Microsoft Archive

"Five years after Microsoft sparked a firestorm with new volume licensing and upgrade programs, customers are still struggling with the system many say is delivering less than promised. The programs have not adequately addressed the complexities of licensing, stemmed cost increases or provided a simplified upgrade path, customers say."

As part of its monthly patch cycle, Microsoft on Tuesday released fixes for six security holes in Office and one flaw in Windows. Five of the six vulnerabilities in Office are specific to Excel. The most serious flaws could allow an attacker to gain control over a vulnerable PC running the spreadsheet program, Microsoft said in Security Bulletin MS06-012. In all cases, the miscreant would have to persuade the user to open a malformed Excel file, the software maker said. The sixth problem affects a range of Office applications, including some versions of Word, Outlook & PowerPoint. Microsoft's second update deals with an operating system issue that affects Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003.

Samsung will enter the US computer market in April as the launch partner for Microsoft's new UltraMobile PC or 'Origami' platform. Launched this morning at the CeBit technology show in Hannover Germany, this smaller tablet PC fits between hand-held Portable Media Centers and more traditional tablet/notebook computers. Samsung's unit, scheduled to go on sale in April, is expected to cost under $1000 . There's a batch of photos of the devices too. In addition, the 3rd video on the Origami website is also up.

While Microsoft faces a host of challenges in maintaining its market share numbers and persuading customers to upgrade to its 2007 Office System suite of products when released in the second half of this year, its competitors face an equally daunting task of winning users away from Office 2007 and growing their numbers. Heading the list of challenges facing Microsoft is the fact that Office 2007 has a new user interface, which could require extensive staff retraining at a significant cost, as well as a new file format, which has the potential to create compatibility issues.

Microsoft doesn't believe hands are the only vehicle for driving computers. Feet are equally valid for scrolling and cataloging e-mail and photos, among other tasks, according to researchers working in Microsoft's main Redmond research lab. In fact, for those for whom hands are less of an option, as a result of disabilities or injuries, feet might be the optimal solution. Microsoft Research's StepUI, or Step User Interface, is custom-made for these individuals.

This whitepaper from a RIP vendor summarizes the technology behind Vista's XPS document format and its implementation as a print engine as compared to the current GDI in Windows XP. Will it suffer on non-Microsoft platforms, even if its specifications will be open, and how does it compare in methods and goals to Apple's PDF-based Quartz rendering engine?

"For the past few months, little noticed by the outside world, a team on Microsoft's campus has been running tests with one of the swankiest machines ever to use the company's software. Rather than sitting on a desk, this piece of hardware gets parked in a garage. It's a 2006 Alfa 159, and it represents a new step in Microsoft's effort to spread its technology beyond personal computers." My take: Any petrol-head knows that this is like a match made in heaven-- taking Alfa Romeo's notorious track record concerning reliability into account. Note that this is a joke, so easy on the flames, please. I happen to be a great fan of Alfa Romeo (which self-respecting petrol-head isn't).

With speculation flying about what 'fun new products' Apple plans to announce next week, from video iPods to DVR-enabled Mac minis, Microsoft has its own surprise up its sleeve. The web is abuzz with guesses as to what the Redmond company plans to unveil at origamiproject.com on March 2nd. The site, registered by Microsoft and 'discovered' early this week, provides few hints. A Flash animation pops up three questions: 'do you know what I can do? Or where I can go? Or how I can change your life?' It ends with the text, 'Learn more on 3.2.06'.

Microsoft on Feb. 16 is set to announce 34 Office suites, programs, servers, services and tools - 13 of which are new - that form part of its 2007 Microsoft Office family of products, previously knows as Office 12. Retail pricing for the comparable versions of the product has not been increased, remaining unchanged from the retail prices for Office 2003, John Cairns, senior director of licensing and pricing in Microsoft's Information Worker division, told eWEEK. More information at CNet.

"Ever wonder how virtualization works? Where is it used? What role could virtualization play in the future of Windows, for example? How will it evolve over time? We recently met with some of the Microsoft Virtualization people to find some answers to these questions and learn a whole lot about virtualization, hypervisor, and the future of this super cool and important technology."

Microsoft said it will send out seven security bulletins on Tuesday as part of its regular monthly patching cycle. Four of the alerts are for problems with the Windows operating system, and another covers both Windows and Microsoft Office. The last two relate to Office and Windows Media Player respectively.

"Microsoft may not make flawless software, but its proprietary strategy is hard to fault. In particular, Microsoft has mastered desktop lock-in, undermining users' confidence in any alternatives and creating a slew of minor difficulties that irritate those who do switch. Two themes dominate the stories I hear about the tribulations of using and adopting non-Microsoft business desktops: the difficulty in finding compatible hardware and the stranglehold Microsoft Word has on users. In the last week, IT pros have shared their experiences with these two adoption inhibitors. They're representative of other stories I've heard."

Chris Messina, of Flock. A devoted open minded guy, met with a few folks from Microsoft, had a dinner, chatted about DRM, Apple, Freedom, Technology, browsers, and just wrote a story about what was going on out there. Part One and Two.

Bill Gates has revealed that the US taxman cannot process his tax return on its standard computers. Speaking to a Microsoft conference in Lisbon, Bill said that his fortune was too large and pendulous for the tax office computers. Apparently they just run screaming when they see his bulky dossiers. The tax office have had to splash out on a special computer that can accomodate all those 00000000s without squealing like a pig.