The European Union (EU) has rejected a Microsoft offer to settle its European antitrust case. Under terms of the proposal, Microsoft would have supplied competitors' media player products on a CD-ROM that PC makers could have shipped with new PCs, potentially opening up those products to a much wider range of consumers. Microsoft hoped the action would alleviate concerns that the software giant was abusing its monopoly power by bundling Windows Media Player with Windows. But the EU felt that the CD-ROMs would do little to improve usage of competing media players because few people would...
Is Microsoft going out of business due to the source-code leak on Thursday: Not!
I'm starting to wonder if the security industry has lost its mind. For most of the morning I've been hearing security "experts" say that the leak of Microsoft's source code is a huge exposure for the company.
These same security experts often favor Unix and Linux for secure deployments-both now Open Source products where virtually all of the code is available on the Web. This leak is embarrassing, sure, but life threatening? Please...
Microsoft's loss not Linux's gain
InternetNews
the errant source code doesn't increase the company's exposure to cracking, according to Enderle. "They are the most attacked platform out there. They also have most robust security services surrounding them. An entire security industry has been spawned to surround and protect the product," he said.
On the other hand, Linux's security patches come rather randomly, Enderle said. "You can receive Linux patches from a number of places, whereas the Microsoft patches can be sourced back to Microsoft."
The leak fiasco is fascinating, but it shouldn't serve to distract the company and its customers from more serious issues. Said Enderle, "Microsoft's got some issues. But the code is a tempest in a teapot."
A security company on Monday alerted clients of a new vulnerability to Internet Explorer 5, one attributed to the recent leak of Microsoft Windows source code. The quick attack appears to contradict some optimistic expectations that the recent leak of Windows 2000 and NT code would not pose a significant opportunity for hackers.
According to a message posted by SecurityGlobal.net LLC's Security Tracker Web site, a vulnerability was reported in Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5 that lets a "remote user execute arbitrary code on the target system." A hacked bitmap file can trigger an integer overflow and execute arbitrary code, the security bulletin said.
Microsoft officially notified selected customers and partners late last week that it has decided against delivering an integrated E-business server bundle in 2005, as planned. Microsoft has decided to move ahead with plans to deliver its BizTalk Server 2004 product, but has axed -at least temporarily plans to deliver a follow-on suite consisting of BizTalk, Content Management Server (CMS), Commerce Server and Host Integration Server, officials said.
Digital cameras are pretty much standard equipment these days for amateur photographers. And hand-held global positioning devices, using satellites to pinpoint a spot on Earth, are also widely available. But by combining data from both, a group of Microsoft researchers thinks it is on to something new.
A Microsoft Research project has produced a computer program that uses digital mapping software and global positioning data to sort and present digital photos by precisely where in the world they were taken. Dubbed the World-Wide Media eXchange, or WWMX, the program is based on an ever-expanding database of photos submitted to the project by digital-camera users.
Microsoft is ending development of its "Mythica" computer role-playing game, cutting up to 40 positions from Microsoft Game Studios as a result. The company said the decision was based on its evaluation of the competitive environment in the category of games to which Mythica belongs -- known in gaming parlance as massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs.
Microsoft said the decision was not related to a trademark-infringement lawsuit filed against it in December by Virginia-based Mythic Entertainment, whose "Dark Age of Camelot" MMORPG game would have competed with "Mythica." Microsoft said in a written statement yesterday that it has been working with Mythic Entertainment to settle the dispute amicably. The suit also includes allegations of unfair competition against Microsoft.
Round up: Windows source code leak
WinInsider
Here is collection of news articles about the news of the month:
Microsoft has protected it IPs rights pretty well and any attempt by an ISV of competitor to co-opt Windows in their own code won't fly. "The code is still covered by copyright, and any programmer should probably avoid looking at it, to avoid SCO-style legal implications," said DeGroot of Directions on Microsoft. "If you look at it, and similar code turns up in your own work or even is already in your own work, you could have problems if Microsoft believes you have stolen its code. Proving that you didn't see something can be difficult. My understanding is that Microsoft tells its own programmers that they may not view Linux source code, for example."
Those mosquito-like "pop-up" and "pop-under" Web advertisements could be headed for rapid extinction after Microsoft decided to phase them out across its MSN Internet units around the globe by summer.
The software giant said on Friday internal research showed customers were growing increasingly dissatisfied with the seemingly ubiquitous offers that appear in new windows when certain MSN Web sites are accessed.
As a result, the company will no longer sell such ad formats to advertisers. The ban goes into effect shortly for MSN's media properties in the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries and Belgium, extending to all territories in the coming months, the firm said.