Netscape has released version 4.72 of their Communicator Web browser. Communicator 4.71 was slated to be the next release, but was never made public. Version 4.72 includes user agent support for Windows 2000 and support for the input of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. Download the Global IME modules from Microsoft to make use of this new feature. In addition, Netscape Calendar is no longer included with Communicator, but will instead be offered via Iplanet.com. Netscape also warns that the 'Insert Link' command under UNIX may cause the browser to crash. For more information, read the release notes. Download Netscape Communicator 4.72 for Windows, Linux, or FreeBSD.

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Final arguments in the federal antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. are slated to begin today, after the judge decided that settlement talks are lagging.

A report by the Associated Press today states that talks are going so
poorly that US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is
pressing ahead with plans for final courtroom arguments before
rendering his verdict.

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Microsoft has finally said goodbye to its loyal Windows 2000 testers, some who started way back in September 1997 at Beta 1.

Microsoft promised in its RTM announcement to testers that they would be sent information regarding an upcoming beta program. While Microsoft will not give any more specifics, testers assume the test will be for Microsoft's future operating systems, named 'Whistler' and 'Blackcomb'. Microsoft told testers that it was behind and could not get testers in until later this year when the beta started.

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The makers of the Palm handheld devices will
release a new organizer with a color screen, just days before the company's planned initial public offering. A new Palm product - the Palm IIIc - will have a 256-color screen that will enhance its readability while keeping the device
simple and uncluttered - a quality Palm users consistently rank as among the product's chief assets.

"Palm is developing a new level of readability for its users with a
color product," a Palm spokesperson told Newsbytes. "They've said
for a long time that they weren't going to do color until they
could do a product that hit a size, battery life and a price point
that they thought was accessible."

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Microsoft has announced a slew of updates for Windows 2000, just one day after their next flagship operating system hit store shelves. While many of the updates merely add hardware support, the software giant has already prepared the first 'Windows 2000 Critical Update,' containing two bug fixes and a security patch.

Another update of interest for gamers adds support under Windows 2000 for many recent games and gaming-related applications. Microsoft notes, "Windows 2000 was specifically architected to enable customers to easily add additional application support after the product had shipped for general release. The February 2000 package is the first release of such additional application support and includes software compatibility updates for Windows 2000."

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Adobe Systems and Palm Computing, a 3Com
company, have announced their intention to integrate the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) technology into the Palm Computing platform.

The companies said the agreement is designed to support
the growing consumer market for electronic publishing, and
bring a new level of convenience and portability to Adobe
customers. It will deliver Palm users new content, from
electronic books (e-books) to business workflow
documents.

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NBC Internet's Snap.com and Xoom will be merging their membership databases on February 23rd, adding a .1 to user names on the Snap service. For example, if your Snap member name was user, you would now be user.1. Normally this would be a
minor inconvenience, but Snap also provides Email.com, a free e-mail service which many people use as their permanent e-mail address, because it doesn't change with their ISP. Email.com states on their Web site, that "Your Email.com e-mail account is yours for life. That means if you change your job, school, home address or Internet service provider, you need not change your e-mail address." In an recent letter, Snap tells users to, "Please inform
everyone who sends you e-mail about this change since we will be unable to forward your messages." As compensation, NBCi is offering users a $10 discount on a purchase from BarnesandNoble.com. Full story to follow.

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In an effort to go where no software company has
gone before, Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, had actor Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek" fame host the introduction of Windows 2000.

Called "the future of computing" by Gates, Windows 2000 is said to
represent a significant industry-wide effort involving more than
1,000 "partners" and over $1 billion in engineering costs.

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After all the hype and a three-year-plus wait, today's official release of Microsoft Windows 2000 seems like a bit of a letdown. But the hulking operating system works - and fairly well.

Win 2000 Professional, the successor to Windows NT 4.0 Workstation,
generally
performs as promised. If you're looking for the next great OS interface,
however,
keep looking.

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E-Stamp Corp. has received approval from the
US Postal Service to start testing its Web browser electronic postage (e-postage) technology. At the same time, the company has souped up its regular E-Stamp Internet postage technology to support online credit card-based postage purchases.

Unlike the original E-Stamp system, the firm said that its Web
browser-based technology requires no hardware or Windows-based
software to be downloaded.

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Reports suggest that Microsoft will formally
reject the Department of Justice's plans to break up the company, saying that the requirement is a "regulatory death sentence." Today's
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said, however, that Microsoft is willing to concede on other points, acceding to "common sense" restrictions on
its conduct to meet the DoJ's antitrust claims.

In its defense against DoJ and European Union (EU) investigations,
Microsoft has consistently argued its corner by saying that although
it enjoys healthy sales of its operating system and allied software,
its hold on the market is not a monopoly.

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McAfee is looking for beta testers to try out their GroupShield Exchange software on Windows 2000 servers. Due to installation problems reported by testers, the development team has prepared another interim release to address the issue. In an e-mail sent out this morning, the beta team stated, "We are very eager to here of any issues you have experienced with the
current GroupShield Exchange 4.5 Beta 1 release. If the product does not satisfy 100% of your needs can you please report your concerns. Any defects not reported are unlikely to be resolved for the final release." If you would like to test this latest release, please contact avbeta@nai.com.

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America Online may be on the verge of acquiring a 48 percent equity share in Net2Phone, a deal that would give AOL a majority stake in the Internet telephone company.

Net2Phone spokeswoman Sarah Hofstetter told Newsbytes today,
"The company is not commenting on" reports by CNBC that a $1.75 billion
stock and cash deal would involve the sale of 25 million shares held by
IDT
Corp. Citing sources close to negotiations, CNBC said the deal could
exceed
$70 per Net2Phone share. An agreement could be announced this week,
the financial network said.

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Along with making the final preparations for the DirectX 8.0 beta test, Microsoft has also been busy "integrating DirectX development resources into the larger MSDN developer community." Dubbed the DirectX Developer Center, the site contains everything one could possibly need to know about the technologies, including FAQs, tools, samples, books, chat transcripts, and more. Currently in the spotlight is information about the new DirectMusic API and DirectMusic Producer. Visit the new site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/.

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After over four months of waiting, Nullsoft, Inc. has released a new version of their 'llama-whipping' digital audio player, Winamp. Version 2.6 includes some huge changes over its predecessor, namely featuring a new 'SuperPiMP' installation system, Winamp Agent, and an updated version of Advanced Visualization Studio.

Winamp Agent allows you to protect Winamp from being thwarted by other software such as Real Player or Microsoft Windows Media Player. CD audio support has also been drastically improved, along with updated MJuice and AudioSoft code. Winamp now has better integration with Netscape and Internet Explorer, including updated URLs. Highly skilled graphic designer, Steve Gedikian, has also created a new Winamp splash screen, paving the way for a redesigned About box. For more information and to download this latest release, visit FileForum.

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