• ActiveWin: The Longest Journey - Review
  Time: 07:44 EST/12:44 GMT News Source: ActiveWin Posted By: Byron Hinson

  I have posted up a review of the newly released (In Europe again) The Longest Journey, an excellent point and click adventure by Empire/Funcom. Here is a snippet from the review:

  The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure, if you have ever played Grim Fandango, Monkey Island etc then you'll know exactly what I am talking about. You play the part of April, a young student who has been having bad dreams and it is up to you to find out exactly what these dreams mean and why you are having them. The Longest Journey is full of logical puzzles and a massive amount of speech and the great thing is - there are no action orientated parts in the game, it is just pure adventuring.

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• ActiveWin: Martian Gothic: Unification - Review
  Time: 18:54 EST/23:54 GMT News Source: ActiveWin Posted By: Byron Hinson

  I have now posted up a review of the newly released (In Europe at least) Martian Gothic: Unification by Take 2 games. Here is a snippet from the review:

  Martian Gothic plays like Resident Evil and Alone In The Dark, in that I mean that the camera angles are all pre-determined depending on which areas of a room you are walking in. As many of you can probably already guess, there are some problems with this type of camera as it can sometimes stop you from viewing certain places you are trying to view, thankfully that doesn't happen all that often in Martian Gothic.

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• Justice Dept.: Microsoft Uses Power Against Palm
  Time: 14:45 EST/19:45 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The Justice Department said Microsoft Corp. is using its monopoly power to hurt competitors in the market for personal digital appliances, specifically mentioning the Palm Inc. computing platform.

  The Justice Department comments, which were contained in arguments filed in support of the government's proposal to split up the software giant, could cast a cloud over Microsoft's launch earlier this month of its Pocket PC hand-held computer.

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• Microsoft's 1st Battle Is Wall St.
  Time: 14:45 EST/19:45 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) has vowed to fight the federal government's plan to break up the company into two separate parts, a battle that will begin not in court, but in the stock market on Monday.

  That's when traders return to Wall Street, where the company's stock will be under the microscope - offering a key test of consumers' confidence in the company. For Microsoft, it signals the start of a long battle.

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• ActiveWin: Flying Heroes - Review
  Time: 14:39 EST/19:39 GMT News Source: ActiveWin Posted By: Byron Hinson

  I have posted my first review in a while - it is of the new shoot-em-up come flying game - Flying Heroes. Here is a snippet:

  The interface is also similar to popular first person shooters on the market today, Flying Heroes is very similar to that of Unreal Tournament. Along the top of the screen is information on mission progress, such as your position in the a tournament, number of cannons destroyed etc, there is also information on time limit in tournaments and tag time in multiplayer games. Finally along the top of the screen is a small area that gives out information on who fragged who during the game. In the center of the screen is the main frag arena consisting of information on opponents names and their position on the screen. Finally along the bottom of the screen shows health points, manna points and temporary effect icons such as fire boost, invisibility etc. In the right corner there is information about the quantity of ammunition that you currently have as well as objects you hold and the current active weapon. Early weapons in the game range from the very dull Spark gun to the icicle cannon. Weapons are bought with the money you get from each tournament match (You get money for frags etc), but you can also spend it on upgrades to you ship/creature as well as other things.

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• Justice Dept Klein's statement on Microsoft
  Time: 18:12 EST/23:12 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Following is the statement by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein made on Friday on the U.S. Justice Department's proposal to break Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) into two separate companies:

  "The Department of Justice has just filed our proposed remedy in the Microsoft case with the Federal District Court. We are asking the court to enter an order establishing a process under which Microsoft would be reorganized into two companies: an operating systems company and an applications company.

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• No major changes likely for consumers after breakup
  Time: 18:09 EST/23:09 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The proposed division of Microsoft probably wouldn't mean any drastic changes for consumers, at least in the near term. Habit, familiarity and the relative dearth of buoyant alternatives are some of the intangible factors that will likely allow the Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office software suite to maintain their dominant positions on the desktop.

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• Update: U.S. Asks Court to Split Microsoft in Two
  Time: 17:40 EST/22:40 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The U.S. government on Friday urged a federal judge to break software powerhouse Microsoft Corp into two separate companies to curb its monopoly power in key software.

  The Justice Department and 17 of the 19 states that brought one of the biggest antitrust cases in U.S. history formally unveiled the proposed breakup of the company in a 17-page proposed order to a federal judge.

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• Rough Justice For Microsoft
  Time: 15:59 EST/20:59 GMT News Source: Forbes Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has decreed what everybody on the planet outside a few bucolic acres in Redmond, Wash. already understood: Microsoft is a monopoly, and a nasty one at that. Now comes the hard part: what to do about it.

  Proposed remedies have included smashing the company into ones and zeroes and spanking Bill Gates on all prime-time television except for MSNBC. I wouldn't go quite that far. In fact, I have come up with a better solution, which I hereby submit as an amicus curiae.

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• Microsoft Breakup Could Help Innovation
  Time: 15:59 EST/20:59 GMT News Source: Forbes Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The breakup of Microsoft, as proposed by prosecutors today, could well have a salutary effect. But not the one they're looking for.

  By separating the Windows operating system from the rest of the company, the government hopes to re-ignite innovation in the software industry. Without a giant monopoly to bully competitors out of business, the thinking goes, smaller companies will be free to develop products able to challenge Microsoft Word, Excel--even Windows itself.

