Brand: MacNews

In a statement sent from Apple to members of the media, CEO Steve Jobs reaffirmed his opposition to Microsoft’s US$1 billion proposed settlement of private lawsuits. Microsoft lawyers are meeting with mediators today to improve the terms of the settlement. “Microsoft’s proposed settlement compels schools to adopt Microsoft technology,” Jobs said. “Most educators, along with Apple, think this is simply wrong.

Adobe has begun taking pre-orders for InDesign 2.0, as noted by MacNN. The desktop publishing software will ship next month and will run natively under Mac OS X. InDesign 2.0 carries a US$699 price tag; upgrades from 1.x are $99.

Intelli Innovations has released Package Tracker 3.7, a new version of its multi-carrier package management software for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X. PackageTracker allows users to organize, manage, and track shipments, and much more. Version 3.7 adds Tracking History, a new QuickTrack option, as well as improvements to Airborne Express support and a new AppleScript Studio example, PT Automation, that queries Package Tracker for tracking details, item summaries and carrier name guesses. Package Tracker 3.7 is available for US$34.95.

Apple has set up a new Apple Start Page in conjunction with Netscape.com, possibly as a result of the demise of Excite@home. Users of livepage.apple.com, which is the default page for Internet Explorer (Apple’s default browser), are automatically directed to the new page. The deal aligns Apple with mega-media company AOL/Time Warner.

Scott Kevill has released GameRanger 2.1.4, a new version of the free multiplayer online gaming service for finding other Mac gamers online. The new version adds extensive changes to support a new server back-end, the ability to select games manually, support for Mac OS X Cocoa games, a simplified process for creating an account and changing e-mail address, and buddy/ignore lists that are now stored on the server. GameRanger currently supports 83 Mac games, ranging from Tom Clancy’s Rogue Spear to Age of Empires II: Gold Edition.