Microsoft is gearing up to take on rival Apple in the smartphone market. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Microsoft is getting ready to launch an online marketplace akin to Apple's App Store. Microsoft is also readying a more sophisticated version of its mobile operating system called Windows Mobile 6.5, the Journal reported.
Microsoft Tuesday released a critical patch designed to thwart hackers who could take over Exchange Servers or shut them down with denial-of-service attacks.
Microsoft also issued a critical patch for Internet Explorer 7 and patches rated “important” for both SQL Server and Visio. In total, Microsoft issued four patches on Patch Tuesday that address eight vulnerabilities.
It's been about six years since Microsoft set aside the second Tuesday of each month as the day to release security patches, and most IT administrators have come to appreciate a consistent schedule to plan around.
But every so often, zero-day vulnerabilities and attacks materialize outside the cycle, causing more than a little heartburn for Windows-based businesses.
TO COUNTER APPLE'S Istore, Microsoft is looking to the markets for inspiration, the Middle Eastern markets that is, with reports the firm plans to launch an "online bazaar" for mobile phone software.
The Vole is also close to releasing a new version of Windows Mobile, version 6.5, with a less ugly, more intuitive interface. Friday saw the Redmond giant tentatively begin to roll out its new "My Phone" service, which will be officially launched at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next week, where Steve Ballmer is a keynote speaker.
Ubuntu must be giving Microsoft fits on the desktop. That's the only reason I can come up with for Microsoft's LinkedIn search for a new director of open-source strategy, with a focus on the desktop: "The Windows Competitive Strategy team is looking for a strong team member to lead Microsoft's global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors."
Given Red Hat's relative inaction on the desktop, this position likely will focus on Novell and Canonical's Ubuntu, but of these two, only Ubuntu's desktop is really catching the imagination of the market.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is warning IT organisations that they risk provoking an end user backlash if they don’t move off the XP operating system. "If you deploy a four or five-year old operating system today, most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff they have at home,” the Microsoft CEO said.
In an interview at an event to mark the extension of Microsoft's collaboration with EMC to help IT professionals improve virtualisation, security and content management, Ballmer touched on the progress of Windows 7.
Microsoft plans to patch critical flaws in its Internet Explorer and Microsoft Exchange Server software next week.
In total, the company will issue four security updates, including two critical fixes as well as patches for Microsoft SQL Server and its Microsoft Office Visio, the company said in a note published on its Web site Thursday. Although hackers could theoretically exploit bugs in all of these products to run unauthorized software, Microsoft rates the SQL Server and Office flaws as less severe.
Microsoft changed the default settings of one of its most important security features for Windows 7 because users balked at clicking more than two prompts a day, a company executive said Thursday.
According to Jon DeVaan , the senior vice president responsible for Windows' architecture and core components, the company changed User Account Control (UAC) in Windows 7 because data showed that users got ticked off when they were asked to deal with more than two UAC prompts in a day.
A SearchSecurity reader recently asked our platform security expert Michael Cobb, "Do the methods recently discovered to bypass Windows Vista memory protections reflect a lack of security in Vista, or an inability for any operating system to be completely safe?" Below, Michael Cobb explains what may be another question worth asking:
Microsoft plans to release six editions of Windows 7 and says all of them will run on a range of hardware, including netbooks.
However, the company is emphasising two main SKUs (stock-keeping units) of the forthcoming OS — Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional — saying these are the ones most customers will buy, according to information posted on Microsoft's website.
