WinInsider

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected Microsoft Corp.'s  request to re-examine part of its ruling in the landmark antitrust case against the company and also declined to speed the case back to a lower court, a move sought by the U.S. government. The decision leaves the case on schedule to have a portion reheard in U.S. District Court no earlier than mid-August. Microsoft had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on July 18 to re-hear a portion of the ruling that found the company illegally "commingled'' computer code of its Internet Explorer browser and the Windows operating system to protect its monopoly power. Opposing Microsoft, government prosecutors had argued that the case should be moved quickly in the wake of a June 28 appeals court ruling that Microsoft abused its monopoly in the market for personal computer operating systems.

Dell has released two wireless-ready notebook computers sporting Intel's new Mobile Pentium III processor.

The PC giant said its Inspiron 8100 and Latitude C810 offer better performance and lower power usage, thanks in part to the 1.13 GHz-M chip. John Medica, vice president of Dell's client product group, said the processors, the 15-inch displays and multiple optical drives combine to make both notebooks true desktop replacements. "They deliver the mobility and flexibility of a high-performance system that customers can use anywhere, anytime," he said.

C|Net has review of DELL Inspiron 8100

Dell Computer Corp. announced Tuesday it is selling a low-priced server designed for small businesses or departments.

The single-processor PowerEdge 500SC begins at $699. It is the first time Dell is selling a one-processor server, said Mike Skymba, the company's server product marketing manager.

It's Dell's latest push outside the desktop personal computer market, which has been slowing industrywide.

Dell, the world's top computer seller, has seen its server and data storage business grow as PC sales decline. The higher-end devices accounted for 20 percent of Dell's first-quarter sales of $8.03 billion, up from 18 percent a year ago.

Visual Studio .NET Beta 2 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is a bug-fix release for the Beta 2 English releases. The purpose of Beta 2 SP2 is to correct an inadvertent time-limitation in the Professional edition of the Visual Studio .NET Beta 2 development environment. The time limitation is set to expire on July 31, 2001. Most customers who received copies of the Professional edition CD containing this problem have been contacted, and replacement CDs have been sent to them. However, it was not possible to identify all customers who may have received copies.

First read on ActiveWin

David Byrne to Provide Promotional Music for Windows XP

"Like Humans Do" to Give Music Fans a Taste of the Digital Music Experience in Windows XP.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that every copy of the Windows® XP operating system will come with a promotional song from the musical innovator David Byrne to show off the digital media capabilities of the new Windows MediaT Player for Microsoft® Windows XP. The song "Like Humans Do" from Byrne's latest album, "Look Into the Eyeball," on Virgin Records America, will come preloaded in Windows Media Player for Windows XP. The song will play as a digital audio track, complete with album art and lyrics, the first time the Windows Media Player is used, showcasing the high-quality music experience possible with Windows Media Player for Windows XP.

Also on August 2, you will be able to view free WindowsMedia Concert webcase of David Byrne

The Netcraft Web Server Survey is a survey of Web Server software usage on Internet connected computers. We collect and collate as many hostnames providing an http service as we can find, and systematically poll each one with an HTTP request for the server name. In the July 2001 survey we received responses from 31,299,592 sites. For July 2001, Microsoft IIS gained 5.49% in market share. Apache lost 4.29%. There are already between six and seven hundred sites running Microsoft-IIS/6.0 and Windows .Net Server, the operating system that will succeed Windows 2000 sometime next year. Windows .Net Server has had little media attention relative to .Net, and there has been no prior reporting of the availability of a pre release, but the sites running the Windows .Net pre-release are spread over several countries.

Also reported by ActiveWin

Once Microsoft Competitor has been quoted saying that Microsoft are like children, well at least they have sense of humour. The following are some examples of it.

Few years ago I have watched webcase of Microsoft Profession Developer Conference (PDC) in 1998, there I saw Microsoft imitation of Volkswagen commercial. First watch the commercial (1.8MB). Two guys pick up old smelly chair, then they get rid of it. Microsoft took a clue from that, but instead old smelly chair they pickup Sun Workstations (6.4MB), see how they trash it.

Although still committed to a rival technology known as Bluetooth, Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are putting their muscle behind 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, which also enables short-range wireless links between computers and other devices. The two technology powerhouses are joining the board of directors at the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, or WECA, an industry group pushing Wi-Fi as a universal platform for small wireless networks. WECA was announcing the addition of Microsoft to its board on Wednesday. The moves by Microsoft and Intel - both prominent among Bluetooth backers - provide another boost to the unexpected momentum building behind Wi-Fi.

Microsoft is offering computer makers an all-or-nothing proposition when it comes to placing Internet service icons on machines to be shipped with the new Windows XP. If they put no icons on their desktops, that's fine with the software giant. But if they choose to include any icons, Microsoft's MSN service must be one of them -- no monopolies allowed. The company policy was announced Monday, following moves by several major PC makers toward independent deals with Internet service providers (ISPs) for desktop placement. Most prominently, Compaq Computer last week announced it had inked a deal to put the AOL service icon on its desktops.

Microsoft spokesperson Vivek Varma downplayed Redmond's involvement in such exclusionary practices, telling BetaNews that "Like AOL, we may enter into co-marketing deals with OEMs to promote MSN to mutual customers. Unlike AOL we will not pay OEMs to exclude competing Internet access offers."

According to internal documents viewed by BetaNews, the amount AOL pays its partners largely depends, and is occasionally tiered, on registration volume. The higher the number of signups, the more money PC makers receive. Budget computer manufacturer eMachines is involved in such a tiered bounty with AOL.

Dell seemingly holds the largest deal, with an immediate $70 bonus upon registration and $3.50 per month once the 120 day mark is reached. In exchange for the hefty bounty, Dell guarantees a minimum commitment of 200,000 signups. Similarly, Toshiba receives a lesser $65 initial bounty and $1.50 revenue share.