A ZDNet reader that goes by the name of R.E. Riker posed an interesting question to me via e-mail the other day. He asked if maybe, giving the high frequency of updates that it issues for its operating systems (in his case, Windows XP), if offering more frequent Service Packs or update roll-ups wouldn’t be the more sensible thing to do for some of Microsoft’s customers.
A blogger is making dormant rumours that Microsoft is looking to buy Yahoo active again after a Microsoft executive outlined plans this week for the company to improve its online search market share from about 10% to 30%.
Microsoft is delaying by six months its annual conference for hardware engineers, where it reveals its upcoming software plans to PC makers and other system builders.
The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) is usually held in March or April, but Microsoft said next year's show will take place in the fall, or around October. The company didn't say why it was making the change, attributing it only to "industry feedback."
The DNS cache poisoning bug that Microsoft Corp. patched last Tuesday stems from a flaw that has been known to researchers for 10 years or more, the two security firms credited with reporting the vulnerability said this week.
Microsoft patched the Domain Name System (DNS) server included with Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 to fix what it called a spoofing flaw that could be exploited by identity thieves or malware authors to silently redirect users from intended Web destinations to malicious pretenders.
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Thursday officially released Windows Live OneCare 2.0, which has been in beta testing since July. Windows Live OneCare is an online service that provides managed maintenance and security for consumers and small businesses. It offers protection from viruses, spyware, and phishing, helps with firewall settings, and coordinates system tune-ups and data backup.
Microsoft is still experiencing growing pains as it brings its consumer and enterprise security products and service up to speed. Microsoft released Windows Live OneCare for consumers in May 2006 and its Forefront Client Security for enterprises earlier this year. Both products entered a saturated security market populated by experienced security-specialist companies such as Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro.
Microsoft will strip a "click to activate" warning from Internet Explorer 7 starting next month, a company product manager said Thursday, a side benefit of the settlement that Microsoft struck with Eolas Technologies in August.
Microsoft's security team took a bit of a chance a few weeks ago, when it invited Roberto Preatoni to give a talk at its Redmond campus.
Preatoni is the founder of Wabisabilabi, a Switzerland-based company that bills itself as an auction site for the software bugs that companies like Microsoft never want anybody to see. He spoke at Microsoft in late September as an invited guest at Microsoft's semi-annual Blue Hat security conference.
In addition to the question of what corporate policy now-former Microsoft Corp. CIO Stuart Scott violated to lead to his termination by the company on Monday, many other unknowns remain.
For instance, why didn't Microsoft and Scott work out some sort of face-saving departure? Was Microsoft tougher on Scott than it might have been on someone else because he was CIO? And what career paths remain open to the 40-something Scott?
Microsoft Corp. has fired its chief information officer, saying he violated company policies. A spokesman declined to give the exact reason for the dismissal.
"Stuart Scott's employment with Microsoft was terminated after an investigation for violation of company policies," said Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos, reading from a company statement Tuesday.
Gellos said Scott was dismissed Friday. He would not elaborate further.
