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As Macintosh computers make some inroads into the enterprise, they are still behind in certain areas of corporate communications. On Tuesday, Microsoft took a step toward closing a bit of that gap by releasing its Messenger for Mac 7 with audio and video support, if users are connected via Office Communications Server 2007.

With Communications Server 2007 and the newest Messenger for Mac on a corporate system, users can have face-to-face instant messaging, audio/video meetings -- and even multi-party conferencing -- with others both inside and outside their office. This includes people using Windows PCs and users of the Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger services. It does not support communication with AOL Instant Messenger or people using .Mac accounts.

Supports Bonjour, Easy Searching

Messenger 7, which now supports the Bonjour service-discovery functionality that is built into the Mac operating system, is available as a free download. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.9, Windows Live ID for personal accounts, or Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for enterprise users.

The new offering also makes it easier for enterprise workers to search a corporate address book from within Messenger, or to find internal contacts. A user can see which contacts are connected to a local network and, for example, if you have two contacts named Sam, you can assign nicknames. Contacts can be located in large buddy lists via a search-as-you-type box. The company also said that communications have increased security within the corporate network.

New "presence" enhancements in Messenger also allow users to add a personal message to contact information, so that you can let others know when you're available for chatting. Mac users with a Windows Live account can also share files and other communications through Messenger 7.

No Audio/Video When Stand-Alone

On officeformac.com, the blog for Microsoft's Office for Mac team, a team...

A federal court has dealt a body blow to the recording industry's efforts to sue people who use peer-to-peer software to download music from the Internet. In fact, says one copyright lawyer, the P2P decision could mean the end of the Recording Industry Association of America's litigation strategy.

In Atlantic Records v. Howell, U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake rejected the RIAA's theory that the defendants distributed music files merely by making them publicly available through the Kazaa P2P application. Contrary to the music industry's theory, "Merely making an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work available to the public does not violate a copyright holder's exclusive right of distribution," the judge wrote.

The facts of the case are fairly typical. MediaSentry, the private investigator that researches these matters for the RIAA, used Kazaa to identify 4,000 files available from the Howells' computer, with 54 of them copyrighted music files. MediaSentry took screenshots showing the files available and downloaded 12 of the songs.

'Gold Standard'

The defendants, Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, say they made legitimate copies of their CDs for personal use and they didn't know Kazaa was making them public. Asked in a deposition if he was sharing music files online, Jeffrey Howell said, "I was not, no. The computer was, but I was not. The computer in some form ... made files that I did not know available on the Internet."

"This case harmonizes everything. It sets the gold standard," said Ray Beckerman, a copyright attorney with the New York firm of Vandenberg & Feliu and author of the Recording Industry v. The People blog, in a telephone interview. "Other district courts will follow it. Appeals courts will follow it."

In the Howell case, the recording industry now has to "show he actually disseminated to members of the public -- and that he did...

Time Warner has decided to sell its cable operation even as it struggles to correct its ailing America Online unit, CEO Jeff Bewkes announced in the company's quarterly earnings call Wednesday. On the positive side, income from the company's cable networks and film operations offset a whopping 23 percent decline at AOL.

"We've decided that a complete structural separation of Time Warner Cable, under the right circumstances, is in the best interests of both companies' shareholders," Bewkes said. "We feel these companies would be better off separated than they are together."

The move was not unexpected. In an open letter to shareholders, Bewkes previously tipped his hand, saying, "As the industry evolves, Time Warner Cable has increasingly different capital and financial needs than our other businesses."

Asked why the separation was taking so long, Bewkes said, "It's not taking long and there are tricky governance issues involved."

AOL Restructuring

AOL, long ago the No. 1 Internet brand, saw revenues and profits plummet in the first quarter. Profits were down 25 percent and revenues decreased 23 percent. Bewkes promised to complete the restructuring necessary to separate AOL's dial-up and advertising businesses.

"We were not satisfied with the performance of display advertising on our owned and operated inventory," Bewkes said of AOL. He pointed to problems with integrating its Platform A advertising unit. "We didn't integrate Platform A fast enough, and that created a sales-channel conflict. We have moved quickly to resolve this," he said. "We are creating one sales team able and motivated to sell across all of Platform A."

The result will be continuing bad news from AOL until the restructuring is complete, he said. Essentially, AOL has several different sales forces in place from various acquisitions and has taken longer to integrate them all. "We had not put them together yet. We missed some opportunities...