Microsoft is really making it hard not to distrust them, aren't they? We already talked about Mono and Moonlight this weekend, and now we're notified of something else. Apparently, the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1, released earlier this year, installs a Firefox extension which could not be uninstalled easily (registry hacking was needed). To make matters worse, this extension came with a pretty big security hole (at least, that's what everyone says). A newer version of this extension has been pushed out in May, which can be uninstalled the proper way. As it turns out, Firefox apparently has a limitation in that extensions installed at the machine level (instead of the user level) cannot be uninstalled from within the extensions GUI.The situation was already discovered in February of this year, by Annoyences.org. The extension, called the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.0, is installed without asking the user for permission, and includes a fairly hefty security flaw also present in Internet Explorer. "This update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for websites to easily and quietly install software on your PC," Annoyances.org writes, "Since this design flaw is one of the reasons you may've originally choosen to abandon IE in favor of a safer browser like Firefox, you may wish to remove this extension with all due haste."
This extension enables support for ClickOnce for Firefox users, a feature that enables .NET applications to be installed with - you guessed it! - one click. I could not find any information on the security hole which would allow silent installs, so if anyone has any information on that, let us know.
Microsoft claims that this was an oft-requested feature, and as such, they wrote an extension for Firefox to support it. However, they made the extension install itself at "machine level" to enable support for all users, and this revealed a limitation in Firefox: extensions installed at that level cannot be uninstalled from within the extensions GUI. I guess Firefox does not have a privilege elevation GUI.
Microsoft has since updated the extension to work on a per-user basis via an update to the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.0, meaning the extension can now be uninstalled the normal way. If you still have the old version installed, and do not wish to update to the new version just to uninstall the extension, uninstall instructions are here.
It's great that Microsoft is supporting Firefox users, but it does seem like they still have some learning to do here. I don't believe there's anything malicious going on here, but it still would be better to at least ask for the user's permission, but preferably, to just put the extension on Mozilla's website.
"Many of us who tried out the Windows Phone 7 simulator were disappointed to discover the simulator didnât contain a lot of the functionality that was being shown off at Mix10. It turns out Dan Ardelean has published a modified or 'unlocked' version of the simulator that contains virtually everything that was displayed. The front page is now full of apps that work, the settings menu is a long list of options for those apps. Unfortunately the download of the .bin file has now been pulled, but I was lucky enough to get a copy. Check out the 10 minute video of Windows Phone 7 [plus another video]." It even has a nice task manager and file explorer - undoubtedly for testing purposes. It's Windows CE 6.0, after all.
"Palm Inc., creator of the Pre smartphone, fell the most in more than 15 months in Nasdaq trading after forecasting sales this quarter that were less than half of analysts' estimates. Revenue in the period ending in May will be less than USD 150 million, Chief Financial Officer Doug Jeffries said yesterday on Palm's third-quarter conference call, compared with the USD 300 million average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company also reported its 11th straight quarterly loss.""There has been much speculation over what OS 6.0 could possibly look like. We were recently hit with these images of what appear to be of a device running OS 6.0 with a similar screen resolution of a storm or storm2. These spy shot images come highly regarded as real from one our best connects. We're hoping to see it soon on a physical device and so until then take from it what you will."
"With chip makers continuing to increase the number of cores they include on each new generation of their processors, perhaps it's time to rethink the basic architecture of today's operating systems, suggested Dave Probert, a kernel architect within the Windows core operating systems division at Microsoft."
"The city of Amsterdam has been involved for several years in building Citynet, a partnership between the city and two private investors to wire 40000 Amsterdam buildings with fiber. And it's not just fiber, it's open access fiber - any ISP can sign up to use the infrastructure and deliver ultra-fast Internet access. In 2008, the European Union ruled that the city's involvement in the project was in fact legal, and that it was not improperly interfering in the market. We asked Herman Wagter, CEO of the company that built Citynet fiber project, to talk about how he got the job done, and to explain the challenges of rolling out fiber in a densely crowded European city." In case you're wondering: no, I don't live in Amsterdam. My small hick town has plans for fibre too, however.
"With the release of hundreds of pages of court documents in the legal dispute between Google and Viacom over the presence of copyright material on YouTube, Google has released a statement on the case. The statement was attributed to Zahavah Levine, YouTube chief counsel."Two days ago, Technologizer revealed a new Marevell android tablet. Today, Marvell published a press release with more details on specs and price; apparently the Moby tablet wil cost USD 99 and is targeting education. Here is
ARMdevices' take on this new Armada 600 powered tablet."We're announcing an update to Windows XP Mode today that will make it a more accessible to PCs in small and midsize businesses who want to migrate to Windows 7 Professional but have applications that still require Windows XP. Windows XP Mode will no longer require hardware virtualization technology to run. This change makes it extremely easy for businesses to use Windows XP Mode to address any application incompatibility roadblocks they might have in migrating to Windows 7."
"Being the developer of a Qt-based mobile solution is really really nice nowadays â" especially as Android support is well on its way. For all those of you new to the topic: the moment Qt has been ported, you can run your Qt-based applications on the operating system. Bogdan Vatra [is] the brain behind the Qt port - let's see what he has to say!"
"Google is working to bring Web software to televisions through a partnership with Intel, Sony and Logitech, according to two people involved in the discussions with the companies. The project, called Google TV, uses Intel chips, with Switzerland's Logitech developing a keyboard that operates as a remote control, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the matter isn't public."