us they want us to work together closely with Microsoft on Windows 2000 so there will be as few surprises as possible," Hester says.

  Hester says IBM intends to install Windows 2000 on all its clients by the end of next year. IBM officials also announced Tuesday it has joined Microsoft's Rapid Deployment Partner program, where IBM will get a number of support services to help users install, configure, and implement the upcoming operating system.

   

• Site News
  Time: 14:03 EDT/19:03 GMT Source: Active Windows Posted By: Alex H

  Just a little bit of site news, First thing is that the poll is back and at the bottom of the left hand side. Today's subject, What IM do you use the most? Also some news about the business section. We have a new "newshound" there by the name of Matt so go check out the business section. Don't forget to join the Active Windows Community and post your views about Windows stuff, the stuff on the site, hoe much you would like to have an Active Windows Mouse Mat!

   
• Microsoft says life's simple
  Time: 13:58 EDT/18:58 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  David Cole, general manager of Microsoft's consumer division, faced over 2,000 developers in Palm Springs today and attempted to guide them through the Windows labyrinth. His message was that as he liked things to be simple, everything Microsoft was doing was simple. But it isn't. Talking about Win2000, Cole showed a slide of the four different packages people can buy: Professional, Server, Advanced Server and DataCenter. He said: "We're on track to ship by the end of this year but we won't ship it until our partners say it's ready to go."

   
• Y2K bug eats into South African economy
  Time: 13:56 EDT/18:56 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  South Africa's lack of preparedness for the date change at the end of the year is starting to show. Cargill, the agricultural trading group, has said it will avoid trading in the country over the mid December to mid January period.

  The move has angered South African officials. The technology manager at the South African Reserve Bank commented in the Financial Times: "It's an insult to South Africa as a whole that we have been placed through some obscure method of assessment on a risk basis." He was referring to report from analysts Gartner Group that suggested that in a worst case scenario, up to 80 per cent of South Africa's transport systems and services could be disrupted.

   

• 'Thursday' virus outbreak reported
  Time: 13:54 EDT/18:54 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Financial institutions in eight countries have been hit by a Word 97 macro virus.  Network Associates has reported an outbreak of a Word Macro virus among banks and financial institutions in eight different countries. The anti-virus software maker said today that its Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team had received the infection notices over the past 24 hours. he "Thursday" virus was first detected last month, and was reported by several anti-virus companies. It is a Word 97 macro virus that infects the normal.dot file. Network Associates said the virus will attempt to delete all files on a user's C drive on December 13.

   
• It's official: Belluzzo to Microsoft
  Time: 13:52 EDT/18:52 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday that former SGI CEO Richard Belluzzo has joined the company as group vice president in charge of Microsoft's Consumer and Commerce Group. Brad Chase and John DeVaan, the two executives currently heading the division, were named senior vice presidents within the group. Consumer and Commerce is the group charged with crafting Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) MSN and WebTV/cable strategies, among other missions.

   
• Microsoft Expected to Boost Rental-Software Efforts, Countering Sun Micro
  Time: 13:46 EDT/18:46 GMT Source: Bloomberg Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. will intensify its efforts to rent software over the Internet, countering rival Sun Microsystems Inc.'s plan to give away word- processing and spreadsheet programs on the Web, analysts said.

  Microsoft is likely to start offering to rent its Office group of business software by the end of this year or next year, analyst Dwight Davis of Summit Strategies said. The world's biggest software maker also will promote the use of its operating system and server applications by companies that provide software rental services, he said.

  Over the past year, Microsoft has been evaluating business models for renting software on the Internet, focusing on how to price products without undercutting its own retail market. Microsoft Office controls about 90 percent of the market for word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software, and it accounts for half of Microsoft's overall revenue. Sun would have problems toppling Microsoft's dominance, analysts said. ``Office has an incredible installed base,'' Davis said. ``People are not going to willy-nilly trade out of that and start using a downloaded version.''

