MS Mole reports from a Microsoft meeting this week that the company has no plan to support the installation of Internet Explorer 7 with Windows 2000 or any earlier version of Windows. In his words, "Microsoft is trying to make Windows 2000 go away" without saying as much publicly. The MS screw is being steadily tightened so that everyone who uses Windows will have to use an up-to-date version because new Microsoft products will not run on earlier platforms. While work is going on in about nine places around the globe to create a non-Microsoft operating system that will run Windows programs, none is close to market yet, in the sense of being proven. Microsoft, being all too aware of the wolves snapping at its heels, intends to change its own operating systems enough that even its own older (five years or less) programs will no longer run on its newer platforms. Nothing less than 32-bit receives any consideration now and even 32-bit will be phased out ASAP. More and more it seems that we are all destined to have multiple computers at hand that will each perform different functions, some old and some new. The old dogs may be the only ones that can perform the old tricks.

Cheers

Bill

'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' real and inexpensive solutions to community problems most people think are inevitable evils of modern society. They aren't. We just have to look in the right place.