The problem with the investment is that it is not wholly disinterested. Wholly disinterested is an alien concept to the guys at Redmond. Microsoft, which has 90percent of the market in word processing, spreadsheets and graphics software clearly benefits from partial ownership of Corel's WordPerfect Office software, which competes with Microsoft Windows in a Linux version. At its two-day forum in Geneva, the World Intellectual Property Organization has made little headway in offering solutions to difficult questions plaguing online commerce. The Federal Trade Commission today has identified 200 firms on the Internet that it says are collecting personal financial information and selling it to thir parties.
Some people like to train spot, others are into bird watching.
For Kenneth Libbrecht, professor of physics at California Institute of Technology, his kick is snowflake watching. There are few neighborhoods left where children can meet their pals after school for a friendly game of kickball in a vacant lot. Parents should accept this reality of contemporary life and understand that the virtual world can be a boon to today's latchkey child. Thanks to Netmug and Wombat for providing bandwidth and hosting services. Larry Rosenthal examines a press release from Adobe and tells us what lays in store for the unsuspecting, while they sip their java.