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• Bill Gates holds a stake in Otter Tail Power
  Time: 15:56 EST/20:56 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Bill Gates, one of the world's richest men and chairman of Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), said on Friday he held a 5.04 percent stake in Otter Tail Power Co. (NasdaqNM:OTTR - news), an electric utility located in Fergus Falls, Minn.

  The stake, equal to 1,201,400 common shares, was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The document was made on behalf of Gates and his investment vehicle, Cascade Investment LLC. The passive investment filing did not say when the Otter Tail shares were bought or at what prices. Otter Tail was up 1 at 24 on the Nasdaq stock market on Friday afternoon.

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• Are two Microsofts better than one?
  Time: 14:30 EST/19:30 GMT News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Are two Microsofts better than one? That's the debate raging among analysts, observers and, most of all, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) shareholders as they await details of a U.S. Justice Department plan to split the software giant up as penance for its antitrust sins.

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• Government Poised to Seek Break-Up of Microsoft
  Time: 14:27 EST/19:27 GMT News Source: Yahoo Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The government was poised Friday to urge a federal judge to split Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) in two, aiming to create new competition and eventually end the firm's monopoly in the basic software that runs personal computers.

  The filing of the proposal by the Justice Department and most or all of 19 states that sued Microsoft nearly two years ago was expected to be filed after financial markets officially close.

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• Microsoft: The next generation
  Time: 10:19 EST/15:19 GMT News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron Hinson

  While all eyes are focused on the effects that a possible breakup of Microsoft Corp. might have on the company's future, few are contemplating the more immediate impact of the launch of the software giant's forthcoming services architecture, dubbed Next Generation Windows Services, or NGWS. If you believe Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), NGWS is going to be big. Really big.

  Microsoft executives have likened the potential impact of the NGWS launch to Microsoft's 1995 Internet Strategy Day. They are publicly touting the NGWS rollout as a major inflection point for the company.

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• Microsoft's Ballmer to defend company in TV spot
  Time: 06:42 EST/11:42 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Thursday said Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will appear in a television commercial, in a move by the software giant to burnish its image just after the government unveils its plans to punish the company for breaking antitrust law.

  The 30-second advertisement will kick off on Sunday during prime-time shows on broadcast and cable networks, and is similar to one featuring Gates that ran three weeks ago, shortly after a federal judge ruled Microsoft was an abusive monopoly.

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• Microsoft's woes foment high-tech insecurity
  Time: 06:42 EST/11:42 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Technically boring, unimaginative and pushy is how many in the high-tech industry see Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), but most agree the software giant has been the life of an extraordinary party that nobody wants to leave.

  As it starts its anticipated long battle to avoid a breakup, Microsoft finally may be unable to provide the leadership it's given for nearly two decades as a financial model and an arbiter of industry standards.

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• Microsoft Plan To Be Released
  Time: 06:41 EST/11:41 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Details of a plan to break up Microsoft will be released today when the Justice Department and 19 states that successfully sued the software giant for antitrust violations submit their joint proposal on what sanctions to impose.

  The remedy, which would split Microsoft into two parts, is intended to prevent the company from engaging in any illegal behavior in the future. The proposal would forbid the split companies from recombining for 10 years, according to a published report.

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• Intel back inside Network Appliance
  Time: 02:28 EST/07:28 GMT News Source: CNet News Posted By: Alex Harris

  Network Appliance has welcomed Intel back into the fold.

  On Monday, the company will announce a new low-end product, the NetCache C1100, a thin specialized server that's built around an Intel chip. NetApp's first products were based on Intel chips, but the company moved to Compaq's Alpha chips because data can be transferred into and out of the chip faster.

  Using Intel chips allows NetApp to expand into a less demanding, lower-priced market, said Edward Chow, leader of the company's Internet caching products. The new products, with prices starting at less than $6,000, are intended for modest computing loads, such as those at branch offices of larger corporations, Chow said.

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• Economists: Break Microsoft into four pieces
  Time: 17:57 EST/22:57 GMT News Source: USA Today Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft Corp. should be split into four companies to end its anti-competitive practices, a group of leading economists told the judge who declared the world's largest software company an illegal monopoly.

  The economists made their recommendation - which goes far beyond the two-way Microsoft break-up government lawyers are expected to propose - in a friend-of-the-court brief submitted to U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.

  Instead of stopping with a split of Microsoft into a Windows operating system company and an applications software company, the economists would further divide the Windows unit into three separate competing companies.

  ''The full divestiture would be the most effective way, in our view, of introducing real competition into the platform market, or reducing the applications barrier to entry, and of reducing or removing Microsoft's ability to project its operating systems monopoly into other markets,'' the economists wrote.

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• Microsoft zaps Hotmail password bug
  Time: 17:50 EST/22:50 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft has patched a Hotmail bug that left users of the Web-based email service vulnerable to a password-stealing trick.

  The exploit was the latest in a series devised by bug hunters using JavaScript to launch fraudulent password entry screens to trick people into handing over control of their accounts.

  JavaScript is a Web scripting language designed to take actions on a Web site visitor's computer, such as launching a new window or scrolling text across the screen, without the visitor's interaction. After the first few password-stealing schemes came to light, Hotmail and other Web email providers decided to filter JavaScript from incoming messages.

