Microsoft has no plans to port the security and feature enhancements due in Windows XP Service Pack 2, now in final beta testing, to older versions of Windows. The decision means that enterprises running older versions of Windows will be less secure and more vulnerable to attacks than those running XP systems that upgrade to the latest service pack, which includes many security improvements.
Other users, however, are not as concerned. Charles Reid, project manager for iNet-Consulting. com Inc., in Los Angeles, said that he believes operating systems such as Windows 98 are inherently insecure and that he would much rather see Microsoft spend resources supporting current and future product releases rather than older ones.
"If customers want more secure systems, then upgrade," Reid said. "The user community is better off if organizations like Microsoft are constantly moving ahead instead of trying to go back at the same time."
Security analysts say that the malicious code that has been infecting some Windows machines was planted via an IIS vulnerability on the Web servers that host some high-traffic sites. The attack uses vulnerabilities previously patched by Microsoft updates.
Security analysts say that the malicious code that has been infecting some Windows machines since Thursday morning was planted via an IIS (Internet Information Services) vulnerability on the Web servers that host some high-traffic sites.
Microsoft's on tap to talk up XP Embedded Service Pack 2, CE 5.0 and its 'Laguna' mobile database next week. Microsoft's embedded operating system platforms are set to take center stage next week at the company's Embedded Windows Developers Conference (a k a Embedded DevCon) in San Diego.
Microsoft offers two different embedded Windows flavors: Windows XP and Windows CE. Windows XP Embedded, a subset of Windows XP, is typically integrated into retail point-of-sale terminals, thin clients and advanced set-top boxes. Windows CE is a real-time embedded operating system typically used in small-footprint devices.
At its TechEd Europe conference in Amsterdam next week, Microsoft Corp. will announce the first official beta release of Visual Studio 2005, which will include the Team Architect version of the Visual Studio Team System technology Microsoft announced last month at its TechEd conference in San Diego.
Sources close to the company said the beta software should be available for download by the end of next week. More and more of the Visual Studio Team System will find its way into Visual Studio 2005 in future releases, sources said.
Microsoft is slowing down development work on a new family of its business applications -- known as "Project Green" -- and is instead focusing on the products it currently sells. Because the first products now won't be out until 2008 at the earliest, the number of developers assigned to Project Green is being reduced from 200 to 70, Microsoft Senior Vice President Doug Burgum said Wednesday. Microsoft originally had planned to ship the first results of Project Green as early as late 2004.
Bill Gates has a reputation for coming late to the party, then making a big splash when he arrives. That's what happened after the Microsoft chairman realized the potential of the Internet. And it may happen again if he starts his personal Web log. Yes, the world's richest man may start his own blog, one of those online diaries that have been the rage among techies for the past three or four years.
Bill's blog won't be all business, either. He's expected to share personal details such as tidbits from recent vacations, according to tech pundit Mary Jo Foley's Microsoft Watch newsletter. Citing unnamed sources, she reported yesterday that Gates is about to start blogging "real soon now."
Microsoft has no plans to build up its business solutions group into a major competitor in the enterprise applications software market now that it has abandoned any thought of acquiring SAP AG, Douglas Burgum, Microsoft senior vice president testified Wednesday.
It would take too long and cost too much money to build up the Microsoft Business Solutions applications to a scale that could compete effectively with Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP, said Burgum, who heads the MBS group.
Burgum was called to testify by the U.S. Department of Justice to support its contention that Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP are in a league of their own in the enterprise application software market. The DOJ is seeking a permanent injunction against Oracle's offer to buy PeopleSoft.
Fujitsu is set to announce next week that it will offer the next major version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows OS on high-performance servers, according to a report in the Thursday morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper.
The OS, which is not expected to be available until at least 2006, will be used in a planned range of servers that will run in Intel Corp. 64-bit processors, said the report. Versions of the machines based on a current version of Windows and the Linux operating system were already planned and Fujitsu will add a Longhorn option to its product mix, the newspaper said.
As part of its ongoing defense against the European Commission's competition decision earlier this year, Microsoft on Friday is expected to ask the European Union's Court of First Instance (CFI) to delay the Commission's remedy rulings against the company from taking immediate effect, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, Microsoft filed a 100-page appeal brief with the CFI, located in Luxembourg, but the stay request is a separate legal matter.
Microsoft is requesting that CFI President Bo Vesterdorf issue an interlocutory order to suspend the Commission remedies until the CFI decides whether to affirm or annul the decision, a process that is expected to take between three to five years. Legal briefs for both the appeal and the stay request are confidential and will not be made public.
Microsoft and two other providers of free e-mail are suddenly seeking to top one another in what was once considered an unlikely area for competition -- free online storage.
Microsoft will give 250 megabytes of free storage to Hotmail users, up from the current 2 megabytes. The company said it will begin phasing in the program this summer in multiple markets. There are 170 million Hotmail users worldwide.
Microsoft also said it will offer Hotmail users 2 gigabytes of storage for $19.95 per year under a new program called Hotmail Plus. That's up from the 10 megabytes of e-mail storage currently available for that price, the cheapest option under an existing program called Hotmail Extra Storage.