Microsoft has released a list of the their Fall lineup for consumers:

For everybody who missed this one. Windows Media Player 9 build 2848 has leaked into the net.

Software piracy continues to be a worldwide problem and Microsoft is committed to a long-term strategy of protecting intellectual property through innovative technologies. The introduction of technical measures to thwart piracy has kicked-off a cat-and-mouse game between software publishers and those who pirate software. Specifically, software pirates have been busy engineering circumventions to digital rights technologies including Microsoft's own product activation.

With Service Pack 1 for Windows XP, Microsoft will introduce additional technological measures aimed at ensuring licensed customers receive full benefits and to make it more difficult for those who pirate software to steal these same benefits. These changes are:

This security patch is for the Microsoft Office Webcomponentrs 2000 and 2002, Which are used in Office 2000 and XP.

Three vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow an attacker to run commands on the user's system.

Affected Software:

Microsoft BackOffice® Server 2000
Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2000
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2002
Microsoft Commerce Server 2000
Microsoft Commerce Server 2002
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000
Microsoft Money 2002
Microsoft Money 2003
Microsoft Office 2000
Microsoft Office XP
Microsoft Project 2002
Microsoft Project Server 2002
Microsoft Small Business Server 2000

This update resolves the "Unchecked Buffer in Network Share Provider can lead to Denial of Service" vulnerability in Windows XP. Download now to prevent a malicious user from launching a denial of service (DoS) attack on your computer.

The Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit 2.6 for Windows XP and Windows .NET Server contains the tools and documentation you need to design, deploy, and support applications on these platforms. Tools include the latest versions of the Windows Application Verifier that assists developers and testers in locating common compatibility issues during the development cycle, and the Compatibility Administrator that provides access to the necessary compatibility fixes to support legacy applications in Windows.

Important This download contains several important security fixes.If you have already downloaded and installed the previous version of the Microsoft Office XP Web Components prior to August 14, 2001 , refer to the instructions in the Before you install section.

Microsoft Office Web Components are a collection of Component Object Model (COM) controls for publishing spreadsheets, charts, and databases to the Web. They are also used to view these items when published, as well as data access pages.

IntelliPoint software gives your Microsoft® mouse full functionality and lets you customize the mouse to fit your needs. For example, you can:

Reassign each of the mouse buttons, including the wheel button, to perform a command or keyboard shortcut.

Modify the mouse settings, such as the pointer speed or wheel scrolling rate.

Office XP Update: Service Pack 2 (SP2) Office XP Update: Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office XP. Office XP SP2 contains significant security enhancements, as well as stability and performance improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP2 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.

The downloadable Remote Desktop Web Connection ActiveX control provides most of the same functionality as the full Remote Desktop Connection software; however, the Remote Desktop Web Connection is designed to deliver this functionality over the Web. The Web package Setup program installs the downloadable ActiveX control and sample Web page on a server running Internet Information Services (IIS) 4.0 or later.

The "August 2002, Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (Q323759)" eliminates all previously addressed security vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer, as well as additional newly discovered vulnerabilities. This update includes the functionality of all previously released patches. Download now to continue keeping your computer secure.

This update applies to:

Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2
Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1
Internet Explorer 5.01 SP3 with Windows 2000.
Internet Explorer 5.01 SP2 with Windows 2000.

About a week ago, a good friend of mine offered me a ticket to a conference, ?Breakfast with Bill?, in Toronto, Canada. I accepted gratefully and got everything ready to go there. I live in Brooklyn, NY so the bus trip took roughly 9 hours. I arrived in Canada at 5 am, barely able to walk. The conference started at 7:15 in the morning. They offered an exquisite breakfast with fruits, coffee and so much more. The funny thing was that I was only 17 surrounded by middle aged business men comparing various versions of programming languages. As I walked, many looked at me rather suspiciously questioning on why a kid is at such a conference.

Saw this over Winbeta, Yet another build of Windows Media Player has made it over to #winbeta. Now its build # 2848. once again I'm writing this just after I've installed it. No 'visible' changes other than setup now seems a bit more verbose. Click on Read More... for a link to download links

Microsoft have released a new File Transfer Manager Version: 4.0.0.72! Date: 2002/06/21! if you haven't download this yet I suggest you do so right away.

This article describes how to download and install the Office XP SP-2.

Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP-2) provides the latest updates to Office XP. Office XP SP-2 contains significant security enhancements and improvements in stability and performance. Some of the fixes that are included with Office XP SP-2 were released earlier as separate updates. This service pack combines the updates into one integrated package and includes a number of other changes that are designed to improve the reliability and performance of your Office XP programs.

Mertsch writes: This time the service pack guys at MS have broken the eleven hundred mark. 1102, as of the time of this writing, is today's current build; 8-20-2002! Seems like the Final SP1 is near ...

The English version of Office XP service pack 2 is now available for download from the Microsoft Office auto-update site and weighs in at 6431KB. Its available here:

Seems that our Sister website planet-xp.de have snagged some screenshots of a new Tool from Microsoft Called Broadband Network Utility! that's in development @ Microsoft's labs.

Neowin.net have ripped the latest build of Windows Messenger 4.7 out of Windows XP SP1 Build 1097. Hit read more for your download link.

Thx to Winbeta.org as of the time of this posting I've only just installed, so no details as of yet. But we did notice somthing odd after the install was complete.

The Licencing and notice privacy agreement is POST install. Seems Microsoft doesn't want you to agree untill AFTER you install. More later.

Update: From Neowin.net New to this build is a POST privacy statement by Microsoft and a very cool option to setup your Privacy settings right away (cookie handling, sending Media player unique ID and stuff) These options can also be set in the tab via Options in the player.