Well, it’s the last Friday of the month, time for a wrap-up of newsy things I never got around to posting…

Google is giving Microsoft headaches. For $50, they’ll give corporate users access to a suite of business applications that matches Microsoft’s Office. I’ve talked about Google’s Internet-based applications before and this is a big challenge to Bill Gates. He managed to hold off Netscape’s challenge to Internet Explorer, but Google has a lot more money and this is a much bigger deal, so the outcome of this battle is not so predictable…

The Net recently endured a massive DOS (denial of service) attack. There are 13 servers, called root servers, that are vital to all Net operations. In short, they digitize URL addresses. They were hit, all at once, by millions of requests for service; previously programmed via viruses into computers all over the world by unknown hackers to “hit” at a designated time with the obvious intent to close down the Internet. Operators were barely able to hang on; it’s generally agreed that no other service could have withstood such an attack. No one has claimed credit for the attack but many suspect China which hates the Net because it can’t control it…

Subatomic particles react with others at great distances compared to their size and no one knows how or why. So IBM is leveraging the phenomenon by creating a “grab free” message system. They’ve developed an encryption method that uses the photons (light particles) in fiber-optic cable. When a nefarious hacker attempts to intercept, or “grab”, a message, the photons that are displaced effectively “know” it and cause a complete message disconnect. The “grabber” gets nothing and the originator knows to send the message by another means…

Illegal software recently cost U.S. businesses $2 million in settlements. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) recently collected that much with just two months of effort. They relied on whistle-blowers and Internet sleuthing. Publicity about BSA’s effort has made believers of many IT managers who’ve decided that software copyright violations don’t save money in the long run. Worse, it’s embarrassing to have to explain to management why they were breaking the law…

Adobe is launching its full package in native Intel Mac. That’s Photoshop, InDesign and other tools in the CS3 package. Written for Intel Macs, they will be much faster than the current package which emulates the PC version. This comes just in time to benefit from the Mac OSX Leopard launch…

Music publishers aren’t buying Steve Jobs’ call to drop DRM (copy protection).  “Just because a lot of legacy music is out there without copy protection is no reason we should forego revenue on our new stuff…” And China doesn’t enforce intellectual property protection laws so any new music in demand is readily available from there soon after initial publication…