Kelly McNeill writes “If an individual had the ability to listen to the thoughts and utterances of Mac users across the globe Wednesday morning, that person would more than likely have heard the simultaneous grumbles and moans of all those that watched the latest Macworld Expo from Apple Computer, as virtually none of the expectations were met. I’m confident that Apple has a whole lot more that it’s holding back for better economic times. I, along with the rest of the Mac community, was hoping that Apple would release these products at the Expo as an act of defiance of the current economic slowdowns. Oh well. I guess its back to the waiting game again.”

CNet reports that Microsoft has relaxed one of its anti-piracy measures in Windows XP in response to testers’ complaints. XP will now decide a system has changed too much for the user to continue using it legally after a limited number of changes instead of nearly any significant hardware change.

Just a week after Microsoft acknowledged Windows doesn’t need Internet Explorer to run, the software giant is asking for the US court system to rehear its antitrust case with regards to its browser monopoly. ZDNet has the story.

Kelly McNeill writes “The socioeconomic theory that Microsoft claims to espouse is similar to Ayn Rand’s implementation of “Objectivism” — the idea that individual thought and creativity ought to be rewarded and unrestricted. However, Microsoft has brought this theory full circle. What was once considered noble and heroic has become oppressive and contemptible, even corrupt. A heroic thinker, inventor, and entrepreneur like Rand’s John Galt character is what Mr. Gates and his cronies claim is their ideal, their role model. Microsoft claims to represent the forces of creativity in a battle against entrenched, know-nothing bureaucrats. But in reality, who do the millions of innovators and entrepreneurs in the high-tech world have to fear more: Microsoft or some government entity?”

Network World Fusion reports that Compaq has “announced enhancements to its Tru64 operating system and the first high-end AlphaServer GS Series based on its 1-GHz, 64-bit processor.”

Kelly McNeill writes “When Jeff Hawkin was still walking around with a block of wood in his shirt pocket to test his Palm prototype’s portability and usability, Psion already had Europeans addicted to its digital organizers — later known as PDAs, a term coined by Apple Computer ex-CEO John Sculley. When Apple created the personal computer market with its Macintosh in 1984, Psion was creating the PDA market with its first organizer. Redirecting its energy away from the consumer market may in fact be the best initial move to take Psion into the future, considering the recent financial and inventory woes experienced by Palm Computing and Handspring. Psion management still remains optimistic during these tough times, pointing out that the company is “evolving” to survive.”

CNet has an interview with Ogg Vorbis team leader Christopher Montgomery. Ogg Vorbis is an Open Source alternative to the popular mp3 music format.

ZDNet reports that Dell is now shipping Red Hat Linux on all its servers and some of its desktops. Dell recently became the world’s largest manufacturer of PCs.

Anonymous Reader writes, “Linuxdevices.com has just posted a cool online mini-tutorial about BusyBox — ‘the Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux’. The online mini-presentation includes information about what BusyBox is, where to get it, and how to configure and compile it. Basically, BusyBox includes the functions of many common Linux utilities within a single small executable.”

Linux World reviews “Programming Linux: A Beginner’s Guide”, calling the book “suitable” for users new to Linux interested in beginning to learn about programming.