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Google released the new Stable version of Google Chrome 4.0.249.89
You can now download this version for easier, safer and faster web browsing. :)
Download Now
Enjoy!!!
By Admin -SoftwareDoor.com on Thu, Feb 11th, 2010
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – US software giant Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in Amharic, the first operating system in the national language of Ethiopia, the official news agency said Saturday.
"Launching the Amharic version software is a major step forward for Amharic to be a language of technology," Director of the Ethiopian ICT Development Agency, Debretsion Gebremichael was quoted as saying by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
He said 40 scholars from the Addis Ababa University had taken part in the translation of the software and added that plans were being drafted for translation into some of the nation's other languages.
"Ethiopia as a country of over 80 million people, has its own language and alphabet, and it is Microsoft?s desire to let this huge country use its Amharic service pack," ENA quoted Microsoft's Africa boss Cheick Modibo Diarra as saying.
By AFP.com on Sat, Feb 6th, 2010
Kaspersky Lab may not be a household name in the United States, but in some parts of the world, it's the most popular consumer antivirus software. In China the company boasts 100 million users, and the software is also popular in Germany, and, of course, Russia, where Kaspersky got its start in 1997.
A graduate of Russia's Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science, company co-founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky got his start licensing antivirus engines to other companies instead of selling directly to consumers, and that licensing income remains a large part of Kaspersky Lab's business. The company counts Juniper, BlueCoat and CheckPoint among its partners. During the Russian economic crash of 1998, U.S. dollars from these foreign contracts kept the company afloat, and today IDC ranks it the number-four antivirus company worldwide.
It's not easy to build a technology company in Russia, but Kaspersky has pulled it off. Operating from a converted radio component factory on the outskirts of Moscow, Kaspersky now employs 1,800 and calls itself Russia's largest software company. In a country notorious for cybercrime, Kaspersky gives students with security skills a positive outlet for their talents. "Kaspersky really plays a big role at the national and international security market," said Elena Minaeva, a cryptography professor with Moscow's National Research Nuclear University. "Our best students [end up] working here," she said.
Though he now spends as much time on the road as at home in Russia, Kaspersky was in Moscow last week for a press event, where he was interviewed by IDG News. Following is an edited transcript of the interview.
IDGNS: How is Kaspersky's business looking for 2010?
Eugene Kaspersky: The last year was a year of financial crises. There was an impact, of course, on our business. Consumers -- especially in eastern European and Asian countries -- they started to use less legal software, but more pirated. Businesses started to count every license. So there was a negative impact, but at the same time we kept growing, so we managed to build the international partner network, we have good products. There was a negative vector and positive. Positive is more strong.
IDGNS: What was revenue like in 2009?
We're going to announce all of those figures at the end of February. The revenue for 2008 was $329 million. Last year we were still growing, and we were growing at a double-digit number. I can report that.
IDG: You're the biggest Russian software company. What are some of the challenges to building a software company in Russia -- especially a security company?
Kaspersky: There's a positive and negative to being a company based in Russia. In the beginning... [we had] no experience in how to build an international product. If you talk about technologies, there were generations of development in the education system in Russia. There were generations of technical education, but during the Soviet time there was, of course, no business education. So we had no experience and we had to [acquire] this knowledge by our own mistakes. When we started there were almost no education centers in Russia to study business issues.
The benefit is that Russia has a perfect technical education system, so it's much easier to find talented engineers here.
IDG: If you are a student about to graduate with good technical capabilities in Russia, what do you want to do? Work for a startup?
Kaspersky: Usually people, they go to offshore companies, developing software by request, or they work as IT people in banks or other industries. Software companies, there are about 10 or 20 names, not thousands like in Silicon Valley.
IDG: Does that give you a hiring advantage, if there are not a lot of software companies and there are a lot of people getting a good education?
Kaspersky: There are not so many companies but [students] have enough job offers. It's competitive. In the past, software engineers in Russia, they were cheap. Now, if you [don't count] taxation, they make almost the same as in Silicon Valley. It's not cheap anymore.
IDG: There's this perception in the U.S. that Russia is the source of all sorts of cybercrime...
Kaspersky: Now this perception has been changed. Now American media is starting to say 'Chinese hackers.' It was only 'Russian hackers,' now it's Chinese. It's a perception. It's the same in Germany about Americans. I read an article in CeBIT News that was about spam. And they didn't say just spammers, they said 'American spammers.' So in Germany there's a perception that all spam is coming from the United States. It's wrong.
Why is there this perception? I don't know. Is it the truth or not? Partly it's the truth. I think that Russian-speaking hackers and cybercriminals, they're number three in the ranking of cybercrime. Number one is China. It's quite a big distance to the second one. Second is Latin America -- well, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking malware -- I think mostly from Brazil, but also from other countries as well. Russia, it's not just Russia, but they're from the Ukraine, from Kazakhstan, Baltic countries, or Israel, New York, Seattle, we don't know. The malware doesn't have a passport, and when the attacks are coming from some territory, we are not sure because it could be a proxy server. So it looks a bit stupid when they say, 'Oh this attack was run from China?' Why? 'Because their IP addresses, they are Chinese.' Come on. It's a proxy server in China that's it.
IDG: Have you paid attention to the Aurora attacks on Google and other companies?
Kaspersky: We still don't have enough data about that, but there was too much noise, I think. These attacks are happening every day on some companies. They simply don't disclose the information. Why did they decide to start their PR? I don't know. It could be some part of the game.
IDG: To pressure China, you mean?
Kaspersky: Yes, I think, but not on the government level. I think Google has its own strategy for the Chinese market and that it could be part of the strategy. So they took this incident as good news and disclosed it just to take more attention to the problems they have in China. And it's not just about human rights or freedom of information. It's also the fact that they have a major competitor in China: Baidu. The Chinese market is very difficult.
IDG: How is your business in China?
Kaspersky: We have more than 100 million users in China. I didn't say customers.
IDG: How many paying users do you have?
Kaspersky: Millions ... they say that we are probably number one in terms of users in China in the consumer segment. I was recognized by Chinese people in the airport in Beijing.
IDG: Are you concerned at all about IP theft and espionage, getting back to Aurora?
Kaspersky: This type of targeted attacks is not news, but still the security industry doesn't have the right answer for these issues. Still we are looking for the right ways to protect, and there's no magic bullet against that, because there are so many different attacks.
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service on Thu, Feb 4th, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – IBM said Thursday it has been enlisted by the US Air Force to show how defense and intelligence networks can safely soar into the online software "cloud."
"Our goal is to demonstrate how cloud computing can be a tool to enable our Air Force to manage, monitor and secure the information flowing through our network," said Lieutenant General William Lord, chief information officer for the military branch.
Cloud computing has grown increasingly popular as businesses cut costs and technology maintenance woes by essentially renting software applications hosted online instead of buying and installing programs on their own machines.
The Air Force has contracted IBM to develop a private cloud computing "architecture" that improves "all operational, analytical and security capabilities," according to Lord.
IBM said the 10-month-project will "push the technology boundaries" of cloud computing to tailor a system for a military network that includes nine major commands, nearly 100 bases, and 700,000 active personnel worldwide.
A key component of the system will be "stream computing" that couples sensors and monitors to quickly analyze flowing data for "actionable insights" into cyberattacks or network problems, according to IBM.
"This instant access to information would enable Air Force officials to automatically shift the prevention environment based on rules-based protocols in the event of a cyberattack or network anomalies," IBM said.
In what might seem a page from science fiction, the system will also feature "autonomic computing" allowing it to "retune itself" without human intervention.
Advantages of cloud computing for the military include allowing resources to be controlled remotely and enabling networks and data to survive even if "underlying hardware" is destroyed, according to the US technology veteran.
By AFP.com on Thu, Feb 4th, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Microsoft said Thursday that second-quarter net profit hit a record 6.66 billion dollars on unprecedented revenue driven by demand for the new Windows 7 operating system.
Microsoft reported that its revenue surged 14 percent to 19.02 billion dollars in the fiscal quarter that ended December 31.
"We saw record revenue and record profit, driven by strong demand for Windows 7 and PCs (personal computers)," Microsoft chief financial officer Peter Klein said during a conference call with analysts.
The net income amounted to 74 cents per share of stock in a 57 percent jump from the same quarter a year earlier.
Microsoft said it has sold or licensed more than 60 million copies of Windows 7, which launched with Windows Server 2008 R2 software in late October.
Microsoft's new-generation Windows 7 operating system hit the ground running on October 22, with US sales in its opening days blasting past those of its Vista predecessor, according to NPD Group.
Pressure was on Microsoft for a Windows 7 success after the disappointment of its previous generation operating system Vista.
Technology analysts and users overall praised Windows 7 as a significant improvement on the much-maligned Vista.
While computer users may not give much thought to the operating systems that serve as the brains of their machines, they are at the heart of Microsoft's global software empire that runs more than 90 percent of the world's computers.
Microsoft apparently learned a lesson from Vista and worked closely with computer makers, users and software developers while crafting Windows 7.
"What we are finding is people want Windows 7 on all devices in all form factors," Klein said.
Off-the-shelf sales of Windows 7 brought in about 500 million dollars in the quarter, trouncing a prediction Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer made when the software was released.
"On the consumer side we had a very good retail quarter," Klein said. "A little more than we expected people are actually going out and buying shrink-wrapped Windows 7 to put on their PCs."
The consumer-oriented side of Microsoft's technology empire drove the quarter's strong showing, while businesses continued to be tight with spending, according to Klein.
"With Windows 7 we have tremendous consumer momentum and a great product for the enterprise market when it recovers," Microsoft general manager of investor relations Bill Koefoed said during the conference call.
Software sales grew at double digit percentages in emerging markets while climbing "single digits" in mature markets, according to Microsoft.
Klein predicted business spending on IT (information technology) will improve this year.
"IT spending should improve from the recessionary levels of 2009," Klein said. "We expect the business hardware refresh cycle to begin this year and continue gradually for several years."
Tough economic times have lengthened the time businesses stick with older computer technology before "refreshing" operations with newer equipment, according to Microsoft.
The outlook is promising for online advertising and Microsoft is sticking with its hope that a deal for its new Bing Internet search engine to handle queries at Yahoo! websites will be approved by regulators.
"It is a long-term process," Klein said of getting clearance for the Microsoft-Bing deal.
Yahoo! and Microsoft unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership in July.
Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft's search engine on its own sites while providing the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers.
"Bing is continuing to gain market share; what we really need to do is get the Yahoo! deal done and get that integrated."
December was the seventh month in a row of modest gains in search share for Bing, which Microsoft unveiled in June accompanied by a 100-million-dollar advertising campaign in a bid to challenge search juggernaut Google.
By Glenn Chapman - AFP.com on Fri, Jan 29th, 2010
On Thursday, McAfee shed light on the cost and impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructures such as electrical grids, oil and gas production, telecommunications and transportation networks. More than half of 600 IT security executives from critical infrastructure enterprises worldwide report large-scale attacks or infiltrations from organized crime, terrorists or nation-states.
The average estimated cost of downtime associated with a major incident was a jaw-dropping $6.3 million per day.
"In today's economic climate, it is imperative that organizations prepare for the instability that cyberattacks on critical infrastructure can cause," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO of McAfee. "From public transportation to energy to telecommunications, these are the systems we depend on every day. An attack on any of these industries could cause widespread economic disruptions, environmental disasters, loss of property, and even loss of life."
Cyberattacks on the Rise
The report, titled In the Crossfire: Critical Infrastructure in the Age of Cyberwar, warns of the rising risk of cyberattacks. Thirty-seven percent of IT executives said the vulnerability of their sector has increased over the past 12 months, and two-fifths expect a major security incident in their sector within the next year. Only 20 percent think their sector is safe from serious cyberattack over the next five years.
Many of the world's critical infrastructures were built for reliability and availability, McAfee noted, not security. Traditionally, these organizations have had little to no cyber protection, and have relied on guards, gates and guns. Today, however, McAfee said computer networks are interconnected with corporate IT networks and other infrastructure networks accessible from anywhere in the world.
"The recently identified Operation Aurora was the largest and most sophisticated cyberattack targeted at specific corporations, but it could have just as easily targeted the world's critical infrastructure," DeWalt said. "The attack announced by Google and identified by McAfee was the most sophisticated threat seen in years, making it a watershed moment in cybersecurity because of the targeted and coordinated nature of the attack."
The Role of Regulation
More than a third of respondents believe their sector is unprepared to deal with major attacks or stealthy infiltrations by high-level adversaries, while two-thirds of IT execs report the current economic climate has caused cutbacks in the security resources available.
More than half, or 55 percent, believe the laws in their country are inadequate to deter potential cyberattacks, with those based in Russia, Mexico and Brazil the most skeptical. Another 45 percent don't believe the authorities are capable of preventing or deterring attacks.
