A settlement between Microsoft and the state of California has been changed to avoid complaints by Apple Computer. According to this article in The Detroit News, Microsoft has dropped the proposed provision that would require that much of the money be spent on Microsoft products. Apple had rightly claimed that …

An article from CNET reports that Sun is preparing a huge marketing blitz (advertising and awareness-raising badging) for its Java technology. But, this leaves me wondering if the folks at Sun are still missing the point. Comments made in the press release indicate that they will be liberalizing the license …

I personally don't agree with the number published annually by the Business Software Alliance, but it is interesting to note that the Washington Post is reporting that this year's numbers are actually down (in terms of percentage of pirated software in use). They mention that the "cost" of software piracy …

Pixar's new hit has broken the record for an animated picture by raking in an outrageous $70.6M in its opening weekend, drowning the rest of the competition (Bruce Almighty is at 35M this week, with The Italian Job opening at 19.3M and The Matrix Reloaded now at 15M …

CNET is reporting that Microsoft has announced they will drop support for a stand-alone version of Internet Explorer after IE6 SP1. Previously, the company had made a stand-alone version to appease its rivals during the anti-trust case.

A little bit of topical weekend humor. Thanks to Amanda for passing this on.

An article in Wired this morning talks about Apple's seemingly surprising ability to stay afloat, innovative, and mostly profitable while the world is mostly Microsoft. He credits a number of factors, including the Clinton justice department, control of the hardware, and the now-tight links to the open-source Unix movement. I …

All major media outlets are reporting today that Microsoft and AOL have settled the anti-trust suit filed against Microsoft by AOL claiming that the company pushed Netscape out of the market through uncompetitive means. The result was a $750M payment to AOL, an agreement between the two companies to cooperate …

After receiving my Windows copy of Adobe's Acrobat Professional yesterday and my Macintosh version today, I'm ready to give some initial reactions to the versions. So far, so great. It's been a long time coming on the OS X side, and because of the annoyance of missing features in "real …

An excellent, but lengthy article on CNET provides some food for thought on Apple's Apple Music service, Microsoft's future in the area, some of the sour grapes by the "we were here first but nobody talks about us" crowd, and provides an interesting chart on who the author …

In a move that is seen as conciliatory for the large software maker, Microsoft has announced changes to its controversial Software Assurance program. CNET is running an article describing the changes and intended effects. The revisions don't decrease pricing or make it more flexible, but do add support, training, and …

A report from Wired alerts that Microsoft has once again withdrawn an update from their site due to an "inadvertent" problem with the Windows XP security update. According to the company, "Most systems didn't crash; they simply lost network connectivity." Perhaps they should check out what most users use their …

In honor of (and possibly in reference to) my grandfather and my brother (known collectively as the Doctors Paulsen), here is an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education about the habits of our fine professors.

An article on CNET reports that Microsoft is preparing to enhance their existing DRM capabilities in Windows Media Player in order to compete better against Apple's new service. The enhancements will allow restricted-rights tunes to be downloaded to music players compatible with Microsoft's DRM capabilities (in other words, the industry-leading …

Once again, a new entry from the so-wrong-it's-right category: an enterprising Macintosh programmer has created a HID (Human Interface Device) driver for using XBOX controllers on a Mac. To use it, you will need to have a USB to XBOX cable, and an XBOX controller.

Microsoft's PowerPoint is such a de facto standard that it is often referred to as a common noun ("I'll ship you a powerpoint", "We should do a powerpoint on that") replacing the previous word "deck" that used to symbolize a presentation.Here is a presentation that takes the presentation …

No big surprise, as Microsoft has been doing their best to complete the freebie-to-fee conversion recently (most notably with their near-stealth conversion of their photo service). Today CNET reports that MSN's calendar services will only be available to MSN subscribers starting on June 24.

In what seems to be a repeating problem between Microsoft's MSN sites and other browser manufacturers, CNET reports that there are new problems between Opera and the sites.

According to an article on CNET, Amazon and Microsoft have entered into an agreement by which Amazon will provide music samples via Windows Media Player 9.

In an article as fascinating for its location (Business 2.0) as its content, the author suggests that Intuit's act of contrition (dropping their cumbersome activation codes) may be an indicator to Microsoft and the studios in Hollywood that they should be thinking about user's rights if they want …