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• StarLancer Released
  Time: 15:09 EST/20:09 GMT News Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron Hinson

  As expected, Microsoft's new space sim StarLancer has been released a little early in a number of stores (Phone to make sure). The official release date worldwide is tomorrow, we should have our review of the gold code sometime early next week.

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• History has lessons for Microsoft case
  Time: 15:05 EST/20:05 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  If the U.S. government proposes to split Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) in two as expected this week, it will draw immediate comparisons with the two other major breakups in U.S. antitrust history -- Standard Oil and AT&T.

  Microsoft's competitors in Silicon Valley say the comparisons are apt and even extend them -- casting Bill Gates as a software tycoon in the role of a latter-day John D. Rockefeller, the oil baron.

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• Microsoft rejects accusations against Windows 2000
  Time: 15:04 EST/20:04 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp MSFT on Thursday dismissed suggestions that its Windows 2000 operating system breaks European Union competition rules. Microsoft, already facing the threat of being split in two after antitrust problems in the United States, was responding to an investigation by the European Commission into whether Windows 2000 could give the company a stranglehold over server software and ultimately electronic commerce.

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• Microsoft to unveil Mac Office 9 details
  Time: 07:18 EST/12:18 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Apple enthusiasts are hoping that Microsoft's newest Office suite has been worth the wait. The company today will release details about a new version of Office for the Macintosh, which will feature integrated email and contact management software.

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• Xerox, Microsoft to Launch New Company
  Time: 07:18 EST/12:18 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Copier giant Xerox Corp. (NYSE:XRX - news) and software behemoth Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) plan to host a press conference on Thursday to unveil a new firm that will be focused on media management over the Internet.

  A spokesman said that the firms will host a news conference at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, which will be attended by Microsoft president and chief executive Steve Ballmer and Xerox president and chief executive Rick Thoman.

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• Microsoft Dangles the Carrot
  Time: 07:17 EST/12:17 GMT News Source: Industry Standard Posted By: Byron Hinson

  What's a company to do when a market slide has left many employees holding stock options that are worthless in the near term? Microsoft, which has produced a large share of the Seattle area's millionaires because of its generous stock-option plans, responded to its current precipitous stock drop with a swift, counterintuitive answer: offer more options.

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• DOJ to file remedy proposal Friday, sources say
  Time: 18:27 EST/23:27 GMT News Source: PC Week Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  The Department of Justice and 19 states who successfully prosecuted Microsoft Corp. for antitrust violations will file their proposed remedies at the last possible minute, according to sources.

  Presiding U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson gave the plaintiffs until Friday to file what they think the punishment for Microsoft ought to be, and now sources say that's when the paper will be filed -- late Friday afternoon.

  Just what punishment the DOJ and states' attorneys general will ask for is not clear. Various published reports earlier this week said the government was leaning toward suggesting a breakup of the Redmond, Wash., software company. Some reports said the DOJ would propose Microsoft be broken in two, with one of the companies focusing on Office software and the other on Windows. Still other reports cited sources saying the proposal would call for a three-way split.

  None of the reports have been confirmed, and the DOJ declined to comment again today.

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• Microsoft rips into Asia for software piracy, again
  Time: 18:25 EST/23:25 GMT News Source: PC Week Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Asian organized crime has shifted from hard-core and gang-related activities to hardware and software piracy because the profits are high and the risk of getting caught is low.

  "The penalties [for piracy] are not severe enough to create a deterrent as are other crimes such as drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and prostitution," said Richard LaMagna, director of worldwide piracy investigations at Microsoft Corp. who spoke Monday at the 22nd International Asian Organized Crime Conference held in San Francisco.

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• Steve Ballmer: The First Hundred Days
  Time: 18:23 EST/23:23 GMT News Source: TechWeb Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  With one foot in the past and the other in the future, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has had more than a full plate during his first 100 days as CEO of the world's most powerful technology company.

  During his first quarter in office, the 44-year-old Ballmer, who took the reins from chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates in January, spent an inexorable amount of energy fighting off the U.S. government for alleged wrongdoings committed in the past.

  Meanwhile, Ballmer drove forth what is arguably the most dramatic shift in Microsoft's charter since the company was founded 25 years ago, Next Generation Windows Services, Microsoft's new Internet strategy.

  With Gates keeping a watchful eye, Ballmer and staff launched Windows 2000, christened a new services company with Andersen Consulting called Avanade, announced a reorganization of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft to handle Next Generation Windows Services, and created a new employee incentive plan to curtail the defection of talented people to its competitors.

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• Microsoft jumps hurdles to take on Sun's Jini
  Time: 16:46 EST/21:46 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Byron Hinson

  What Microsoft is calling the future of networking technology faces significant hurdles from both outside and inside the company. Universal Plug and Play (UPNP) is software designed to allow networked devices, appliances and home computers to communicate and share information. The technology, expected to be widely available by late next year, competes with several other initiatives; one of those is Sun Microsystems' Jini, which is designed to perform the same functions using Java-based technology.

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• Microsoft CFO John Connors Joins imandi.com Advisory Board
  Time: 15:20 EST/20:20 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  imandi.com, the leading reverse marketplace Website, today announced the appointment of John Connors, Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq ``MSFT''), to its Advisory Board.

  ``We are delighted to welcome John aboard, and look forward to benefiting from his fantastic experience and strategic understanding as we pursue our rapid growth,'' said Raghav Kher, President and CEO of imandi.com, which is based on a Microsoft IIS platform.

