WinInsider

Expect the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate 2 (RC2) this week, unless yet another security-oriented emergency sets back the oft-delayed release. Sources tell me that Microsoft is already deploying XP SP2 RC2 internally and that the company gave beta testers the code late last week. However, a recent spate of "extremely critical" flaws in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6--which also affect the supposedly ultra-secure IE version in XP SP2--might ultimately push back XP SP2 RC2 yet again. If that happens, the delay would be the third major postponement of this product.

May has come and gone without Microsoft releasing a promised second release-candidate beta version of Windows XP service pack 2 (SP2). Microsoft said earlier this year to expect Release Candidate 2 (RC2) of XP SP2 in May. Repeatedly, during the past two weeks, Microsoft officials have said RC2 would ship "sometime in the next few weeks."

But as June 15 closes in, Microsoft still isn't offering any new word on XP SP2's whereabouts. Although Microsoft has deemed Windows XP SP2 a service pack, the product is a new version of Windows that will contain a number of features and fixes. With SP2, Microsoft is turning on its built-in Windows Firewall by default; including new browser and e-mail safeguards and enhancing XP's memory protection features, company officials have said.

Oracle is in court this week facing off against the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which is attempting to prevent the database giant's not-so-friendly takeover bid of PeopleSoft. But the strange part of this story is that even though Microsoft isn't a direct part of the case, the company still figures heavily in the proceedings. And, oddly enough, Oracle's talking up Microsoft and doing so--get this--in a positive manner. Here's why: Microsoft recently purchased Great Plains Software (for $2.5 billion) and Navision (for $1.3 billion), shoring up its position in the midlevel business-application market, and Microsoft might ultimately decide that it also wants to compete in the high-end business-application market. If the company does make such a decision, the DOJ's argument--that a PeopleSoft acquisition by Oracle destroys competition--is moot. But wait, there's more. Just before Oracle went to trial, Microsoft made the stunning admission that it had discussed purchasing software powerhouse SAP, which would have put Microsoft firmly in the high-end business-application market. Was the admission a coincidence? I'm not sure, but I find it interesting that Oracle executives, especially frequent Microsoft critic Larry Ellison, are suddenly talking about Microsoft in a positive light. As with Sun Microsystems, Microsoft seems to have done a lot to silence its most vocal critics by simply helping out others. Huh.

Nick McGrath, Microsoft's head of platform strategy, described the campaign as "a reality check we're bringing out", aiming to tackle the "myths" surrounding Linux. One of the myths that's getting Microsoft's goat is the term 'free'. At the London leg of the road show, not one attendee raised their hand when asked if they believed Linux was free--after all, Linux vendors aren't giving their Linux products away for nothing.

Meta Group analyst Philip Dawson said consumers should bear in mind that while Linux itself is free, that's not the whole story. "It's a free component--it's not a free platform, it's not a free service--it's a free component," he said.

A buffer overflow vulnerability in RealNetworks' flagship RealPlayer software could put millions of users at risk of PC takeover, the company warned in an advisory. The flaw, which carries a "high risk" rating, affects the RealOne Player, RealOne Player v2, RealPlayer 10, RealPlayer 8 and RealPlayer Enterprise.

eEye Digital Security, the company that discovered and reported the vulnerability to RealNetworks, said a remote attacker could overwrite heap memory with arbitrary data and execute malicious code via the digital media player.

Microsoft has filed eight lawsuits against spammers, saying that they deceived consumers and used false information to hide their tracks, the world's largest software maker said on Thursday.

The lawsuits are the latest salvo in the Redmond, Washington-based company's war to eradicate unsolicited emails, which have clogged countless inboxes on personal computers running the Windows operating system.

"These spammers sent millions of emails individually -- some hundreds of millions -- soliciting a variety of products including body enlargement pills, prescription drugs, dating services, university degree programs and work-at-home and get-rich-quick scheme offers," Microsoft said in a statement.

Users running fully patched versions of Internet Explorer are vulnerable to a new exploit in the wild that has been used to load adware onto systems whose owners did nothing more than click on a malicious Web address, according to security researchers. Secunia, a security firm, labels the problem "extremely critical." The company uses the designation for remotely exploitable vulnerabilities that can lead to system compromise, don't normally require interaction and have exploits in the wild.

Microsoft brought its brainiacs to Silicon Valley for a road show highlighting the latest cool stuff. Scientists from Microsoft Research labs in San Francisco and Redmond joined their colleagues at the company's Mountain View, Calif. campus to showcase speculative projects that could someday find their way into products. Researchers are working on everything from a Web services-based model of the universe to sneaky ways to foil spammers.

The Sasser computer worm may mark a turning point for law enforcement's ability to catch and prosecute computer virus authors. The reason: Enticed by a $250,000 reward, an informant came forward to leak information on the person who wrote and released Sasser. It's exactly what Microsoft, which agreed to the bounty as part of its antivirus reward program, hoped would happen, said Hemanshu Nigam, an attorney for the Microsoft branch administering the program.

What if your computer could read the newspaper for you and tell you just what you needed to know? What about 1,000 newspapers? Researchers at Microsoft think computers can do just that. Someday.

Microsoft research is looking into creating software that can read the whole article--and dozens of others on the same topic--and come up with an accurate summary. In theory the research could be extended to even allow the summary to mimic a particular style--giving, say, a Wall Street Journal-style summary of Jennifer Lopez' wedding to Marc Anthony.