   
• Window Blinds 0.98.20 released
  Time: 13:40 EDT/18:40 GMT Source: E-mail Posted By: Alex H

  As Stardock celebrates its one millionth Installation and officially releases Window Blinds,they will be releasing WindowBlinds 1.0 on Monday, September 20. Visit http://www.stardock.net to try out WindowBlinds. WindowBlinds will be the first released product from Stardock.net, the new start-up spun-off from Stardock Corporation.

  Also over at Stardock, the popular Icon Packager has an updated version. .96Beta has been released for Object Desktop users and can be found at: http://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/.

   
• Whoops - Dell suggests Win2k ship date slips into next year
  Time: 11:14 EDT/16:14 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  Microsoft's top hardware buddies at Dell have unexpectedly supplied evidence that Windows 2000 might not ship until February - at the earliest. We noted last week that Bill Gates (speaking to a Dell audience) might have been suggesting more delays, and we also had a tip tip that the big launch would be in January, but Dell's Win2k marketing nuts and bolts are now going into place, and they signpost some time after February.

  Dell yesterday announced a free upgrade programme to Win2k professional for purchasers of Dell machines with the English language version of NT 4.0 preinstalled. But the programme is "valid for purchases made through February 2000." Reverse-engineer that and you get a probable release to manufacture of Win2k in late December (Bill was "pretty sure" MS would have the final build by then), and a probable big bang launch in January, with Win2k preinstalls going out on OEM machines in the March-April timeframe.

   
• Viscosity Beta 3 - Released
  Time: 07:08 EDT/12:06 GMT Source: Internet Eye Posted By: Byron

  Beta 3 of Viscosity has been released to the public It is really solid and has lots of improvements.

  http://www.jedor.com/download_beta.htm

  Viscosity is a Windows-based software package for creating, editing, and publishing bitmap-based graphics and animation files.

  Over recent years, the PC graphics market has produced quite a number of "image editing" applications, which allow you to create, touch up and apply effects to bitmap images. However, creating animations for the web, multimedia CD-ROMs, or video games has always been a more involved process because professional-level frame editing applications were never available at an affordable price. Your options were either high-end editing workstations or shareware utilities to assemble multiple still images.

  Viscosity has been designed to fully integrate the process of image editing and animation by allowing you to seamlessly edit any frame of an animation, with all changes being updated immediately. Commonly used image editing concepts such as drawing tools, selections, layers, and filters are available for use on individual and/or multiple frames simultaneously. This complete set of image editing tools is essential.

   
• ICQ 99b 3.19 #2569 - Released
  Time: 07:03 EDT/12:03 GMT Source: Desktop Watch Posted By: Byron

  ICQ ("I Seek You") is a user-friendly Internet program that notifies you which of your friends and associates are online and enables you to initiate contact with them. With ICQ, you can chat, send messages and files, exchange Web page addresses, play games, create your own homepage, surf the Net with your friends, and much more. With the click of your mouse, you and your friends are instantly connected.

• Another Microsoft Exec. Departs
  Time: 19:23 EDT/00:23 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex R.

  ZDNN is reporting that yet another Microsoft executive has departed:

  One of Microsoft Corp.'s key Internet-strategy architects, Ben Slivka, has departed from Microsoft, reports The Seattle Times. Slivka, general manager of Microsoft's Consumer and Commerce Group, left Microsoft last Friday to join Amazon.Com, starting next week. Slivka, a 14-year Microsoft veteran, is the latest in a long line of Microsoft execs to depart the company for greener pastures.

   
• Site News
  Time: 16:23 EDT/21:23 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron

  Some of you have been e-mailing us asking where our review of the G400 and the Microsoft Zulu Dual Strike are...Never fear, the G400 review will be up on the site this Friday night and the Dual Strike within the next 10 days.

