The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

New MS Office shuts out old Windows
The next version of Microsoft's Office software will run only on the latest versions of the company's operating systems, Microsoft confirmed Tuesday. A representative acknowledged that Microsoft plans to offer the productivity suite, code-named Office 11, only for Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 and Windows XP. Microsoft started beta testing Office 11 last week, but some early participants found that they had been dropped from the program if they had planned to use older versions of Windows. They were dropped because Microsoft doesn't plan to offer Office 11 for Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, Me or NT. The Redmond, Wash.-based company already dropped support for Windows 95 with the release of Office XP in May 2001.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963777.html

IBM bets on "computing on demand"
IBM is laying down a $10 billion wager that business technology of the not-too-distant future will center on what it calls "computing on demand." Sam Palmisano, IBM's CEO and newly elected chairman, on Wednesday outlined the company's vision at a meeting here before several hundred key customers, analysts and journalists. He described a future in which huge computer networks are made up of powerful, self-repairing machines. Ultimately, IBM foresees that the combination of these networks and other advances such as grid computing will allow businesses to buy computing power on demand, similar to the way electricity is purchased.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-963807.html

Group advises open source for Defense
Mitre, a not-for-profit engineering and IT organization that works with the US federal government, has recommended that the US Department of Defense take steps to encourage open-source software in the department's infrastructure. A report published on Monday found that what it terms FOSS (free and open-source software) "plays a more critical role in the DoD than has been generally recognized," and noted that if open source was banned the department's security would plummet and costs would rise sharply. Mitre's report, called Use of Free and Open-Source Software in the US Department of Defense, addresses an increasingly urgent issue: what stance governments should take with regard to open-source software. Because it is freely distributable, open-source software has often come into wide use within governments without having to be officially endorsed.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963869.html

Can open source compete with Microsoft?
If the parallels between RealNetworks and Netscape Communications were once suggestive, they became flagrant Tuesday as the struggling streaming-media company followed the defanged browser pioneer in releasing its source code to the world. Fewer things get deeper under the skin of Rob Glaser, founder and chief executive of Seattle-based RealNetworks, than the Netscape comparison. But both companies wound up losing market share to Microsoft in a crucial Internet medium after the software giant bundled its competing program with Windows. What's more, the RealPlayer creator and Netscape each subsequently pursued content-oriented strategies as well as open source plans. Still, Glaser insists the similarities are only skin-deep.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963839.html

Thumbs-up on security for Windows 2000
Windows 2000 has passed all required tests for a security certification accepted in 15 countries, Microsoft announced Tuesday. While software vulnerabilities may still occasionally bug the operating system, the Common Criteria certification attests that the key software components of Windows 2000 meet a specific level of security. The effort to obtain the certification, which took almost three years and cost millions of dollars, shows that Microsoft is serious about security, said Craig Mundie, vice president and chief technical officer for the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant. "For people that have questions about our level of investment and our level of effort, this is testament to...our commitment to security," he said.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-963776.html

Workstation makers switch off Intel tool
Hyperthreading -- a performance-enhancing technology that lets one chip act something like two -- has been available on workstations since April, but it's mostly been inactive. Hewlett-Packard and Dell, among other workstation manufacturers, have been shipping their systems with the function turned off, according to company representatives. Right now, workstation makers say, the broad array of software used in that segment of the market doesn't take advantage of the technology yet. Users, though, can easily turn on the hyperthreading function if they wish.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-963942...g=fd_lede2_hed

Microsoft preps for digital film close-up
Microsoft is coming to a theater near you. The software giant on Wednesday said its Windows Media 9 technology will be used to screen a series of eight movies in some 25 cities around the United States in partnership with Digital Cinema Solutions (DCS), carmaker BMW, and a number of independent movie studios. The series will kick off next week at New York's Apollo Theater with a screening of Artisan Entertainment's "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," a documentary about The Funk Brothers, a little-known studio band now credited with crafting the sound made famous by headlining vocalists at the Motown label. A series of BMW advertisements, also screened in Microsoft's digital format, will run before the movie.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963987.html?tag=fd_top

Wal-Mart expands Linux offering
Retail giant Wal-Mart has added the Lycoris version of Linux to its menu of budget PCs. Wal-Mart has become one of the most important mainstream boosters of the open-source Linux operating system and other alternatives to Microsoft's Windows. Through its Web site, the retail giant early this year began offering low-cost PCs without an operating system preinstalled. It then expanded to Linux, initially relying on the Lindows distribution of Linux and later expanding to include MandrakeSoft's version of the OS. By using the open-source software and low-cost processors from Taiwan chipmaker Via, Wal-Mart has been able to drive down prices to $199 for a PC without a monitor.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-963999.html?tag=fd_top

Digital copyright law on trial
A security researcher asked a federal judge Wednesday to let a challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act continue. Attorneys for Ben Edelman, who specializes in investigating flaws in blocking software, filed a 26-page document arguing that his work is imperiled by legal threats from N2H2, a filtering company based in Seattle. N2H2 has asked a Massachusetts judge to dismiss the case, which the American Civil Liberties Union brought in July to let Edelman create and distribute a utility that decrypts N2H2's secret list of forbidden Web sites. The ACLU wants a court to declare that Edelman's research is not barred by the DMCA, by N2H2's shrinkwrap license, trade secret laws or other copyright laws.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963975.html?tag=fd_top

More news tomorrow morning, I'm really tired here...

[multi]

bump ^
thx 4 the news again WT....

[ab-NORM-al]

yup yup!

thanks <flips virtual dollar to the newsman>

[MagicMorpheus]

Thanks for past two weeks of news! Just now read it.