"Governance issues are at the center of any discussion of security for critical infrastructure," said Stewart Baker, a distinguished visiting fellow at CSIS and a lawyer at Steptoe and Johnson. "The relationships between the governments and private-sector organizations involved are complex, but it is essential that each have faith in the others' ability. The security industry will always strive to stay one step ahead, but in the absence of any technological silver bullet, regulation has a role to play in defending critical infrastructures around the world."
By Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com on Thu, Jan 28th, 2010
After a long time and many versions of beta, Google released the new Stable version Google Chrome 4.0.249.78. You can now download this version for easier, safer and faster web browsing. :)
Download Now
Enjoy!!!
By Admin - SoftwareDoor.com on Mon, Jan 25th, 2010
The Google Nexus One has drawn some criticism for its lack of multitouch support, especially as the omission seems to be arbitrary. But the open nature of the Android ope rating system allowed a hacker to enable multitouch capabilities on Google's flagship device.
Cyanogen, a celebrated hacker in the Android community, released a modified version of the Android 2.1 OS that enables multitouch features for the Nexus One smartphone. The hack enables multitouch in the native Web browser only, but Cyanogen said he would be adding this functionality to other apps soon as well.
It's not exactly clear why the Google Nexus One does not feature multitouch capabilities. Some blame it on Apple, which reportedly owns the rights to the technology, while some reports speculate that Apple and Google have a gentleman's agreement that Google won't enable this feature.
In comparison to the Apple iPhone, the Nexus One is noticeably missing multitouch features such as pinch-to-zoom in the Web browser or Maps and for the software keyboard. However, the multitouch hack for the Nexus one enables pinch-to-zoom in the browser and paves the way for gesture use in other apps as well.
The software hack to enable multitouch on the Nexus One can be downloaded from here, and install instructions are here. Before you start, Cyanogen warns that you will lose your bookmarks and browser settings, so it would be a good idea to back up first. As a little reminder, hacking your phone might result in voiding your warranty.
By Daniel Ionescu - PCWorld.com on Fri, Jan 22nd, 2010
Overall software sales saw a bit of a slump in 2009, but sales of Windows 7 and Apple's Snow Leopard, as well as sales of business software, helped boost the industry, according to Friday data from NPD Group.
U.S. operating system sales jumped 35 percent in 2009, but overall, non-game related software sales declined 7 percent to $2.4 billion. That total is, however, an improvement over the 10 percent drop that occurred in 2008. Total unit volume was down 6 percent and average selling price dipped 2 percent.
OS sales helped make the category the only one to post a revenue and unit increase over the previous year. Overall, the category grew by 162 percent, helped by the August release of Snow Leopard and the October release of Microsoft's Windows 7.
"2009 was a mixed bag for the packaged consumer software market," Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. "There is always a burst of interest when new versions of operating system are released."
Business software did post a 6 percent gain, due in part to application service providers dropping 15 percent, NPD said. Microsoft Home Office and Student also saw strong sales volumes during back-to-school and over the holidays thanks to price drops. A 15 percent drop in the price of Apple's iWork 2009 also helped boost sales.
All those price cuts, however, resulted in a 10 percent decline in revenue for the category.
"Weak results in the more stable sales categories, like tax and system utilities, drove overall revenue down," Baker said. "Shifting channel activities and a move to more online purchasing took a bite out of both of those segments in 2009."
System utilities saw a 5 percent decline in revenue and an 8 percent unit drop.
"The outlook for 2010 is for similar sales results as the lack of any OS launches will likely be offset by the release of Office 2010," Baker concluded.
By Chloe Albanesius - PC Magazine on Fri, Jan 22nd, 2010
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team advised RealPlayer users Friday to apply a new security update for the media-playing software.
The update, issued earlier this week, fixes 11 vulnerabilities in RealPlayer, and were issued for Windows, Mac and Linux versions of the product.
Although CERT thinks the patch is important, RealNetworks said in its advisory that it has received "no reports of any machines actually being compromised as a result of the now-remedied vulnerabilities."
Although RealPlayer has lost market share recently to rivals such as Windows Media Player and iTunes, it is still widely used and has been exploited in past cyberattacks.
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service on Fri, Jan 22nd, 2010
After joining Twitter and Facebook, former Microsoft chairman launches Web site
As if joining Twitter and rejoining Facebook in the same week weren't enough, Bill Gates has now launched a Web site on which he can share his thoughts.
Sure, most people can share their thoughts and opinions using Facebook and Twitter. But most people aren't the former chairman of Microsoft Corp. and a world-renowned philanthropist.
So to better let people know what's going on in his world, Gates launched a site today called the Gates Notes.
"Since leaving my full-time job at Microsoft to dedicate more time to our foundation, a lot of people have asked me what I'm working on," wrote Gates as a welcome message on his new site. "It often feels like I'm back in school, as I spend a lot of my time learning about issues I'm passionate about. I'm fortunate because the people I'm working with and learning from are true experts in their fields. I take a lot of notes, and often share them and my own thoughts on the subject with others through email, so I can learn from them and expand the conversation.
"I thought it would be interesting to share these conversations more widely with a Website, in the hope of getting more people thinking and learning about the issues I think are interesting and important," he added.
So far, the site has information about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, epidemic preparedness, relief for Haiti and climate change.
It's been a busy week for Gates.
Yesterday, he joined Twitter, sending out his first tweet. Since that first tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Gates has twittered six more times, and he quickly amassed a following of more than 236,000 people. He also made it onto more than 67,000 Twitter lists.
A little after 3 p.m. EDT today he Twittered about his new Web site. "My new Website is live check out www.thegatesnotes.com. Excited to share more about what I'm learning, hope you like it!"
And after quitting Facebook last summer and publicly saying that being on the social networking site was more trouble than it was worth, he made a return on Tuesday. To avoid being crushed with friend requests this time around, Gates has opted to let people become "fans" of his page instead.
Sharon Gaudin covers Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies and desktop/laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter Twitter@sgaudin, send e-mail at sgaudin@computerworld.com
By Sharon Gaudin - Computerworld.com on Thu, Jan 21st, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft will release a patch on Thursday for an Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) software hole through which China-based cyber spies attacked Google and other firms.
"Microsoft continues to see limited attacks, and to date, the only successful attacks have been against Internet Explorer 6," the US software giant said Wednesday while announcing the "out-of-band" security update.
"We recommend that customers install the update as soon as it is available."
Microsoft will release the patch as soon as it is ready instead of following its protocol of releasing security updates the second Tuesday of each month.
Microsoft will host a public webcast starting at 1:00 pm Pacific time (21H00 GMT) on Thursday to discuss the security update and field questions. The software patch will be released three hours earlier, according to Microsoft.
"We are working 24-by-7, around the clock," Microsoft general manager of Trustworthy Computing Security George Stathakopoulos told AFP. "We have been monitoring the threat landscape since the start of this issue."
Attacks that prompted a showdown between Internet giant Google and global power China only worked against IE 6, so computer users can protect themselves by switching to newer versions of the Web browser, according to Stathakopoulos.
"IE 7 and 8 seem to be holding," Stathakopoulos said. "None of the attacks we know of will be effective against IE 8. That could change, but that is what we know."
No matter which Web browser people use, upgrading to the most current version promises to increase protection against hackers.
Microsoft confirmed last week that a previously unknown security vulnerability in its IE 6 browser was used in cyberattacks which prompted Google to threaten to shut down its operations in China.
Revealing the attacks on January 12, Google said they originated from China and targeted the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world but did not explicitly accuse the Chinese government of responsibility.
Web security firm McAfee Inc. said that the attacks on Google and other companies showed a level of sophistication beyond that of cyber criminals and more typical of a nation-state.
Google said more than 20 other unidentified firms were targeted in the "highly sophisticated" attacks while other reports have put the number of companies attacked at more than 30.
Stathakopoulos described the attacks as "limited and targeted."
Only one other company, Adobe, has come forward so far and acknowledged that it was a target.
Attackers used email or some other lure to get employees of a targeted company to click on a link and visit a specially crafted website using Internet Explorer.
Malicious software would then be downloaded that has the capability to essentially install 'back doors' in machines and give hackers access, according to McAfee.
By Glenn Chapman - AFP.com on Wed, Jan 20th, 2010
Startup ViVu has released a software plug-in for Skype that allows the popular Internet calling service to be used for multipoint videoconferencing.
Skype can already be used to make voice calls between more than two parties, but the lack of multipoint video has been seen by some as its biggest shortcoming. The company said recently that one third of all Skype-to-Skype calls now include video.
"The flaw in Skype's video strategy right now is that it's point-to-point only," said Irwin Lazar, an industry analyst with Chicago-based Nemertes Research.
The ViVu plug-in, called VuRoom, lets several people take part in a video call using Skype. The number will depend on the bandwidth available, but ViVu CEO
Sudha Valluru said the service will support up to eight participants for most broadband users before the image quality gets too poor.
The participants are displayed in a browser window that pops up when the call begins. The window can also display a PowerPoint presentation or the host's desktop, and ViVu plans to add an archiving capability in about a month so that conference calls can be viewed over.
The VuRoom plug-in is due to be released for download Wednesday, priced at US$9.95 per month for unlimited calls. Only the person initiating the call has to buy the plug-in; other participants need only Skype, a browser and a webcam.
ViVu developed the plug-in independently of Skype using its publically available interfaces, Valluru said. The service piggy-backs on Skype by using its contact lists and voice service, while ViVu provides the video infrastructure, which it developed for an existing Web conferencing service that it launched in October.
That service, for streaming online conferences, training and seminars to large groups of people, is priced at $49 per month and competes with services like Cisco Systems' WebEx and Citrix Systems' GoToMeeting.
But it requires users to send invitations and agree on a meeting time in advance. The Skype-based service, while limited to fewer participants, let's people see who is online and fire up a video call instantly.
To make a call, the host selects a group of contacts in Skype and chooses Call Group. A box pops up asking "Do you want to start a ViVu Conference" and the host clicks Yes. Recipients are then sent a Web link via Skype chat which they click on to join the call.
Other companies have rolled out Web-based multi-point videoconferencing services, including ooVoo, Nefsis, and SightSpeed, which is owned by Logitech.
But most of the other services require all participants to download a piece of software, and they don't allow users to tap into Skype's vast directory of contacts, said Andrew Davis, senior partner at Wainhouse Research, which specializes in conferencing and collaboration products.
"The service, as far as I can tell, is unique," Davis said.
That doesn't mean it won't face challenges. Most Skype users don't pay for their service, and those people might view even $9.95 a month as too much to pay, Davis said.
There's also a danger that Skype will release its own multipoint video service, something analysts say it is sure to do eventually.
Indeed, Skype has been stepping up its investments in video. It's most recent beta release, Skype 4.2, added support for high-definition video calls, and the
company has announced deals with Panasonic and LG Electronics to get Skype pre-installed on Internet-enabled TVs later this year.
ViVu doesn't support HD video today, though Valluru said the company plans to license the H.264 codec so that it can do so. He also said that VuRoom will be offered soon with another prominent Internet communications tool, but he declined to say from which company.
By James Niccolai, IDG News Service on Wed, Jan 20th, 2010
San Francisco - Microsoft has rescheduled the launch of its ambitious Visual Studio 2010 software development platform and the accompanying .Net Framework 4 programming platfom to April 12, after having scrapped a planned March 22 release date.
"Short but sweet, Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4 will launch on Monday, 12 April 2010," said Rob Caron, marketing communications manager for Developer and User Experience Runtimes and Tools at Microsoft, in a blog entry published Wednesday evening without elaboration.
[ Among other capabilities, Visual Studio 2010 will offer developers search engine optimization features. | The InfoWorld Test Center recently gave a thumbs-up to the second beta of Visual Studio 2010. | Keep up with app dev issues and trends with InfoWorld's Fatal Exception blog. ]
Issues with performance of the platform spotted by beta testers had prompted the company last month to postpone the initial March launch. Microsoft has said the launch date would be about the same approximate time when the package was available to developers at large.
"I think they just needed the extra time to account for performance tweaks based on beta feedback, fit in the release candidate in February, and have time to make any final changes that are needed to address release candidate feedback," said analyst Rob Sanfilippo, of Directions on Microsoft. "This is one of the shortest 'slips' I’ve seen, and if they would have stuck to their previous promise of first half of 2010 a bit longer without being specific about the previous March 22 date, the perception of the slip could have been avoided."
Visual Studio 2010 has been positioned as a platform for building Microsoft SharePoint, Windows 7, and Windows Azure cloud applications. It also offers historical debugging and Silverlight rich Internet application development capabilities. The .Net Framework 4 programming platform features capabilities such as a reduction in size.
This story, "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch re-set for April 12," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest news in software development at InfoWorld.com.
By Paul Krill, infoworld.com on Sun, Jan 17th, 2010
On Monday, the Mozilla Foundation made a release candidate for the next point version of the organization's popular Firefox Web browser version 3.6, code-named Namoroka, publicly available.
