Microsoft Corp. today called its first month of predicting whether hackers will create exploit code for its bugs a success -- even though the company got its forecast right less than half the time.
Some security patches take time.
Seven-and-a-half years, in fact, if you count the time it's taken Microsoft to patch a security issue in its SMB (Server Message Block) service, fixed Tuesday. This software is used by Windows to share files and print documents over a network.
Microsoft released two security updates for its Windows operating system Tuesday to patch flaws that could give attackers new ways to install malicious software on a victim's computer. The update fixes critical flaws in the Microsoft XML Core Services used by Internet Explorer and other programs to render Web pages. The second update fixes a less-critical bug in the Windows Server Message Block software used by Windows to share files and print documents over a network. Hackers routinely use Web bugs such as these XML flaws to infect Windows machines.
This month’s Patch Tuesday update is, by Microsoft standards, fairly quiet. There is only one fix rated critical and one rated important, though the firm does warn both the associated vulnerabilities are at particular risk of exploitation.
Those of you with modded Xbox 360's might want to stay off of Xbox LIVE (and also feel really bad) for the time being as it appears that Microsoft has started dropping the banhammer again.
Forum users have been posting that modded 360's have been dropping as Microsoft bans them.
This comes just days after the release of Gears of War 2, which many gamers illegally downloaded and played on modded consoles before the game was available at retail.
Microsoft's changes to Hotmail, its popular webmail service, haven't gone down well in all quarters. Last month, Microsoft introduced a new layout to Hotmail, though it allowed you to use the older layout if you wished.
However, since last week, anyone with a Hotmail account has been forced to use the new layout. "I really HATE the new hotmail and that is the first time I have ever used all caps," reads a comment from one Hotmail user on the Windows Live blog.
One of the common problems when Windows Vista was released was that of missing or non-working drivers. Microsoft massively reworked many of Windows' internal systems and frameworks, meaning lots of drivers broke, with most of them needing major work, and some even needed to be rewritten completely. Apparently, Microsoft didn't communicate this well enough with its hardware partners - or the partners were lazy, who knows - because many devices failed to work with Vista during its early months of being out in the wild.
Microsoft last week said it will release only two security updates on Tuesday -- down from the 11 issued in October's mammoth Patch Tuesday -- to fix bugs in Windows and Office.
Microsoft has given its most ringing endorsement of open source Web browsers to date with chief executive officer Steve Ballmer not ruling out adopting such technology as an alternative to its own popular Internet Explorer, saying it is "interesting".
In Sydney to speak at a Power to Developers event, Ballmer ignited the audience with his powerful "Developers! Developers! Developers!" chant, but was surprised to hear a question about open source browser adoption from one of his student constituents.
Certainly much of the Apple brand revolves around being superior to its counterparts. This belief generates a sense of elitism among Mac users, not all of course, but a decent number. The "I'm a Mac" ads have portrayed PC users to be as "uncool" as a dirty sock, and though this may not have originally been the case, due to the propagation of the ad itself, it would seem like this is the case presently.
