WinInsider

This week, security firm Authentium drew the attention of Microsoft when it released code to help bypass the PatchGuard kernel-protection software in x64 versions of Vista. The firm admitted that it resorted to exploiting a flaw in the Vista kernel to work its black magic, and its reasoning was spurious at best. (Authentium claims that Microsoft is unfairly locking security firms out of the Vista kernel when, in fact, even Microsoft's own security tools won't have access to the Vista kernel.) Microsoft sealed off the exploit in newer internal Vista builds and said it will continue to take similar action in the future via its critical security update mechanisms. Listen, I rip into Microsoft as often as it deserves, but this is clearly a case in which Microsoft has the moral high ground. PatchGuard isn't just common sense; it's what Microsoft should feel obligated to do to protect its users. Anyone who bypasses this technology doesn't care about Windows users at all. My advice is simple: Avoid products from companies that have tried to subvert Vista's security features to make headlines or push their own profits over the needs of their customers.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to wade into a patent case involving Microsoft and AT&T. The outcome could alter the scope of damages that software companies must hand over for infringing activity occurring abroad.

The justices issued the decision on Friday as part of a one-page list of orders. They offered no additional comment, except to note that Chief Justice John Roberts "took no part in the consideration or decision of this motion and this petition."

The case dates back to 2001, when AT&T sued Microsoft in federal court. The telephone company alleged that the speech codec software included in Windows loaded on computers infringed on one of its patents, which covered a "digital speech coder."

While training to become the next tourist in space, Charles Simonyi was delighted to see that the hundreds of pages of Russian documentation onboard the spacecraft were written using Microsoft Word.

After all, he led the Microsoft team that invented the popular software.

On March 9, Simonyi is scheduled to launch into orbit aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, with an eight-day stopover on the International Space Station, before returning to Earth 10 days later. He'll be the world's fifth space tourist.

Sonic Solutions on Thursday said its technology to burn music and video to CDs and DVDs, respectively, would be included in Windows Vista, set to ship to consumers in January.

Sonic, based in Novato, Calif., said it is also working with Microsoft in developing a Vista-certified version of its products, including its flagship Roxio Easy Media Creator 9. The software suite is for CD and DVD authoring and burning.

Under a multi-year licensing deal, Microsoft is embedding Sonic's AuthorScript engine for formatting and burning video and slideshows to DVD, and burning data and audio to CD. Financial details were not disclosed..

Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer team has just shipped Version 7 of the browser, it is already working on IE 8 or should that be "IE Next', said a platform architect on the team.

At the AJAX Experience conference here, Chris Wilson, platform architect for the Internet Explorer platform at Microsoft, said, "The team is hard at work on IE 8," then with a smile added, "I think I am supposed to call it 'IE Next.'"

In any event, Wilson gave two talks at the event, saying key themes for the next version of IE will include "user security and privacy, improving the Web application platform, providing the best Web user experience, and compatibility will continue to be a tenet."

The Office worker productivity and collaboration suite is about to become the next piece of software from Microsoft

subject to mandatory piracy checks.

The company's Office Genuine Advantage program will require mandatory validation of Office software on Friday, the software vendor quietly disclosed on Thursday. After that date, any Office Online templates downloaded from within the Office 2007 Microsoft Office System applications will require validation of legitimacy.

Similarly, starting in January, users of Office Update will have to validate that their Office software is legitimate before they can use the service, Microsoft added.

Buoyed by sales of the Xbox 360 and server software, Microsoft reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday that edged ahead of the company's forecast.

The software giant said that it earned $3.48 billion, or 35 cents a share, on revenue of $10.81 billion, for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compares with earnings of $3.14 billion, or 29 cents a share, on revenue of $9.74 billion for the same quarter a year ago. The year-ago earnings figure included legal expenses that amounted to 2 cents a share.

PC manufacturers that expected to get their hands on the final version of Windows Vista on Wednesday have to wait a couple more weeks for the OS, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Microsoft originally targeted Wednesday for Vista's release to manufacturing, but a last-minute bug that "took most of the Vista team by surprise," caused an unexpected delay, said Ethan Allen, a quality assurance lead at a Seattle high-tech company that tests its products for Vista. Allen also oversees TheHotFix.net.

Allen said the Vista team discovered the bug, which "would totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall," in Vista Build 5824 on Friday, Oct. 13. The team fixed the bug a week later in Vista Build 5840, he said, but it delayed the delivery of the OS to PC makers.

Microsoft had hoped to release the final version of Windows Media Player 11 on Tuesday, but the company said the jukebox software was not quite sounding the right note.

Microsoft earlier this month said it would issue the final version for download on Tuesday. But Wednesday, a day after that deadline, the software maker said its release has been "delayed slightly."

"As with any release, quality is our top priority, and we felt we needed a few additional days to bring Windows Media Player 11 up to the high quality standards we--and our customers and partners--demand."

Windows Defender, the free anti-spyware tool born out of Microsoft's December 2004 acquisition of Giant Co., has hit the gold milestone, but Windows 2000 users might want to start looking for alternative protection.

At the RSA Europe conference in Nice, France, Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Defender for Windows XP users and made it clear that the software will no longer support Windows 2000, which will be out of mainstream life cycle support in October 2006.

The final release is available Oct. 24 for Windows XP users, and Microsoft plans to ship it to other Windows-supported localized languages within a few weeks. Windows Defender will also be included as part of Windows Vista, which is scheduled for release in January 2007.