Mike

The prospect of an injunction delaying the October launch of Windows XP drew closer on Friday, with a government request to the appeals court to send the case back to the district court early. The current status as regards Microsoft's little legal issue is that the appeals court intends to send it back to the district court anyway, but that it's currently in a waiting period in order to give both parties the opportunity to ask the appeals court to hear the case again. (ActiveWin)

Mike

In this issue of MSDN® News, you'll find several articles about Visual Studio® .NET. Visual Studio .NET is now a truly integrated development environment as all of the languages work within the same shell. It combines the best elements of IDEs from individual tools (Visual Basic®, Visual C++®, and so on) with new integrated features such as the end-to-end debugger. This article describes some of the new features in Visual Studio .NET that you will see illustrated in the visual tour on pages 8 and 9. You'll also want to check out the Talking To interview on page 6 where Rob Brigham, Lead Program Manager of Visual Basic .NET, talks about the making of Visual Studio .NET. And for a fun look back to the early days of integrated development environments.

Mike

Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba Corp. today announced that Toshiba has chosen the Microsoft® Pocket PC platform to power its upcoming line of next-generation personal digital assistants (PDAs). Toshiba, a leader in mobile computing for corporate customers, plans to expand and extend the use of its highly successful line of laptops and other mobile devices by building Pocket PCs, the first of which will launch today in Japan.

As do all Pocket PC devices, Pocket PCs from Toshiba will offer unmatched functionality, including a rich user interface, secure corporate and Web access, access to e-mail, an enhanced personal information manager and multimedia capabilities. In addition, the Toshiba Genio will be the first Pocket PC on the market to have built-in, dual-expansion capabilities utilizing both Compact Flash II and Secure Digital (SD) expansion slots. This increased integrated expandability will enable Pocket PC users to run additional industry-standard memory and input-output options, including wireless expansion, simultaneously on their devices.

Mike

Register for the Windows® XP Preview Program and try the new operating system before it's released to the public on October 25, 2001. Experience the freedom of the digital age, enabling you to create, connect and communicate anywhere and on any device. The Preview Program gives you access to the Windows XP Professional release candidates as well as to the members-only newsgroup. If you order the download option, you will receive an e-mail within three days. If you order the CD, you can expect the CD within three weeks. International versions are available.

Mike

According to TechTV, Microsoft is on the verge of releasing an update to its instant messaging program. The MSN Messenger update, targeted to be released sometime this week, is supposed to add a backup feature so users can save their buddy list locally. This update obviously addresses the concerns that raised after the recent MSN Messenger outage that left thousand of users with empty buddy list.

Mike

With only 100 days left before Windows XP hits retail stores, Microsoft is making some bizarre last minute changes to the OS designed to avoid a possible confrontation with the US government. Last week, the software giant dropped a bombshell with its decision to allow PC makers and other OEMs to modify Windows XP in ways in which it previously said were impossible. Key among these, of course, is the ability to remove Internet Explorer. And Monday, the company will announce a second set of concessions, based around its Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP).

Mike

Microsoft will provide the resources for ripping MP3 files in Windows XP after all. But there is a catch: Consumers will pay extra for it.

Microsoft could also push back against pundits that argue the company more fully integrated Windows Media Player into XP for the purpose of crushing competitors. The three companies enabling Windows XP's MP3 and DVD capabilities all make software that competes against Windows Media Player. Each company will offer its own version of the two add-on packs.

Mike

The Justice Department on Friday asked an appeals court to issue an order moving the Microsoft case back to the trial court. If honored, the request would mean that the government could go forward with the case immediately rather than waiting until mid-August. The action could be a sign that the government will seek some kind of injunction against Microsoft before the new Windows XP operating system ships in October

Mike

The Microsoft Outlook View Control is an ActiveX control that allows Outlook mail folders to be viewed via web pages. The control should only allow passive operations such as viewing mail or calendar data. In reality, though, it exposes a function that could allow the web page to manipulate Outlook data. This could enable an attacker to delete mail, change calendar information, or take virtually any other action through Outlook including running arbitrary code on the user's machine.