While it's far from being a huge overhaul from the currently released version 3.6, the release candidate adds several powerful new capabilities both for end-users and developers. These include a faster JavaScript engine, built-in support for "Personas," or visual themes, support for location-aware Web sites, and open video, audio, and font standards.
Unlike a beta, the release candidate designation means Mozilla considers it safe for everyday browsing. The idea is that the release candidate will be identical to the final release of 3.6, and it will actually update itself to be so when that version becomes the default Firefox version. The subversion has already undergone a healthy five beta test versions. Over 70 fixes were made to that beta to get to the release candidate. "As a release candidate, this is considered to be stable and safe to use for daily Web browsing, and represents the features and content that will be in the final product release," Mozilla's blog post states.
In addition, the new browser includes code to warn users about out-of-date add-on code, such as the popular extensions, which enhance the browser with custom functionality. Mozilla's blog post on the announcement reported that over 75 percent of Firefox extensions are now compatible with version 3.6.
The Personas capability has already been available as a browser add-on, or extension from Mozilla, and lets users dress up the window borders with colors and images. Personas are actually more limited than the Theme add-ons, which can also change navigation buttons.
Firefox's JavaScript performance has been notably faster than that of Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, but recently has yielded the speed crown to Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. In the beta, Firefox still trailed those competitors by a good margin, but look for an upcoming PCMag.com review testing the released 3.6 software.
Developers get support for more HTML 5, CSS, and DOM standards in the new release. They can also run scripts asynchronously, and make use of the Web Open Font Format, allowing page designers to use any fonts they like, which will be downloaded to the users' computers. HTML 5's supported open Ogg Theora video format can now be viewed at full screen.
Web users who want to get a jump on the next version of Firefox can download the 8-Mbyte installer from Mozilla's download site. It's available in 70 languages for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
By Michael Muchmore - PC Magazine on Mon, Jan 11th, 2010
A slew of network-connected gadgets now let you watch Netflix and Amazon on-demand videos to your TV, and a growing number of sets, set-top boxes, and Blu-ray disc players come with built-in software for accessing content on these and other Web sites such as YouTube and Pandora. What's been missing, however, is an easy and convenient way to enjoy any content you can view with your PC on your big digital TV screen. That may soon change. Intel's next-generation notebook CPUs, announced at the consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, are so powerful they can compress the contents of a PC display on the fly and stream it wirelessly to a soon-to-be-introduced Netgear set-top box, the Push2TV (PVT 1000), that you'll connect to your set via HDMI or component cables.
In theory at least, the technology sidesteps the pesky log-in, formatting, and digital rights management issues that make it difficult to enjoy content on displays that bypass PCs completely. If the technology works as advertised, you should be able to watch any content that you can watch on your monitor or notebook display on your TV--sort of like a wireless projector. (However, IDG News reported earlier this week that you're not really supposed to use Push2TV to view protected content.)
Although Push2TV uses 802.11n Wi-Fi, the streamed content is supposed to be less prone to interference than traditional Wi-Fi network hookups, in which data from one networked device must travel through a router en route to another networked device. That's because the setup uses new peer-to-peer technology designed to simplify direct wireless connections between devices--no router involved. Fewer network hops present fewer opportunities for the signal to degrade. We'll get a chance to test out the claim later this month, when Best Buy is expected to begin selling the Push2TV, either as a $100 stand-alone box or bundled with notebooks based on the new Intel chips with Wireless Display support.
For more up-to-the-minute blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation's largest consumer electronics show, check out PC World's complete coverage of CES 2010.
By Yardena Arar - PCWorld on Mon, Jan 11th, 2010
LAS VEGAS—If you stepped into an OfficeMax or CompUSA 20 years ago and browsed the software shelves, The Print Shop would be prominently in evidence. In fact, the program was one of the most popular Apple II applications ever. Well, now, in 2010, at the CES Mommy Summit, The Print Shop 2.0 is being announced by Encore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corp. In truth, there have been numerous versions in between, but the company is taking a fresh start with new version numbering.
The product will ship on January 15 in three editions—The Print Shop, at $29.99; Deluxe, for $49.99; and Professional, for $89.99. The first targets casual users, while Deluxe adds features for design enthusiasts, such as guides, paper stock, and text flow tools; Professional adds features of interest to businesses such as layer management, page numbering, and advanced photo editing.
The software still provides a very easy way to create good looking cards, newsletters, banners, and posters, labels, business cards—just about anything you can think of that can be printed. But it's been rebuilt from the ground up with a slicker updated user interface and workflow. The new version adds wizards to hundreds of ready-made template for easy, good-looking print projects.
Product Director Jennifer Smiczek told me that the software includes 150 projects that can be completed in under 5 minutes, and from what I saw, several of them took less than a minute. "We took all of the experience we had with customers in the last 25 years, and built a new tool that would work the way they'd want it to," said Smiczek. "A new workflow, a new user interface that's highly intuitive, all designed to make it easier to create.
A large library of clip art and stock photography is also at The Print Shop users' disposal. Thumbnails appear in the program, while the content is downloaded after it's selected by the user. The software doesn't offer automated sending of creations to printers, but can create high-res JPEGs for delivery to a printer.
Unlike its ancestor, The Print Shop 2.0 is Windows-only, based on Microsoft .NET technology.
Moms and others as well can learn more about and purchase the software at Broderbund.com--now a subsidiary of Encore.
By Michael Muchmore - PC Magazine on Fri, Jan 8th, 2010
Next week, Adobe Systems will begin testing new automatic software designed to make it easier for Reader and Acrobat users to keep their products up-to-date.
The company will begin a beta test of its new updater, called the Acrobat Refresh Manager, with next week's critical security updates, due Jan. 12, said Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy.
The Refresh Manager was quietly installed on users' systems back in October 2009, but it is being turned on for the first time during next week's beta test. If everything goes well, Reader and Acrobat users on Macintosh and Windows computers will be offered the new update mechanism as a default option with the company's next security update, currently scheduled for release on April 13.
Users who do not want automatic updates can chose to download updates manually, or use a "semi-automatic" process similar to the current system. With a semi-automatic update, the patch is automatically downloaded, but does not get installed until the user gives permission.
Adobe's current updater, called the Adobe Update Manager, pops up an installation window when new patches are available, but too many people are holding off on clicking "yes" and actually installing the patches. "We know that getting people updated and keeping them updated is the number-one thing we can do in terms of keeping them protected against attacks," Arkin said.
Reader has emerged as a top hacker target over the past year, and Arkin's team has been sent scrambling several times to fix flaws in Reader and Acrobat after they were exploited by hackers. In fact, next week's Adobe updates will patch a bug that has been used in online attacks for several weeks now.
Security experts say that, aside from keeping Reader up-to-date, the best way to avoid these attacks is to disable JavaScript in Adobe's software (do this by unchecking the "Enable JavaScript" box found under "Edit -- Preferences -- JavaScript" in Reader).
Arkin said that Adobe may use the new updater for other products as well, though that decision hasn't been made yet. "We'll learn from it and see if it's applicable for other products," he said.
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service on Tue, Jan 5th, 2010
High-quality video calling, once available only to well-heeled businesses, could be coming to a computer or TV near you. On Tuesday, Skype announced support for video calls using 720p high-definition video. In addition, the company said its software will be embedded into various Net-connected HDTVs from several manufacturers.
The new Skype 4.2 beta for Windows will provide 1280x720 resolution, at up to 30 frames per second. Each user will need a high-speed broadband connection of at least one Mbps on both sides of the conversation, a new HD webcam, and a PC with at least a 1.8-GHz dual-core processor, in addition to the software.
'The Sparkle of Your Grandchild's Eyes'
The upgrade in resolution is intended not only for businesses, which have been using high-end telepresence setups to cut down on in-person meetings, but for consumers as well. The new HD Skype video calls, said CEO Josh Silverman, will allow consumers to "see the sparkle of your grandchild's eyes or the setting of your best friend's engagement ring."
Skype-certified HD webcams optimized to work with the new Skype software are being introduced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from faceVsion and In Store Solutions. The cameras take care of the video encoding and processing.
Two versions of the faceVsion web cameras go on sale in February, ranging from $69 to $99, and the In Store Solutions cameras will be $120 to $140. The Skype software is free. While some business telepresence setups can handle multiple video feeds from multiple locations, the current incarnation of Skype HD calls only permits conference calls by voice.
Skype software will be available as part of Panasonic's 2010 VIERA CAST-enabled HDTVs, and in various LG Electronics plasma and LCD models with NetCast Entertainment Access. The sets from both manufacturers will be available by the middle of the year, and both will also offer their own Skype-optimized webcams.
'Narrowing' Gap Between High- and Low-Ends
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that the high-end providers of video conferencing are beginning to converge with the low end of peripherals and communication.
In addition to Skype's move upward to high definition, and Cisco's move to the desktop, he noted peripheral maker Logitech's acquisition last month of LifeSize Communications, which has more than 9,000 video-conferencing customers who use the technology in large enterprises, small to midsize businesses, and nonprofit and government organizations.
Shimmin said these trends indicate the gap between free video calling, which now is available in high definition, and the high-end telepresence setups used by some companies is "narrowing." But there are still some differences. Aside from multiple participants on the screen at once, with a moderator having control, he noted that line-of-sight adjustments are not yet available at the lower end. With line-of-sight control, conversants appear to be looking right at each other.
Shimmin was also sanguine about high-quality video calls coming to a smartphone near you in the not-too-distant future, as well as the "inevitable" integration of high-end video conferencing into social-networking sites.
By Barry Levine, newsfactor.com on Tue, Jan 5th, 2010
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will sell four versions of its forthcoming Office 2010 software, due out in June, for prices ranging from $99 to $499.
The company said Tuesday it will sell Office Home and Student edition, which comes with four core programs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, for $149 as boxed software that can, as with previous versions, be installed on three computers in the home. A "Product Key Card," which has a code to unlock one copy of Office 2010 pre-loaded on new PCs, costs $119.
Microsoft will sell an education-only version, Office Professional Academic, through campus book stores and some retailers for $99. Besides the core programs, the academic version comes with the Outlook e-mail program, Publisher for desktop publishing and the Access database software.
Office Home and Business, which includes Outlook along with the four core programs, will cost $297 as boxed software or $199 for the Product Key Card.
Microsoft said it would sell Office Professional, which has Outlook, Publisher, Access and premium technical support, for $499 boxed or $249 for the card.
Boxed versions of Professional Academic, Home and Business and Professional are licensed to be installed on two computers.
Microsoft will also sell Home and Student, Home and Business and Professional packages as downloads over the Internet.
All the editions come with access to the new Office Web Apps, lightweight versions of Microsoft's core Office programs that work in a Web browser.
The Redmond-based software maker has lagged behind Google Inc. in bringing to market word processing, spreadsheet and other software that runs in a Web browser instead of on a PC. But Microsoft is banking on computer users still wanting more formatting options and other features enough to pay for the full desktop versions.
By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer on Tue, Jan 5th, 2010
In its 15th month of public existence, Google's Chrome browser surpassed Safari for share of worldwide usage in December.
Chrome jumped from 3.9 percent to 4.6 percent of usage, according to statistics that analytics firm Net Applications publishes based on the 160 million monthly visitors to the network of Web sites using its services. Safari increased from 4.4 percent to 4.5 percent.
Chrome passed Safari for third place in browser usage in December 2009.
(Credit: Net Applications)
Chrome's jump came as Google released the first beta version of its browser for Mac OS X and Linux computers. Previously only a developer-preview version was available.
As of last month, Google had been scheduled to graduate the Chrome 4.0 beta version to "stable" on January 12, but mention of that release date has now been removed from the Chromium development calendar. One possible hitch: the Mac beta version and the present Mac developer-preview version don't yet support one key feature of the newer 4.0 incarnation of Chrome: extensions. That means the feature, which lets people customize what the browser can do to some extent, has yet to receive widespread testing on Mac OS X machines.
Also according to Net Applications' statistics, Microsoft's Internet Explorer continued its steady slide, dropping from 63.6 percent to 62.7 percent usage. Most of IE's share loss has been picked up by No. 2 Firefox, but that open-source browser slipped from 24.7 percent to 24.6 percent from November to December.
Better news for Microsoft, and for Web developers who loathe supporting the IE 6 browser first released in 2001: IE 8 has almost edged the older browser aside as the top browser version in use.
IE 8 rose in usage from 19.3 percent to 20.9 percent from November to December, while IE 6 dropped from 22.1 percent to 21 percent.
After crushing Netscape in the first browser wars of the 1990s, Microsoft grew complacent. But the arrival of Firefox and growing usage of other browsers has re-energized the Internet Explorer team.
By Stephen Shankland, cnet.com on Mon, Jan 4th, 2010
2009 is drawing to a close, and 2010 is almost upon us. The Chinese calendar says 2010 is the Year of the Tiger, but a report released from McAfee claims it could be the year of Adobe malware.
