Microsoft is working closely with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies to ensure that future versions of Windows will work more closely with the BIOS in upcoming PCs and have more direct control over the hardware. The new expanded relationship between the companies is designed to make PCs easier to use and more reliable, Microsoft says. But consumer rights advocates are already up in arms, arguing that the deal will help the companies push Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies on customers; this technology, they say, could reduce the control users have over their computers.
Microsoft is promoting its Windows products on popular TV shows like Fox's "24" and HBO's "The Wire," airing this fall, as part of the software company's push to transform the PC's image from "geek to sleek."
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft formed a group last November to gain exposure for Windows products in sports and entertainment programming, according to Andy Ma, Microsoft's program manager for strategic placement.
After some early success with shows like "24" last season, Microsoft funded the marketing team to strike again this year, particularly for the company's new Windows Media Center Edition 2004. The software, an advanced TV application with the PC as its hub, will be featured on upcoming shows of CBS's forensics show "CSI," as well as "24" and "The Wire," among others.
Microsoft's ambitious next-generation business applications are now due out in the "Longhorn" time frame, according to a top Microsoft executive. The upcoming product line, dubbed Project Green, will be built on what Microsoft Senior Vice President Doug Burgum calls a new "global" code base.
"Green is now due in the Longhorn timeframe and will stand on the shoulders of R&D around innovation on the platform, database, Office, communications and security...then we come in and add our piece [which is] innovation around visually connecting transactions, customers, employees and partners," said Burgum who heads Microsoft Business Solutions or MBS.
Microsoft CTO Craig Mundie says that a recent security report claiming that the company's software is too dangerous for governments is simply the work of anti-Microsoft groups and not to be taken seriously. Mundie even offered up a solution to the waves of viruses and worms that constantly affect Windows systems and, no, it didn't amount to adopting Linux. Instead, Mundie suggested that machines and networks could be rearchitected as an electronic immune system, preventing attacks from reaching the machines they're targeting. It sounds like a great idea... but it does remind me, vaguely, of the plot lines behind "The Terminator" and the "The Matrix." Once the "immune system" becomes sufficiently powerful, won't these machines simply (and accurately) determine that the biggest source of problems they face come from actual users?
Under attack from various quarters because of the perceived lack of security in its products, Microsoft is close to announcing a strategy shift in its Trustworthy Computing initiative. According to executives from the software giant, Microsoft's short-term strategy will shift from patch management to what the company calls "securing the perimeter." But long term, there are other problems: For many IT shops, the cost of dropping today's insecure products and moving to more the more secure platforms of the future may hinder Microsoft's efforts to deliver on its security promises. Companies simply aren't spending money to get better security, making it difficult to justify the costs.
Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have strengthened their lineup of products that allow cell phone companies to bill for downloads such as games or ring tones. The moves signal a new battle brewing between the two software heavyweights to win a dwindling share of spending by cell phone service providers.
Microsoft has begun working with Portal Software to make Portal's billing software available to any service provider that uses Microsoft's .NET platform, not just cell phone companies. But cell phone companies will be the first targeted for the goods when they arrive on the market later this year, Dickey said.
The next step in Microsoft's effort to penetrate the mobile phone market comes on Oct. 8 when the latest handset using Microsoft's Smartphone operating system is given a worldwide launch. The Smartphone, which is being produced by "a company with considerable experience of the wireless space," will offer "some radical innovations," according to an e-mail invitation sent by a public relations company for the unnamed mobile handset manufacturer.
"We can't reveal the company because of non-disclosure agreements, but I can say that it will be a global launch and that the manufacturer has a range of Smartphones on the way," said Lewis Webb of the U.K. public relations company AxiCom.
As Microsoft's SQL Server team continues its long march to Yukon, it is applying tools and processes pioneered by its Office colleagues to streamline error-reporting and development. Part of the goal is to tighten the feedback loop both among internal Microsoft developers and between them and outside testers.
In that effort, the Yukon team will make use of the Service Quality Monitor, or SQM (pronounced Skwim), as well as other tools already in use by the Office 12 development team. Office 12 is the upcoming Longhorn version of the popular productivity suite.
An open-source group that maintains software for securing communications released a patch on Tuesday to fix several vulnerabilities that were found during a security test by the U.K. government.
The security flaws exist in the OpenSSL Project's version of the secure sockets layer (SSL) software used by Web sites and browsers to cryptographically secure data. Two of the flaws could lead to a denial-of-service attack, and a third may allow an attacker to break into a system from the Internet.
Cox said that a specially crafted digital certificate could crash the OpenSSL software through either of two flaws, causing a denial-of-service attack. The third flaw could result in a security hole that could allow online vandals to attack a server or enable a worm to spread. All versions of OpenSSL, up to and including 0.9.6j and 0.9.7b, are affected, according to an advisory issued by the group.
Bell Canada plans to begin testing a new service that uses Microsoft technology to deliver video over telephone lines, according to a company executive. Michael Coulson, associate director for Internet service provider development at Bell Canada, said that Microsoft TV and Bell Canada have signed a memorandum of understanding to begin testing Microsoft TV in Toronto. Customers of Bell Canada's "early adopter" program, who reside in six apartment buildings throughout Toronto, will have use of a set-top box that includes Microsoft TV's Interactive Program Guide (IPG) and other digital services such as video on demand (VOD).