WinInsider

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told a major gathering of computer-security experts that the company is seeing progress in its effort to make its software less vulnerable to attacks.

Gates sought to show that the company has improved its security track record despite a steady stream of viruses and worms that exploit flaws in its software. Gates himself made security and related issues the company's top priority through its Trustworthy Computing initiative, which began two years ago.

European antitrust regulators are considering a requirement that Microsoft Corp. sell two versions of Windows in Europe -- one with the music- and video-playing software removed -- should they find the company to be an abusive monopoly, people close to the case said yesterday.

Regulators may also demand that Microsoft itself propose "within a few months of a ruling" what computer code for Windows it should disclose to make the operating system fully compatible with programs and servers manufactured by rivals, these people said.

Five antivirus firms joined Microsoft's Virus Information Alliance this week, doubling the size of the group. The announcement came during the RSA Security conference in San Francisco. The new members are F-Secure, Global Hauri, Panda Software and Sophos. They join the existing VIA roster of Computer Associates, Network Associates, Sybari, Symantec and Trend Micro.

Microsoft, Network Associates and Trend Micro founded the group last May to share information on viruses and give Microsoft customers a central place to go for detailed virus information.

If Microsoft is so invincible, why hasn't it sold more phones running the company's Windows Mobile Smartphone OS? After years of development and even a few years on the worldwide market there are, at this moment, precisely two such models available in the U.S.: the Motorola MPx200 and the Samsung i600.

Globally, the Microsoft Web site shows only nine MS-powered Smartphones available. I know there are a bunch more. But, whatever the specific number, the average customer still has a hard time finding a phone with Microsoft inside.

Intent on stopping the spread of Internet viruses, Microsoft has begun beta-testing a built-in virus scanner for its Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) that will be included in the final product in mid-2004.

The bundling of virus scanner, firewall and file backup software is Microsoft's answer to the vexing problem of limiting the damage of a break-in. With SP2, a pop-up screen will show users what security options are enabled, and allow them to modify settings.

Microsoft will also provide free online training to help developers make the most of SP2's security features, Chairman Bill Gates said at today's RSA Security conference.

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates Tuesday offered a sneak peek at the features of the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Active Protection Technology features dynamic system protection, "which automatically raises the level of security of a computer based on the computer's state [of security updates]," Gutt said. Should a computer not have a patch installed, the system will alert the firewall, which will increase protection of the computer until the patch is installed.

As general manager for platform strategies at Microsoft, Martin Taylor leads the software company's charge to contain and eventually eliminate open-source technology. Needless to say, that means Taylor does not shy away from controversy. In an interview with CRN Editor In Chief Michael Vizard, Taylor discusses the lessons Microsoft is learning from customer interest in open source and how the company may ultimately respond with more modular, component-based server offerings that would allow it create a more competitive solution in any given market.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates will use this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco to unveil a proposed open technology standard that Microsoft hopes will make it harder to fake the source of unsolicited commercial e-mail.

On Tuesday, the company will release a specification for an antispam technology called Caller ID, a Microsoft-developed take on sender authentication technology that tries to validate the source address associated with an e-mail message, according to John Levine, co-chairman of the independent Antispam Research Group, part of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Microsoft has released an add-on for Internet Explorer that enables the Web browser to view secure documents created with the latest version of the company's Office productivity software. As previously reported, Office 2003 includes new security capabilities that enable document authors to restrict access to a file. Companies need to be running Windows Server 2003 and Windows Rights Management Services in order to utilize the features.

The Internet Explorer plug-in, available for download from Microsoft's Web site, will enable those using an older version of Office or a competing productivity application to read secure documents.

The update, due out mid-year, is looking more and more like a whole new version of Windows. Microsoft has made a new, updated beta of its forthcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 available to testers via its private BetaPlace site. The 2082 build adds a new "Security Center" to the bits, some testers are reporting that seems to be a "lighter" form of the PC Satisfaction services.