Over 6,000 beta testers are eagerly anticipating the first beta of Office 11, which began shipping last week. Although Microsoft announced the release on Tuesday, testers did not receive notice until late Friday in an e-mail from beta coordinators.

"Welcome to the beta release of Office 11 and Office Family products. You can expect your beta kit to be delivered within the next few days," the message read.

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Novell has begun beta testing a commercial version of MySQL optimized for NetWare 6, which enables developers to utilize the open source database along with Apache and PHP in the network operating system. The applications -- collectively known as NetWare AMP -- position NetWare as a viable platform for Web development.

The public beta version of MySQL for NetWare 6 allows developers to use Java, C, Perl, and PHP APIs to access persistent data. Novell recently completed beta testing of PHP for NetWare.

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At the Windows Embedded Developers Conference in Las Vegas Tuesday, Microsoft announced the release of Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1, the componentized version of Microsoft's flagship operating system designed for embedded devices. The update includes all security and bug fixes from Windows XP SP1, along with a number of new embedded-specific features.

Most notable is a new Remote Boot feature that enables a server to boot remotely using an image downloaded from a server, without requiring local storage. Windows XP Embedded with SP1 includes support for 20 languages via language packs, in addition to IPv6 and USB 2.0. The full .NET Framework is also supported in the update, but not the smaller .NET Compact Framework.

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Microsoft on Friday announced a new specification for storing digital media on recordable discs and said it will include the technology in the final release of Windows Media Player 9 Series, along with a future update of Windows Movie Maker. The new technology dubbed High-performance Media Access Technology, or HighM.A.T. for short, was developed with Panasonic and will be licensed to other consumer electronics companies.

HighM.A.T. creates a standard method of organizing digital media such as photos, movies and music on CDs, which allows consumers to more easily access those discs when not using a PC. Currently, car stereos and home electronics equipment must search an entire disc to find digital media, causing significant delays.

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Corel's Beta Team is seeking testers for Painter 8 on PC and Mac, along with version 11 of the company's WordPerfect Office productivity suite. Corel is looking for WordPerfect users who have experience with scripting languages and PDF publishing, as well as working on long documents.

Painter 8 simulates realistic painting styles such as water colors, liquid inks, oil paints, colored pencils, felt pens, chalks, and pastels. Applicants should have experience using Painter, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

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Originally on tap for a holiday debut, Windows Powered Smart Displays will not be available until early 2003, a Microsoft spokesperson acknowledged Tuesday. The technology, formerly code-named Mira, runs on Windows CE for Smart Displays and enables a user to work on a PC from anywhere in the home using a detachable LCD or mobile monitor.

"While the specific launch date is still TBD, Microsoft is working with its partners including Viewsonic, Philips, NEC and Fujitsu to have these devices available in the first quarter of 2003," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews.

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A beta testing opportunity is open to 30 U.K. and 20 German testers who have extensive networking experience and work in an office environment. Testers must be willing to install the networking device on a live network and report progress on a daily basis.

Centercode is optionally seeking IT managers or system administrators, and testers working in government, healthcare and other large-scale industries. Testers must be comfortable installing cables and network hardware, as well as installing the device into a junction box.

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A leaked copy of MSN 8 made the rounds on Internet sites Monday, giving subscribers an early look at the updated service on the eve of AOL 8.0's official launch.

Set to debut on October 24, MSN 8 features an enhanced version of MSN Explorer with improved junk mail filters and new parental controls.

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The OpenOffice.org Project on Monday finalized a public beta version of the open source office productivity suite for Mac OS X. Formed two years ago by Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice.org has already brought the project -- based on Sun's StarOffice suite -- to Windows, Linux and Solaris.

Although the beta release for Mac OS X is a major milestone for developers, the port still requires XFree86 and may not appeal to novice users. XFree86 is the standard X11 Windowing System included in almost every Linux distribution, and is able to run on the Darwin core found in Mac OS X.

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Beginning November 7, Microsoft will hold numerous launch events around the country to celebrate and showcase the official launch of the Tablet PC. First announced at COMDEX two years ago, the Tablet PC is being hailed as the "evolution of the notebook computer." Many first-generation devices will in fact come in a notebook form factor running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Intel, VIA and Transmeta have signed on to develop Tablet PC microprocessors, with ViewSonic, NEC, Acer, Compaq, Fujitsu, Toshiba and others also joining the initiative. Adobe and Corel are among those who will extend to their applications to support the Tablet PC platform.

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Creative Technology has released a new incarnation of its NOMAD Jukebox, which the company hopes will lure away potential buyers of Apple's iPod. The new hard drive-based MP3 player, dubbed the NOMAD Jukebox Zen, offers 20GB of capacity in a package similar to that of the iPod. And with both USB and FireWire connectivity at a price point significantly less than Apple's, the Zen just might have what holiday shoppers are searching for.

"We've done something incredible here," said Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo. "We're priced at 40% less than the competition; feature both USB and blazing fast FireWire so that we're compatible with the hundreds of millions of PCs out there; and offer outstanding audio quality at up to 98dB SNR."

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Microsoft this week released an updated beta build of Windows Media Player 9 Series to Technical Preview participants. The new build, numbered 2903, features a completely revamped setup along with numerous bug fixes.

The default "Corona" skin has been updated and is now resizable according to beta testers. In addition, a sleek new skin dubbed "Quicksilver" is available for Windows XP users.

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Centercode, a professional beta testing firm, is looking for people located in the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan area to take part in a digital TV receiver beta test. The new receiver offers "unparalleled video and audio quality for your standard (analog) or High Definition television," according to the company.

Each test participant must be located in the Salt Lake City, Utah area (Brigham City to Provo excluding Park City and Tooele
areas), and be willing to allow a technician to visit his or her home to do a signal analysis. Applicants must watch three to five hours of local programming each weak and provide detailed information about television viewing habits.

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Electronic Arts is looking for 3,000 gamers to beta test its upcoming multiplayer real-time strategy, Command & Conquer Generals. C&C Generals puts players in control of massive modern armies in a world on the edge of total annihilation.

Five missions will be included in the multiplay test, along with three sides: the United States, China and an underground terror organization. Each side will feature unique war strategies and weapons.

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday unveiled a new Office application, code-named "XDocs," designed to ease the collection of data by using XML-based forms within documents. XDocs will resemble a traditional word processor, but allow customers to create dynamic forms to capture information using a pre-defined XML schema, which can then be easily organized and shared.

"What this means is that the customer defines the overall structure of the information that will be gathered from the XDocs template, and what type of content each data element will contain," said Jean Paoli, Microsoft's XML architect behind XDocs. "Being able to define your own schema is a critical business advantage, because no one knows what kind of information your company needs to gather better than you do."

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