   
• Microsoft Introduces Cordless Wheel Mouse
  Time: 15:16 EDT/20:16 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today introduced its Cordless Wheel Mouse, which combines the reliability of digital two-channel radio technology with the freedom of a mouse unfettered by a cord. The Microsoft(R) Cordless Wheel Mouse also features three programmable buttons and the IntelliMouse(R) pointing device, making scrolling and zooming within compatible documents and Web pages easy and efficient. The Cordless Wheel Mouse can be used up to 5 feet from its receiver, which is easily attached to the PC through a round (PS/2-compatible) mouse port. With digital two-channel radio technology, users can depend on the Cordless Wheel Mouse to work almost anywhere on their desktop, even if their PC is under the desk or out of sight. "The Cordless Wheel Mouse is an ideal solution for users who don't want to be tied to a cord," said Tim McDonough, Mouse Line product manager at Microsoft. "This mouse offers them the popular IntelliMouse scrolling wheel in a cordless product."

  Pricing and Availability The Cordless Wheel Mouse is scheduled to be widely available Oct. 1, 1999, for an estimated retail price of $44.95.

  System Requirements To use the Cordless Wheel Mouse with the scroll wheel, users need IntelliPoint 3.0 software (included); a PC running either the Windows(R) 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT(R) 4.0 (with Service Pack 3) operating system; a round (PS/2-compatible) mouse port; 25 MB of hard drive space; a CD-ROM drive; and two AAA batteries (included). Cordless Wheel Mouse can be used with a PS/2 port or with the serial port adapter (included).

   
• Windows 2000 Build 2114 to be released
  Time: 15:04 EDT/20:04 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  Instead of RC2, Microsoft is releasing another Windows 2000 weekly interim build 2114 to beta testers. (Internally MS has up to Build 2120 now.)

   
• Is MS lobbying Compaq for more Merced Win64 help?
  Time: 04:38 EDT/09:38 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft is engaged in high level discussions with Compaq in an attempt to keep the latter's developers working on the Intel version of 64-bit Windows, and it's prepared to pay, according to informed sources. The claim comes, appropriately enough, as Microsoft demoed 64-bit Windows "booting and running" on Merced silicon, and promised a shipping OS next year.

  Microsoft and Intel were positively ecstatic about this massive breakthrough, glossing over the fact that Win64 didn't seem to do anything on Merced yet, whereas the Linux demo on the same silicon could run Apache. MS promises a Win64 beta for first half of next year, and the full OS when Merced ships, but the it's possible that everything in the garden isn't entirely lovely, unless Compaq can be induced to help out.

  Compaq has ceased development of Windows 2000 for Alpha, and in what we interpreted as a retaliatory strike, Microsoft abandoned all development for Alpha, leaving Compaq's apparent claim that it was still working with MS on 64-bit NT for Alpha looking pretty lame. Compaq director of corporate technical strategy Jim Boak wrote us a long email explaining why the companies were still chums and how we were exaggerating horribly.

   

• Netscape licenses portal to Hewlett-Packard
  Time: 04:28 EDT/09:28 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Hoping to attract more daytime Web users, Netscape Communications tomorrow will announce that it has licensed its Netcenter Web portal to Hewlett-Packard for a line of business computers.

  The deal comes as HP is set to unveil a new line of Brio PCs geared for small businesses, the company said. This new line, to be announced tomorrow, will include the "HP Brio Internet Center," a central hub that leads to different Net services, such as the ability to access the Internet, build a Web site or online store, and use a customized version of the Netcenter portal.

  America Online, which acquired Netscape last fall, has made an effort to target its proprietary online service to consumers, who generally access the Web from home via dial-up connections. It is positioning Netcenter to attract daytime users who access the Net at work.

  To do so, AOL is considering creating a service that combines Netcenter with its Communicator Web browser code, sources have said. AOL can then attach Web applications such as its AOL Instant Messenger to the product.

   
• Window Blinds 0.98.17 has been released
  Time: 04:22 EDT/09:22 GMT Source: E-Mail Posted By: Alex H

  Stardock has yet another update for Object Desktop Users. Window Blinds 0.98.17 has been released. Two updates in one day. What a treat.

Read more of the past months news in our News Archive for July and Previous August News.

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