Though Corel tags its WordPerfect Office software as "the world’s leading alternative to Microsoft Office," U.S. retail sales tell a different story altogether. According to NPD, a market researcher, Corel ceded the number two spot to an unlikely competitor: Apple’s iWork. Apple took a 2.7 percent units share, while Corel grabbed only a 1.6 percent share, NPD reports. Microsoft maintained its stranglehold on the market with nearly 95 percent of unit sales.

Microsoft on Tuesday released early versions of a new line of tools meant to lure illustrators and designers closer to Redmond’s world. The software giant made public its trial editions, called community technology previews (CTP), of Expression Interactive Designer and Expression Graphic Designer–two products from a new line of software aimed at graphics designers and illustrators. Formerly code-named Sparkle, Expression Interactive Designer is for building the user interface and layout of Web or Windows applications. Expression Graphic Designer, formerly code-named Acrylic, is meant to be used by illustrators to create images, such as logos, for Web and Windows applications. The Expression line, which includes a third product for Web design, is the centerpiece of Microsoft’s strategy to garner more revenue from graphics and design customers typically served by companies such as Adobe Systems, Corel and Quark.

Microsoft said Monday it had been given extra time by the European Commission to respond to the threat of a $2 million-a-day fine over allegations that it has failed to comply with a landmark EU antitrust ruling. The extension, until Feb. 15, comes as antitrust authorities in the United States questioned whether the company was doing enough to comply with a 2002 antitrust settlement with the U.S. government.

Almost a quarter of the world’s spam in the last three months of 2005 was sent from computers in the United States, according to U.K. antivirus company Sophos. The U.S. is closely followed by China, with 22.3 percent. South Korea rounds out the top three with 9.7 percent, according to Sophos, which said the level of non-English language spam is rising. The company bases its numbers on a scan of all junk mail caught by its spam traps.

Google said Tuesday it would launch versions of its search and news Web sites in China that censor material deemed objectionable to authorities there, reasoning that users getting limited access to content was better than none. The new local Google site, expected to be launched on Wednesday at Google.cn, will include notes at the bottom of results pages that disclose when content has been removed.

Corel recently released a new version of its WordPerfect Office Suite, WordPerfect Office X3. In particular, the renewed office suite boasts of its ability to import and export documents, spreadsheets, and presentations to Adobe’s PDF. What it doesn’t have, however, is the ability to import or export to the open-standard ODF (Open Document Format). This is somewhat surprising, since Corel is an original member of the OASIS Technical Committee on the OpenDocument format.

Microsoft is falling behind in meeting certain obligations under its antitrust agreement with the U.S. government, the Bush administration said. The criticism, leveled by federal and state prosecutors in a document filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, largely surrounded the company’s progress in developing technical documentation for developers who license the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program. Microsoft started the program as part of its efforts to comply with a 2002 consent decree reached with the government.

Elements of Microsoft’s next-generation Web browsing software have been posted on a Windows-related blog site, including screen shots of what the application may look like and a link to some of its code. While the links to the build code for what appears to be a beta version of Internet Explorer 7 have since been yanked off the JCXP.net Windows forum, the site is still showing off roughly 14 screen shots of the browser.

A 20-year-old hacker admitted Monday to surreptitiously seizing control of thousands of Internet-connected computers, using the zombie network to serve pop-up ads and renting it to people who mounted attacks on Web sites and sent out spam. Jeanson James Ancheta, of Downey, California, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to four felony charges for crimes, including infecting machines at two U.S. military sites, that earned him more than $61,000, said federal prosecutor James Aquilina. Under a plea agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, Ancheta faces up to 6 years in prison and must pay the federal government restitution. He also will forfeit his profits and a 1993 BMW. Sentencing is scheduled for May 1.

Eight people who allegedly ran online scams to pilfer personal information from Internet users worldwide were arrested in Bulgaria last week. Bulgarian law enforcement agents conducted raids in three cities and dismantled what is believed to be an international phishing operation, Microsoft said in a statement Friday. The Redmond, Wash., software giant helped investigate the alleged cybercrimes, which played off its MSN Web property, it said. The phishing group allegedly crafted emails to make them appear as if they were sent by MSN customer service representatives and created dozens of fake Internet Web pages that mimicked the design, logo and trademark of official MSN pages.