During the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Orlando, Fla., Microsoft and Intel announced the preview release of the 64-bit Windows operating system for the Intel Itanium processor. This preview release is considered a key breakthrough for hardware manufacturers who will now have a version of the OS that can be used in the final development stages of next generation 64-bit hardware and software. It is available to developers who utilize Intel Itanium processor-based systems in their development processes. The two companies also announced the availability of updated Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Driver Development Kits (DDKs) for developers.

Microsoft cracks down on counterfeits

Microsoft has taken legal action against more than 7,500 Web sites and auction sites worldwide for selling programs the company says are counterfeit.

Microsoft said that it's working in tandem with authorities and other software companies to stop sales of illegal products offered through Internet services in 33 countries. The company said that it is seeking removal of products it believes to be counterfeit and that it will take further legal action if sites or sellers don't comply.

The campaign has led to 64 raids and 17 civil lawsuits in 15 countries, the company said.

Windows Me prices tumble

In a surprise move to nudge consumers toward its Windows Millennium (Me) operating system, Microsoft will offer Windows Me, or Millennium Edition, at a $30 discount.

Street prices for the last three versions of Windows for consumers hovered around $89, but the company will offer Windows Me for $59. The new operating system goes on sale Sept. 14.

Some analysts say that few consumers upgraded from Windows 95 to Windows 98 or from Windows 98 to Windows 98 Second Edition without special incentives. While Microsoft has gotten PC makers to quickly move to the newest version of Windows, it has had a hard time getting customers to buy boxes off the shelves.

PC Data reports to date that Microsoft has sold 4 million copies of Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE at retail, generating $350 million in revenue.

Whistler and Blackcomb on the horizon

At the Developers Conference, Bill Gates also provided plenty of teasers concerning Microsoft's future OS packages. The company has made available to a select group of testers a sneak preview of its next Windows release, code-named Whistler, which Gates told PDC attendees will ship in the second half of 2001. A first Whistler beta is expected around September. At PDC, Gates said Whistler will be the first Microsoft OS to feature some of the .Net user-interface enhancements that Microsoft has on tap. .Net is the catch-all name for Microsoft's next-generation, XML-enabled software products and services. The company also acknowledged it is dropping AppleTalk, NetBEUI, and DLC legacy networking protocol support from the operating system.

For more glaring changes you'll have to wait until the second half of 2002, when the next major Windows release, code-named Blackcomb, will hit the market. Blackcomb will be the first fully .Net-enabled Windows release from Microsoft, and the version of Windows that Gates told PDC attendees "will include profound changes in the user interface."

Blackcomb will be the Windows release in which Microsoft will incorporate the type in-line feature, which Microsoft first demonstrated at its .Net Forum 2000 rollout in late June. Type in-line is a natural-language interface that will allow users to more quickly and centrally search the Web, access documents, and answer simple questions. Also included in Blackcomb will be technology Gates calls a "system information agent" that will allow users to set notification and customization rules. For example, a user would be able to determine when and how often to be interrupted by mail or instant messaging.

Gates also talked up a number of new products that Microsoft has in beta test, ranging from Exchange Server 2000 to BizTalk Server 2000. "You can see the impact XML is having on every one of these products," Gates said. "It's about the new generation of software."

Jeff Barbian

Linux news

Corel Draw 9 hits the streets

New linux desktop improvements on the way

Corel, battling financial problems and a failed merger with tools vendor Inprise (formerly Borland), has come back swinging with new product releases for Linux. Corel's long-time mainstay graphics programs, in the form of the CorelDraw 9 Suite, are now coming out for Linux. The suite includes two main applications: CorelDraw 9, a vector graphics program, and PhotoPaint 9, a bitmap editing application. Together, the suite will be priced similar to the Windows versions.

As with most graphics applications today, there are quite a lot of features that support making Web pages, especially the graphic portions of Web pages. In a nice show of Linux-specific features, the suite supports the .xcf raster file format used by the GIMP, a freeware image-editing tool quite popular on Linux.

