With the final release of Windows Server 2003 on the horizon, Microsoft has unveiled efforts it is taking to ensure the first Windows server release in over three years is secure.

The announcement follows a memo sent to customers Thursday by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates noting the progress Redmond has made in its Trustworthy Computing initiative. "As we increasingly rely on the Internet to communicate and conduct business, a secure computing platform has never been more important," Gates wrote.

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The Windows Product Team at Microsoft has sent invitations to beta test the PC Satisfaction Trial, a Web service that will be part of an upcoming customer research program.

"The intent of the trial will be to see how much more satisfied Windows customers are when they feel confident about the security of their PC and the safety of their data and personal information," the team wrote in an e-mail.

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UPDATED The accounts of millions of AOL subscribers were jeopardized this week due to a serious flaw in the company's Web-based mail system, BetaNews has learned.

The vulnerability stems from an error in one of AOL's international e-mail authentication systems, which granted users access without correctly verifying passwords. By simply entering an account name, an AOL user had the ability to read any other user's e-mail and all personal data contained therein.

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Originally slated to debut last year, Microsoft Customer Relationship Management was released to manufacturing on Tuesday. The new software, accessed via Microsoft Outlook and on the Web, targets mid-sized businesses looking to better manage their sales force and customer contact. Microsoft CRM has been in beta testing with numerous Redmond partners and will ship to resellers starting this week.

Built on .NET, Microsoft CRM has a modular design that enables the company to extend functionality of the software using add-on components. Sales and customer modules will initially ship with Microsoft CRM, and a module adding support for Microsoft's Great Plains accounting applications is expected by April.

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Finding middle ground when it comes to copy protection has proved nearly impossible, with consumers consistently blasting efforts by record labels to prevent copying by disabling CD playback on a PC. But Microsoft says it has found the answer with the Windows Media Data Session Toolkit and has begun to forge partnerships with numerous record companies.

The toolkit, a component of Windows Media 9 Series, enables content authors to include a second session on a CD or DVD containing protected content encoded with Windows Media Audio or Video, which can be accessed on a PC. Using Windows Media Digital Rights Management, music labels can specify when, where and how the content can used. The first session on the disc containing the original content will be inaccessible on a PC to prevent copying.

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Following disagreements over a preliminary injunction issued in late December ordering Microsoft to ship Windows with Sun Microsystem's Java, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz called lawyers for both sides to a special hearing Wednesday and told Microsoft it had four months to comply with his ruling. "I can't sit here hearing after hearing," Motz said. "I want this done in 120 days."

Sun told the court Microsoft wanted to take a year to start shipping Sun's latest Java revision. Microsoft dropped Java support in Windows XP, citing previous litigation from Sun, and made available an outdated Java release via Windows Update. Sun claims the move was intended to sabotage Java so Microsoft's .NET would become the dominate platform on the Internet.

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In response to increasing demand for open source software by countries around the world due to security and licensing concerns, Microsoft announced a new initiative to open the underlying Windows code to international governments.

The Government Security Program will provide governments controlled access to the source code for Windows 2000, XP, CE and Windows Server 2003 in order to assess the security of Microsoft software.

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Selected applicants were notified Tuesday of their acceptance into the Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 beta test. Microsoft began taking nominations for the test beginning last October.

"Thank you for your interest in the Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) beta program. We are pleased to inform you that you have been approved to participate in the SP4 beta program," the Microsoft Windows Sustained Engineering Team wrote in an e-mail. "You have been selected from a large pool of applicants because we believe you will provide us with useful feedback throughout the program."

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PalmSource announced Monday that it will replace its Graffiti handwriting recognition in current and future versions of Palm OS with Jot, a technology developed by Communication Intelligence Corporation.

The new software will be branded Graffiti 2 powered by Jot and recognize more conventional handwriting input. The original version of Graffiti required Palm owners to learn a specific handwriting method.

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Microsoft on Thursday announced intentions to rename Windows .NET Server 2003 to Windows Server 2003, stripping the .NET namesake the company has sought to tack onto many of its upcoming products. Redmond employees and partners received word of the change via e-mail, which stated other products would undergo similar rebranding.

Windows Server 2003 is the fourth name given to the product originally code-named Whistler Server. First deemed Windows 2002 Server in April 2001, Microsoft changed the name to Windows .NET Server in June 2001 and again renamed the product to Windows .NET Server 2003 last August due to severe development delays.

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Philips is seeking 50 volunteers to beta test its new Streamium MC-i250 broadband jukebox. Building on its first generation Streamium MC-i200 player, which entered beta testing one year ago, the MC-i250 adds wireless Internet capabilities using 802.11b.

The new Streamium MC-i250 can access a variety of online music, including streaming radio, as well as music stored on networked computers. Users will be able to access premium and free music services offered by MusicMatch, Radio Free Virgin, MP3.com, Yahoo! LAUNCH, Andante, and Live365.

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One of the quieter announcements coming out of this week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco is the beta release of X11 for Mac OS X. Based on XFree86 4.2.1, X11 for Mac OS X provides the same windowing environment used by a myriad of Linux and UNIX applications. Apple has ported the client and server libraries, and provides headers in the SDK in order to simplify porting X11 applications to Mac.

Because Mac OS X finds its roots in FreeBSD, it is no surprise that Apple is courting open source developers to its Darwin platform. And to make X11 applications feel more at home on a Mac, Apple has enabled support for Aqua window controls and advanced Quartz graphics rendering. X11 applications can run side by side with native Aqua applications and even minimize to the Dock with the "Genie Effect."

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Centercode is looking for beta testers located in France, Brazil and Germany to trial a new product that allows you to access a wireless LAN in your corporate, home and various hot point locations.

"This new and innovative product is designed to provide excellent wireless access with maximum mobility," according to Centercode.

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UPDATED Four months after making its public beta debut, the final version of Windows Media 9 Series was announced on Tuesday. The new Windows Media Player 9 was joined by the completed version of Movie Maker 2 for Windows XP, which made the beta rounds in November.

Among the new features in Windows Media Player 9 Series is Smart Jukebox functionality for managing digital music, new audio and video codecs and performance improvements. While leaving the interface similar to Windows Media Player 8, Microsoft has added a Premium Services tab to Windows Media Player 9 Series that allows users to access a variety of subscription services. Skins have also been added and updated, in addition to a Mini-Player Mode that shrinks Windows Media Player onto the taskbar.

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While this week's Macworld in San Francisco was rumored to usher in numerous new hardware devices, the biggest news from Apple ended up being software.

In a long-expected move, Apple unveiled its own Web browser based on the KHTML rendering engine found in KDE's Konqueror. The browser, dubbed Safari, features a minimal user interface sporting the brushed metal theme. Safari includes a built-in Google search and a "SnapBack" feature that returns you to a page you visited previously. Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the speed of Safari in his keynote address, claiming it was "three times faster than (Internet Explorer) on the Mac."

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