Microsoft Case

The federal antitrust case against Microsoft, spearheaded by the U.S. government and 17 states, may be on a fast track to the Supreme Court. The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed on June 19 to hear Microsoft's motion to delay a court-ordered breakup, defying the Justice Department's request to throw out the software giant's stay motion. The DOJ had called Microsoft's motion premature because the company had not yet filed for appeal, and requested that the Appeals Court postpone hearing the motion until the judge who handed down the break-up decision rules whether the case should be heard in the Appeals Court or should head straight for the nation's highest court. Subsequently, Microsoft filed its appeal and the Court of Appeals promptly agreed to hear the case, beginning with the company's request to forestall the conduct and reorganization remedies ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on June 7. However, the action also makes clear that if Jackson certifies the case for expedition to the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court would forego consideration of the stay motion.

Windows 2000 Gets Pep Talk in Orlando

At the recent Tech Ed 2000 in Orlando, Fla., Bob Muglia, Microsoft Business Productivity Group vice president, explained how Microsoft believes that new technologies-such as Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000, a new firewall and caching product for the enterprise, will enable a new generation of integrated solutions that Web-enable the enterprise and empower knowledge workers. The foundation for the revolution that is sweeping through Web-enabled businesses is Windows 2000, says Muglia. At Tech Ed 2000, the company made clear how it is extending the Windows 2000 platform with the release of a wave of new and enhanced server products, including Windows DNA 2000, Microsoft's platform for rapidly building next-generation Web solutions. Some of the server products highlighted at the conference include SQL Server 2000, BizTalk Server 2000, and Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000. To read a transcript of Bill Gates' remarks at Tech Ed 2000, go to Microsoft's Web site http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/ 2000/0605teched.htm.

Compaq Innovates Enterprise Storage

Compaq Computer Corp. has introduced a storage-pooling technology that just might circumvent a marketplace where the amount of data stored by companies is expected to double annually. With VeraStore, Compaq http://www.compaq.com addressed the ever-increasing need for storage capacity by forming an environment where data is stored in a dynamic pool and can be transferred transparently and efficiently across networked storage systems. VeraStor technology executes storage pool dynamics transparent to servers, advancing the concept of server-independent, system area network-based storage management. By presenting a logical view of storage as virtual disks while actually storing data on physical devices, the necessity for servers to manage physical storage is eliminated. "Our VeraStor Technology will change the rules for enterprise storage and storage utilities," says Howard Elias, vice president and general manager, Compaq Storage Products Group. "Just as RAID enabled open storage to support critical applications, VersaStor will enable open storage to support the enterprise storage infrastructure."

-Jeff Barbian

Shoring up the desktop: New Linux Desktop Improvements Are on the Way.

You know your Linux desktop doesn't look its best when not one but two companies form around the idea of making it better. Both Helix Code http://www.helixcode.com and Eazel http://www.eazel.com aim to make the Linux GNOME desktop into a more professional-looking environment. Helix Code, formed by existing GNOME developers, isn't such a strange concept. There are quite a few companies formed by developers on free-software projects. Helix Code sells a pre-built GNOME environment on CD-ROM, and works on the Gnumeric spreadsheet and the Evolution e-mail program and all-around Microsoft Outlook clone. Eazel, on the other hand, has a number of former Macintosh developers, including the famed Andy Hertzfeld. While Eazel is supposed to improve GNOME, there's an element here of condemning the environment with faint praise. Eazel's goal is to make Linux the desktop operating system of choice for "mere mortals," as its Web page puts it.

Both the two main Linux desktops, GNOME and KDE, have improved remarkably in the last year. But both still have a long ways to go to provide Linux with a better user interface.

It Be Not Linux Yet

While Helix Code has emerged for Linux users, Be http://www.be.com has released some components of its BeOS operating system as open-source software. Be's desktop environment always had a professional look, and now you can make use of the BeOS Tracker sources in your projects. As Be moves more and more away from general-purpose PC operating systems and into embedded Internet appliances, they'll release more PC software under an open-source license. They're still waiting, though, for someone to port the BeOS Tracker, written in C++, to Linux. Many Linux devotees would love to have the best features of BeOS, including parts of its user interface, merged into Linux.

Linux Market Share Grows

As the desktop environments keep improving, the Linux market itself continues to grow. VA Linux Systems http://www.valinux.com, one of the closest pure-play Linux hardware vendors, announced quarterly revenues of $34.6 million for the quarter ending April 28, 2000. That's a 710 percent increase from the same quarter in 1999, and a 71 percent jump from the prior quarter. That's a big leap for a company that competes with Compaq, IBM, Dell, and other server vendors.

IBM announced that it had ported Linux to its S/390 mainframes. Now you can run Linux on everything from a Palm handheld device to a big-iron mainframe.

-Eric Foster-Johnson