[AppleSurf Inbox] Apr 30, 2000

[applesurf at myapplemenu.comapplesurf]

AppleSurf Inbox

== Top Stories ====================

Microsoft's Competition Is Looking Attractive (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/investing/043000invest-microsoft.html>
Microsoft's biggest problem is not the court case," Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of the Oracle Corp., said at a meeting with securities analysts earlier this month. "Their biggest problem is Windows 2000."

PC Users Express Concern That Split May Hurt Them (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/30consumer.html>
While lawyers and regulators in Washington ponder the fate of the Microsoft Corporation, Troy Anthony stands in a computer store here, struggling with the conflict the case inspires in ordinary consumers. He says he feels strongly that Microsoft should not be divided in a way that destroys the Windows standard he already knows how to use. 

Tangled Path Led To The Government's Decision To Seek A Breakup Of Microsoft (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/30remedy.html>
When it all began two years ago, with the federal and state governments filing their landmark antitrust suit against Microsoft, Kevin O'Connor, an assistant attorney general in Wisconsin, was struck with a numbling fear: What would the plaintiffs do if they actually won the case against one of the richest and most powerful companies in America?

== Reviews (The good and the bad) ====================

Armchair Surfing (MacMilitia.com)
<http://www.macmilitia.com/cgi-bin/ithought.pl?042800>
My iBook now has a brand-new AirPort card... I'm laying back in a reclining chainr in my bedroom, with nothing but headphones plugged in.

== Know Thy Enemy (Keeping track of the Wintel empire) ====================

Microsoft's Competition Is Looking Attractive (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/investing/043000invest-microsoft.html>
Microsoft's biggest problem is not the court case," Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of the Oracle Corp., said at a meeting with securities analysts earlier this month. "Their biggest problem is Windows 2000."

For Now, Microsoft Can't Save Itself (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/columns/043000col-watch.html>
Now that the government has formally proposed a break up of Microsoft, some investors may expect its depressed shares to rebound, simply because the company's worst fate is clear.  If the shares recover, though, they will have to do so with one of the biggest buyers of Microsoft shares stuck on the market's sidelines: Microsoft itself. 

PC Users Express Concern That Split May Hurt Them (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/30consumer.html>
While lawyers and regulators in Washington ponder the fate of the Microsoft Corporation, Troy Anthony stands in a computer store here, struggling with the conflict the case inspires in ordinary consumers. He says he feels strongly that Microsoft should not be divided in a way that destroys the Windows standard he already knows how to use. 

Microsoft's Best Rival: Its Product (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/30impact.html>
The overriding policy goal of a remedy in the Microsoft antitrust case, the government has said repeatedly, is to make the world safe for future innovation. The door to fair competition must be left open, the government insisted, so that Microsoft cannot thwart its next head-on challenger with illegal tactics.

Tangled Path Led To The Government's Decision To Seek A Breakup Of Microsoft (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/30remedy.html>
When it all began two years ago, with the federal and state governments filing their landmark antitrust suit against Microsoft, Kevin O'Connor, an assistant attorney general in Wisconsin, was struck with a numbling fear: What would the plaintiffs do if they actually won the case against one of the richest and most powerful companies in America?

Microsoft's Latest PDA Try, PocketPC, Presents No Threat To Palm Empire (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/ml04302000.htm>
Whether or not the Justice Department ultimately succeeds in breaking the company into bit-sized pieces, Bill Gates' creation is too weighed down by its own baggage to pose an ongoing threat to the future of technology.

Pocket PC Brings Multimedia Into The Crowded PDA Mix (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/pda04302000.htm>
Shopping for a personal digital assistant can be confusing. They all do different things, it seems.

Microsoft's Defense Battle To Open On Wall Street (Associated Press)
<http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500198353-500272423-501436118-0,00.html>
Microsoft corp. has vowed to fight the federal government's plan to break up the company into two separate parts in the courts, but the first battlefield is likely to be on Wall Street when trading resumes Monday.

== Breaking Barriers (About the internet and the web) ====================

Digital Divide Isn't The Real Issue (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dl04302000.htm>
Let's stop pretending that we've solved all that much when we run some wiring through the crumbling walls of a public school on a Saturday morning, hooking up a few 2-year-old PCs. All we've done is install hardware, the easy part of the job.

Net Standards... Without Sun And MS? (Sm at rt Reseller)
<http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2557456,00.html>
IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP and Compaq unite in calling for one set of standards for Web apps, but Microsoft and Sun aren't involved... yet.

== Entertainment (The Entertainment Scene In Singapore) ====================

Gay Teens In Taiwan (Asiaweek)
<http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0505/as.cinema1.html>
A rosy hued documentary gets a mixed reception in the Lion City.

== Around Town (News out of Singapore) ====================

DBS Bank 'Should Hold Back On Charges' (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/primenews/pri1_0430.html>
Allow CPF Board time to work out how workers can transfer money to bank accounts: Boon Yang.