for all you ILM and Pixar wanna-bees out there, Alias|wavefront has released Maya Personal Learning Edition for Windows NT/2K/XP and Mac OS X. (via MacMinute)

in other Mac OS X houskeeping news, Apple has updated its Java 2 Standard Edition environment. Java 1.3.1 Update 1 is available via your Software Update control panel (in your System Preferences). (via MacMinute)

Adobe's making a lot of Mac OS X noise this week: they've announced Photoshop 7.0 and GoLive 6.0 and LiveMotion 2.0 are available for purchase. they've also released a 30-day tryout for their InDesign publishing solution. (via MacMinute)

i won't bore you with the details, but Microsoft's getting deeper into the enterprise applications business starting with customer relationship management (CRM). given the raw materials they had lying around (Great Plains, bits and pieces of .NET, bCentral, etc), it's not a big surprise.

my guess: huge multi-line application vendors like SAP and Oracle will survive, but Pivotal, Onyx, KANA (hell, even Siebel)...not so much. (via c|net)

BEA is opening another front in the web services battle. with the introduction of WebLogic Workshop, BEA attempts to be the first to bring Visual Basic-like ease of development to the J2EE-speaking world. given that the way to a corporate developer's heart is through his IDE, it's the right move -- make a developer's life easier, and you'll have a friend for life.

the real question is whether a fragmented, multi-vendor approach will be effective against the vertically-integrated Visual Studio .NET? in a way, Microsoft has chosen to play Apple to the Java camp's WinTel consortium. Microsoft's delivering a soup-to-nuts web services story where everything is supposed to work because it's all lovingly overseen by one vendor, while companies like BEA are fighting their J2EE brethren (like Sun). (via c|net)

JP Morgan Chase is taking another swift kick in their assets nuts -- this time from their dealings with Global Crossing. the bank foolishly allowed Global Crossing to pledge stock in subsidiaries rather than physical assets against loans. since that stock is now worthless, JP Morgan Chase (and many other Wall Street banks) are now forced to line up with other vultures trade-creditors for their hunk of the Global Crossing carcass.

clearly, JP Morgan got fast-talked like a hayseed on his first trip to New York. the complexity of Global Crossing's corporate and capital structures make a perfect smoke screen for the kind of three card monte that Gary Winnick excels at. (via NY Times)

the circle of hell that is Enron just keeps getting wider. in addition to Andersen, the White House, and both major political parties, now JP Morgan Chase is getting sucked into the vortex. JP Morgan Chase's insurers are refusing to pay $1 billion in claims related to the bank's Enron dealings, alleging that JP Morgan Chase disguised loans as trades to help Enron conceal its debts. (via NY Times)

the US Federal Court has partially opened the files of the Microsoft anti-trust case to the media. tapes and transcripts from the depositions of Steve Ballmer, Jim Allchin, Jim Barksdale, Mitchell Kertzman, and Scott McNealy by the nine hold-out states will be made available to media outlets.

this sounds like the worst Fox special ever made.

"When Tech Execs Go Bad"
"When Millionaires Get Deposed"
"When TV Gets Dull"
"Survivor 3.0: Federal Court"
(via AP)

it's like Enron or Global Crossing done right. the Baby Bells (through the US Telecommunications Association) have already managed to rig the FCC's two-week-old nationwide broadband push decidedly in their favor. now analysts, the press, consumers, and smaller ISPs are predicting that the future of residential broadband will be dominated by a telco/cable company duopoly. (via AP)

bandwidth giant Williams Communications may be the next to hop on the Chapter 11 bandwagon. (via Reuters)