Being the tallest IT poppy means you’re always going to attract international headlines, so it was no surprise that everyone heard about the hacker who managed to get in to Microsoft.

Let’s just step back and revisit the Department of Justice ruling that Microsoft should be broken up to avert its monopoly status, which has since gone to appeal.

On the day of the Dept of Justice announcement, Microsoft released its new Net strategy. Media pundits thought that it was meant to divert media attention from the DoJ’s decision, but it was much more. The break up, if it happens, will separate the Application and Operating System applications.

But either Microsoft was one step ahead of the DoJ or technology has come to the rescue at the right time. A few years back, Larry Ellison suggested that desktop PCs would become redundant as everyone hooked up to an application provider to get their software.

Microsoft.Net makes your web browser the centre of all applications. This is extremely cunning, since if Microsoft gets it technically right, the browser could very well become the Operating System.

It’s going to be application hell if Microsoft designs it so that the majority of plugins are part of the Browser operation. I can even foresee things like Microsoft Word becoming part of the Browser functionality – editing and uploading web pages.

It’s very smart positioning by Microsoft. They’ve no doubt banked on the fact that the appeals process takes an average of two years to get through the courts, so they have a bit of time to make hay. Microsoft could well be in a win-win situation (no pun intended).

Hot News
Well as you know Microsoft was the victim of a ‘hack’. The bemusing thing was that they hacker was monitored for a week, but they couldn’t track down the offender. When you consider that the I Love You virus infected millions of computers and finding the original source was a needle in a haystack event, this was much more difficult. The other funny thing was that they didn’t apply their own service and security packs to the system. I’m sure that if they’d rung the helpdesk, and paid $120, the first thing they would have been told was to buy the MS security. Maybe they prefer sifting through competitors trash cans as a Silicon Valley newspaper reported.

Sony Playstation II has been an astonishing hit. As in Japan, the US release stocks went to fill back orders, so it was sold out before hitting the market. One of the main reasons is because the pricing matches the cost of a DVD player. Instead of buying a DVD player, you can get a games console that can hook up to the Net. Now it seems that the Australasian launch will be postponed because of insufficient stock.

Compaq has recalled around 55,000 notebook battery packs in the E500 and V300 series. The serial numbers are TCGK 00001-10500; TCGK 20001-21800; TCGK 40001 -83100 and TCHK 40001-44700. Apparently they have the potential to release smoke due to overheating.

There were major privacy concerns when AOL’s Netscape browser collected usage data and Real Player used its audio streamers to feed back information about what users were listening to. With new hard encoded software on wireless devices, it’s not difficult for companies to collect information about you. The concern is that there isn’t any privacy legislation able to keep up with such technological advancements.

An Australian, Steven George Hourmouzis, has been charged in America with sending more than 3.5 million E-mail messages that led to the share price of the Rentech company (listed on the US NASDAQ) to rise by more than 900 percent. Hourmouzis made a tidy profit by selling his shares. He’s in the brig for two years.

Hotsites
http://edison.rutgers.edu
I was always fascinated by Thomas Edison and his inventions – most notably the electric light globe. I remember reading that he had a chair he would sit in, with a cup of coffee in one hand, and think of ideas. The coffee would fall out of his hands at the moment when his thinking was the most clear. This site is dedicated to Edison’s work, papers and patents.

www.advancebuildings.org
I have to thank the scout report mailing list for this one. It’s an extremely well documented site about advanced building practices – from ventilation to heating and cooling. An excellent reference guide.

www.nmwa.org
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only museum to be dedicated to works of art created by women. The brief tour offers an interesting overview and there are plenty of permanent displays to browse.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/default.asp
You have to download a plugin called the Clever content first, but it takes only a short time. This is an extension from the Encarta pages and allows you to zoom into various parts of the world and get a topside view of the area. Some of the photos are old, and the plugin has an annoying refresh and the scroll is not smooth, but still, it’s not a bad attempt.