Brand: MacNews

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.”

eMail Alert, a utility that automatically scans your email accounts has been updated for Mac OS X. eMail Alert can play sounds, display alert dialogs, launch AppleScripts, load URLs in your favorite browser, and more to get your attention.

Steve Jobs told developers at WWDC, “It’s a race to the top, the person who gets the native apps out first will win.” Apple wants developers to start developing more native applications for Mac OS X. OS X’s first three months has already seen the release of 600 native applications, notes InternetNews.com.

Apple notes on their Hot News page that Pfeiffer Consulting, an independent technology research institute and consulting group, has issued a report stating that Apple’s 733 MHz Power Mac G4 “offers a significant increase in productivity for the design and publishing workflow.” They also noted that the PowerBook G4 demonstrates a level of productivity and performance close to that of desktop models.