Making the leap directly from version 8.0, Red Hat unveiled version 9 of its leading Linux distribution. Outwardly sporting an update to its Bluecurve user interface, Red Hat Linux 9 internally includes a new threading library and the latest open source technology.

The release is built upon Linux kernel 2.4.20 and features the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, Mozilla for Web browsing and Ximian Evolution for e-mail.

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Taking its first steps improve security of wireless networks, Microsoft issued a patch for Windows XP that enables support for Wi-Fi Protected Access.

WPA serves as an interim solution for bolstering security, while the IEEE works to ratify 802.11i, a new wireless networking standard that is slated for completion by the end of the year.

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The 64-bit edition of Windows XP designed for Intel's Itanium 2 processor was released to manufacturing Friday, alongside Windows Server 2003. To emphasize the updated nature of the release, Microsoft has named the desktop operating system Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2003.

Windows Server 2003 Datacenter and Enterprise Editions will also feature 64-bit flavors of Redmond's new server platform.

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UPDATED Microsoft announced on Friday that Windows Server 2003 has gone gold as Redmond gears up for the official launch on April 24. The release to manufacturing means the code has been deemed final and OEMs may soon begin shipping systems running the new operating system.

Sporting build number 3790, evaluation versions of the final Windows Server 2003 code are now available for download by beta testers. Testers, however, will not receive full complimentary copies of the operating system as they do with most other Microsoft betas.

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As it strives to upset AOL's market dominance, Microsoft is readying an update to its MSN Internet Service with Explorer version 8.5. MSN 8.5 serves as an interim release on the road to MSN 9, a major update that will square off with AOL 9.0 as both companies shift their focus to broadband subscribers.

Microsoft recently sent customers an invitation to join the MSN 8.5 beta program, although gave no specific details as to new features or changes.

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Windows XP Service Pack 1 brought about many fixes for Microsoft's flagship operating system, but a change to the memory management system caused applications on some machines to run much slower.

A source told BetaNews that most performance complaints received by Microsoft came from users running a Pentium 4 processor. Microsoft recently acknowledged the problem and privately issued a hotfix, but a patch has not yet publicly appeared on Windows Update or Microsoft's Download Center.

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UPDATED Microsoft has released DirectX 9.0a for a second time, after it pulled the update due to a problem with ATI graphics cards. Most notably corrected in version 9.0a is an issue that caused MSN Messenger to malfunction when DirectX 9 was installed.

The initial DirectX 9.0a release was incompatible with ATI Catalyst 03.1 drivers, still in use by many gamers, according to Microsoft.

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A seed program for Apple's Safari Web browser has been suspended following numerous widespread leaks to the Internet. Although beta builds of Safari have been publicly released, Apple was also frequently sending developers newer releases containing added features such as tabbed browsing. The most recent leak of beta build 67 prompted Apple to notify members that it was closing the program.

"Due to Safari 67 postings to the internet, we have closed the Safari Seed project," Apple wrote in the e-mail. "We know that the majority of you are not responsible for the leaks to the internet, and we sincerely appreciate your feedback, time and effort with this project."

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At its Convergence 2003 conference in Orlando, Microsoft group vice president Jeff Raikes offered insight into packaging plans for the upcoming release of Office System 2003.

Previously reported by BetaNews, Office System 2003 is name given to Microsoft's new Office family composed of Microsoft Office 2003, FrontPage 2003, InfoPath 2003, OneNote 2003 and SharePoint Portal Server 2.0.

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Apple announced it has decided to push back its Worldwide Developers Conference from May 19 to June 23 in order to give the company time to finish a preview version of the next Mac OS X release, code-named "Panther."

The 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference will now take place from June 23 to June 27 in San Francisco, instead of San Jose. 170 sessions are planned for the conference, covering areas such as application frameworks, graphics and hardware.

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iPod owners received a long-awaited update this week that resolves the top complaint about Apple's popular audio player - erratic battery life.

The first update to be released since last October, software version 1.2.6 enables the iPod to better track its charge and use the entire battery capacity. As a result, the iPod now supports longer playback times and at least ten days of standby life.

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Cisco Systems announced on Thursday intentions to purchase Linksys in a common stock deal valued at $500 million. The move represents Cisco's first foray into the home and small office networking market. Linksys, which currently sells more than 70 consumer network products, will become a division of Cisco helmed by Charlie Giancarlo.

"Fueled by consumer broadband adoption, the home networking space has experienced mass market acceptance. Linksys has captured a strong position in this growing market by developing an extensive, easy-to-use product line for the home and small office," said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, in a statement.

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In an effort to push adoption of IE 6.0, Microsoft quietly yanked Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2 from its download site. Users running older versions of IE 5.5, which shipped with Windows Me, must upgrade to the latest browser release.

Ironically, IE 5.01 SP2 is still available as it is primarily used by businesses running Windows 2000. Because business customers are less prone to upgrade, Microsoft tends to offer such fixes longer than it does for consumer customers.

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The original iMac was quietly removed from sale this week, marking the end of a product that long stood as an icon of Apple's rebirth. Built around a 15-inch CRT display, the original iMac debuted in 1998 for just under $1300.

Apple continued to sell the old model as an entry-level computer even after launching the flat-panel iMac in early 2002. Pricing for the original iMac eventually dropped to $799, with Apple updating the all-in-one computer over time to include new technologies such as FireWire and CD burning.

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A serious security vulnerability has been discovered in the Windows Scripting Engine, found in all versions of Windows. The flaw lies in the engine's processing of JScript, which allows for an attacker to execute potentially malicious code from a simple Web site or HTML laden e-mail.

The specific vulnerability is a buffer overflow caused by a heap overflow in the JScript.dll file. The Windows Scripting Engine does not correctly size a buffering during a memory operation, which could lead to the overflow and execution of code with user permissions.

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