Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

Microsoft has posted a patch for PowerPoint/Excel 2001 that addresses a macro vulnerability, as noted by VersionTracker. Without the update, a security hole exists that can allow malicious code to run via a macro without warning.

This week’s REALbasic tutorial at ResExcellence, “Build a REALbasic Drum Machine,” explains how to use SoundFont and DLS files with REALbasic projects.

Intel’s technology roadmap calls for PC makers to phase out floppy drives and PS/2 and serial ports in the second half of 2002, reports The Register. At that point, the elimination of legacy technology will have arrived for Wintel users more than four years after Apple introduced the iMac and forced users to abandon their floppy disks and favor USB/FireWire for connectivity solutions.

Mygate has filed for bankruptcy, according to MacUser UK. Rival retailer Cancom has purchased the rights to the Mygate name, and is also trying to purchase the company’s database. Mygate’s demise marks the third large Mac retailer to go under in recent years, joining Mac Supplies and Camelot.

A c|net article discusses the presence of Apple’s retail stores and their impact on local Mac dealers, weighing the positive (increased numbers of Mac users and, in some cases, service contracts) with the negative (a reduction in retail sales). Although, as Don Mayer, CEO of Mac reseller Small Dog Electronics points out, there are so many factors in the market right now that for a dealer to blame a reduction in sales on a nearby Apple retail location may not be fair.