It might be the world's most widely distributed e-mail client, but Microsoft has confirmed that it has no intention of further developing Outlook Express. Microsoft is moving its consumer-oriented email focus to MSN and Hotmail, while encouraging business users to use (and pay for) the full Outlook.

Analyst Rob Enderle has written what is sure to be a controversial article explining his conversion from an open source proponent to a disillusioned opponent. His reasons don't focus on technical merits, but on side issues such as the fanatical intolerance for dissent and ignorance in Linux forums (making it hard to get help sometimes) and the fact that when your boss expects everything to be free it makes it harder to exceed expectations. Food for thought, but he might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

German firm Relevantive has performed a formal usability test of Linux as a desktop OS (SuSE/KDE), with a control group using Windows XP. They found that user, who presumably had some familiarity with Windows, took slightly longer (almost equal) to perform an identical task in Linux and estimated that it would take a week for them to achieve familiarity with the new system. The study also identified several problems with Linux as a desktop system, mostly around the UI.

Reader "xhargh" took great interested in the earlier reported story on OSNews that Windows95 can be shrunk down to under 5 MB. By using instructions from BOFH and others at irc://irc.xbetas.com/Micro95, he was able to shrink down Windows 98 until it's under 4.5MB in size. Look here for sceenshot and filelist.

After many months of hard work by Sasha, he's happy to announce the birth of AfterStep 2.0 beta to the world, packed with new features and enhancements.

Opera Software released the first 7.x version of its Opera browser for FreeBSD. On other browser news, Epiphany 0.8.4 was released.

Microsoft is publishing a series of articles about .NET. Part 1 is entitled Application Planning and Design

From a Washington Post article: Lindows, a version of the open-source Linux operating system aimed at consumers put off by the cost of Windows, has been on the market for only a year or so, but it's already made some impressive gains: It comes pre-installed on desktop computers from more than a dozen off-brand manufacturers, and its San Diego-based developers just released their fourth major update.

Microsoft has released version 6.1 of VirtualPC, which includes bug fixes and enables users of Connectix Virtual PC for Mac to seamlessly transition product support to Microsoft. Microsoft has also created a new, "professional" version of Office for Mac that includes VirtualPC. The regular version of Office for Mac had its price reduced by $100, to $399.

Many readers wrote in to warn about the MSBlast worm making its way around the internet. W32.Blaster.Worm utilizes TFTP to spread itself and intends to slam the WindowsUpdate website beginning August 16. Microsoft warned of this vulnerability back in July. This informative article explains more. Update your systems now before it's too late!

The distribution CRUX Linux has been released. Check out the ChangeLog while downloading the ISO from one of its mirrors:

India is shaping up to be a big battleground in a Microsoft vs Linux fight. An estimated 10% of PCs in India shipped with Linux this year, and it Indian software development industry is important for many global companies. With a talented and educated, but still economically disadvantaged, workforce, India is fertile ground for Linux to gain prominence. Microsoft knows what's at stake, and even recently dispatched Bill Gates to India, though some think that the visit only drew attention to Linux.

PC Buyer's Guide has posted a shootout comparing Max OS X to Windows XP to Linux, comparing basic, factory-included functionality. It includes a huge side-by-side chart. The overview seems to be pretty evenhanded, and isn't too preoccupied with declaring a winner and drawing much of a hard and fast conclusion. The bottom line: OS X is a very usable and elegant OS, XP has a leg up on some functionality (and of course more apps), and Linux is an impressive contender.

A recent ZDNet article is written by the erstwhile author of a "troubleshooting Windows" book who is sometimes so stymied by mysterious Windows stability problems that he isn't sure he can write a useful book. The article covers a recent "hangs for no reason" issue that required trial and error and a plethora of included and third party utilities to diagnose and fix.