The Mozilla Foundation is hatching yet another software project to challenge a key Microsoft title. The new project, code-named Lightning, aims to integrate Mozilla's calendar application, Sunbird, with its recently released Thunderbird e-mail application. That integration is aimed right at the heart of Microsoft's widely used Outlook software. "I think Outlook leaves a lot of room for a fast competitor," said a Mozilla volunteer involved in the project, who asked not to be named. "Th...

Apple has sued three software developers, accusing them of posting pre-release versions of the next major Mac OS X update on the Internet without its permission. The lawsuit is a further blow to the reputation of BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer download technology. Last week, a host of BitTorrent server operators were sued by the Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) for hosting unauthorised copies of movies. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/22/apple_sues_tiger_leak/  

There are some new critical security updates available. Just wanted to remind everyone to get updated. http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Gartner has warned that companies shouldn't use the new Google Desktop Search tool because of security concerns and a lack of features. In a three-page research document, the authors - Whit Andrews, Maurene Grey and David Smith - say the tool that was released in beta in October is "not the proper search tool for businesses right now". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/google_gartner_desktop_search/

Two and half months after Firefox's 1.0 launch, the Mozilla Foundation has more to celebrate than non-stop media coverage: Firefox has surpassed 20 million downloads. The milestone comes just days after new tallies of Web browser usage shows strong gains by the open source newcomer, which is slowly chipping away at Internet Explorer's dominance. Last November, Microsoft IE product manager Gary Schare told BetaNews, "We think that getting the first set of early adopters is a lot easier th...

Use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has fallen for the seventh straight month, and the decline is beginning to accelerate, according to new data from research firm WebSideStory. Usage of IE stood at 90.3 percent, a one month decrease of 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, Firefox usage rose nearly a full percentage point to 5 percent of the market. WebSideStory also showed gains in Apple's Safari browser and Opera Software's flagship browser. The original Mozilla browser showed some weaknes...

I think the price is too high for this service. Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) is launching on Thursday a subscription service that offers users a tight link between the company's MSN Hotmail Web mail service and its Outlook e-mail client PC software. The new service, called Microsoft Office Outlook Live, costs $59.95 per year and includes Office Outlook 2003 for Subscription Services, which is a new downloadable subscription version of Office Outlook 2003, 2GB of online s...

Microsoft plans to drop the "Home" and "Pro" tags with the next release of Windows, code-named Longhorn, and is looking at shipping a single product that includes the features found in today's Windows XP (news - web sites) Media Center and Tablet PC editions. While still mum on many Longhorn packaging details, Microsoft representatives are more willing to talk publicly about the product now that a first beta release is set to ship in the coming months and the decisions about key operati...

Looks interesting. Link

Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on its spyware killer, which is based on technology from a recently acquired company, Giant Software. The beta version is expected to debut in a few days. Microsoft's December purchase of Giant, a small U.S. publisher of spyware detection software, put Microsoft in a position to offer an antispyware application of its own. Spyware is software that can, among other things, inundate users with unwanted pop-ups and surreptitiously monitor a comput...

Like most people I receive a lot of spam in my inbox. I use mye-mail for pretty much everything including business so finding a wayto filter the spam while minimzing the chances of good mail gettingtagged as spam is important. I recently purchased Outlook 2003 aftertrying out Thunderbird and decided Outlook is better for my needs. Outlook has a built-in junk mail filter that does a prett good job atfiltering the mail, but it seems lately more and more spam is gettingthrough. ...

With iPod-savvy Windows users clearly in its sights, Apple is expected to announce a bare bones, G4-based iMac without a display at Macworld Expo on January 11 that will retail for $499, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret. Link What does everybody think about this?

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Microsoft Corp.'s plan to hardwire computer security into a silicon chip rather than relying on software alone will make its debut in the next release of the Windows PC operating system that will ship late next year. The technology, to be described by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates during a speech in Seattle on Monday, will protect the startup of PCs equipped with a security chip and ensure that sensitive files aren't accessible when someone tries to boot the computer ...

You can order Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 from Microsoft. Link

Focus on Freeware – Vol. 1 I wanted to take the time and continue highlighting some free wareas I did before. In my first article I showed you some of the freesoftware I use for my computer. As I said before, I don't mindpaying for great software, all my software from Stardock is proof ofthat. However, I do believe there are great freeware applicationsthat are better than their paying counterparts. Today I wanted to focus on a piece of software that I think a lot...