A long-ignored security hole in Microsoft's Internet Explorer is proving to be a gold mine for hackers, providing an easy way for them to plant malicious programs on vulnerable machines through hacker Web sites and instant messaging applications, security experts warn.
New attacks using the vulnerability include a worm that spreads through America Online's Instant Messenger (AIM) and a malicious Web site that silently loads snooping software on victims' machines, according to independent security expert Richard Smith.
Microsoft is expected next month to disclose more details on Longhorn, its planned upgrade to Windows, as the company looks to drive demand for the forthcoming operating system.
At its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, the Redmond, Wash., software maker will detail Longhorn's underlying graphics and user interface technology, code-named Avalon. Details on Avalon, a database update code-named Yukon, and a new Web services development framework called Indigo are expected to be the highlights of the conference, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.
Microsoft has demanded that Linux seller Lindows.com take down a Web site that offers to process customer claims from the settlement of a California class-action suit against the software giant.
In a letter sent to the Linux seller on Friday and reprinted in a Lindows announcement Monday, attorney Robert Rosenfeld said Lindows' MSfreePC site includes false and misleading information and encourages filing of fraudulent claims. It demands that Lindows take down the site by noon Monday or face legal action by Microsoft.
Reuters Group PLC is working down its checklist of the major IM (instant messaging) systems, announcing Monday that it has added Microsoft's MSN Messenger to the list of other IM services to which it will support connectivity when it releases early next year a new version of its Reuters Messaging software.
The Reuters Messaging system is the first with which Microsoft has agreed to link, allowing users of the two different services to exchange messages. Other interoperability deals are under consideration, according to a Microsoft spokesman.
Microsoft is working to add 'rich user interaction' to its next-generation Windows client. While Microsoft isn't expected to talk about Longhorn at this week's SpeechTEK show in New York, the Redmond software maker is working to add speech and other "natural-user-interface" (NUI) technologies to its next-generation Windows operating system.
Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division (NISD) has been working on a "NUI Platform" that is designed provide users with "rich interaction" (speech, handwriting, natural language and even machine learning). The NUI Platform is expected to debut in Longhorn, Microsoft's Windows client due to ship in 2005+.
After a slow start, tablet personal computers are starting to take off, fueled by Microsoft's release of its operating system Windows XP Tablet PC and manufacturers rolling out a wider variety of easier-to-use devices.
Since Microsoft's launch of the Tablet PC in November, the devices have grown in popularity, benefiting from the more user-friendly software and improved handwriting recognition technology. And Microsoft's OneNote application that allows Tablet PC users to write notes in digital ink -- either with a keyboard or a pen -- goes on sale next month.
Called the Source Code Browsing Lab, it is part of the existing government-run software site, the China Testing and Certification Center for Information Security Products, according a report in the People's Daily.
Microsoft is the first commercial software company that has signed an operating system source code browsing agreement with the Chinese government, said the report, hinting that the lab is also open to other commercial software companies who wish to have their products certified for security
The report stressed the need for checking Windows source code for security loopholes especially in the light of recent hacker attacks.
Microsoft has announced GSP agreements with Russia, NATO and the United Kingdom. The firm is in discussions with more than 30 countries, territories and organizations regarding their interest in the program.
In a bid to maintain its competitive advantage while it preps Windows Longhorn for release over the next two years, Microsoft will not provide attendees at the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles with the code for Aero, Longhorn's exciting and innovative graphical user interface. Instead, attendees will receive a special Longhorn build with the Aero bits removed, and Microsoft executives will only provide a special demonstration preview of Aero during Chairman Bill Gates' keynote address. I've now verified these plans with several sources at and close to Microsoft.
The lead author of the controversial report about Microsoft security risks, "CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly," found himself sans job yesterday when his employer, @stake, discovered he promoted his company credentials when he wrote and publicized the report. According to @stake, Daniel Greer, the company's former chief technology officer (CTO), "is no longer associated" with the company; @stake also noted that "the values and opinions of the report are not in line with [@stake's] views." Conspiracy theorists will ignore the fact that both Microsoft and @stake said the software giant had nothing to do with Greer's firing, but bigger concerns are at stake than just one man's job. Because Microsoft's largest competitors sponsored the report, how valuable or accurate the report can therefore be is unclear. Sponsoring a report that touts the competitive advantages of your own product is one thing, but pushing competitors' opinions on governments that are in a position to dramatically alter the competitive landscape is another thing entirely. In the meantime, the accusations are going to fly.
Users demanded SQL Server bond tighter with Visual Studio .Net, and Microsoft Corp. has since heeded the call, putting into beta testers' hands a version that opens the database up to .Net-compliant languages.
The next version of SQL Server, code-named "Yukon," was originally slated for a spring 2004 release. That deadline was pushed out to the second half of next year after customers said they expected Yukon to fit hand-in-glove with the next version of .Net, code-named Whidbey. The Yukon beta was released in July to some 2,000 customers and partners.