IT Resource

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has told delegates at the software giant’s Most Valuable Professionals Summit in Seattle that Windows Vista is “a work in progress” and that the company is trying to learn from its mistakes.

“I think we did a lot of things right, and I think we have a lot of things we need to learn from,” Ballmer told the assembled independent developers, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The five-year development cycle for Vista had been too long, according to Ballmer, and was not something that Microsoft would be repeating.

“Can we just sort of kiss that stone and move on?” he asked. “Because it turns out many things become problematic when you have those long release cycles. We can’t ever let that happen again.”

Ballmer confirmed that Windows 7 will be released in 2010, but would not be drawn on whether Microsoft will extend the deadline for selling new computers running XP beyond 1 July.

“I know we are going to continue to get feedback from people on how long XP should be available,” he said. “We have some opinions on that. We have expressed our views.”

Linus Torvalds has released the latest version of the “stable” Linux kernel, version 2.6.25, which includes changes to Wi-Fi support, virtualisation, real-time scheduling and file systems.

The kernel, which was released approximately 10 weeks after its predecessor, includes broader Wi-Fi hardware support and the integration of more Wi-Fi drivers, according to Linux developers. Among the drivers integrated is Ath5k, which is compatible with chips by semiconductor system Wi-Fi developer Atheros.

On the virtualisation front, the KVM x86 emulator has been updated with more instructions and components, designed to improve performance and compatibility. Virtual prototyping platforms framework Virtio has also been updated, while paravirt_ops now works on the x86-64 architecture.
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Word documents generated by the latest version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, according to tests run by a document standards specialist.

In a blog posting this week, Alex Brown, leader of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) group in charge of maintaining the OOXML standard, revealed that Microsoft Office 2007 documents do not meet the latest specifications of the ISO OOXML draft standard.

“Word documents generated by today’s version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to ISO/IEC 29500,” said Brown in a blog post recounting the process of testing a document against the “strict” and “transitional” schema defined in the standard.
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A Flash flaw discovered this month could change the face of Web security by allowing criminals to infect users of any browser or operating system with malware — without making their browser or application crash.

An IBM security engineer has published research showing that exploits using software such as Adobe’s Flash are set to become far more reliable and dangerous than is currently thought possible.

IBM X-Force research engineer, Mark Dowd, discovered a memory corruption flaw in Adobe’s Flash software which allowed an attacker to take control of a computer system.

Security researchers are interested in Dowd’s discovery because Flash exploits have not typically been reliable or potent, which has resulted in researchers underestimating the potential impact of Flash exploits.
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Yesterday, a supplier of Linux for driving time critical applications — such as intercepting ballistic missiles — released RedHawk Linux 5.1, its latest “real-time” operating system distribution.

Concurrent is a Linux distributor specializing in real-time technologies that can be utilized by some very serious businesses. For example, Concurrent is the key supplier of RedHawk Linux for the US Navy’s Aegis cruisers, which are equipped with anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine weapons systems.

The company’s trademark architecture relies on the presence of multiple processors, and the ability to schedule threading between CPUs and cores to ensure higher reliability for user tasks, as opposed to hardware-specific tasks. One way it does this is through a mechanism Concurrent calls processor shielding, which grants higher priorities to selected cores that run user applications…such as anti-submarine algorithmic operations.
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It is the type of vulnerability that Microsoft wanted to head off as long as possible, especially since Windows Vista’s new kernel was designed to thwart this possibility.

Now, as the company acknowledged in a security bulletin yesterday, a malicious program running as a local or network service can leverage another local or network service running in the same system, to elevate its own privilege and potentially cause damage.

As of early Friday evening, there was no known exploit for this vulnerability, and thus security firm Secunia has given it a “less critical” rating. The nature of Microsoft’s report today indicates that it may have been alerted to the problem by a security engineer who discovered a proof of concept, though no credit has yet been given.
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Apple has patched four security vulnerabilities in Safari affecting the Mac OS X and Windows versions of the web browser.

The vulnerabilities range from cross-site scripting to remote code execution.

For Windows XP and Vista users, the update addresses four flaws. Two of the vulnerabilities, a memory overflow error in the browser itself and a buffer overflow in the JavaScript component, could be exploited by an attacker to remotely install and execute malware on a target system.

Another flaw in the browser could allow for a URL to be displayed without the page itself being loaded. Apple warned that this could be exploited by an attacker to spoof legitimate sites by displaying normal URLs with forged web pages.
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Microsoft has unveiled its BizTalk RFID Mobile platform designed to enable delivery of information from mobile devices to core business processes.

A previously private beta version of the software was made available today, and general availability is promised for late 2008.

“It is only natural that Microsoft extends BizTalk RFID to mobile devices, and it complements its mobile hardware partners very well,” said John Fontanella, vice president of research at AMR Research.

