We couldn"t let 2002 go without including Paul"s final Short Take post for 2002. Heres two to wet your appetite.
Microsoft in Macromedia Buyout Rumor
A rumor is making the rounds this week about a possible buyout of Macromedia by software giant Microsoft. According to the rumor, Microsoft is considering the purchase in order to wrest control of Macromedia"s Flash tool, which is generally used to create interactive Web sites or Web-based animations, and is seen as competition to Sun"s Java. Rumor doubters point out that Macromedia also creates a bunch of other tools, such as ColdFusion MX, which either compete with Microsoft products, or have little place in Microsoft"s lineup. For those who believe Macromedia"s products aren"t a natural fit at Microsoft, however, consider this. A current security warning from Macromedia says that every Flash player distributed before December 2002 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow exploit that hackers could use to completely take over users" systems. Sounds like a Microsoft product to me!
DirectX 9 Released. Will the One Guy Waiting for this Let Us Know How it Works?
Last week, Microsoft released DirectX 9, the latest version of its multimedia and gaming system software. DirectX has risen from an also-ran to being the premier gaming technology on modern PCs, but since it"s included with games that actually require the technology, I"m not clear on why anyone would need to download the software separately. For example, you could download DirectX 9 today, but it won"t improve the performance, graphics, or sound on any current games. So why bother? On many enthusiast Web sites this week, the DirectX 9 release was met with breathless titles featuring multiple exclamation points, but I don"t see the big deal. If you simply have to get it, check out the Microsoft Web site