There is friendly disagreement here at BetaNews. My friend and colleague, Mihaita Bamburic, uses Windows 8, but laments that he wants to return to the last era by downgrading to version 7. While I feel for him, and he certainly has that option, I would say the same thing I did to my family when I upgraded our household computers -- yes it is different, but I doubt Microsoft is going back now.
We heard rumours of this app being in development as far back as early last year but it is now available to download for Windows Phone. RSA securID tokens should be familiar to many who work remotely, they allow business to secure access to their systems.
Internet Explorer finished 2012 with its highest market share since August 2011. In spite of a few close calls, Firefox maintained its lead over Chrome, holding on to second place for the full year.
Microsoft's browser was virtually unchanged, up 0.01 points at 54.77 percent. Firefox was down 0.62 points at 19.82 percent, dropping below 20 percent for the second time in three months. Chrome was up 0.8 points to 18.04 percent, its first gain since August. Of the also-rans, Safari was down slightly, dropping 0.09 points to 5.24 percent, and Opera was up 0.04 points to 1.71 percent.
Microsoft has released a quick fix for a vulnerability in older versions of its Internet Explorer browser that is actively being used by attackers to take over computers.
The vulnerability affects IE versions 6, 7 and 8. The latest versions of the browser, 9 and 10, are not affected. The company occasionally issues quick fixes as a temporary protective measure while a permanent security update is developed if a vulnerability is considered particularly dangerous.
Microsoft has confirmed that Internet Explorer (IE) 6, 7 and 8 contain an unpatched bug -- or "zero-day" vulnerability -- that is being used by attackers to hijack victims' Windows computers.
The company is "working around the clock" on a patch, its engineers said. They have also released a preliminary workaround that will protect affected IE customers until the update is ready.
Security researcher Paul Henry said it was great to see Microsoft's Secure Coding Initiative paying off, reducing the number of vulnerabilities in its software, resulting in an easier time for IT at Patch Tuesday time. Over the year, Microsoft Patch Tuesday released 35 critical security bulletins, 46 important bulletins and two moderate bulletins.
Microsoft Relevant Products/Services's last Patch Tuesday of 2012 rolled out seven patches. Five of them are rated critical and two are rated important. The good news is: none are under active attack.
Like every new Windows release, Windows 8 is more secure than the operating systems that came before it. That's due in large part to three major enhancements: An increased emphasis on UEFI Secure Boot optimizations, the extension of the SmartScreen Filter across the operating system, and the default inclusion of a more robust version of Windows Defender, which now protects against all kinds of malware--not just spyware.
Back at the Microsoft company meeting in September, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer played Santa early, promising that all Microsoft employees would get Surface RT tablet/PCs and Windows Phone 8 devices.
As reported by Geekwire, the word was all full-time direct, employees (a.k.a. Blue Badges/FTEs) would get a Surface RT machine for use at work and home. The announcement was a real morale booster (based on a few tweets I saw escape the supposedly tweet-free Key Arena where the company meeting was held).
So, last night, Windows Phone 8 got its first update - specifically for the HTC 8X. In this day and age, where iOS is the gold standard and shows the industry how it ought to be done, and Android is the exact opposite, Windows Phone 7 was a bit of an in-between - every phone got every update, but the staggered rollout was slow and frustrating, often due to carrier meddling. How will Windows Phone 8 fare?
It's still not official, but the evidence that Microsoft is bringing Office to the iPad and iPhone is growing in abundance. At this point, it seems to be an inevitability that Redmond will release Office apps for iOS in some form in early 2013, with Android apps following soon after.
