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Defending yourself against Microsoft

Yesterday I wrote that Windows is malware. I said this because:

Microsoft can and will update your copy of Windows whenever they feel like it, regardless of your wishes. And, they feel no obligation to tell you what they've done. Your computer is just a zombie to them.

Defending yourself against Microsoft involves turning off automatic updates and that's what this posting is about.

At first glance, turning off Automatic Updates seems simple enough. In Windows XP, you go to the Control Panel, then System, then the Automatic Updates tab and click on the radio button to turn … Read more

"Without Microsoft, there would be no Google"

Or so says Microsoft's Craig Mundie in an engaging interview with APC Magazine. You've got to give Microsoft some credit: the company spends a lot of time thinking through strategic issues in technology like few others. This interview reveals that.

I found Mundie's comment on Google particularly insightful:

APC: So do you feel that is a major competitive advantage over Google for example? That you have the desktop software expertise along with online services?… Read more

Microsoft getting snotty with Apple's Safari

Apple is trying to make its Safari browser relevant to the Windows platform. According to early reports, however, Microsoft disagrees, leaving Hotmail users (who still uses Hotmail????) stranded:

Recent changes to Microsoft's Hotmail service appears to have left Safari-using Mac users out of luck. Currently, logging into Hotmail with a Safari browser causes an infinite redirect loop (or stops when Safari has said "enough redirects!").

Microsoft is big on interoperability, Apple. Try entering into a(nother) patent agreement with the company. That seems to do the trick.

Future Implications: Ethics in technology

As I sat here today, trying to decide what the topic should be for this week's Future Implications piece, I thought of the ever-popular topics of computing, smart phones and even HDTVs. But alas, I came across this list from Ethisphere that lists the World's Most Ethical Companies for 2007.

Upon opening the link and examining the list, I was aghast at what I found: most major tech companies were nowhere to be found. Is this an endemic issue in the technology business? And more importantly, what can be done to fix it?… Read more

Microsoft downplays stealth Windows Update file updates

Microsoft sought today to downplay the recent, but unpublicized, automatic update of system files on Windows XP and Vista machines as "normal behavior." ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has been writing the last two days about a "stealth" update that occurred on his and other machines in late August, even though those machines are set to not install automatic updates. "I just don't like the idea of having updates foisted upon systems without being aware that they are coming in and having the option to postpone them," he wrote.

A Microsoft spokesperson said, "… Read more

Microsoft, context, and open data

Jason Matusow (Microsoft's interoperability guru) has a swipe at me in his blog today. He emailed me to tell me he had done it. I appreciate the courtesy, and I also appreciate the post. Jason has a way of dismantling someone's arguments in a very polite, but complete way.

Unfortunately, in this case, he didn't dismantle my argument. He supported it.… Read more

Microsoft says college students can 'steal' Office

For college students who want Office 2007, but don't want to pay Microsoft a fortune, the software maker is offering another option: Steal it.

Well, actually Microsoft isn't encouraging piracy. Rather it is launching a promotion, dubbed "Ultimate Steal," in which college students can get the ultra high-end Ultimate edition of Office for just $60.

The promotion runs through April 30 and starts Wednesday in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It launches next week in France, Italy and Spain. To be eligible, Microsoft said students have to be "actively enrolled" in … Read more

Microsoft sneaks 1GB of memory into new laptop mouse

Microsoft has a handful of new laptop mice the company wants you to know about this morning. And while Microsoft isn't usually the first brand name that springs to mind when you think of computer hardware (software's another story), a few of the promised features look interesting enough to check out.

The $99 Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 calls itself the world's "first rechargeable notebook mouse with 1GB of flash memory built right into the transceiver," which we suppose is technically true, since the only other mouse we can think of that includes flash memory … Read more

For Microsoft-Novell lab, eight is enough

Microsoft and Novell plan to announce Wednesday the opening of a joint lab in Cambridge, Mass., where a team of programmers will work to make the two companies' products work better together.

The 2,500-square-foot lab "will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and Suse Linux Enterprise from Novell," the companies said in a statement. "This kind of technical interoperability work requires disciplined effort and dedicated resources, and that's what this lab is built around," said Suzanne Forsberg, Novell's Interoperability … Read more