Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

The Register, which bills itself as “Biting the hand that feeds IT,” has released what they say are internal AOL documents outlining the Internet giant’s plans for a launch in China. The article, “Schmoozing the Reds: AOL’s secret China plans revealed,” is interesting reading, to say the least.

Microspot has released Mac Draft 5.0, a full-featured CAD program. Changes in this release include improved ease-of-use, new dimension features, improved text, new menus, improved palettes and alignment, and new drawing features. Version 5.0 also offers improved open DWG toolkit libraries to support DWG file formats, as well as smooth interchangeability with PC Draft 4.3.5 and later. Mac Draft 5.0 retails for US$299.00. Demo versions are available.

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting on a Canadian woman who was accused and later acquitted of software piracy by Microsoft. This was a real “David and Goliath” sort of case and the woman is now seeking compensation from the software giant.

Looking at what’s happened to Microsoft over the last year, Business Week wonders if the software company is stronger than ever. “Not only do Microsoft’s over-the-hill days seem over, but it is emerging more powerful than ever. Instead of the Internet relegating Microsoft to the sidelines, the software maker has grown stronger in its core PC business, gained ground in the lucrative enterprise corporate market, and fought its way very nearly to the top of the Internet heap.”

Everybody gets them, most people hate them — unsolicited email, known to most of us as spam. What’s being done to combat the problem? Wired news reports from Spamcon anti-spam conference. Wired says, “there are dedicated spam-fighters out in the world. But it’s also clear that they’re fighting a losing battle, trying to plug a river with their fingertips.”