For users of Red Hat Linux, Corel has a number of utilities, packaged in the Red Hat RPM format, to add CorelDraw and PhotoPaint to the GNOME menus. The applications appear under the Apps submenu under the auto-generated menu choice.

The CorelDraw suite requires users to have at least a Pentium processor running at 200MHz or better. I'd recommend a lot more than that. You should also have 64MB of RAM and at least 255MB of hard disk space. You need the GNU C libraries, or glibc, at version 2.0 or 2.1, and a Linux kernel at version 2.2 or higher. Like most Corel products, you'll get the best results under the KDE desktop.

The graphical installation program allows you to install CorelDraw, PhotoPaint, or both. Since Corel has its own Linux distribution based on Debian Linux, the first thing the installation program does is try to find the Debian dpkg package-management utility. The files get installed in /usr/lib/corel.

In addition to installing Corel Draw and PhotoPaint, the installation program also installs the FonTastic font server, which adds a number of fonts to the basic set supplied under the X Window System on Linux.

As with the Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 suite, the Corel Draw and PhotoPaint applications are actually Windows applications that run on Linux via WINE, a system that runs Windows applications on Intel-based systems. Unlike the Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 suite, though, performance lagged on my 350MHz Pentium II system with 192MB of RAM. The version I tried was the beta 2 version, and CorelDraw came up with no templates, an import feature for many users. Even so, the programs provide a huge array of features.

I'm no graphic artist, but I really liked the integrated support in Corel Draw for creating Web pages. In addition, the CorelTutor provided a handy lesson-based tutorial, teaching the finer points of Corel Draw and PhotoPaint. Corel Draw, especially, is a huge many-featured program and it isn't a program you can learn in one sitting. The CorelTutor lessons are really Web pages that appear in Netscape Navigator, which Corel Draw or PhotoPaint launch automatically when you call up CorelTutor from the Help menu. The Web publishing lesson proved especially useful.

Eric Foster Johnson

Microsoft promotes next Office for the Mac

Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) is really working to promote its next version of Office for the Mac, dubbed Microsoft Office 2001 Macintosh Edition. It's due the second half of this year with a Mac OS X native version due in 2001.

The new suite will introduce features and tools designed to simplify difficult tasks in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2001. Irving Kwong, product manager for the MacBU, says the Office update will continue to innovate while targeting the everyday needs of Mac customers with Mac-first features and compatibility with Office for Windows.

It will add such features as: a suite-wide PIM (personal information manager); Project Gallery to provide a common starting point for each of the Office 2001 applications; built-in tools for importing and editing images from digital cameras; integration with the Encarta World English Dictionary; a beefed-up mail-merge feature known as the Data Merge Manager; a List Tools feature for managing such things as CD collections, inventories, and customer lists; and more.

Apple, RealNetworks buddy up

Apple and RealNetworks are now both competitors and collaborators. RealNetworks has licensed Apple intellectual property for streaming digital video and audio over the Internet in the QuickTime format. The two companies also have agreed to ensure that their respective player applications will inform and ask the user before changing the user's default player selection for common media formats. Finally, RealNetworks' RealServer 8-a scalable, cross-platform, streaming media server-now supports the delivery of QuickTime-based content to QuickTime players.

There's been no announcement that Real is adding support for the QuickTime format to its RealPlayer (or that Apple would support the RealPlayer format in QuickTime, for that matter), however. So on this front, the two companies will remain in intense competition.

Second QuickTime conference coming this fall

Meanwhile, Apple is continuing its push for QuickTime with the second annual QuickTime Live! conference Oct. 9 through 12 in Beverly Hills, Calif. The four-day conference will feature keynotes, in-depth technical conference sessions, full-day workshops, and a product showcase. Its purpose is to spur interest in QuickTime development among both Mac and Windows developers.

Apple cofounder named to Hall of Fame

Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple and inventor of the Apple computer, has been named to the Inventors Hall of Fame. After founding Apple, Wozniak, often known simply as Woz, served as vice-president of research and development from 1976 to 1985. In 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology. The Hall of Fame was created in 1973 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Attorneys.

Dennis Sellers