Traditionally, the most common target for malware is Microsoft. Microsoft holds a dominant stake of the operating system, office productivity, and Web browser markets, so it's only logical that malware developers would want to fish in the pool with the most targets.
However, Mac OS X is creeping up in operating system market share and Firefox and Chrome are nibbling away at the Web browser market share, making them more attractive targets for attack as well. Adobe, with Flash and Acrobat Reader, is virtually ubiquitous across all operating system platforms and Web browsers, which makes it a one-stop-shopping target.
The McAfee report says "Cybercriminals have long picked on Microsoft products due to their popularity. In 2010, we anticipate Adobe software, especially Acrobat Reader and Flash, will take the top spot."
I spoke with McAfee chief technology officer George Kurtz, who explained that "Adobe has added so much functionality to their software they are suffering the same fate as Microsoft with Internet Explorer."
Stuart McClure, vice president of operations and strategy of McAfee's Risk and Compliance business unit, agrees. "Adobe, Apple, all of the major vendors are being targeted due to their proliferation and ubiquity. We've been saying it for a long time now, Microsoft has held the jeweled crown for juicy targets but they won't be leading forever. The day has come..."
Microsoft critics often imply that the Windows operating system(s), and Microsoft applications like the Microsoft Office suite and Internet Explorer Web browser, are just inherently less secure. That assumption can lead users of alternate operating systems and Web browsers to a false sense of security that will come back to haunt them as malware developers expand the scope of their attacks.
Adobe has already seen a rise in attacks throughout 2009. Just recently, Adobe Reader was hit by a zero-day exploit which could allow attackers to install additional malicious software elements or capture sensitive information from vulnerable systems. In July of this year a flaw in Adobe Flash was targeted by attackers, and in October attackers targeted flaws in Adobe Reader to send malicious PDF's.
Adobe won't be the only target, though. Attackers will continue to use shortened URL's to dupe users into visiting malicious Web sites, or as part of phishing attacks. Like Adobe products, Web-based services--especially social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter--span operating systems and hardware platforms and make very attractive targets as well.
Kurtz sums it up "Exploiting Adobe has become the preferred choice of attackers simply because not many people keep their Adobe software patched. It simply is the path of least resistance."
By Tony Bradley, PCWorld on Wed, Dec 30th, 2009
Mozilla is pushing back deadlines for new versions of Firefox, calculating that taking a little more time to deliver new software will be worth the risk.
Unlike in years past, when Firefox was the only serious, free alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the browser landscape is especially crowded these days, and browsers that fall too far behind the upgrade race risk losing substantial market share.
In the past year, Google has released Chrome for Windows and beta versions for Mac and Linux; Apple has been aggressively promoting Safari; Microsoft has been putting some new energy into Internet Explorer; and Opera has been working on building new, speedy JavaScript engines.
A Window for IE
The next version of Firefox, version 3.6, was slated for a 2009 release, but now that won't happen until at least the first quarter of 2010. And plans for the major 4.0 release have been pushed back until the end of 2010 at the earliest, and more likely the first quarter of 2011.
That delay could be good news for Microsoft, says Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT. Recent numbers show Firefox 3.5 with a larger percentage of users than either Internet Explorer 7 or 8, but the trends also show a relatively rapid transition to Microsoft's latest browser due to market adoption of Windows 7.
"With the delay of the next version of Firefox, Microsoft has a window to take back some market share," King said. "A lot will depend on how well Microsoft gets the word out about IE 8 -- how different and better it is than IE 7 and the current Firefox offering."
Personas, Jetpack and Electrolysis
One of the big additions in 3.6 is the Personas plug-in, which will allow users to easily customize the appearance of the browser. Personalization is something that's popular with end users, although corporations may also be interested in putting company logos in front of employees. Improvements that are more likely to warm the cockles of an IT manager's heart: improved launch times and better security.
Down the road, Firefox should get even faster and easier to use. Mozilla has targeted version 3.7 to start up on Windows 25 percent faster and to incorporate Jetpack, an improved interface for plug-ins that makes them easier to write, install and upgrade. On a lower level, 3.7 is expected to incorporate the first phase of work on Electrolysis, which will improve stability by isolating different processes into separate compartments.
In 3.7, plug-ins will be moved to a process separate from the main browser. That means problems with Flash won't crash the whole browser, a welcome improvement for many users. Another improvement is called Weave, a plug-in that will synchronize bookmarks, passwords, plug-ins and open tabs across different Firefox windows.
In Firefox 4.0, users will see major interface changes as Firefox does away with the old-fashioned menu bar in favor of some sort of pop-down menu. Mozilla designer Stephen Horlander blogged that the current thinking is an "App Button" similar to the approach taken by Microsoft in its native Windows 7 apps.
By Richard Koman, newsfactor.com on Tue, Dec 29th, 2009
Mozilla is seeking inspiration from Microsoft Office for the revamped user interface of Firefox 4.
The browser maker is plotting a major overhaul of the Firefox user interface, considering ideas such as full Aero-like transparency and moving tabs to the top of the screen in a similar fashion to Google Chrome.
However, a blog post from Firefox contributor Stephen Horlander suggests Google isn't the only company Mozilla's borrowing ideas from. The browser maker is also considering implementing an "App button", similar to the File button in Microsoft Office 2010, that will replace all the menu options that currently run along the top of the browser window.
"One of the more challenging, not to mention contentious, aspects of the Firefox UI update has been how to handle the MenuBar," Horlander writes. "On our first pass we were informed by how Safari and Chrome had handled this problem by paring down all menu items into two separate Page and Tools buttons. This approach has a few advantages but also some disadvantages. The new proposed approach to this problem is an App Button which is similar to the single menu approach taken by Windows 7 native applications (Paint, WordPad) and by MS Office."
By Techcentral.ie on Mon, Dec 28th, 2009
Citing advance planning, Microsoft says it will have modified versions of Office 2007 available for sale before the court-ordered deadline next month to remove a disputed feature. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court's ruling that the software giant violated the patent of Toronto-based i4i when it included custom XML technology in the 2003 and 2007 versions of Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Office, of which 2007 is the most recent version, is estimated to be worth some $3 billion in annual global sales for the company founded by Chairman Bill Gates. In addition to Word, it includes Excel, PowerPoint and Groove, a collaboration program.
"We have been preparing for this possibility since the district court issued its injunction," last May, Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz said. "Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007 with this feature removed available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date."
That date is Jan. 11.
Kutz also said beta versions of Word 2010 already available for download do not include custom XML.
Patch Download
The custom XML feature enables Word to manipulate format and content separately, which can be used by some companies to incorporate company data and templates into documents.
In response to the ruling, Microsoft has made available on its OEM Partner Center a 12.9-megabyte Office OPK Master Download Kit patch, noting that it is now required for companies using the product in the United States, and optional for other customers.
It's unclear who, if anyone, will enforce compliance with the court order among end users of the software.
But Microsoft said the patch will not affect most users.
"After this patch is installed, Word will no longer read the custom XML elements contained within DOCX, DOCM or XML files," reads a Microsoft announcement on the Partner Center page. "These files will continue to open, but any custom XML elements will be removed. The ability to handle custom XML markup is typically used in association with automated server-based processing of Word documents. Custom XML is not typically used by most end users of Word."
Mordy Hackel of KJ Technology in New York, which provides services for residential and midsize companies, said many Office users may be reluctant to download the patch.
"It is not going to impact most users in any way, shape or form," said Hackel. "But if I am an IT guy, I might be reluctant to deploy these patches unless there is a specific reason compelling me to do so. Often patches fix 'x' and break 'y.'"
In ruling for the plaintiff, Texas U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis said i4i was "practicing its patent, only to suffer a loss of market share, brand recognition, and customer goodwill as the result of the defendant's infringing acts." He awarded the Canadian company $290 million in penalties.
The Last 'Word'?
i4i Chairman Louden Owen said the ruling was "both a vindication for i4i and a war cry for talented inventors whose patents are infringed."
He added, "The same guts and integrity that are needed to invent and go against the herd are at the heart of success in patent litigation against a behemoth like Microsoft."
At the heart of the company's claim was that it depends on its patent to sell software, rather than use the products to collect license fees, as other developers do.
Kutz said Microsoft is considering asking for a rehearing of the case before the full district court, rather than the three-judge panel that made the ruling, or even taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
By Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com on Wed, Dec 23rd, 2009
A court is forcing Microsoft to make changes to its word-processing software or stop selling it altogether. The Tuesday ruling against Microsoft's appeal of a patent-infringement verdict gives Microsoft just weeks to remedy the situation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington upheld Texas U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis' decision for Canadian company i4i. The company claimed Microsoft violated its patents for custom XML in Word 2003 and Word 2007.
Davis ordered Microsoft to pay in excess of $290 million and issued a permanent injunction against the software giant for what is known as the "449 patent." The judge ruled that Microsoft willfully infringed on the patent and permanently enjoined Microsoft from selling Word 2003 and Word 2007 in the United States and using any infringing future Word products to open an XML file containing custom XML.
Microsoft Feels Judge's Wrath
Microsoft appealed the ruling, but the three-judge appellate panel ruled against the software giant. The injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the U.S. on or after the injunction date of Jan. 11, 2010. Products sold before this date are not affected.
"A small company was practicing its patent, only to suffer a loss of market share, brand recognition, and customer goodwill as the result of the defendant's infringing acts," the judges' panel said in upholding the court's order. "The district court found that Microsoft captured 80 percent of the custom XML market with its infringing Word products, forcing i4i to change its business strategy."
The court ruled that Microsoft can continue to offer technical support to current users of Word, but is not allowed to instruct new users on using the custom XML editor or to sell copies of Word with the disputed feature.
Microsoft May Fight Back
Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs for Microsoft, said the company is moving quickly to comply with the injunction. For Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, he said, the company has been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August and has put the wheels in motion to remove the little-used disputed feature.
"We expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date," Kutz said. "In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction."
While Microsoft is moving quickly to address the injunction issue, Kutz said, the company is also considering its legal options, which could include a request for a rehearing by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals en banc or a request for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court.
What About Office 2010?
"Microsoft will undoubtedly pay the judgment. But they are going down the path of removing the technology and they expect to have it out of the product by the first part of next year," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "I believe that gives them about a week when they won't be able to sell the offering, or else they will buy a variance for i4i."
Enderle said most Microsoft Word users won't experience any ill effects from the suit. And by the time Office 2010 hits the market, the infringement suit will be a distant memory for Microsoft. Microsoft already removed the offending technology from Office 2010, which is expected to be released toward the end of 2010.
By Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com on Tue, Dec 22nd, 2009
Google is moving in on yet another acquisition. This time the search giant reportedly has its eye on a plug-in that lets people collaborate around Microsoft Office documents.
According to published reports, Google is acquiring a San Francisco-based startup called DocVerse for about $25 million. The acquisition could undergird Google's recent Appjet purchase. Appjet is the maker of Etherpad, which also offers Microsoft Office collaboration capabilities.
DocVerse officially launched on Oct. 28 to serve the 600 million Office users looking for a better way to edit and share Microsoft documents. DocVerse is a plug-in for Microsoft Office that turns the suite of productivity applications into web-enabled collaboration tools and allows real-time sharing and simultaneous group editing of documents.
Grabbing MS Talent?
With DocVerse, Google would not only pick up a product to help its users bridge the Office gap. It could also pick up two Microsoft veterans, Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui.
The duo founded DocVerse in 2007 to eliminate the constant back-and-forth e-mail attachments required to share and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents. Sinha oversaw Microsoft's product strategy for the $1.6 billion SharePoint business and $3 billion SQL Server business while DeNeui oversaw Microsoft's SQL Server web strategy.
Sinha is no stranger to entrepreneurship. He cofounded two venture-backed startups, one of which has already been acquired. He also has fund-raising skills. DocVerse raised its first round of investment in 2008, $1.3 million from Baseline Ventures, Naval Ravikant, and Harrison Metal Capital.
DeNeui also brings experience to the startup. Before his tenure with Microsoft, he founded a Kleiner Perkins-backed enterprise software company delivering IT automation services. It's not clear whether the duo will join Google or move on to another startup if their company is acquired.
Microsoft Fights Back with Office 2010
Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, called the reported acquisition "interesting." Although DocVerse was founded by ex-Microsoft talent, he said, the application's philosophy, with its cloud and collaboration capabilities, is very much consistent with Google Wave and Google's efforts with its Apps and Docs suites.
"This also seems like a tool that will make Google Docs and Apps more useful in recognition of the fact that most people for the foreseeable future are going to be using Microsoft Office," Sterling said. "Yet this speeds the transition to the cloud and provides a bridge of sorts between Microsoft Office and Google Docs."
Of course, Microsoft is also moving into the cloud with its Office 2010, which will combat Google Docs. Microsoft released the beta version of Office 2010 in November with hopes that millions of people would download and test the product and offer feedback.
