Microsoft has released a revision of the Simple Sharing Extensions guideline it first detailed in November, which is aimed at improving the way applications such as calendaring tools allocate data updates to help process RSS feeds more effectively.
In a posting to Microsoft's RSS Team blog, Jack Ozzie, vice president of development at the software giant's Groove Networks subsidiary, said the firm has made significant progress with the SSE specification.
Ozzie also introduced the update, slated to be Version 0.91, which claims improvements in the area of "independent replication of hierarchical items," among other additions.
Microsoft will release the next beta of Windows Vista in April, according to a popular blog that follows the company.
In a blog posting this week, Stephen Bink, a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer who writes from Amsterdam, said Microsoft will release another test version of Windows Vista, called a Community Technology Preview, on February 21, with Beta 2 of the OS set for release in April.
Through a statement sent via e-mail by its public relations firm Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft said that it will release the next CTP of Windows Vista in February, but it did not confirm the exact date in February nor confirm the date of the second beta release.
Microsoft has released Community Technology Previews (CTP) of two tools it is readying to help Web page and Windows applications designers more easily perform those tasks.
This is the first public CTP for Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer, formerly code-named "Sparkle." This is the second public preview of Microsoft Expression Graphic Designer, which was previously code-named "Acrylic."
The company announced the Expression family of products at its Professional Developers Conference 2005 in Los Angeles last September. Microsoft acquired developer Creature House and its Expression 3 graphic design and illustration package in 2003.
We've all seen those incessant pop up ads that claim that our PCs are infected with spyware and we need to purchase product "X" to clean our machine. What happens if that product doesn't work and in fact is a fraud itself?
Microsoft is taking legal action against one such company alleging that Secure Computer LLC, "used deceptive pop-up ads to warn users that their computers were at risk and could contain spyware."
Nancy Anderson, deputy general counsel for Microsoft explained that at the heart of the case is the allegation that Secure Computer LLC was misleading people into thinking that if they paid for $49.95 they would get a product that would do something.
Microsoft is readying a new highly configurable firewall for its upcoming Windows Vista operating system that is designed to give administrators much greater control over which applications are allowed to run on the systems they manage.
After just over one month of testing by users of Microsoft's Community Technology Preview, the firewall is "very much on track" to be in the final Vista release scheduled for later this year and the company is thinking about adding a similar feature for its consumer users, said Austin Wilson, a director in Microsoft's Windows Client group.
Microsoft today said it would provide the Windows server source code under a reference license, a move the company deemed the "ultimate answer" to meet the European Commission's demand for documentation that would help rivals license communications protocols in the Windows server operating system.
This means that those companies licensing Windows server software under the EC's proposed licensing program would be able to obtain the source code to the Windows server operating system at no additional charge. The idea is to let programmers get more insight into how to build non-Microsoft software to work with Windows.
Microsoft has released a new Community Technology Preview of its Visual Basic 9.0 development environment.
The CTP of Visual Basic 9.0 features support for Microsoft's LINQ extensions to the .Net framework and XML integration atop the XLinq API. The new release expands the XML integration in both the language and the IDE, provides some editor features for the LINQ syntax, and enables DLinq for VB, according to the team building the tool.
Microsoft moves to soothe ruffled developers with the feature-rich VB 9.0. Click here to read more.
Microsoft has begun an eight-country rollout of a new set of online resources and technical support for its small-business customers, a company executive said Friday.
The new offering, called Small Business Plus, is part of the company's ongoing effort to provide better access to software, support and services for this customer segment, said Doug Leland, general manager for small business in Microsoft's Worldwide Small and Midsize Solutions and Partner Group.
Microsoft Tuesday released new previews of its upcoming tools for designers. Microsoft Interactive Designer is a product for building Avalon ("Windows Presentation Foundation" or WPF) user interfaces.
These tools have been dubbed a Flash killer by some industry watchers, as it is expected to compete head-to-head with the Macromedia Flash product that was acquired by Adobe Systems last year.
The software giant has released the first Community Technology Preview of its Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer tool, formerly known as Sparkle, and the company also released the fourth CTP of its Expression Graphic Designer, formerly known as Acrylic, said Forest Key, director of product management for Microsoft's design tools.
With the threat from kernel-mode rootkits on the rise, Microsoft plans to make a significant policy change to block uncertified drivers from loading on x64 versions of Windows Vista.
Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server, kernel-mode software must have a digital signature to load on x64-based computer systems.
The decision to block unsigned drivers from loading is a direct attempt to restrict the spread of powerful rootkits that intercept the native API in kernel-mode and directly manipulate Windows data structures.