Microsoft may get handed the keys to the online format wars, as the recording industry flirts with copy protection that will place WMA files on CD's for playback on consumers computers.

Zimran Ahmed's notes from a Microsoft presentation on .NET are perceptive.

RealNetworks revealed their answer to Microsoft's Windows Media Player 7 on Monday, with the release of RealOne, a platform that not only ties in their existing products, but is primed to become the single destination where customers can absorb every type of online media.

Microsoft has announced that .NET will allow third party identity providers to compete with Passport. This is a surprising move -- I expected the company to wait until Passport was dominant before opening it to competition.

The O'Reilly P2P and Web Services Conference has been rescheduled with new dates and a new location. The conference will be held Nov. 5-8, 2001, at the Westin Grand Hotel in downtown Washington. You will need to make new reservations at the Westin. Information is here

Microsoft announced today that it is converting its Passport authentication system to Kerberos 5.0. The switch should allow Hailstorm web services (now christened .Net My Services), to accept authentication from any number of Kerberos-compliant authentication vendors.

In the wake of Tuesday's events, P2P networks played a key role in connecting survivors with their loved ones and providing a timely and reliable source of information.

Eric Raymond's missive on the attacks is simply repulsive. The writing is a case of taking a good meme to bad extremes.

The O'Reilly Conferences group just issued this statement:

We are shaken, with the rest of the nation, by today's tragic events. We are currently assessing the effect on our upcoming Peer-to-Peer and Web Services Conference in Washington, DC.

Related link: http://www.redherring.com/index.asp?layout=story&channel=80000008&doc_id=1260020…...