Microsoft

In a few weeks time Microsoft is expected to launch Vista, its new operating system, and in January we will all get to play with the finished version. But how safe will this brave new world be?

Given the number of attacks Windows usually attracts it is not surprising that Microsoft has been speaking to anyone they think can help.

A team from Microsoft headquarters went to Malaysia for Asia's biggest gathering of hackers - not to confront the enemy - but to throw the hackers a party.

Microsoft has released Australian pricing for Windows Vista, revealing that its high-end version of the new operating system will actually cost more than a well-configured desktop or as much as a low-end notebook computer. The price for a copy of the top of the range Windows Vista Ultimate is a whopping AUD$751 to buy off the shelf, which effectivey doubles the price of a fully configured desktop computer.

Microsoft today released what the company believes will be the last non-final version of the Windows Vista operating system. Vista RC2 promises more stability and more performance than RC1, which was released to a total of five million users earlier this month. The new build, version 5744, is made available to a far smaller group and technical beta testers, TAP testers, and MSDN/TechNet subscribers. Within days, Microsoft said it will extend the download availability to participants of the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program.

Microsoft is preparing to release 11 security updates for its Windows and Office applications and its .Net Framework on Tuesday 10 October.

The release is part of the software vendor's regular patch release cycle that takes place on the second Tuesday of each month. Today's advanced notification aims to enable IT staff to prepare for the release.

At least one of the six Windows updates has a severity rating of "critical", as does at least one of the four Office patches. The fix for the.Net Framework is rated "moderate".

Microsoft Corp.will most likely ship its upcoming Windows Vista operating system on time and meet its deadline for both corporate and retail consumers, a Wall Street analyst said on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund sent a note to clients saying that Microsoft may be ready to send the final test version of its much-anticipated Windows upgrade later this week or next week, indicating that Vista will be available for business customers in November and retail PCs by late January.

SEATTLE Microsoft has said that its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system will take much harsher steps to curtail piracy than previous versions of Windows, including crippling the operating system in computers found to be running unlicensed copies.

People running a version of Windows Vista that Microsoft believes is pirated will initially be denied access to some of the most awaited Vista features, including Windows Aero, an improved graphics technology, the company said Wednesday.

More bad news for Microsoft's delayed operating system Vista - the European Commission is widening an investigation into whether or not it breaches competition law.

Microsoft and the Commission were already discussing the oft-delayed software. But the Commission is now concerned about encryption technology and handwriting recognition which are included in the release. The Commission is concerned the development could put Microsoft back in bundling territory, according to the FT.

Security vendors are claiming Microsoft was deliberately withholding access to its Vista spyware product, but the software giant denied the charge.

Anti-malware company Symantec has accused Microsoft of withholding key information about its upcoming Vista operating system, in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in the security market.

Symantec claimed this week in the UK that Microsoft was refusing to hand over the application programmable interfaces (APIs) for Windows Defender, its spyware product which will be included in Vista.

With Peter Jackson?s involvement in the Halo movie, it only seems natural that his partnership would extend even further with Microsoft ? which is exactly what was announced today at Microsoft?s X06 event in Barcelona, Spain.

For more than a month, the Redmond, Wash., company has been combating a program released online called FairUse4WM, which successfully stripped anticopying guards from songs downloaded through subscription media services such as Napster or Yahoo Music. Microsoft has released two successive patches aimed at disabling the tool. The first worked--but the hacker, known only by the pseudonym "Viodentia," quickly found a way around the update, the company alleges.