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• Microsoft hints at Windows future
  Time: 15:18 EST/20:18 GMT News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp.'s next version of Windows, code-named Whistler, offers some signs about how the company is moving toward delivering software as a set of Internet-based services running on multiple devices.

  Top Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) executives, speaking Tuesday at the company's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in New Orleans, publicly demonstrated the forthcoming operating system for the first time. Whistler is not yet in alpha testing, but internal pirated copies have made their way onto the Web at least twice in recent months.

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• Fatbrain.com Opens Microsoft Online Bookstore for Windows 2000 Community
  Time: 09:50 EST/14:50 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Fatbrain.com (TM)(Nasdaq: FATB - news), the leader in managing, marketing and distributing information for businesses, today announced the launch of an additional online, custom bookstore for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news). The Windows 2000 Online Bookstore, a Fatbrain.com Information Exchange solution, provides the latest books and training materials for Windows 2000 developers, users and IT professionals worldwide. This new bookstore is the seventh online bookstore Fatbrain.com has developed for Microsoft since 1998.

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• Gates: Keep Microsoft in One Piece
  Time: 07:53 EST/12:53 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) Chairman Bill Gates says breaking up the company he helped found 25 years ago would hurt the average consumer.

  In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Gates said further development of the Windows operating system, the software that powers the vast majority of the world's personal computers, would be stunted if the Windows or Office software divisions were split from the rest of the company.

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• Austin Gates
  Time: 07:53 EST/12:53 GMT News Source: Reuters Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Bill Gates, center, appears as "Austin Gates" on a video at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference Tuesday, April 25, 2000 in New Orleans. Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. delivered the keynote address to the group at the opening session.

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• Intel to launch USB 2.0 today
  Time: 07:43 EST/12:43 GMT News Source: The Register Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Intel's Pat 'Kicking' Gelsinger, the company's desktop products group VP, will today unveil the long-awaited final spec for USB 2.0 at WinHEC. USB 2.0 takes the bus' data throughput up to and beyond IEEE 1394 standards. 1394 currently runs at 400Mbps - USB 2.0 will run at 480Mbps, forty times greater than USB 1.1's 12Mbps. USB 2.0 hubs will support version 1.1 peripherals, but not vice versa.

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• BT's UK ADSL Roll Out Announced
  Time: 07:02 EST/12:02 GMT News Source: British Telecom Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Very good news for most of us in the UK. British Telecom today announced their full plans for rolling out ADSL in the United Kingdom from £39.99 for a single USB user. BT also announced that they will waive the installation fee of £150 if you sign up before June 30th.
  
  

  • High Speed access at 512Kbps– around 10 times faster than a good modem
  • 24 hour connection – no dial up: you’re there, you’re online
  • Broadband-enabled content – news, entertainment and information, from companies like the BBC, Carlton and Sports.com, all formatted for near-instantaneous downloading

  Sign up here

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• Is that your final offer?
  Time: 16:14 EST/21:14 GMT News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. staffers have been auctioning off copies of Windows 2000 software on eBay, a practice the company frowns on but has had only mixed success reining in.

  Senior management has cautioned employees and contractors that the private resale of company software is against Microsoft policy. Yet in the past week 23 copies of Windows 2000 have been put up for auction on the eBay Web site from people living within a 25 mile radius of Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.

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• WinZip 8.0 Final Released
  Time: 16:00 EST/21:00 GMT News Source: E-Mail Posted By: Byron Hinson

  WinZip 8.0 Final has been released today. Here are a few of the major new features:
  
  

  • WinZip Wizard functionality has been extended to allow you to create and update Zip files from the Wizard. After the initial Welcome panel, the Wizard displays a new Select Activity panel; from here, you specify whether you want to unzip/install, update an existing archive, or create a new archive. Like the existing Unzip/Install Wizard, the new Add Wizard is designed to make the most common operations easy and convenient.
  • The Wizard can now extract and install from MIME and other encoded files. This makes processing of e-mail attachments from online service such as AOL and CompuServe easier for Wizard users.
  • The Wizard now supports automatic installation of desktop themes and screen savers (see below for more information).

  Download Here

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• Microsoft's Ballmer Confident of No Break-Up
  Time: 15:27 EST/20:27 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday that he was extremely bullish about the software giant's future and was confident the company would avoid being broken up in the U.S. government's antitrust case against it.

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• Microsoft Gives Workers More Stock
  Time: 15:26 EST/20:26 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft employees will receive a new bundle of stock options at Monday's low closing price, a move designed to offset the stock's poor performance on Wall Street in recent weeks.

  In an internal e-mail obtained by The Associated Press, Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, told all company employees they would receive an additional stock option grant equal to any previous grants they had received since last July.

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• White House to Be Briefed on Microsoft
  Time: 11:19 EST/16:19 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The U.S. Justice Department will brief President Clinton's economic team on Tuesday on its proposal to break Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) in two in its effort to promote competition in the software industry.

  White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said no decisions would emerge from the noon briefing. ``The Justice Department is providing an informational briefing to the president's economic team,'' he said.