Microsoft is rolling out several new features in Office 2010 to sharpen its chances against an aggressive Google. One key new offering is the Outlook Social Connector, which brings communications history, business collaboration, and social-network feeds directly into Outlook, with support for Windows Live and SharePoint server.
By Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com on Tue, Dec 22nd, 2009
San Francisco - Opera Software this week is offering a pre-alpha release of its Opera 10.5 browser and upgraded beta releases of its Opera Mobile 10 browser.
The company on Tuesday released Opera 10.5 pre-alpha for Labs, for Windows and Mac systems. A Unix and Linux version is due later. The release features the Carakan JavaScript engine.
[ Also on InfoWorld: The latest Firefox beta, meanwhile, supports an HTML 5-based API. ]
"It's fast, more than seven times faster in [the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark] than Opera 10.10 with Futhark on Windows," said Roberto Mateu, product analyst at Opera, in a blog post.
Version 10.5 also features the Presto 2.5 rendering engine for handling HTML, CSS, and DOM. Improvements include support for CSS3 transitions and transforms, as well as more HTML 5 features such as persistent storage.
The Vega graphics library in Opera 10.5 displays what is seen on screen. It can be hardware-accelerated, although Mateu questioned whether hardware boosts would be needed.
There is no timetable for beta and general releases of Opera 10.5.
"Since this release is technically a 'pre-alpha' it's really just a preview of our long-awaited JavaScript engine, named Carakan, and our new rendering engine, Presto 2.5," an Opera representative said in an e-mail.
Mateu cautioned that version 10.5 is still an unstable development build, with issues such as high memory usage. "There are known bugs, unimplemented UI elements, and surprise crashes," he said.
Users running the alpha release on Windows 7 or Vista will notice visual changes and the use of APIs allowing the UI to display the Aero Glass effect. For Mac, a rewrite in Cocoa brings a unified toolbar, native buttons and scrollbars, and multitouch gestures.
The alpha also features a Private tab or Private window that forgets everything that has happened once it is closed.
Downloads of Opera 10.5 can be accessed at the Opera Labs Web page.
With upgraded beta versions of its Opera Mobile 10 browser this week, Opera is adding capabilities including faster loading, increased auto-rotation, and native keyboard input integration. Opera has positioned Mobile 10 as the browser bringing the desktop surfing experience to the small mobile screen.
Beta 2 for Windows Mobile touchscreen phones features faster loading; when the Opera icon is pressed, the browser will be loaded quicker. Additionally, auto-rotation now is supported on more phones.
The Windows Mobile beta also supports Hebrew and Arabic Web sites, with right-to-left rendering now working.
For Symbian/S60 phones, Opera Mobile 10 Beta 2 supports native keyboard input integration, with users able to use default keyboards to input characters and write in their native languages when, for example, they are searching Google or writing an e-mail.
Initial beta versions of Opera Mobile 10 were released in November. The second beta releases can be downloaded from Opera's Web page.
By Paul Krill on Tue, Dec 22nd, 2009
A dangerous vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 became publicly known before a fix was available, raising the specter of a high-risk zero-day attack.The bug involves the way IE handles Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) objects, and could let an attacker run any command on a targeted Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, or Server 2008 PC. Bad guys have already posted sample attack code online. IE 8 is not affected. For more information, see Microsoft Security Advisory 977981.Meanwhile, a bug in the way Windows handles Embedded OpenType could allow a baddie to take over vulnerable Windows XP, 2000, or Server 2003 computers via malicious Websites or poisoned Office documents. The bug can't harm Vista or Server 2008, and doesn't affect Windows 7. Read Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-065 for details.
Office File Flaws
Two other patches repair Office flaws in Excel and Word affecting Office XP and 2003, and Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac. The Excel bug endangers Office 2007, Office Excel Viewer 2003, and the Office Excel Viewer Service Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The Word flaw also affects Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, Office Word Viewer 2003, and Office Word Viewer. Microsoft rates the flaws as important; see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-067 (Excel) and Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-068 (Word).Microsoft has also released two critical fixes for business networks. One closes a hole in the Web Services on Devices application programming interface; it's critical for Vista and Server 2008 (see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-063). The second flaw affects only Windows 2000 systems running License Logging Server (see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-064).
Java and Opera Bump Up
Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Development Kit (JDK) Update 17 closes a number of holes, including a serious flaw that allows attacks via Web pages. Java will check monthly to see whether updates are available, but you can check manually, too: Open Control Panel and double-click the Java icon. On the Update tab, click Update now. After updating, you may need to remove old Java versions manually with Add or Remove Programs. For details, or to download the latest Java, head to Sun's Java SE Downloads page.
Version 10.10 of Opera's Web browser fixes numerous bugs, including one that might let malicious JavaScript on a Web page launch an attack. Click Help, Check for updates to confirm that you have the latest version of Opera; if not, you can download Opera 10.10 from PCWorld's Downloads Library.
Fix Shockwave and Mac OS X
An attack on critical vulnerabilities in Shockwave Player versions prior to 11.5.1.601 could "run malicious code on an affected system," Adobe says. Check your Shockwave version at Adobe's special testing page, and get the latest iteration (Shockwave 11.5.2.602) from our Downloads pages.Finally, the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update corrects various problems involving PDF files, H.264 movies, TIFF images, and other things. Get it via Software Update, and read more at About Security Update 2009-006.
By Erik Larkin, PC World on Mon, Dec 21st, 2009
When the system requirements for Microsoft Office 2010 were first posted, we noticed that Windows XP 64-bit was mysteriously absent. We contacted Microsoft, and the company explained that while deciding on which versions of Windows to support in the next release of Office, it weighed the user experience behind the versions against broadly dropping support.
"For the Microsoft Office 2010 release, we will not support Windows XP 64-bit," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed with Ars. Upon further inspection, we also noticed Windows Server 2003 support was missing. "For the best productivity and user experience, the benefits of 64-bit computing with Office 2010 is best experienced by utilizing the newly introduced 64-bit version of Office 2010 with Windows 7 (64-bit) or Windows Vista (64-bit) version." In short, Microsoft does not think the experience will be good enough on its previous operating systems.
For the sake of comparison, here are the supported versions of Windows for Office 2010 and its two predecessors (for newer releases of Windows, older versions of Office may require service packs to work):
* Office 2003: Windows 2000 SP3+, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
* Office 2007: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2. Office 2007 is a 32-bit application that will run on a 64-bit version of Windows, but there may be some feature limitations.
* Office 2010: Windows XP (32-bit only), Windows Server 2003 R2 with MSXML 6.0 installed, Windows Vista SP1+, Windows Server 2008 SP2+, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2. Except for XP, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported. Terminal Server and Windows on Windows (WOW) (which allows installing 32-bit versions of Office 2010 on 64-bit operating systems) are also supported. Naturally, running a 64-bit version of Office 2010 is not possible on a 32-bit version of Windows.
While this is the first time the software giant is releasing 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office, and on one DVD no less, it's a bit disappointing that neither of them will work on Windows XP 64-bit or Windows Server 2003.
Frankly, we believe Microsoft would kill off Windows XP 32-bit support for Office 2010, which is scheduled for release in June 2010, if it could. Alas, Windows XP 32-bit is still the world's most popular operating system, so the software giant is grudgingly porting everything it needs to make Office 2010 work on the eight-year-old OS.
By Emil Protalinski - arstechnica.com on Sat, Dec 19th, 2009
Microsoft will delay the release of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 in order to have more time to address performance issues.
The software giant said Friday it plans an additional test version — a release candidate — to launch in February while the tool set's engineering team focuses on improving performance.
"As you might have seen, we significantly improved performance between Beta 1 and Beta 2," Sosa Somasegar, senior veep of Microsoft's Developer Division, wrote in a blog post announcing the delay. "Based on what we've heard, we clearly needed to do more work."
Microsoft originally slated the final release build for March 22, 2010. Somasegar said the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 releases will now be pushed back "a few weeks."
He said beta users have specifically fingered performance issues "in a few key scenarios including virtual memory usage."
New features in Visual Studio 2010 include Windows 7 and SharePoint 2010 tools, drag-and-drop binding with Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation, and adding Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) for programming with scripting languages, and support for parallel programming. Microsoft also chopped down nine Visual Studio SKUs to four, and it will chuck in added benefits for MSDN subscribers.
By Austin Modine - Theregister.co.uk on Sat, Dec 19th, 2009
Microsoft’s Windows XP continues to lead the market despite Windows 7's appearance in computer stores from October 22nd. In only eight hours, pre-orders of Windows 7 at Amazon.co.uk surpassed the demand Windows Vista had in its first 17 weeks. The warm reception of Windows 7 suggested that the software giant will get the same or better response of the operating system compared to Windows XP and also recovered from the poor image of company due to Vista’s performance.
After the arrival of Windows 7, the market for operating systems becomes complicated. Is Windows 7 just Vista with a facelift? Or the Redmond giant has learned from its mistakes and delivered a product that will restore its worn out reputation?
Latest Market Share
According to the Web metrics firm Net Applications, Microsoft Windows 7’s market share surges over the largest-ever declines in Windows XP and Vista in the November month. It is reported that the Windows 7's gains were largely at the price of Windows XP. The firm also said that for one copy of Vista replaced by Windows 7 during November, more than six copies of XP were swapped for the new operating system.
In the first three weeks, Windows 7 achieved over 4% market share, whereas Vista took five months to reach the same. In November, Windows XP accounts for 69% share with the drop of 1.45%, and Vista reports 18.6% share with drop of just 0.2%. However, the company kept its total operating system share stagnant at 92.5%, the same as in October. Meanwhile, Mac OS X and Linux have reported a market share of 5.1% and 1.2%, respectively.
Is Microsoft wants to kill Windows XP for Windows 7?
According to various analysts, there is a huge tail of XP in the market and Windows 7 is the great opportunity for all those people who declined to move to Vista. Further, the old horse of Microsoft has lived longer than expected; hence, the company is planning to introduce EOL (end-of-life) to the nearly decade-old operating system.
Microsoft has announced that from July 13, 2010, it will close down the support for Windows XP SP2, however, various critical security updates will be offered free of cost till April 8, 2014. Further, the company will also phase out the support for the Windows 2000 Server/Client on the same date.
The reason for such development is to pressurized businesses that skipped out on upgrading to Vista either due to technical problems may find themselves in a buying mood over the next 6-8 months. Also, Vista never come closer to the XP dominance, now the company does not want to repeat it second time.
Discussion
Microsoft has desired to kill Windows XP for years, but there was only one difficulty that is the consumers denied to let it die. But, after the warm reception of Windows 7, Microsoft is, once more, trying to axe XP. Also, Microsoft knows that Vista was a flop show and various other vendors are trying to take away Windows market share with their operating systems. Hence, the software giant should take any step carefully.
By Anuj Kumar - ITvoir Network on Sat, Dec 19th, 2009
Adobe is investigating new reports that hackers are attacking a previously unknown bug in the latest version of the company's Reader and Acrobat software.
"This afternoon, Adobe received reports of a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions being exploited in the wild," Adobe wrote in a post to its Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) blog Monday afternoon. "We are currently investigating this issue and assessing the risk to our customers."
Adobe had few details on the reported problem. "As soon as we have additional details, we will update the PSIRT blog," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail message.
Adobe heard of the vulnerability from "partners in the security community," she said, adding that she had seen no public reports of the issue apart from Adobe's own blog posting.
With Reader and Acrobat installed on most of the world's PCs, the products have become an increasingly attractive target for computer hackers who take advantage of flaws in the system to run unauthorized programs on victims' PCs.
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service on Tue, Dec 15th, 2009
Microsoft has fixed a problem in Office 2003 that prevented the software from opening documents saved using its access control technology.
The company warned late Friday that Office 2003 would not be able to open documents that had been protected with its Rights Management Services (RMS) beyond that day until Microsoft issued an update, even if users were authorized to open the document.
Users also could not save documents with RMS, which is used to prevent sensitive documents from being opened by unauthorized users, among other functions.
The problem was caused by the expiration of an Information Rights Management (IRM) certificate. On Saturday, Microsoft released a hotfix, it wrote on its Office Sustained Engineering Team blog.
The problem affects Word 2003, Word 2003 Viewer, Excel 2003, Excel 2003 Viewer, PowerPoint 2003 and Outlook 2003. Office 2007 is not affected and neither is the Office 2010 beta, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman.
If the hotfix is not applied, users will see the warning: "Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator."
The problem was first reported by Technologizer blog.
By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service on Tue, Dec 15th, 2009
Techinciter believes 2010 will be another tough year for Microsoft, though less so than the year that is about to end. Windows 7 will be a hit with business users, but Office 2010 has a lot of convincing to do. Like Windows XP, Office 2007 is proving to be long-lived and hard to displace.
