Microsoft plans to scour its code to look for flaws similar to a recent serious Windows bug and to update its development practices to prevent similar problems in future products.
The critical flaw, in the way Windows Meta File images are handled, is different than any security vulnerability the software maker has dealt with in the past, Kevin Kean and Debby Fry Wilson, directors in Microsoft's Security Response Center, said in an interview with CNET News.com. Typical flaws are unforeseen gaps in programs that hackers can take advantage of and run code. By contrast, the WMF problem lies in a software feature being used in an unintended way.
Expect to hear atmospheric, new-age sounds in Windows Vista, the upcoming version of Microsoft's operating system, courtesy of British guitar legend Robert Fripp.
According to Microsoft's MSDN Channel 9 Web site, Fripp, a founding member of the late-1960s progressive rock band King Crimson, was at the company's Redmond, Wash. campus several weeks ago recording sounds for Windows Vista.
If the video posted on the Web site is any indication, these sounds will be along the same lines as the spacey, electronic work Fripp has done as a solo artist and with the likes of Brian Eno, who helped create the sounds of Windows 95.
Microsoft has released free software code that lets its workers pull sales data into Outlook from customer information systems made by Siebel Systems, an internal project it hopes will inspire other businesses to build similar programs.
The software giant first discussed Project Elixir last January, in an effort to demonstrate how companies can use Web-based tools in Office 2003 to tie Outlook to other business systems from Siebel, SAP, Oracle and others. Chairman Bill Gates talked it up again a few weeks later.
Microsoft plans to market several versions of Vista but will distribute all of the OS bits with every product shipped so users can easily unlock and step up to more full-featured versions using electronic keys, sources said.
"No matter which edition you buy you get all the bits and a key to unlock it. Everyone will have all the bits," said one source familiar with Microsoft's plans. "Right now we maintain master images for each version of Windows XP and it's a lot of work. Now there's just one master image."
Having a master Windows Vista operating system means customers that buy PCs preloaded with one Vista SKU, Home Basic, for example, will be able to punch their credit card into a Microsoft Web site to unlock Vista Home Premium and more speedily deploy media center features without an on-site visit or requiring a wipe and reload of the system.
Microsoft has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues, including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper.
The action came amid criticism by free-speech activists of foreign technology companies that help the communist government enforce censorship or silence dissent in order to be allowed into China's market.
Microsoft's Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request, said Brooke Richardson, group product manager with Microsoft's MSN online division at company headquarters in Redmond.
Microsoft's Linux and open-source lab on the Redmond campus has been running some interesting tests of late, one of which was looking at how well the latest Windows client software runs on legacy hardware in comparison to its Linux competitors.
While this may seem strange, given Microsoft's desire to upgrade every possible customer to the latest version of Windows, often resulting in a forced hardware upgrade as well, that strategy is far more effective in the developed world than among developing nations, Bill Hilf, who is director of Platform Technology Strategy at Microsoft and runs the lab, told eWEEK in a recent interview.
A broader plan for Microsoft's Windows Live services portal is slowly emerging, as a Microsoft spokesperson Thursday detailed the link between Microsoft's Internet-based services and its Windows Media Center Edition OS, intended to give users more access to content on their Media Center PCs.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show here, Adam Sohn, director of MSN public relations at Microsoft, outlined how two new Windows Live services link up with Windows Media Center PCs. The interactions allow users to remotely record television shows, find programming information, and discover viewing preferences from buddies in their MSN Messenger social network.
When Steve Ballmer fires up his Xbox 360, he reaches for the NBA 2K6 basketball game. Bill Gates, who played his console for
about 100 hours over the holidays, prefers the Project Gotham car racing game.
"Fortunately I had some young kids around who were showing me around all this stuff," Gates said in an interview with CNET News.com. "I played a lot of Project Gotham, a lot of Hexic, a lot of Zuma."
What both Microsoft executives said they like is that their company is first this time. After playing catch-up to Sony in the last round of the console wars, Gates and Ballmer said they're happy to be well ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3, which is expected to arrive later this year.
Microsoft wants to make sure its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system won't be all show and no go.
To that end, Bill Gates, the company's chairman and chief software architect, demonstrated Vista's ability to offer consumers what he says is a more immersive experience. The venue was his annual keynote address that opens the International Consumer Electronics Show here.
Thus Gates, assisted by several other Microsoft executives, touted numerous Vista features, such as a built-in photo editor that can quickly touch up digital photos before they can be sharedalso maintaining an original should a user want to go back.
Microsoft's fix for the Windows Metafile vulnerability will be shipped Thursday as a critical, out-of-cycle update.
Reversing an earlier decision to release the patch on Jan. 10., the software maker announced that strong customer demand for an emergency update triggered the shift in plans.
The fixes have been included in the MS06-001 bulletin and apply to users of Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP1 and SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.
There are no free patches available for computer users running Windows 98, Windows ME and pre-SP4 versions of Windows 2000, since those versions of the operating system are out of mainstream product support.