Earlier in the week AltaVista's parent company, Compaq, announced that it intends to create a separate company for AltaVista and eventually spin it off with a stock offering. Considering Compaq's relationship with The Behemoth, it's a very big possibility. This Monday Microsoft is scheduled to release a new version of Windows CE, the handheld computer operating system created to compete with the PalmPilot. Introduced are a few new features, most notably color screens. But with every new release, users are complaining that the CE system is designed too much like a desktop operating system and doesn't utilize the handheld environment optimally.
Prices are also incredibly high for a handheld.
While it does hold some users with the view that WinCE has what it takes to compete with the PalmPilot, 3Com's PalmPilot unit has scheduled release of a color screen handheld of its own later this year. Plus Update designed for the German market. This move is apparently due to euro-compatible bank scripts inside the programs that are unable to access German bank servers and stock quotes. Two service packs for Money 99 have already been released but both failed to correct the euro problem, leaving tech support to deal with more than 500 calls concerning it each day. Microsoft promises that reprogrammed versions of Money 99 will be avilable for free in April.