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• Microsoft Announces Windows CE 3.0 and New Development Tools at WinHEC 2000
  Time: 11:19 EST/16:19 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  As part of the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) embedded and appliance platform strategy unveiled at the Windows® Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2000, Microsoft Corp. today announced the forthcoming availability of the Microsoft® Windows CE 3.0 operating system in June, as well as its development tools Platform Builder 3.0 and eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0. In addition, Microsoft will make evaluation copies of these development tools widely available via the Web. This will enable millions of developers to utilize their knowledge of the Windows-based programming model and easily develop on the Windows CE platform, including targeting applications for the recently released Pocket PC.

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• Microsoft's Gates Demonstrates Advances in PCs and Servers, Connections to New Kinds of Appliances
  Time: 09:40 EST/14:40 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corp., painted the vision of an exciting future for the personal computer Tuesday during a presentation to 3,000 industry partners at the Windows^® Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2000. Gates unveiled what he called a "concept PC" that included innovative features he said would become standard in the near future and could serve as a platform to test new user interfaces and future versions of the Microsoft^® Windows operating system. In addition, Gates noted that the PC architecture is poised to become the foundation for new kinds of embedded appliances and devices.

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• K-tel Announces Launch of Major Digital Music Initiative With Microsoft Windows Media
  Time: 09:39 EST/14:39 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  K-tel International Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced that K-tel will begin selling thousands of titles from its music library as digital downloads this spring. One of the Internet's original retailers and distributors of music, entertainment and consumer products, K-tel will offer its content for sale directly from the K-tel Web site, at http://www.ktel.com/.

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• InfoImage Releases freedom 2, Delivers on Microsoft Digital Dashboard Alliance
  Time: 09:39 EST/14:39 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. and InfoImage Inc., a leading decision portal provider, today announced the delivery of freedom™ 2, fulfilling the vision the two companies announced in October 1999. InfoImage provides enterprise digital dashboard solutions using the InfoImage freedom 2 B2B Decision Server and the freedom 2 B2E Decision Server. freedom 2 uses the Microsoft^® knowledge management platform, which includes Office 2000 desktop productivity software and Microsoft server applications. Customers of all sizes, including Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America Inc., Bestfoods, Frank Russell Co., Rhythms NetConnections Inc., click2learn.com Inc., LoanCity.com Inc. and Visioneer Inc., have selected the solution to pare costs, improve communication and sharpen decision-making for knowledge workers.

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• Oracle's Ellison Challenges Gates for Riches Title
  Time: 07:41 EST/12:41 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates was in danger of being eclipsed as the world's richest man by Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison on Monday after a sharp drop in Microsoft shares.

  Dragged down by a disappointing sales forecast and investor concerns that the world's biggest software firm might be broken up by regulators, Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) stock plunged 12- ^5/16 to 66- ^5/8 on the Nasdaq. That brought the value of Gates' 742 million Microsoft shares to $49.4 billion.

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• Expected Microsoft bounce seen boosting Wall St
  Time: 07:41 EST/12:41 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Shares in U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) showed a healthy recovery in morning trade in London following their sharp fall the previous day in the wake of disappointing earnings figures announced before the weekend.

  Having closed $12-5/16 lower at $66-5/8 on Monday, Microsoft shares traded on the Instinet electronic brokerage system as high as $68-1/2.

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• Microsoft: Breakup Is Unnecessary
  Time: 07:40 EST/12:40 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  A proposal to split up Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) into separate companies is among a ``full array of options'' being considered as remedies against the software maker. A Microsoft spokesman denounced the proposal as ``extreme and radical.''

  Attorneys for the Justice Department and the 19 states that successfully sued Microsoft for antitrust violations are considering ways to break up the company as a method to curb anticompetitive practices. One reported option would be to split the company into two or three parts, each selling separate products, such as the Windows operating system and Internet content. Another alternative would be for Microsoft to divest its popular Office software.

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• Microsoft Is Feeling the Heat
  Time: 05:07 EST/10:07 GMT News Source: Yahoo! Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news ) on Monday entered stormy waters that are forcing the software giant to navigate around a legal whirlpool that could split the company asunder while steering clear of lurking hazards like increased competition and slowing growth.

  Microsoft stock was pummeled down by as much as 17 percent to $65 a share -- its lowest level since December, 1998 -- amid a dimming financial outlook and word that the U.S. Justice Department was leaning toward splitting up the company as a penalty for breaking antitrust law.

  That wedges the Redmond, Wash.-based company between a rock and a hard place, torn between wanting to project strength to win back investor confidence while trying to convince a skeptical judge that it should be let off lightly, analysts said.

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• ICQ 2000a Beta v.4.29 build #3140 Released
  Time: 04:49 EST/09:49 GMT News Source: BetaNews Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  ICQ 2000a has officially reached beta status after a long period of alpha testing. Today's beta launch was initially scheduled for last week, however a couple last minute bugs delayed the release.

  ICQ 2000a features a new contact list design, redesigned option menus, an ICQ quick launch bar, redesigned preferences, help cards, an answering service, and countless other additions. An advanced address book now allows you to easily search through your contacts. Version 2000a is definitely worth checking out if you want to take advantage of the new features, however some may find 2000a's interface cluttered.

  Download Here

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• Flooz, MSN Sign Distribution Agreement
  Time: 18:01 EST/23:01 GMT News Source: InternetNews Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Flooz.com Inc., an online gift currency provider, Monday signed a distribution agreement with Microsoft Corp..

