Windows

With windows for their canvas, Parkville High students put their creative talents to work during the local business association's fourth annual window decorating contest. Their assignment at Hohne Pool and Spa offered them some of the largest glass spaces on Harford Road. They checked sketches, drawn in their classroom, and set to work on a blustery, cold afternoon. Standing in raised but empty flower beds, they could extend their brushes to the tops of the tall windows. The falling temperatures and gusting winds Thursday had Ed Pinder, a contest organizer, wondering if the Parkville students could complete the task.

WASHINGTON -- A Microsoft Corp. executive acknowledged yesterday that major operators of Internet Web sites had to agree not to promote Netscape Communications Corp.'s Internet browser as the price for receiving featured placement on the Windows desktop.Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates mandated that if companies such as the Walt Disney Co. and Intuit Inc. wanted "top level" marketing agreements, they "would be promoting Microsoft's Internet Explorer preferentially to Netscape Navigator and any other leading browser," Will Poole, Microsoft's senior director of business development, testified at the company's antitrust trial.

SAN FRANCISCO - The distribution Thursday of portions of the source code for two versions of the Windows operating system poses vexing legal and security challenges for Microsoft. Computer security experts said yesterday that having even relatively small parts of the code for Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Windows NT operating system as easily available reference material for potential vandals and troublemakers could complicate the company's difficult task of securing its software. Microsoft has been intensively criticized on security issues in recent years, and the company has devoted increasing resources to an effort to restore its credibility with its customers.

A federal judge in Baltimore ordered Microsoft Corp. yesterday to package with its Windows operating system a computer programming language made by Sun Microsystems Inc. The ruling stems from Sun's allegations that Microsoft "committed anticompetitive acts" to thwart the distribution of Java, a computer language made by Sun that also runs applications on top of an existing operating system. Sun also alleged that Microsoft is taking advantage of past antitrust violations to gain a monopoly in a chunk of the personal computer market.

Some of America Online's 23 million users are complaining that they can't connect or stay connected to the service, a problem caused by a glitch in the newly released Windows Millenium Edition. Microsoft officials acknowledge the problem and have created a "quick-fix" file they say will take care of the bug, which is caused by incompatibilities between Windows ME and AOL when the computer is using a Windows Driver Model modem. These inexpensive modems work only under Windows and are common in many consumer-grade computers shipped by large manufacturers.

WASHINGTON - For the last 300 years, windows have reflected the ever-changing appearance and aspirations of the American home. The so-called "eyes" of a structure, windows have evolved from the small leaded glass casements of Puritan homes to the iconic walls of glass of the 1950s to a futuristic model equipped with a computer, video or television screen. The National Building Museum has mounted a major exhibition on the crucial role that windows have played in shaping U.S. architecture and domestic lifestyles.

Contrary to popular belief, the cops will not arrest you if you don't use Windows. There are some interesting alternative operating systems out there -- and with perseverance, you won't go crazy trying to use them. Chief among them is Linux, the largely free, enormously geek-popular system that hard-line anti-Windows users rave about, which has Tux the penguin as its mascot. There are others, including FreeBSD, which has been around for more than 20 years in one form or another, and BeOS, which has such a hard-core following that "Be" fanatics stuck with it even after the parent company folded last year.

So you feel proud of yourself for getting that closet emptied out last week? Here's what Diana Taylor of Harford County is doing in the way of spring cleaning: The mother of four, who also works part time as a bookkeeper and volunteers at her children's schools, cleans her house from top to bottom. Literally. She starts by washing the ceilings of her five- bedroom home with bleach and water and works her way down. She vacuums or dusts every part of the house thoroughly and flips the mattresses.

If you have ever wondered what kind of place builders create for themselves -- or whether an interior designer's rooms have the harmony of color and textures found in slick magazines -- walk through Richard and Mary Getsinger's Eastern Shore home.The former senior vice president of a construction company and the interior designer/artist have created a home that is unpredictable, yet elegant; spacious, yet cozy; new, but with an old-home feel.When they designed and decorated their Talbot County home, their goal was to bring as much of the outdoors in as possible.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Microsoft Corp. and European Union regulators have failed in last-ditch talks to agree on an antitrust settlement, opening the way for restrictions on the software giant's Windows operating system. "We made substantial progress toward resolving the problems that had arisen in the past, but we were unable to agree on commitments for future conduct," the European Union competition commissioner, Mario Monti, said yesterday. "It was impossible to achieve a satisfactory result in terms of setting a precedent."