Here are some Microsoft-related predictions for 2010:
* If feels like Microsoft ignores companies with, say, 200 employees or less. This is something we've gotten used to and it won't change next year.
* Microsoft's various cloud projects are not yet aimed at small business, which provides an opening for Google and everyone else. I wouldn't want to live in Google Apps all the time, but the price is right and many small businesses--start-ups, especially--are extremely cost-sensitive. It's easy to see a small business running on Google Apps with a few copies of Office around for use when needed.
* Low-cost laptops become more powerful in 2010. Netbooks don't really cut it for business users, but the under $400 price drives sales--like $5 sandwiches at that sub place. Microsoft will lower some of the barriers it has created to prevent manufacturers from selling netbooks that are really useful (more memory, better processors, etc.)
* Desktop Linux is still not attractive to small business in 2010, but do expect more servers running open source software. Just as an aside, I like Microsoft's server products for small businesses.
* There will be scattered business users that adopt Chrome OS-based machines late in 2010, but only as individual purchases. Microsoft needs to respond to Chrome and I'd like to see Internet Explorer OS introduced.
* Office 10 won't be a big win for small business customers. This may change, but if you are running Office 2007, I am not sure you need to upgrade to Office 2010. It's nice if you can afford it, but not a must-have for small/medium business.
* Windows 7 will sell many computers during 2010. The new operating system is more than just a Vista replacement; it is good enough to make a Mac user (like me) think about switching back to Windows. Most people I've talked to think it's Microsoft's best OS since Windows 2000 Professional. Small business should look toward standardizing on the new OS.
* Virtualization will play a larger role in small business computing in 2010, but it won't be Microsoft these customers purchase. But, perhaps should be if they are running Microsoft servers.
I am still thinking about some other Microsoft predictions for 2010, and will probably revisit this topic before the new year rolls around. Drop me a note or post your thoughts and I'll consider them for a future post.
What are your Microsoft predictions for 2010?
David Coursey has been writing about technology products and companies for more than 25 years. He tweets as @techinciter and may be contacted via his Web site.
By David Coursey, PCWorld.com on Mon, Dec 14th, 2009
Microsoft plans to buy health-care software maker Sentillion for an undisclosed sum in order to expand its own health-care offerings and capitalize on an upcoming opportunity for new sales.
Microsoft hopes to combine Sentillion's technology with its own Amalga Unified Intelligence System in order to offer clinicians more information about patients in real time, it said. Sentillion will continue to sell its products separately to new and existing customers.
Sentillion, a privately held company, offers a couple of products including a single sign-on product. "If you were to go into a hospital you'd find that caregivers are spending inordinate amounts of time signing into applications with different user names and passwords," said Paul Roscoe, president of Sentillion. It's not uncommon for a physician to log into different systems more than 60 times a day, he said.
Sentillion's single sign-on product lets a physician sign in once and then be able to access a variety of applications that may be Web-based, Windows-based or built on legacy systems.
It also offers a context management feature so that once a physician is signed on and has looked up records on one system for a specific patient, when the physician switches to another system, it will automatically display that same patient's records.
Sentillion's products are used in 1,000 hospitals.
Microsoft's Amalga software integrates clinical, administrative and financial information and is used by more than 115 hospitals. It allows a physician, quality control person or financial analyst to look for information across patients, said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft's health solutions group. For example, a physician could look for the outcome after six days of the use of a certain drug by female patients admitted to the emergency department, he said.
Amalga also helps physicians be more proactive. Rather than relying on patients who might be managing a chronic condition to know when to schedule a screening or know whether they are taking the right drugs, a doctor can proactively reach out to those patients. At the Mayo Clinic, a set of case managers now get a list of people who they need to communicate with that is generated from Amalga.
Combining Amalga with Sentillion's products will result in products that enhance caregivers' abilities to be proactive by making it easier to access even more information, he said.
The acquisition may help Microsoft shore up its offerings just in time for a potential boom in hospital investments in technology. The government earlier this year passed a US$38 billion bill designed to make it easier for hospitals to invest in technology, Neupert said. That money is expected to start flowing in the second half of next year, he said.
Sentillion will continue to operate from its headquarters in Andover, Massachusetts. Microsoft expects the deal to close early next year.
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service on Thu, Dec 10th, 2009
Microsoft has posted a reminder that support for Windows 2000 Server and client and Windows XP SP2 will end on July 13. The company is suggesting that consumers and especially organizations still using these OSes should prepare.
The posting on The Windows Blog offers some helpful suggestions and links and says the company has created an end-of-support solution center.
Is it Necessary?
Mike Cherry, Directions on Microsoft's vice president of research for operating systems, has a simple question: Is this really a big deal? His answer is that it's not.
"I have a pretty jaded view of mainstream and extended support because I'm not sure they actually offer anything," Cherry said. "When you go and read what they offer, it comes down, in mainstream support, to enabling you to bring an issue you encounter to Microsoft's attention. They will decide whether or not they are going to fix it. It is quite conceivable that even in mainstream support when you report it, Microsoft will say, 'Thank you very much, we are going to leave it as it is.'"
Cherry said the issue is a calculation by Microsoft that fixing something for an older operating system may make it more difficult for applications to work in the current OS, which is Windows 7.
"Because of those changes, it's less likely that Microsoft will fix any problems with the older version," he said. "Their reasoning is that to change the architecture will break too many applications that are relying on it."
Patches Bypassed Before
He said some people see the issue as merely theoretic, but he added that on at least two recent occasions Microsoft has declined to patch vulnerabilities in Windows 2000. Thus, Cherry reasoned, users of the older OSes may have a false sense of security about their coverage.
If Cherry's basic premise that users can't rely on Microsoft in all instances is accepted, it becomes even more important for users to keep abreast of the state of the operating systems in use. They are, in essence, on their own and unprotected long before the end of support arrives.
His advice, however, isn't to track how old the systems are chronologically, but in terms of the core changes that have been made to the underlying product. The basic calculation is whether the changes are enough to dissuade Microsoft from supporting the older version.
"What you need to be aware of isn't so much where a product is in its life cycle as much as how large a set of architectural changes have occurred between [your] version and the most current version," Cherry said.
Cherry drove the point home by expressly saying that support from Microsoft should not be considered a warranty, but merely guidelines.
By Carl Weinschenk, newsfactor.com on Tue, Dec 8th, 2009
On Thursday night, ALWIL Software, the creators of the Avast! antivirus program, released a bad update the misidentified many programs as malware.
High-profile applications such as RealTek sound drivers and certain versions of Skype were affected, according to ALWIL chief technical officer Ondrej Vilcek. The bad update was in the wild for five hours, he wrote in an email.
"At around 12:15am GMT we released VPS update 091203-0 which started flagging hundreds of innocent files as a "Win32:Delf-MZG" Trojan (or, in less common cases, as "Win32:Zbot-MKK")", the company added in a support post. "Among the files affected were high-profile programs produced by Adobe, Realtek sound card drivers, various media players etc."
Those users who turned their PCs off last night are likely not affected. "We are still investigating the issue, trying to find out what exactly happened and how to make absolutely sure it will not happen again," the company said.
ALWIL is preparing a series of how-to instructions to help users who were affected, the company said. "We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this has caused," it said.
A redesigned Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 is currently in beta, and will be released early in 2010, the company said recently.
By Mark Hachman - PC Magazine on Thu, Dec 3rd, 2009
Next Tuesday, December 8, Microsoft will release 6 security bulletins and software updates to address the vulnerabilities described in them. Three of the bulletins have a maximum rating of critical and three are rated important.
The three critical updates all are listed as permitting remote code execution. One affects all Windows versions except Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2; one affects Microsoft Project 2000, 2002 and 2003; and one affects all versions of Internet Explorer on all Windows versions.
Two of the important updates are listed as permitting remote code execution, apparently with some limitation such as not working in the default configuration. One of these affects Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 but not the R2 edition of 2008. Another affects Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, as well as certain versions of Word and Works. A third important update can result in denial of service and affects Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
A new Malicious Software Removal Tool will also be issued. Non-security updates may also be released, but no information about them is available yet.
By Larry Seltzer - PC Magazine on Thu, Dec 3rd, 2009
Adobe Systems' security response team is scrambling to fix a newly disclosed bug in its Illustrator software, even as it readies another security patch for next week.
On Tuesday, an unidentified hacker posted a proof of concept attack, showing how the Illustrator vulnerability could be leveraged to run unauthorized software on a victim's computer. Adobe said Tuesday that it was investigating the attack, but it's not clear when the software company will fix the issue.
For this attack to work, the users must open a maliciously crafted Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file in Illustrator, Adobe said in a blog post.
Because this attack code is now public and available to cyber-criminals, this flaw could become a serious issue.
However, Adobe Director of Product Security Brad Arkin said Tuesday that his team has not yet confirmed that the attack could be used to install a virus on a computer. "We've been able to trigger a crash on at least one version and platform," he said. "As soon as we get all of our details together we'll do an advisory."
Security vendor Secunia says the flaw exists in Illustrator Creative Suite versions 13 and 14, and that other versions of the product may be affected.
Meanwhile, Adobe plans to fix other critical bugs in its Flash Player software on Tuesday. This update is not related to the Illustrator issue and had been previously scheduled, Arkin said. "As far as we can tell, the [Illustrator] bug has absolutely nothing to do with Flash Player."
Tuesday's Flash Player update falls on the same day that Microsoft is planning to issue six security updates for Windows, Office and Internet Explorer, including a patch for a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer.
Following Tuesday's bug-fixes, Adobe's next set of regularly scheduled security updates for its Reader and Acrobat software are due Jan. 12.
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service on Thu, Dec 3rd, 2009
After creating great distress in security circles, an issue with Microsoft Windows has proven relatively minor. The problem, labeled the Black Screen of Death, was initially thought to be widespread. Indeed, British security firm Prevx posted a series of blog items suggesting that several million computers using Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 could be compromised. The company said the problem often is associated with two Windows security patches, KB915597 and KB976098.
Prevx has since backtracked, though a bit obliquely. In a posting Wednesday, the firm said the problem is still widespread and its free tool to fix the issue had been downloaded more than 50,000 times.
The company denied that it made concrete claims. "As you will see, at no time have we categorically stated that these patches are the cause of the Black Screen problem," it said. "We shared our initial findings around the two patches with Microsoft, conducted further tests, and have confirmed that these specific updates are not the root cause."
Microsoft: Updates Not to Blame
Mike Murray, chief information security officer for Foreground Security, said the entire affair is a non-story. "I am absolutely amazed this became the story it became," he said. "They say the number [of infected machines] is 50,000. I say it's more like 10 percent of that. I hate it when security companies throw out all this hyperbole. I have known large organizations ... that are using Windows 7 in large parts of their [companies], and I have not heard one report from any of my clients on this problem."
Microsoft also called the problem overhyped, if not nonexistent. "Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that that are resulting in system issues for some customers," said a statement attributed to Christopher Budd, Microsoft's security response communications lead.
"The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports," the statement says. "While we were not contacted by the organization who originally made these reports, we have proactively contacted them with our findings."
The statement also says that Microsoft's support organization doesn't see any issues. "The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in the security bulletins or KB articles," it said.
Roger Halbheer, chief security adviser for Microsoft EMEA, was not amused. His post at TechNet Blogs is critical of Prevx and, by implication, the many sites that uncritically carried the initial and inaccurate reports.
Be Careful Who You Listen To
Halbheer concludes users should be careful who they listen to. "[Y]ou should now make your risk assessment and decide which source you want to trust. For me, the ultimate source for information you should build your assessment on is neither Twitter nor your brother's sister-in-law's father's brother (unless he works for Microsoft's security) but our web site."
Murray agrees that Prevx's approach was wrong. "I would hope they would work with the vendors and be a little more responsible in the way they run around talking about this stuff," he said. "I almost laughed when they said that they feel bad about embarrassing Microsoft. They got themselves all over the news by embarrassing Microsoft."
By Carl Weinschenk, newsfactor.com on Thu, Dec 3rd, 2009
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. says it's not to blame for a problem that is causing a "limited" number of Windows computers to boot up to a blank black screen.
The problem is cropping up on computers running the new Windows 7 software as well as Windows XP and Vista.
Microsoft says its customer service department doesn't consider the black screen problem a "broad customer issue." It hasn't identified the problem but says some malicious programs on the Internet are known to cause black screens.
A British security company called Prevx says 50,000 people have downloaded a tool it offers to fix the problem.
By Microsoft Corp. on Thu, Dec 3rd, 2009
Microsoft officials confirmed that the Office 2010 suite will ship in June of 2010, along with related products.
"It looks like the original mention from one of the Office 2010 Beta marketing sites no longer says "June 2010", but we are confirming that we expect Office 2010 and related products to be generally available in June 2010," a Microsoft spokesman said Tuesday.
The site in question apparently was an Office Starter Web site, with an availability notice at the very bottom. Since the unexpected posting of the ship date, the site has been revised to note that Office 2010 is still in beta testing.