“The ability to operate at the edge in real time opens up opportunities that can only further enhance RFID’s value.”
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Security vendor Marshal is warning email users of a new mass targeted spam outbreak which contains a personalised subject line claiming to have caught ‘you’ naked on video.

The malicious campaign is being sent from the Srizbi botnet identified as the largest spam-sending botnet on the Internet and responsible for 45 percent of all spam caught, according to Marshal’s TRACE Team.

The message itself contains a clickable link which claims to be a naked video of the recipient and reads: “we caught you naked [your name]! check the video.”

When the user clicks on the link, the PC becomes infected and enlisted as a member of the Srizbi botnet.
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Research which pitted Windows PCs against Macs found that Vista works better on a Mac.

The May issue of Popular Mechanics includes a comparative review of Macs running OS X Leopard with PCs running Windows Vista without SP1. The verdict: Vista PCs are slower.

While PCs were able to install some software faster than on a Mac, Apple’s laptops and desktops proved to be better on overall performance than PCs, according to the reviewers.

“In our speed trials… Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown, and program launch times,” Glenn Derene writes in the review.
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Activation is required in all versions of Windows Vista. After you install Windows Vista, you have 30 days to activate it online or by telephone. If the 30-day activation period expires before you complete the activation, Windows Vista does not work as expected. You cannot create new files, and you cannot save changes to existing files. You regain full use of Windows Vista when you activate it.

To activate Windows Vista online, you must have an Internet connection. To activate Windows Vista by telephone, you must use an automated telephone system.

To activate Windows Vista, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button, and then click Computer.
2. On the toolbar, click System properties, and then click Activate Windows now in the Windows activation area.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

3. Select the Windows Vista activation method that you want, and then follow the instructions.

Note: If you select the automatic activation method when you set up the computer, the automatic activation process tries to activate your copy of Windows Vista three days after you first log on.

To verify the Windows Vista activation status, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button, and then click Computer.
2. Click System properties on the toolbar, and view the Windows Vista activation status in the Windows activation area.

Windows Vista should now be activated.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the pending general availability of MySQL 5.1, a new version of the world’s most popular open source database, designed to improve performance and simplify management of large database applications. A near-final release candidate of the GPL software is available for download now at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/.

The announcement was made this morning at the sixth annual MySQL Conference and Expo . With nearly 2,000 attendees, it is the world’s largest community event for open source database developers, users, DBAs, vendors and corporate IT managers.

“If our users initially choose MySQL because of its low cost, they continue to use MySQL for its high performance, scalability and broad platform support,” said Marten Mickos, SVP, Database Group, Sun Microsystems. “MySQL 5.1 continues this tradition by performing up to 15 percent faster than previous versions in our own internal tests – making it a compelling solution for demanding Web-based enterprise applications.”

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As part of Mozilla Corporation’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 2.0.0.14 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux for free download from http://getfirefox.com.

We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 2.x, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 2.0.0.14 Release Notes.

If you are still running Firefox 1.5.0.x, you are highly encouraged to upgrade to the Firefox 2 series as Mozilla ceased supporting Firefox 1.5.0.x in May 2007. Simply choose “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu to begin the upgrade process.

If you’ve ever wanted an alternative to Windows Media Player, then VideoLAN Client (VLC) is what you want.

VLC is a media player, streamer, and encoder for Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, QNX, and PocketPC. It can play most audio and video codecs (MPEG 1/2/4, DivX, WMV, Vorbis, AC3, AAC, etc.), has support for VCD, SVCD, and DVD (with menus), and can read or dump streams from a network source (HTTP, UDP, DVB, MMS, etc). It can also act as a server and send streams through a network, with optional support for audio and video transcoding.

You can find more information on VideoLAN Client at http://www.videolan.org. Downloads, feature details and more screenshots are also listed there.

Amid the buzz of reaching a new milestone of 1 million Eee PCs sold in just 5 months after its launch, ASUS has provided yet another round of excitement with its release of the new Eee PC 900. This new generation of the ever popular PC packs in a whole range of hardware that includes a 8.9 inch widescreen, a 1.3M pixels webcam, the new innovative FingerGlide and 12GB and 20GB storage capacities for Windows and Linux platforms respectively – catering to wider consumer needs while still maintaining the “Easy to learn, work and play” concept by keeping the overall weight under 1kg.

Mobility is one of the major factors attributed to the Eee PC’s success; and this is in part due to the use of the built-in Solid State Disk (SSD) technology – which offers a quiet, energy saving and shock proof design for stable computing on-the-go. Traditional hard disks spin at 5400 RPM (Revolutions per Minute) – making them more prone to data loss or damage if shocks or bumps are received. Conversely, the Eee PC is able to protect against such incidents, and is the perfect tool for outdoor computing – suitable as an ideal companion for reporters, wildlife photographers and other like-minded outdoor enthusiasts.

“Vital feedback from a wide variety of users have been received, which has spurred us on to create more options to cater to different user requirements.” said Jerry Shen, CEO of ASUS.
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