Microsoft

A Microsoft-sponsored study finds that patch management of Windows clients and servers can cost less than that of comparable open-source systems.

A research study comparing patch management in Microsoft Windows client and server operating systems with open-source software systems alleges that the costs of patching vulnerabilities is roughly the same for each.

The document states that the results go against a common perception in the IT community that total costs of ownership for open source, which include patching, are lower than for Windows.

A tool provided by Microsoft could let people get around a check meant to prevent those with pirated copies of Windows from downloading additional software from the company, according to a security researcher.

Researcher Debasis Mohanty outlined what he said was a technique to trick Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation check in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list on Monday. WGA is a software tool that verifies whether a particular copy of the operating system is properly licensed.

L33tdawg: Take a look at the full selection of screenshots here.

Behind closed doors on Thursday, Microsoft demonstrated to BetaNews the user interface on its Xbox 360. The Dashboard, which can be customized using themes, offers access to four main panels: System, Games, Media and Xbox Live.

Microsoft on Wednesday issued a security advisory to warn Windows users of a new denial of service vulnerability affecting TCP/IP.
The warning comes as part of a new pilot program, which Microsoft is using to acknowledge new security problems, provide workarounds and report progress in fixing flaws. The TCP flaw allows a remote attacker to set arbitrary timer values for a TCP connection, creating a denial-of-service condition until TCP connections are re-established.

Cuba will gradually switch to the open-source Linux operating system for its state computers, eliminating its exclusive use of Windows, the government daily Juventud Rebelde reported Tuesday.
Roberto del Puerto, director of the state office of information technology, told the daily that Cuba already has about 1,500 computers using the Linux system, a free operating system whose technical data is open for public viewing.

Del Puerto said his office was working on a legal framework that would allow the replacement of the Windows system.

Microsoft's Xbox team was sure of one thing when it set out to design a new console: If the system won the approval of Japanese consumers, then others would love it as well.

The goal sounded simple enough, but it was something Microsoft had failed at before. The company has sold only 1.7 million original Xbox consoles in Japan, where gamers deplored the system as too brash and bulky.

"You couldn't get it through the door of apartments in a lot of places," joked Peter Moore, a corporate vice president in the Xbox division.

SINCE 2002, Microsoft and its chief Bill Gates have been talking about the next Windows release code-named Longhorn. Every year its release is predicted for the next year, and every year that debut is put off for another.

Finally, Longhorn's release is approaching. Microsoft announced that the beta, or the "test version" of Longhorn, will be available next month with wide public dissemination in October 2006.

Earlier this week, Microsoft released a few details of the next version of Office, Office 12. The original plan was to release Office 12 with Longhorn, apparently Microsoft has decided to suck it up and roll the suite out in 2006. Not a lot else was said about the forthcoming product, but a few more details have trickled out today. In particular, Office 12 will draw on some of the expertise that Microsoft got when it purchased Groove Networks in order to build more collaborative features into the office suite.

Researchers at Microsoft are creating their own version of a million monkeys to crawl the Internet looking for threats in an effort to secure the Web for Windows. The software giant's Cybersecurity and Systems Management (CSM) research group are building a system of virtual Windows XP computers that crawl the Web looking for sites that use unreported vulnerabilities to compromise customer's PCs. Dubbed "honeymonkeys," the virtual machines run a full version of Windows XP with monitoring software and crawl high-risk areas of the Web looking for trouble.

Last week, Microsoft admitted it was developing a cut-down version of Windows XP, codenamed Eiger, that could be deployed by companies on very old hardware to replace older versions of Windows that are no longer supported and pose a security risk. However, SuSE Linux vendor Novell said the move was a direct response to the growing threat from Linux.

Paul Kangro, solutions manager for Asia Pacific at Novell said that Microsoft is trying to "stall the market" to ensure the software giant keeps a firm grip on the corporate desktop.