Windows

Inside Microsoft's security war room

REDMOND, Wash.--Tired of having to fight for a free conference room, Microsoft's security chief, Mike Nash, decided in early 2005 that the company needed a dedicated "war room" where his team could handle emergency responses.

And while he was at it, why not have two? That way, the folks working on fixing a security crisis could have a little breathing room from those drafting the public and customer communications around the issue.

"They were tired of the communications people hearing of things that were half-baked," Nash said.

The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) was … Read more

The economy is fine, at least for Microsoft

Updated 3 p.m., with additional comments from Microsoft on timing of Windows Server 2008.

One of the nice things about being Microsoft is that a lot of money comes in, good times and bad.

Asked Thursday about the impact Microsoft is seeing from the uncertainty in the credit markets, a top Microsoft finance executive said the company has yet to see anything particularly worrisome.

"We're not seeing anything different than what we said back in October (during an earnings conference call)," said Peter Klein, the CFO of Microsoft's business division, speaking at Credit Suisse's … Read more

Antipiracy effort targets little guy

The Business Software Alliance is best known for tracking piracy rates and announcing high-profile settlements over improperly licensed programs. But a new study finds that most of its money is not coming from big corporations, but from small businesses.

Associated Press writer Brian Bergstein said his analysis showed that 90 percent of settlement revenue comes from small businesses. Last year the agency, which monitors compliance for companies such as Microsoft and Adobe Systems, took in $13 million in settlement proceeds, according to the AP.

Among the other interesting tidbits is a chart showing where the organization's income originates (81 … Read more

Microsoft inches closer to XP update

Microsoft late last week released an updated test version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to about 15,000 beta testers. The update, the third such service pack for the six-year-old operating system is due out in final form in the first half of next year. The company said before its final release it expects to issue a public test version of the service pack, though it did not provide more specificity than at "a later date."

"We are targeting (the first half of) 2008 for the release of XP SP3," Microsoft said, "though our … Read more

More FUD for Windows Vista

Are you kidding me? ZDNet takes something that has been common knowledge for years and treats it as if it was news?

I'm speaking of the dog and pony show that Tom Espiner wrote about on November 13th with the eye catching headline Microsoft exec calls XP hack 'frightening'. Great headline, it got my attention.

The computer in question was running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and was connected to an unsecured wireless network. Adding more vulnerabilities to the mix, "The machine was running no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software..." according to Mr. Espiner.

I'd … Read more

Microsoft postpones Windows hardware conference

Windows hardware makers will get an extra week next spring to work on their products. Microsoft said Thursday that it is shifting the timing of its WinHEC conference--practically a spring ritual--to the fall.

The conference will be held next year at a West Coast location, but Microsoft didn't say which one. (Can Hawaii please be considered West Coast?)

"We rescheduled WinHEC for the fall in response to industry feedback," Microsoft said in an e-mail. The company promised that the event will offer "Microsoft vision for Windows and the future of PC computing" along with the … Read more

Vista's biggest problem is Windows XP

Computerworld reports on a recent survey of nearly 600 U.S. and European companies that have more than 1,000 employees; the study says 84 percent of all those companies' PCs now run Windows XP, up from 67 percent the year before."

That sounds pretty good for the Windows monopoly, right? So, one could assume that Vista should start to creep into those numbers.

Nearly a third of the polled businesses--32 percent to be exact--said they would begin deploying Vista by the end of 2008, while another 17 percent said they would start in 2009 or 2010.

Still good, … Read more

Dealing with software crashes, Part 2

The first part of this posting on dealing with software crashes covered preventing the leakage of personal information, portable applications, and controlling the programs that run automatically when Windows starts up. Here we look at dumps, event logs, and disk checking, but first, we pick up on the topic of drivers.

Driver Verifier

In Windows, the term "driver" refers to software used by the operating system to control the hardware in the computer. Each piece of hardware (sound, video, printer) has an associated driver program.

The last topic in the previous posting was an airplane analogy to illustrate … Read more

Microsoft still hoping consumers see 'Wow' in Vista

Microsoft is hoping that with some of Vista's wrinkles ironed out, customers will start noticing more of the advantages the year-old operating system has over its predecessor.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Corporate Vice President Mike Nash acknowledged that the initial experience for many consumers was a frustrating one as they found their old software might not work right or that their hardware lacked the proper driver.

But, he insists, the situation is much better now. Not only are the hardware drivers out there, they are readily available.

"You don't have to go on a scavenger hunt,&… Read more

IBM updates free Symphony suite

IBM is releasing an update today to its free Lotus Symphony productivity suite, which remains in beta testing.

The three desktop applications, Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations, are counterparts to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The latest iteration of Symphony is supposed to be faster than its predecessor, which debuted less than two months ago.

The package is one of several low-cost or free alternatives to Microsoft Office. Unlike products such as ThinkFree, Zoho and Google Docs & Spreadsheets, there is no online component to Symphony.

Like its close competitor, the $79 Sun StarOffice, Symphony works on Windows and Linux computers … Read more