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Compare Accounting Programs
Software Licensing Guide
Tax Filing Guide
Audio Software Guide

New Releases This Month
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4
Norton Ghost 14
2007 Tax Year Software
Mac OSX 10.5.1 - Update for Leopard

Briefly…

• And the Oscar goes to… Autodesk!, for their Maya Fluid Effects system.
• Apple announces Aperture 2.0 as a counterattack to Adobe’s Lightroom software.
• Adobe is working on project to run programs written in various languages on Flash Player.
• A new Trojan Horse virus from digital photo frames was found by Computer Associates.
  
• VMware is working on a fix for a security flaw that could expose companies to hackers.

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Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo made big headlines this month, with mixed sentiments from all parties involved, including Microsoft and Yahoo. The obvious and most publicized goal of the bid is to merge the two companies into one that can compete with Google, most especially in the online advertising space. Some say the joint effort would be like “the blind leading the blind”, as neither company is close to touching Google in this arena. But Bill Gates says that Microsoft has a strategy for competing in the search space, which it will pursue with or without Yahoo. So what’s Yahoo’s take on the potential takeover? CEO Jerry Yang has said that Microsoft isn’t assessing Yahoo’s value fairly. He has informally rejected the proposal via press release, but an official rejection has yet to take place. We’ll continue to monitor this story and the implications the merger could have as the details unfold.

Developers can now use the Adobe Integrated Runtime software to develop Rich Internet Applications unbound by the restrictions of the Web. The new Adobe AIR download allows Web applications to be run offline (“online apps offline, independent, everywhere”, as one blogger summarized it). Companies with applications on the AIR platform include Nasdaq, The New York Times, and eBay, which debuted “eBay Desktop” for frequent eBayers. Other projects are similar to AIR, including Google Gears and Microsoft Silverlight, which is already anticipating a second edition. Both Silverlight and AIR plan to release ports for Linux as well. Download Adobe AIR here.

With the 2007 tax year filing deadline approaching on April 17th, many of our customers are starting to purchase their tax preparation software. Unsure how you’re going to complete your taxes this year? More and more people are pushing their accountants aside in favor of easy-to-use programs like TurboTax and Tax Cut. These programs offer straightforward, easy answer questions that are automatically put into the correct forms. You can get your refund in as little as 9 days. Tax software programs are available for as little as $20. Review our unbiased tax filing guide for tips and information on the different options available to you.

A glitch this month made Windows Vista Service Pack 1 available to general users running the 64-bit version of Vista – nearly a month early. Users who chose “check for new updates” via Windows Update saw that Service Pack 1 was ready. The code has been finalized, and no flaws have been reported due to the glitch. In fact, the update was recently released to businesses with volume licensing pacts as well as MSDN and TechNet developers. This particular release, however, was only meant for technically advanced testers, not a broad group of users. Microsoft has stated that SP1 will be released for general availability in mid-March.