Microsoft

Microsoft today reminded customers that it will pull the support plug for the aged Office XP in July. Office XP, which launched nearly 10 years ago, will exit support July 12, that month's Patch Tuesday. The date will be the last time Microsoft issues security updates for the suite.

Microsoft regularly warns users of impending end-of-support dates. Last year, for example, it mentioned the July 2010 end to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) support on several consecutive months.

A promotion offering Microsoft Points, 48-hour Xbox LIVE passes, and in-game props could have cost Microsoft more than it bargained for last weekend after Xbox LIVE users discovered that they could generate hundreds of working codes and redeem thousands of points. Most users exploiting the flaw were interested in the Microsoft Points: each code was worth 160 points, an amount that would normally cost $2 to buy.

I was surprised to learn last week at Microsoft's MVP Summit that most Exchange MVPs haven't been invited to the private beta for Office 365. Yet here I was, a new MVP, with beta access, thanks to my columnist connection with InfoWorld, no doubt. (Several infoWorld editors have Office 365 beta accounts, and InfoWorld has published its own take on Office 365's strengths and weaknesses in its beta incarnation.) It was a no-brainer that I should make friends with my colleagues and peers by giving everyone who wanted it access to Office 365 -- which is what I did.

Yesterday afternoon a website started offering free Microsoft Points. I’m sure you if you type “free Microsoft Points” into Google you’ll still get pages upon pages of websites saying you will get free points if you just fill out 4 surveys and give them your social security number. This time, this really was a site giving away free Microsoft Points. Hackers found an algorithem to add to existing, used codes to get new ones. A person would just have to sit back and refresh over and over and rack up the 160MSP codes. Not every code would work, but a majority would.

There has been some back and forth as people try to sort out the details of the Microsoft-Nokia deal. Some said that Nokia was only accepting software and marketing assistance from Microsoft, but many suspected there was a cold, hard cash payoff going on. Today Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft has committed to pay the Finnish company $1 billion to promote and develop Windows Phone 7 devices.

The Imperium upon which the sun appears to be setting more often is set to make a huge announcement on March 15.

If it were Apple there would be all sorts of fevered expectation which would result in a hysterical press rushing to the press conference to see what polished turd Steve Jobs was offering this week. When Microsoft issues a similar cryptic notice, no one notices. To be fair we only spotted it because of the date which is the Ides of March.

Using Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) to browse the Internet is one of the worst decisions someone can make. It's the browser equivalent of Swiss cheese, used by hackers and malware goons time and time again to circumvent its extremely weak security controls and infect users with malicious software.

Microsoft has plans for a small Patch Tuesday next week that will include just three security bulletins.

Of the three, just one is rated "Critical," while the other two are rated "Important." The critical bulletin, as well as one of the bulletins classified as important, impacts Microsoft Windows. The other bulletin affects Microsoft Office. All totaled, the bulletins will close four security issues, blogged Angela Gunn, of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer posted its first market share gain in six months, according to the latest data from NetMarketShare, halting a steady slide that had seen the browser lose nearly 4 percentage points since July 2010. The gain of 0.77 percent is IE's biggest increase in more than a year.

Last week, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. I’ve been monitoring the release in online forums and via individual reports since then. I’ve also talked, unofficially, with some people who have access to Microsoft’s customer support database.