Microsoft

Microsoft has promised that an enhanced version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator Community Edition application security toolkit will be included in the next major release of Microsoft Visual Studio, codenamed Orcas.

Integration of Dotfuscator Community Edition with Visual Studio will enable developers to automatically resolve build dependencies, integrate with other post-build processes such as installation script generation, and manage obfuscation artefacts.

Such technology is needed to prevent reverse engineering of code by malicious hackers, according to Gartner.

- Security firm Secunia has found another flaw in Windows, this time in the Microsoft XML Core Services.

The flaw, which is located specifically in the XMLHTTP 4.9 ActiveX Control, allows hackers to gain control of PCs when users visit a malicious website using Internet Explorer. Secunia has rated it as ?Extremely critical? as it?s already being exploited.

In an unusual partnership, old foes Microsoft and Novell have joined forces to work on harmonizing their products.

The companies said Thursday they will collaborate on development of specific technologies, for example to help Microsoft's Windows, a proprietary operating system, work with Novell's Suse Linux, which is based on open-source code. On the business side, they will promote each other's products.

When Microsoft issued their anticipated fall dashboard update on Tuesday, 1080p support wasn't the only new feature, as several use started reporting ERROR CODE E71, which essentially "bricked" their console, rendering it unusable for surfing Xbox Live or playing games -- you know, everything an Xbox 360 is useful for. Initial reports suggested these problems were isolated to users who'd modified their firmware to play back-ups, but that's not the case.

WELL PLACED sources have informed Apcmag that the release dates for Vista have been set in place.

Tuesday November 30th should see the release of Vista to corporate customers, and standard retail customers purchasing from stores or OEMs should be able to get their copy of the new Microsoft operating system from Tuesday January 30th 2007.

It's planned that Office 2007 will be released in parallel on the same days respectively, ensuring a bumper Christmas for Microsoft's bottom line.

Microsoft should officially announce the dates shortly.

Microsoft is currently looking to fill 50 positions in Australia, so if you've ever wanted a piece of one of the IT industry's biggest pies, now would be a good time to strike.

Liz Tay speaks with Fiona Hathaway, Recruitment Manager for Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, about the company's arduous recruitment process, and finds out a surprising statistic: one in five candidates interviewed for a position at Microsoft make it into the company.

Security researchers with Authentium have found a way to circumvent the Patchguard security technology that Microsoft has built into the 64-bit version of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system.

Over the past months the Patchguard technology has been subject of a fierce debate between security vendors and Microsoft because it prevents some anti-virus software from functioning.

While the Microsoft-sanctioned name of the next version of Internet Explorer (IE) is IE "Next," it seems it will likely be christened IE 8.0.

That's according to Chris Wilson, the new platform architect for IE. (IE-team veteran Wilson, until a few days ago, was the group platform manager of IE. In his new role, Wilson will be spending his time focusing on making IE a better Web-development platform.)

An Internet Explorer 7 flaw, found just hours after the browser's launch, could result in sensitive data such as your internet banking details falling into the hands of criminals, says Danish security firm Secunia.

"A vulnerability has been discovered in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information," says an advisory published on the Secunia website.

Microsoft Corp. is giving its Web browser software its first major upgrade in years, amid signs that Internet Explorer's market share is eroding.

The release late Wednesday brings Microsoft's browser more in line with competing products such as Opera Software ASA's Opera and Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox. Internet Explorer 7, or IE7, adds features such as tabbed browsing, which lets people open several Web pages without cluttering their desktop with multiple open browser windows.