“It was inappropriate, but not a criminal offence for public servants in the Australian government’s employment watchdog office to
send each other short films featuring bestiality, an investigation has determined.” More at Fairfax I.T.

ComputerWorld: “Recruiters at a staffing conference said they are tapping into firms that lay off workers to find IT workers.”

ZDNET: “What if there is no easy next step for technology? What if there is
no need for going any further, at least not in the immediate future? In the sixties, exploring outer
space was all the rage. There seemed to be such implacable logic to it: first we put a man on the
moon, then on Mars, etc. To infinity and beyond. Well, it didn’t really work out that way, did it?

The computer business looks a bit like the space program of the sixties. There is (or rather, was)
a lot of starry eyed enthusiasm about what technology could provide. Unfortunately, we have
now come to the end of one growth phase–and we don¹t know yet how and when the next one
will kick in.”

ComputerWorld:“IBM’s launch of a 64-bit Intel Corp. server last week should give users a brand-new option for hosting enterprise class Windows 2000 Datacenter applications, according to the company.”

CNN: “Microsoft Corp., the world’s leading software supplier, said on Monday it
had led an eight-month crackdown on Internet software pirates it said were using illegal software to fund
drug-running and terrorism.

Microsoft’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division said in a statement it had acted in concert with
national law enforcement agencies in a sweep against sites distributing illegally copied software, in some cases
unknowingly.”

ComputerWorld: “With last week’s Beta 2 release of its new Windows XP operating system, Microsoft tried to clear up the marketing message for corporate users who may be wondering what’s in it for them.”

ZDNET: “The GNOME Foundation is set to release its latest open-source desktop environment,
GNOME 1.4, on Monday morning–a release that it claims makes the desktop far more
user-friendly and easy to manage.”

“With all the talk about open standards and cross-platform software development, it’s easy to
get an impression that we are entering the new era of universal compatibility.

But in reality, being an alternative operating system user is as difficult as ever. Pretty much all of
the same issues that turned the very concept of peaceful platform coexistence into an oxymoron
still exist.” From OSOpinion.com.

ZDNET: “Online trade publisher Internet.com on Monday said it was cutting approximately 15 percent of its
work force to streamline its media operations amid a weak advertising market.”

eeTimes: “Microsoft Corp. will not support Bluetooth in the next major version of
Windows, executives said this week, portraying the technology as not ready for prime time. Nor will
Windows XP, a version of the operating system aimed broadly at consumer and business users,
adopt the emerging HomeRF wireless local-area network standard. XP instead will use 802.11,
which company managers see as taking off rapidly.”