  The agreement establishes Flooz.com as the preferred gift currency provider for the Hotmail e-mail service, with a gift currency text link featured on the top of the Hotmail compose, reply and forward pages. Subscribers to Hotmail will be directed to a cobranded Web site where they can purchase the electronic currency for others. The gift dollars can be sent to anyone with an email address.

  "MSN has created an integrated distribution plan that enables Flooz.com to reach a wide range of consumers who are most likely to shop and purchase on the Internet," said Jed Savage, eastern regional sales manager for MSN. "And since Flooz.com's online gift currency is distributed through e-mail, its placement on MSN Hotmail is a natural fit."

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• Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2000 Beta 2 to Customers
  Time: 11:27 EST/16:27 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. today announced the worldwide availability of SQL Server™ 2000 beta release 2, giving customers the opportunity to start testing the next version of Microsoft's award-winning database. Having already established world-record performance and scalability, SQL Server 2000 is the complete database and analysis offering that enables customers to rapidly build the next generation of scalable e-commerce, line-of-business and data warehousing solutions.

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• Microsoft Shares Tumble As Outlook Dims
  Time: 11:25 EST/16:25 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) shares fell 16 percent on Monday as several Wall Street analysts downgraded the stock and sources said U.S. authorities would call for the company to be broken in two.

  The swoon in Microsoft shares also followed disappointing fiscal third-quarter results, released late on Thursday ahead of the long Easter holiday weekend, and guidance from the company to expect lower growth for the next year.

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• Flink Ink Article: Internet Futures: The Two ULTIMATE Internet Appliances
  Time: 10:43 EDT/15:43 GMT News Source: Active Network Posted By: Robert Stein

  Let's take a look at where we're going.  As engineers, website builders and Internet entrepreneurs, we'd be more efficient in building our technology and industry if we had an idea of the type of Internet we expect to have in 2005.  If you're a lawyer trying to figure out how to modify the industry's behavior to ensure the maximum advantage for the consumer in the future, I'd think you'd want to read along also.  Certainly, if you're any type of active participant in the information revolution, this article is for you!

  What I'm going to do is provide a suggestion of where the next "stable point" in our industry will be found.  I predict (boldly, as only fools like myself dare to) that this "plateau" in Internet development is achievable over the next 5 years.  I believe this point will represent a plateau in the evolution of the Internet:  innovation will become relatively incremental and slow for years after this plateau is reached.  Any product designed and built over the next few years is likely to slip silently into oblivion as the rush to this stable-point draws all of the Internet and electronic industry energy into a race to build:  the Two ULTIMATE Internet Appliances.

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• Video A Hot Topic at WinHEC 2000
  Time: 07:45 EST/12:45 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Streaming media and digital video editing will be one of the hot topics discussed at WinHEC 2000, the premiere hardware engineering conference and industry gathering for Microsoft Windows platform developments. MGI Software (TSE:MGI - news), a technical and market leader in digital video, announced today it has been invited to speak on the subject: Video, The New Frontier as part of the Technical Session on Digital Entertainment at WinHEC 2000, being held at the Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-27, 2000.

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• Microsoft puts on good face for hardware faithful
  Time: 07:39 EST/12:39 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Microsoft is refusing to abandon future plans for the computing industry, notwithstanding its antitrust troubles. This week in New Orleans, the company will stage its annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, designed to educate PC, device and component manufacturers about the future capabilities of its operating systems. Inevitably, the annual event also plays an important role in convincing hardware makers to support these technologies.

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• Govt. May Seek Breakup of Microsoft
  Time: 07:22 EST/12:22 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  The Justice Department and 19 states are leaning toward asking a federal judge to split Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) into two or three separate companies, according to published reports.

  Citing people familiar with the discussions, The Washington Post and USA Today said in Monday's editions that a Justice Department plan being shared with states and industry executives envisions Microsoft being forced to split off its Windows operating system from the rest of the company.

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• Shares of Microsoft Fall in Pre-Market Trading
  Time: 07:20 EST/12:20 GMT News Source: Press Release Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Shares of Microsoft Corp fell more than seven points in pre-market trading on Monday after two U.S. newspapers reported that the Justice Department and 19 states are leaning toward asking a court to split up the software giant.

  The stock traded at 71 on Instinet more than three hours before the opening bell, traders said, compared with Friday's closing price of 78 ^15/16 on Nasdaq.

  The Washington Post and USA Today published separate accounts about the Justice Department's proposed solution, each quoting sources familiar with the government's antitrust case against Microsoft.

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• Whistler Preview
  Time: 17:21 EST/22:21 GMT News Source: Wininfo Posted By: Byron Hinson

  Wininfo has posted up a preview of Windows Whistler (Windows 2001). Here is a snippet:

  As of this writing, two early alpha builds of Windows "Whistler" 2001 have made their way surreptitiously out of Microsoft, builds 2211 and 2223.1, and each demonstrates the progress that the company has already made simplifying the Windows experience. Even though Windows 2000 was released just a few short months ago, Microsoft is pressing ahead with the next version, which will be a point release, not a full-blown upgrade as was Windows 2000. As such, Whistler is not a bare-metal rewrite of Windows 2000, but rather a sometimes-subtle refresh of its predecessor. And at this early stage, there aren't any dramatic changes, not yet.