PCMag.com has posted a hands-on preview of Office 2010 which was made available as a public beta in November. The suite includes updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the other Office applications.
"After a few days of intense testing, I'm deeply impressed by the many ways Microsoft has improved on the solid foundation of Office 2007," Edward Mendelson wrote in the preview. "The now-familiar Ribbon interface gets a few tweaks in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and is now visible throughout Outlook. Instead of an Office 2007–style major overhaul, Microsoft offers refinements and enhancements. My judgment on the beta version: It's terrific, but it's not essential for anyone already running Office 2007."
By Mark Hachman - PC Magazine on Wed, Dec 2nd, 2009
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it could find no evidence that recent security updates were causing problems with its new Windows 7 operating system, which some have dubbed the "black screen of death."
The problem, which has caused a small number of users to see a completely black screen after logging on, was identified by British software security firm Prevx last week, and received widespread attention after a report by the BBC on Tuesday.
Prevx had claimed that changes to Microsoft's operating system's registry -- the database that stores configuration settings -- were the most likely cause of the error, but Microsoft denied that.
"Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that are resulting in system issues for some customers," said Microsoft representative Christopher Budd.
"The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports," he said.
He added that Microsoft's support teams were not seeing this as a big issue for users, but urged Microsoft customers to contact support for free assistance in the event of problems.
By Bill Rigby on Wed, Dec 2nd, 2009
It has been over a year since Google released the initial beta version of its Chrome Web browser software. The Chrome browser was taken out of beta, then put back into beta, and finally taken back out of beta a few months ago. Until now, though, there has not been a version of Chrome for Mac OS X users.
That is about to change...mostly. Google has set a deadline to release a Mac OS X-compatible version of the Chrome Web browser by the end of 2009. However, in order to meet that deadline it is eliminating features that are found in the current Windows version.
Absent from the initial Chrome Web browser beta for Mac will be App Mode, bookmark manager, multitouch support, 64-bit compatibility, browser extensions, and Google Gears. It leaves me to wonder what is left that would be worth beta testing.
Google Gears is one of the more compelling components of the Chrome browser. It lets you work with other Google products like Gmail and Google Docs even while offline. App Mode lets developers create standalone Web browsers customized for a single site.
The good news is that these features aren't being nixed forever. They're just not going to be a part of the initial beta. Google still plans to incorporate them into future updates leading, eventually, to taking the Mac version of Chrome out of beta.
With over a year competing against browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, Google's Chrome has managed to scratch out 3.6 percent of the Web browser market. Google has a goal to reach 5 percent market share by September of 2010, and 10 percent by 2011.
Both of those goal milestones seem reasonable, if not conservative. If Google releases Mac OS X and Linux-compatible versions of the Web browser--with all of the features enabled--it will offer a solid alternative for Firefox and Safari on platforms where Internet Explorer doesn't even compete. That should grab a few market share percentage points.
All versions of Mac OS X and Linux combined make up less than 10 percent of the operating system market, while Windows dominates with more than 90 percent. Internet Explorer is a formidable opponent as a Windows-based Web browser, but Google still has much more to gain by chipping away at Internet Explorer and competing for the Windows audience.
With Google positioned as a sort of anti-Microsoft, it seems odd that Chrome was released for Windows first and that more Google-friendly platforms like the Mac have had to wait for over a year. That is, until you consider the market.
Unless you're Apple, there is little incentive in catering to Mac OS X. But, with all that Google is developing and bringing to the table, including the Chrome operating system, it seems fair to assume that the Chrome Web browser will continue to gain market share--although more likely at the expense of Firefox and Safari than Internet Explorer.
Keep your eyes open, though, Mac OS X users. Google just has a few more bugs to eliminate before the feature-stripped beta of the Chrome Web browser will be available for download.
By Tony Bradley - PCWorld.com on Tue, Dec 1st, 2009
San Francisco - After conquering the search world, Google is now pushing hard to be a major provider of business software, tackling longtime dominator Microsoft over productivity and collaboration apps. But does this company, most famous for free consumer-oriented offerings like search and basic apps, have what it takes to be taken seriously by business? Can you really rely on Google Apps?
Ken Godskind thinks so. The chief strategy officer at AlertSite moved his company's 45 employees to the Premier Edition of Google Apps in late 2008. He likes the fact that he gets not only e-mail but word processing, spreadsheets, a Web-based calendar, Web-based collaboration, Google Talk, and Google Video for $50 a year per user. That's a third or less of what he would pay to get the same from an internal, Microsoft-based environment.
[ The InfoWorld Test Center pits Google Docs versus Microsoft Office Web Apps. | Take a visual tour of Google's business apps and services. ]
And Godskind is not alone. A recent IDC survey shows that Google Docs is "widely used" in 20 percent of companies. (Google Docs is the set of word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and calendar components of Google Apps.) And even some large organizations -- the latest being the city of Los Angeles and its 30,000 users -- are adopting Google Docs and the corporate version of Gmail. Chalk up yet more converts in Google's crusade to make itself, not Microsoft, the default choice for everything from word processing and spreadsheets to e-mail.
So far, many of the early takers have been smaller businesses that didn't need enterprise-level management and integration with other applications. But since the fall of 2008, when biotech giant Genentech became its first big-name enterprise customer, Google has rolled out features to lure other enterprises. These include client software to allow users to keep working while offline, Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook (to let Gmail users work through the familiar Microsoft e-mail client), and Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server so that mobile users can access Google Apps on their smartphones.
More than 400 Google Apps resellers provide advanced help such as data migration, training, and configuration, while independent developers fill the gaps in Google's enterprise offerings with tools to help manage directories, back up and restore data, and comply with regulations.
Google's vision extends beyond the apps, into a new computing paradigm based on the cloud, in which apps might run on a netbook or smartphone powered by Google's Android rather than on a PC running Windows. The apps and data will sit on Google's servers, not in the customer's datacenter. No more management headaches, no more hardware and software to buy -- just blissful online collaboration and deep cost savings.
But not so fast. Users will have to learn a new interface and to share documents in the cloud rather than e-mail them back and forth. Someone has to migrate years of old e-mail and other data to the Google cloud. There are sometimes pesky issues linking Google Apps to legacy applications, mobile devices, and users who refuse to give up the familiar Microsoft Outlook e-mail client. Tech support isn't always up to enterprise standards. Then there are concerns over data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance, especially for larger companies that must follow strict data management rules.
But don't worry, says Google and its backers. With an R&D budget of more than $2 billion per quarter fueled by massive search advertising profits, Google will fix whatever's not right -- and probably sooner rather than later. That is, when it's not busy reinventing the operating system (with its pending, free Chrome OS), taking over the smartphone OS space (with its free Android OS), and maybe killing off the GPS navigation business by bundling (again, free) GPS and mapping with Android.
To Google, all these technologies aren't spaghetti thrown against the wall to see what sticks. They're strategic bets in a multifront campaign to build a Web-based replacement for Windows and Office. And people are listening.
[ See how Google's Android stacks up against the iPhone in InfoWorld's comparison. And discover what challenges Google faces in making Android the mobile king. ]
But is Google Apps delivering? InfoWorld decided to find out.
Google Apps pros: Cost and uptime
Resellers, customers, and analysts agree that the paid version of Google Apps delivers on its core promise of costing a third or less than a similar lineup of Microsoft products.
Because e-mail is a huge expense for large companies, it's no surprise that Gmail is a popular draw. Upgrading from Microsoft Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 is often a trigger to considering cloud-based e-mail because it forces many customers to also buy new 64-bit servers and operating systems. For such reasons, Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler says that cloud-based e-mail (whether from Google or a rival) is almost always cheaper for companies with fewer than 15,000 users.
Although its uptime isn't perfect (and its outages get big play), Google says it consistently meets its 99.9 percent uptime guarantee. It also quotes a Radicati Group study that found Gmail four times more reliable than Microsoft's Exchange messaging server when considering only unplanned outages, and ten times more reliable when taking into account planned downtime for maintenance.
Google Apps maybes: Data security
The fit to business is less clear when it comes to data security, especially for big corporations. Data security in the cloud is an issue "enterprises are going to have to reckon with," admits AlertSite's Godskind. A prime example: In moving to Google Apps, the city of Los Angeles insisted on penalties from Google if any of its data was compromised. Many other customers aren't worried, trusting that bigger (and presumably more tech-savvy) customers will hold Google's feet to the fire on security.
Google says it has many customers in highly regulated industries such as health care. It also says its proprietary encoding of data, its dispersal of data among physical and logical files, all help keep customer information safe. As for regulated data, Google punts: "We recommend [companies] follow their regulations, and we don't give specific advice on how to follow those," a spokesman says carefully.
Rivals hint that Google's storage architecture, in which different customers' data may sit on the same array, pose a security threat. The question of where data sits is also important for organizations that must comply with geography-specific regulations, such as those protecting customer data in the European Union. "We make sure we're matching the regulations customers need," says a Google spokesman, adding that administrators can control which enterprise data various users can see. Google also assures customers they own their data and will always have easy access to it, rather than using its custody of that data to lock a customer in the Google cloud.
E-mail is another regulatory challenge, but Allen Falcon, CEO of Google Apps reseller Horizon Info Services, says the Google's Postini e-mail archiving and recovery service stores e-mail in the write-once, read-many format required by regulators, as well as provides the needed auditing capabilities. Google says it plans to extend the usage policies, rules, and parameters provided by Postini to the rest of its apps.
Google Apps cons: Tech support, limited capabilities, legacy integration
So what's not to like? The quality of technical support, headaches around data migration, annoying shortcomings in function and performance, and the pain of changing familiar computing habits.
"There's no one to really call if you're having a problem," says Greg Arnette, who as CTO of e-mail archiving vendor Sonian is both a Google Apps user and a competitor to Google's Postini service. While phone support is included in Google Apps Premier Edition, "They do everything they can to direct you to the online forums," he says. "You never reach a live person. Either they're totally overwhelmed, or they don't have a handle" on support needs.
Mauricio Freitas, a blogger at the tech publishing site Geekzone, abandoned Google Apps for Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite after it took Google 48 hours to contact him about problems with Google Sync for Mobile.
Google says it steers customers to its online support when it believes that will provide a faster and better answer. It also says the 24/7 phone support it offers in its paid version is aimed at administrators, and that it relies on resellers to provide phone support for users and to help companies with especially large or complex challenges using Google apps.
Then there are functional and performance issues. Ragy Thomas, CEO of Sprinklr, a Web marketing firm, is an enthusiastic user of Google apps such as Google Sites but admits its office productivity tools are "not for every company right now." The word processor and spreadsheet lack some features found in their Microsoft counterparts, and sometimes seem sluggish over the Web, he says. He's confident, though, that Google will solve these problems. (Google promises it will close the gap with Office in 2010.)
Another challenge is the integration between Google Apps and the legacy applications that are everywhere in large companies. Rajen Sheth, Google's senior product manager for Google Apps, says Google and its partners are "stepping up" to that challenge. Google, for example, has developed a SAML-based API for single sign-on and directory synchronization. He also cited Ltech, among others, for providing "a secure data connector ... between the Google datacenter and the customer's datacenter."
Google Apps: Nowhere to go but up?
Google's flood of new offerings help keep it in the news, serve as poster children for its vision of the computing future, and give it street cred, says AlertSite's Godskind. "I'm a big believer in 'ready, fire, aim.' It increases the pace of innovation."
But "ready, fire, aim" isn't an easy concept for larger enterprises to accept, notes Sprinklr's Thomas. That's why "the very largest companies, those with 100,000 employees, are not looking at a wholesale move," he says, instead using them in specific cases such as allowing employees to share documents with business partners. Still, Thomas insists the upper limit for Google's market "is a glass ceiling and it will be broken." He and other early adopters believe it's just a matter of time -- between the economy and the rise of cloud-enabled technologies -- until even the largest businesses bite the bullet, give up their antiquated PC-centric ways, and move to the cloud.
That's what Google is betting on.
This article, "Can Google really hack it in business?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments on Google, Google Apps, cloud computing, and business applications at InfoWorld.com.
By Robert L. Scheier on Mon, Nov 30th, 2009
London, UK, November 26th 2009 - We are pleased to launch SiSoftware Sandra 2010, the latest version of our award-winning utility, which includes remote analysis, benchmarking and diagnostic features for PCs, servers, mobile devices and networks.
At SiSoftware from version to version we focus four key areas of software development to make sure we give our users the best software experience. Quite simply our four drivers are:
1. Inclusion of new technologies that ensure our tools remain current.
2. Increased hardware and software support for existing modules.
3. Improving the user interface to make it a richer easier user experience.
4. Filling gaps in the product line in response to our customers' needs.
Looking at these in more detail:
1. It would have hardly been possible in the last few months to have not noticed the release of Windows 7. SiSoftware has been developing against both the betas and release candidate of Windows 7 to ensure compatibility even before the launch of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.
