WinInsider

People using the popular Trillian software may lose access to part of AOL Time Warner's instant messaging system. Firing another salvo in the battle over instant messaging, America Online is blocking people using the Trillian interface from linking to its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) system. But in the past 24 hours, an elaborate game of cat and mouse has developed between AOL and Trillian creator Cerulean Studios--as the start-up has repeatedly released new software designed to get around the block, prompting AOL to rush in and stop people from using it.

In recent years, AOL has clashed with other makers of IM software, including Microsoft and AT&T. Both companies tried to create systems that let people correspond with AIM users--only to have them blocked.

A federal judge has asked Microsoft and the Justice Department to file a joint status report on their proposed settlement and, in an unusual move, has asked if they're planning any changes to the settlement in response to public comments. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's order late Wednesday came two days after 60 days of public comment on the settlement ended. The Justice Department expected that thousands of comments would pour in, partly because of canvassing on the part of Microsoft through its Freedom to Innovate initiative and because of Microsoft competitors working through trade groups.

Jonathan Jacobson, an antitrust attorney with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld in New York, said the judge's asking for a status report is not out of the ordinary, but the query about settlement changes is highly unusual.

The Windows 2000 Security Rollup Package provides a cumulative rollup of security updates that have been offered since the release of Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Download now to get the latest security updates in one cumulative package.

Note To install this rollup package, you must have Windows 2000 Professional, Server, or Advanced Server with SP2 installed.

Microsoft plans to add XML tools to its Visual Studio .Net product that makes it easier to create Web services with access to information in data warehouses based on SQL Server databases. The company's bid to bring BI to more desktops (and in the process turn BI into a more Microsoft-compatible discipline) will be outlined tomorrow at Gartner Group's Business Intelligence Europe conference in Amsterdam by Bill Baker, Microsoft's general manager SQL server business intelligence. The new XML tools will be part of the Visual Studio to be launched on February 13th and will be available on the Web. "Users will be able to build very quick Web services around stored procedures in the database, for example to show the most common customer problems, and expose these on a Web page," said Baker. He forsees groups setting up their own such pages to be used by staff working directly with customers.

With the much-anticipated launch of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development system coming Feb. 13, Microsoft is expanding its services with the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) to assist developers in making a smooth transition to .NET. Augmenting MSDN's array of existing resources, two new online services -- the MSDN Online Concierge and MSDN managed newsgroups -- will give developers more support and collaboration options than ever at no additional cost.

"We are absolutely committed to the success of .NET, and that means providing developers with a rich set of support options," says Lori Moore, vice president of Product Support Services at Microsoft. "This level of service illustrates our ongoing commitment to the success of developers who use and evangelize our products and technologies." Now available to MSDN Universal, Enterprise, Professional and Operating System subscribers, developers can get help where and when they want it, through increased access to Microsoft Support Professionals.

Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

• Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
• Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
• Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

On Wednesday, Microsoft finally shipped its long-awaited Security Rollup Package for Windows 2000, which aggregates all of the security fixes the company has shipped since Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2). The cumulative patch requires that Win2K customers first install SP2.

"This Security Roll-up Package demonstrates Microsoft's continued commitment to deliver, under the Strategic Technology Protection Program (STPP), comprehensive security roll-up packages providing customers with an easy way to update their environments and eliminating the need for multiple reboots," a release about the security update reads.

The Windows 2000 Security Rollup Package applies dozens of security fixes. For more information and the free download, please visit the Microsoft Web site.

Microsoft plans to announce Wednesday the expansion of its program for partner companies that create hardware and software for its mobile products. Microsoft's Mobility Group products include its Pocket PC 2002 handheld operating system and Smartphone 2002 OS.

Microsoft has picked about 110 of its 5,000 partner companies, including hardware and software developers, to become part of its new Mobility Partner Advisory Council. These companies will pay $15,000 for a six-month membership in the group, which gives them early access to a software developer kit and tools, allowing them to get a jump start on getting products to market.

A federal judge has granted a Microsoft request that would close upcoming depositions in its antitrust trial to the media. But U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she would allow the media to file court briefs in response to Microsoft's request. A deposition is sworn oral testimony generally available only to the parties in the action. Depositions in the next phase of the trial start Feb. 1. Kollar-Kotelly's giving the media the opportunity to respond is in some ways unprecedented, say legal experts.

Developers are anticipating that a robust components market will grow up around Microsoft Corp.'s .Net initiative, particularly now that the software vendor has released its Visual Studio .Net development platform. Microsoft officials and others said they expect Visual Studio .Net to spawn a market for component software not seen since the early days of Visual Basic, with the company's Visual Basic controls--known as VBX--and, later, OCX, or Object Linking and Embedding Custom controls, and ActiveX controls. Components are key to developers, enabling them to use prebuilt, pretested pieces of reusable code to do such chores as create user interfaces, integrate applications and systems, and even broker Web services.