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• Fanstock 2000 Report
  Time: 05:47 EST/10:47 GMT News Source: IGN Posted By: Alex Harris

  Microsoft may be a name that every computer gamer knows, but for a number of years, it wasn't particularly well regarded or even well known as a developer or publisher of games. The various incarnations of Flight Simulator seem to have been around and selling well forever, but it's in a category that many don't even regard as comprising "real" games. Recently however, Microsoft's status within the gaming world has risen and is continuing to rise dramatically, a fact that was driven home at two recent special events hosted by the company's Games Division.

  Gamestock is the annual Microsoft Games event for the gaming press. According to the company, it debuted four years ago with some 25 journalists attending to view a total of five games. This year's affair at the beginning of March was much more substantial, attended by more than 100 writers from around the world, and with nearly 25 games and hardware devices being shown. In addition, Microsoft Games took a truly exciting step forward, recognizing the increasingly significant role of its fan community by organizing a second event, Fanstock 2000 for selected invitees from fansites covering its titles in various genres.

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• DVD Genie v3.43
  Time: 05:45 EST/10:45 GMT News Source: File Flash Posted By: Alex Harris

  A new version of DVD Genie is out with support for NVIDIA GeForce motion compensation acceleration, Matrox Sun-Picture acceleration, smoother panning settings, and better Windows 2000 support. DVD Genie allows you to modify the region code for popular software-based DVD Players such as Software Cinemaster, PowerDVD and WinDVD (among a few). It also allows you to tweak these programs with undocumented features to better fit your system. DVD Genie will also allow you to select which program runs when a DVD Disc is inserted into the drive and contains support for fullscreen Zooming on widescreen movies with certain players.

  You can download DVD Genie v3.43 here.

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• Graphics chip business tags another body
  Time: 05:31 EST/10:31 GMT News Source: CNet Posted By: Alex Harris

  PC graphics chip manufacturers used to be thick on the ground, but the market is thinning in a hurry.

  NeoMagic, which has been one of the major designers of graphics chips for notebooks in recent years, announced today it will shift its strategic direction to making processors for Internet appliances and wireless communications devices.

  "We have refined our technology directions, added some new executives to our management team, and made head-count changes to keep expenses down while we implement new products," Prakash Agarwal, chief executive officer of NeoMagic, said in a statement. "Our PC-centered view of the world has changed."

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• Intel delays Celerons because of manufacturing crunch
  Time: 05:29 EST/10:29 GMT News Source: CNet Posted By: Alex Harris

  Intel has pushed back the release of two desktop processors because of a manufacturing crunch that has created shortages.

  The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker has delayed the release of 633- and 667-MHz Celeron chips by approximately two months, according to industry sources close to the company.

  The chips, designed for budget PCs, were slated to appear in computers beginning next week. Instead, they will emerge toward the end of June, along with a 700-MHz Celeron and a 933-MHz Pentium III.

  An Intel spokesman would not comment on the Celerons' release date but said that they are slated to come out in the second quarter.

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• Microsoft tries on a friendly face
  Time: 05:27 EST/10:27 GMT News Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex Harris

  Get ready for Microsoft's new soft sell.

  At a time when the software giant is under fire in its long-running antitrust battle, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is undertaking what executives there call one of the most significant overhauls of its advertising approach in its 25-year history. Rather than hawk the many products it makes, the company plans to shift the majority of its massive ad budget to the selling of Microsoft itself.

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• Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS00-028) - Procedure Available to Eliminate "Server-Side Image Map Components" Vulnerability
  Time: 18:22 EST/23:22 GMT News Source: Microsoft Product Security Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  A procedure is available to eliminate a security vulnerability affecting several web server products. The vulnerability could potentially allow a malicious web site visitor to perform actions that the system permissions authorize him to perform, but which he previously may have had no means of actually carrying out.

  The FrontPage 97 and 98 Server Extensions include two components, Htimage.exe and Imagemap.exe, that provide CERN- and NCSA-compliant server side image mapping support, respectively, for legacy browsers. Both components contain unchecked buffers that could be used to run arbitrary code. Although part of the Server Extensions, these components also install as part of several other web server products.

  The risk posed by this vulnerability is significantly restricted by the fact that the affected components run "out of process" and in the security context of the user. Thus, there is no capability through this vulnerability to cause either the web service or the server itself to crash, nor is there an opportunity to run code in an elevated security context. However, it still could be possible for a malicious user to perform actions that, though permitted, he would otherwise be unable to take because the functionality was not exposed via a web page or script.

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• Microsoft Decision Coming Early?
  Time: 17:37 EST/22:37 GMT News Source: Wired Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  The Justice Department reportedly plans to decide as early as Tuesday what punishment is appropriate in the Microsoft antitrust case.

  The court-imposed deadline is next Friday, but Microsoft said in an internal email message obtained by Wired News that government lawyers will file their proposed sanctions up to three days earlier.

  Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had repeatedly violated antitrust laws, a decision that presaged a potentially severe punishment during the next phase of the trial.

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• Microsoft mistakenly posts product information on Web site
  Time: 17:34 EST/22:34 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft inadvertently posted on a Web site today information about its upcoming Macintosh Office upgrade, including details about important new features.

  An animated notice appearing on Microsoft's Mactopia Web site, which promotes the new version of Macintosh Office, contained more information than the software maker meant to disclose.

  A Microsoft representative acknowledged it "was an unfortunate error" and that the information "had gotten out prematurely."