Over the last year, we have seen a huge growth in server consolidation and virtualisation: SiSoftware has responded to this by including support for not just one but five (5) different virtualisation technologies. These are:
* Windows Virtual PC 7 (Windows XP Mode)
* Microsoft Virtual Server 2005/R2
* Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008/R2
* VMware Server
* VMware WorkStation/Player
2. Since last year much new hardware has been released and the SiSoftware team continue to work on including support for new hardware as well as software in the latest version. There are always too many items, but to name a few:
* ATI GPUs: Radeon HD 5800, 5700 series
* AMD CPUs: Athlon Neo, Six (6)/Eight (8)/Twelve (12)-Core Opteron 4100, 6100 server
* Intel CPUs: Core i5/i7 desktop/mobile, Xeon Nehalem-EX server
* nVidia GPUs: GT215, GT216, GT218 series
* VIA CPUs: Nano 3000 series
* Hardware monitoring: Analog Devices (ADT), SMSC, Winbond/Nuovoton
Those running Windows 7 and Windows Vista will notice improved graphics and GPGPU support, including DirectX 11 Compute Shader/DirectCompute, OpenCL (GPU and CPU), as well as OpenGL graphics. In addition, Windows 7 users will also benefit from sensor information (GPS, temperature, brightness, voltage and fan), (multi)-touch, native support for SSD drives and SideShow devices.
With each release, we continue to add support and compatibility for the latest hardware, architectures and operating systems, and this is no exception. SiSoftware continues to work with hardware vendors to ensure the best support for new emerging hardware.
3. Sandra 2010 has been updated to use the new Windows 7 Windows User Experience (UX) guidelines, including Aero, for a richer, cleaner look and feel. However, all users will benefit from the improved usability and navigation in this version.
4. Responding to customers' needs to have a rapid portable version of Sandra (that does not need installing), we have expanded our offerings for Sandra Engineer Portable; it is now available on a branded USB (flash) drive, offering all the features of the previous CD based product, plus writable storage to save your valuable reports: you only need carry one thing in your pocket.
As well as adding support for virtualisation, the other change we have all noticed is the blurring between the home and workplace; as a result we have added three (3) new lifestyle modules, making seven (7) new modules in total:
New modules (7)
* Virtual Computers: detailed information about the guest VMs running on your host (Virtual PC 7, Virtual Server 2005, Hyper-V Server, VMware Server, VMware WorkStation/Player)
* Environment Sensors: detailed information about the GPS, RFID, accelerator, temperature, etc. sensors
* Pen and Touch: detailed information about the (multi)-touch and pen interfaces.
* Information Devices: detailed information about the SideShow devices.
* Scanners and Cameras: detailed information about the imaging devices.
* Media Players: detailed information about the video (e.g. MP4) and audtio (e.g. MP3) players.
* Portable devices: detailed information about the PDA, Smartphone or other portable devices.
Updated Modules (6)
* GPGPU Processing: Support for OpenCL (ATI, nVidia) for both GPUs and CPUs, DirectX 11 Compute Shader/DirectCompute.
* GPGPU Bandwidth: Support for OpenCL (ATI, nVidia) for both GPUs and CPUs, DirectX 11 Compute Shader/DirectCompute.
* Video Rendering: Support for DirectX 11/SM5.0 and OpenGL 2.0 and later.
* Video Memory: Support for DirectX 11/SM5.0 and OpenGL 2.0 and later.
* CPU Multi-Media Performance: Support for Intel AVX instruction set.
* Cryptographic Performance: Support for Intel AES instruction set.
Key features:
* 4 native architectures support (x86, x64/AMD64/EM64T, IA64/Itanium2, ARM).
* 5 native virtualisation technologies support (Virtual PC 7, Virtual Server 2005, Hyper-V Server, VMware Server, VMware WorkStation/Player)
* 5 native GPGPU platforms support (AMD OpenCL1, AMD CAL/STREAM, nVidia OpenCL1, nVidia CUDA, DirectX 11 Compute Shader/DirectCompute).
* 4 native Graphics platforms support (DirectX 9, DirectX 10/10.1, DirectX 11, OpenGL 2.0).
* Huge official hardware support through technology partners (Intel, AMD/ATI, SiS, VIA).
* 6 language versions (English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese) in a single installer.
* Enhanced Sandra Lite version (free for personal/educational use)
By SiSoftware Sandra on Fri, Nov 27th, 2009
The year 2009 will go down in IT history as a year of drastic budget cuts. But 2010 should see a software spending resurrection as companies in many countries increase their budgets and prepare for growth.
So says a Gartner survey that reveals organizations plan to increase their software budgets an average of 1.53 percent in 2010. Although North America will continue to see a slight spending decline, there is a clear growth opportunity in developing nations. Specifically, software budgets will rise 2.54 percent in Latin America and 4.34 percent in the Asia/Pacific.
"Software vendors should continue to build, fund and invest in software sales and marketing programs, even during tight market conditions to maintain customers and expand revenue opportunities," said Joanne Correia, managing vice president at Gartner. "A market downturn is a disrupter that creates great marketing and sales opportunities for organizations prepared to take advantage of the right products, marketing programs, and funding."
Solid Business Advice
With this growth in mind, Gartner is making several recommendations for software vendors heading into 2010. For starters, the research firm said, vendors need to differentiate their software products with key integration technologies and offer vertical market solutions to reach a diversified customer base.
Gartner said software vendors also need to work on strengthening relationships and building trust with IT departments and ultimately deliver results that truly enhance the client's business. Finally, the firm said, software vendors need to align go-to-market functions with the maturity of the demand. Gartner stressed that tactics in an emerging or high-growth software market are not appropriate in consolidating or maturing markets.
"Vendors need to use a consultative selling approach to understand and then address the most critical needs of IT and the business of their current and prospective clients," Correia said. "Software vendors also need to develop a stronger presence through partnerships or an extended sales force in emerging markets where higher budget increases are expected."
CFOs Looking to Invest
Gartner isn't the only organization prophesying a software spending rebound. A Robert Half Management Resources study of chief financial officers reveals companies will look to bolster their IT systems as the economy improves. In fact, 40 percent of CFOs cited IT as the place they are most likely to put their investment dollars when the market recovers.
"As companies emerge from the recession and become more profitable, they will begin to focus on shoring up critical business applications and technology infrastructure," said Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources.
"While finance executives may remain cautious about making bold new expenditures, they understand that updating their IT systems can help improve risk management, increase operational efficiency, and ensure regulatory compliance."
Software Spending Priorities
Mike Logan, president of Axis Technology, a provider of IT and data-security offerings used by the likes of Bank of America, Wachovia and Citigroup, said the spending rebound is indicative of a positive turn in the economy and it couldn't have come at a better time.
"The area where we are seeing a sharp increase in spending is security-related products," Logan said. "Not only have there been a lot of breaches over the last year that warrant companies making an investment in this area, there is also an unprecedented number of both federal and state data-privacy laws going into effect that carry hefty penalties."
Logan pointed to the newest U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations, the Federal Trade Commission's Red Flags Rules, and the Massachusetts' MGL 93H Data Privacy Law as examples of stricter requirements. Any company that does business with even one person based in Massachusetts will be held accountable for any data breaches, resulting in penalties of $5,000 per record exposed -- no matter whose fault it was.
"These new laws could easily bankrupt companies of all sizes in any industry, so companies would much prefer to make the software investment now rather than risk paying a fatal price later," he said.
Security isn't the only opportunity. Analysts said that although infrastructure spending -- telecom, networks, PCs and help desk, and their maintenance -- still accounts, on average, for 37 percent of the IT budget, savings in the infrastructure area are being used to fund "frontier applications" that drive innovation and provide a competitive edge.
"Frontier applications make major changes in business performance possible, such as leveraging the Internet for new delivery channels or using web-based technology to improve self-service capabilities," Correia said. "Such applications are becoming increasingly essential in today's competitive business environment."
The Return to Growth
The bottom line is that the IT industry is exiting its worst year ever as worldwide IT spending is on pace to decline 5.2 percent, according to Gartner estimates. But Gartner emphasizes that the IT industry will return to growth with 2010 IT spending forecast to total $3.3 trillion, a 3.3 percent increase from 2009.
Still, while IT spending will increase next year, Gartner cautioned IT leaders not to be overly optimistic.
"While the IT industry will return to growth in 2010, the market will not recover to 2008 revenue levels before 2012," said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research. "2010 is about balancing the focus on cost, risk and growth. For more than 50 percent of CIOs, the IT budget will be zero percent or less in growth terms. It will only slowly improve in 2011."
By Jennifer LeClaire, cio-today.com on Fri, Nov 27th, 2009
A computer worm that China warned Internet users against is an updated version of the Panda Burning Incense virus, which infected millions of PCs in the country three years ago, according to McAfee.
The original Panda worm, also known as Fujacks, caused widespread damage at a time when public knowledge about online security was low, and led to the country's first arrests for virus-writing in 2007. The new worm variant, one of many that have appeared since late 2006, adds a malicious component meant to make infection harder to detect, said Vu Nguyen, a McAfee Labs researcher.
"It has gotten more complex with the addition of a rootkit," said Nguyen. "It definitely makes it more challenging for users to clean up and even to know that their systems have been compromised."
A rootkit burrows into a system to try to hide the existence of malware.
The first Panda worm gained fame in China for switching the icons of infected files with an image of a panda holding three incense sticks. The same image would also flash across a victim's screen, but the worm's final goal was to install password-stealing Trojan horses. The worm infected millions of PCs, according to Chinese state media. Its author was ordered to write a removal tool for the worm and later sentenced to four years in prison.
China's national virus response center warned about the updated worm earlier this week, but it dubbed the virus Worm_Piloyd.B and did not link it to Panda. The center said it had found a worm spreading online that infected executables and html files. The worm blocked a victim's PC from restoring infected files, turned off active antivirus software and directed the machine to Web sites to download Trojan horses and other malware, the center said. The center urged Internet users to step up defense on their PCs against unknown viruses.
The new worm is unlikely to hit as many PCs as the first one. Chinese companies and Internet users are much more aware of malware than they were a few years ago, partly because of the wake-up call brought by the first Panda worm, said Nguyen.
As in other countries, cybercrime looks increasingly professional in China and labor is often divided along the production chain from virus design to the sale of stolen information. Chinese police are rushing to keep pace and cybercrime arrests have become more common in the country. Police in central Hubei province recently took six suspects into custody for building and selling viruses and attacking victims with a botnet, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said this week. The group made over 2 million yuan (US$290,000) in about six months from their activities, the report said.
Separately, a Shanghai court this week sentenced a man to six months in prison after his Internet company spent the equivalent of $17,500 to launch a denial-of-service attack on a rival's servers, according to local media. The man's company, iSpeak, paid for the use of a botnet to attack rival Duowan.com, reports said. A botnet is a network of malware-infected PCs that an attacker can order to repeatedly contact a target server all at once, overwhelming the machine with requests for information and essentially shutting it down.
China officially had 338 million Internet users at the end of June, more than the population of the U.S.
By Owen Fletcher, IDG News Service on Fri, Nov 27th, 2009
Microsoft just announced that its Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition office suite will cost just $99 from Friday 11/27 through Monday 11/30. That's $50 off the standard price.
That supersedes the current discount, which is $20 off for Home and Student Edition, $40 off of Business Edition Upgrade, and $50 off of the full Business Edition. That deal runs from now through January 5, 2010.
For more information, check out Microsoft's A Little Extra Gravy on Black Friday page, or just head over to www.mactopia.com beginning on Friday to place your order.
By By Jamie Lendino - PC Magazine on Thu, Nov 26th, 2009
TOKYO (Reuters) - Taiwan's Acer Inc, the world's No.2 PC maker, said Microsoft Corp's Windows 7 operating system launch last month has been positive for year-end PC sales, though the gains were within expectations.
Acer's CEO said it was keeping its quarterly revenue outlook and maintaining a 15 percent sales growth target for next year.
The market leader in low-cost netbooks, or stripped-down laptop PCs geared for Web surfing, has said it expected sales in October-December to stay flat from the previous quarter and rise 25 percent from the previous year.
"When we saw the features of Windows 7, we already knew that it would be good for demand," Gianfranco Lanci told reporters on Thursday. "We have no plans to revise."
No.3 PC maker Dell Inc said it saw a spike in sales thanks to the Windows 7 launch. Hewlett-Packard, the world's No.1 PC maker and largest supplier of technology products, raised its annual outlook as growth in China helped its quarterly sales.
Acer, which expects 50 percent growth in the global netbook market to 42 million units in 2010, reported a quarterly net profit of $108 million last month, up 14 percent from a year earlier.
It now hopes to become the No.3 PC maker in both Japan and in China by 2011, up from about what it sees as the fifth or sixth place in both markets.
By Reuters on Thu, Nov 26th, 2009