  Some of the new features would bring the Macintosh version of Office to parity with the Windows version. They include the ability to use Word for writing email drafted in Outlook Express and adding more robust editing features such as grammar checking. Spell checking would be available using a Mac version of World Encarta Dictionary, which would be a notable enhancement. Microsoft previously had stopped developing an extended dictionary for the Mac with Bookshelf 98.

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• Microsoft insurer tries to block claims for legal expenses
  Time: 17:32 EST/22:32 GMT News Source: News.com Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft's primary insurer is seeking to bar the software maker from claiming coverage for the cost of defending a barrage of private antitrust lawsuits.

  In a suit filed last month in federal court in Washington, Zurich American Insurance, a unit of Switzerland's Zurich Allied, asked a federal judge to declare that its general-liability policy doesn't cover the legal expenses spawned by Microsoft's antitrust woes.

  Microsoft already has started submitting insurance claims for the cost of defending the 120-plus private suits, Zurich American's lawyer, Thomas W. Brunner, said. The suits seek to take advantage of a federal judge's verdict in a landmark government antitrust case that Microsoft illegally protected its Windows personal computer operating system monopoly from competition.

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• First American Online Privacy Law Takes Effect
  Time: 06:32 EST/11:32 GMT News Source: Yahoo! Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  The U.S. government will start surfing the Web on Friday to enforce the first federal statute on online privacy -- a new law that imposes thousands of dollars in fines on marketers who collect personal information from children under 13.

  The law, aimed at protecting the privacy of preteens online, requires Web sites to seek the permission of parents before collecting personal information from children under 13.

  Primarily targeting intrusive online marketers -- who in the past have asked children for financial information about their parents -- the law imposes fines of $11,000 per violation.

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• Vulnerability discovered in Netscape Navigator
  Time: 06:23 EST/11:23 GMT News Source: PC Week Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  A newly discovered vulnerability in Netscape Navigator 4.x could allow a Webmaster to view a user's bookmark or cache file.

  And Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer may have a similar weakness, according to several reports.

  The trick uses cookies to run JavaScript on a user's computer. A Webmaster could redirect the user to a page using frames, with one frame pointing to the cookie file and another pointing to the page the Webmaster wishes to read.

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• DOJ's Klein speaks out on MS case
  Time: 06:14 EST/11:14 GMT News Source: USA Today Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  The chief of the Justice Department's antitrust division said Wednesday he believes politics can be kept out of the Microsoft antitrust case, despite the attention to how the next president could change its ultimate resolution.

  ''I don't believe the case will be politicized. I am an optimist in that regard,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Joel Klein during a speech to law students at George Washington University.

  Klein said he testified about the case last week before the House Judiciary Committee.

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• Microsoft Profit Up Despite Light PC Sales
  Time: 06:09 EST/11:09 GMT News Source: Yahoo! Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT) on Thursday said its third-quarter profits rose 23 percent, beating Wall Street estimates by 2 cents a share despite what the world's biggest software company said was light demand for business PCs in the period.

  The Redmond, Wash.-based giant said net profits for the three months ended March 31 rose to $2.39 billion, or 43 cents a share, compared to $1.91 billion, or 35 cents a share a year earlier.

  The company, which makes the Windows operating system found on about 80 percent of personal computers, had been expected to earn 41 cents a share, according to consensus analyst estimates compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial.

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• Microsoft Conduct Remedy Most Likely
  Time: 06:00 EST/11:00 GMT News Source: TechWeb Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  The ticklish process of crafting a remedy in the Microsoft antitrust case begins in earnest next week when the government proposes how competition can be returned to the PC operating system market.

  U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled April 3 that the software giant violated antitrust law by abusing its monopoly, tying its browser to the operating system, and engaging in anti-competitive practices. The Justice Department and 19 states weigh in with their proposed remedy by April 28. Microsoft will counter on May 10. The government will rebut on May 17. And Judge Jackson will convene a remedy hearing May 24.

  Jackson must strike the right balance with a remedy that is strong enough to curb Microsoft's power to let competition flourish in its dominant business, but no more than necessary to avoid an appellate court overturning it.

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• Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS00-027) - Patch Available for "Malformed Environment Variable" Vulnerability
  Time: 05:00 EST/10:00 GMT News Source: Microsoft Product Security Posted By: Matthew Sabean

  Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in Microsoft(r) Windows NT(r) 4.0 and Windows(r) 2000. The vulnerability could allow a malicious user to make some or all of the memory on an affected server unavailable, potentially slowing or stopping an affected server's response time.

  CMD.EXE, the command processor for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, has an unchecked buffer in part of the code that handles environment strings. Although we believe that it could not be exploited to run arbitrary code, it could be used to mount denial of service attacks in certain cases. If a server provides batch or other script files, a malicious user could potentially provide arguments that would create an extremely large environment string and overflow the buffer. This would cause the process to fail, and the memory allocated to the process would not be made available again until a dialogue had been cleared on the operator's console. By repeatedly running the batch file, the malicious user could potentially make some or all of the memory on the server temporarily unavailable.

  As noted above, Microsoft believes that arbitrary code cannot be made to execute via this vulnerability. The machines most likely to be affected would be web servers, as they are the most likely types of machines to offer batch files for use by remote users. However, even an otherwise-affected web server would not be vulnerable to this problem if an operator were present at the console to clear the error dialogue promptly.

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You can read more of the past months news in our News Archive for March and Previous April News.

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