01.16.09
Posted in Microsoft, Patents, Protocol at 4:52 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Obama votes for Microsoft XAML
OBAMA IS DOING IT AGAIN (using Silverlight). He did this before [1, 2] and he did not learn any lessons from the big backlash. Microsoft was accused by Adobe for paying to achieve this, but then again, we also know that Obama and Microsoft are not all that distant, so incentives may not be needed. In fact, Microsoft’s money is already polluting this game [1, 2].
Microsoft uses the choice to brag about some sort of presidential endorsement and here is some early coverage.
Microsoft announced today that the presidential inauguration team has chosen Microsoft’s Silverlight browser extension application to play host for streamed online content of inaugural events.
This presidential inauguration is partly funded by Microsoft, too [1, 2]. The more things “Change”, the more they stay the same. █
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Posted in Antitrust, Europe, Microsoft at 3:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Windows Vista, sans the browser, ActiveX
EARLIER TODAY WE wrote about anti-competitive aspects of Microsoft's Vista 7. Microsoft deliberately used Internet Explorer to make (parts of) the World Wide Web Windows-only. Korea and ActiveX are an excellent example and Silverlight is another. Because of this, Google has just decided to turn its back on Web standards (yes, again) and support ActiveX in Chrome, at least in Korea.
ActiveX control is widely used by Internet Explorer to load applications or components in Windows. It’s a useful piece of control, but is not without issues. In fact, ActiveX is known for security problems.
Despite security short-comings, ActiveX had been welcomed into the community and flourished. Surprisingly, more so in banks where security is a top priority. Believe it or not, ActiveX is so widely used that the South Korean government decides to make it compulsory for all banks to have it.
Other major browsers have resisted supporting ActiveX. Until now. Google Chrome has now decided to support ActiveX, but only in South Korea.
For those in Google who argue that it’s all Microsoft’s fault, well… some of Google’s own sites, including Google Mail (chat) and Google Maps/Earth require ActiveX and are therefore Windows-only. In order words, Google is helping Microsoft’s fight against commodity (Web standard) and it’s doing it selfishly for self gain. Opera, on the other hand, insists very strongly on Web standards and Mozilla goes as far as supporting Ogg out of the box.
In summary, shame on Google.
This is not the major news though. The following press release reveals that the European Commission objects to Internet Explorer in Windows. Well, what took them so long?
“Yesterday Microsoft received a Statement of Objections from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission. The Statement of Objections expresses the Commission’s preliminary view that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows since 1996 has violated European competition law. According to the Statement of Objections, other browsers are foreclosed from competing because Windows includes Internet Explorer. The Statement of Objections states that the remedies put in place by the U.S. courts in 2002 following antitrust proceedings in Washington, D.C. do not make the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows lawful under European Union law.
This is already covered — albeit rather superficially — in:
This could get interesting, but it’s far too late to address this. Microsoft deliberately made a mockery of Web standards and harmed the Web, which it viewed as a non-differentiator that enabled Freedom. It needed some ‘proprietarising’. █
“In one piece of mail people were suggesting that Office had to work equally well with all browsers and that we shouldn’t force Office users to use our browser. This Is wrong and I wanted to correct this. [...] Another suggestion In this mail was that we can’t make our own unilateral extensions to HTML I was going to say this was wrong and correct this also.”
–Bill Gates [PDF]
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Posted in Asia, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 3:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
–Bill Gates
WE COVERED EDGI in a very timely fashion because the press release we append to the bottom has just been made public. It’s all about getting teachers and children “addicted” to Windows — to borrow Bill Gates’ words — and ensure that governments do not explore or adopt GNU/Linux. Previous coverage of this we already have in:
The news coverage has all the characteristics of EDGI, including MOUs and “Unlimited Potential”, which is essentially the public face of this Free software-hostile programme called EDGI. There is also lots of this in India at the moment, e.g.:
1. Rs 500 cr for computers in schools
The state government is inclined to go for free open source software (FOSS) for schools. “As of now, the government has decided to go for FOSS, which is available at almost no cost, but Microsoft too has offered to provide their operating system free of cost. It’s up to the Education department to decide on it,” Kumar added.
2. Microsoft to invest in Gujarat’s education sector
Global software giant Microsoft will invest in training teachers in Gujarat and enhance the use of IT in the education sector.
Microsoft India Pvt Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit this week.
Microsoft will surely try to portray these acts of dumping and anti-competitive violations as an act of charity, donations, or benevolence. Given what we’ve shown recently, it’s all about selfishness and about “Under NO Circumstances Lose Against Linux,” to quote Microsoft’s very top seniors. █
Microsoft Helps Schools Embrace 21st-Century Opportunities and Challenges
Friday, 16 January 2009
Microsoft extends reach of Partners in Learning Innovative Schools program to more than 72,000 schools across 100 nations.
LONDON — Microsoft Corp. today announced landmark expansions to its 10-year, nearly $500-million Partners in Learning program, including a massive increase in the scale of its Innovative Schools program, which enables schools worldwide to harness the power of technology to gear up for the educational challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
Microsoft kicked off the expanded Innovative Schools program in London today with a workshop for senior European education officials, the first in a series of workshops for global education leaders it will hold across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
The Innovative Schools program will apply and refine lessons learned from the two-year, 12-school Innovative Schools Pilot Program launched last year by Microsoft to study efforts to use technology to help drive change across diverse educational settings. The pilot study spans urban, suburban and rural schools — economically challenged and wealthy alike — ranging in size from 70 to 1,500 students across 12 nations. Microsoft announced the release today of a report and two white papers detailing the latest findings from the pilot project and outlining essential action steps schools can take to ensure that students receive the education they need to succeed in the 21st-century knowledge economy.
Today’s announcements build on Microsoft’s long-standing track record, as part of the Partners in Learning program, of working closely with international educational leaders to advance information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled school change that supports the emerging needs of 21st-century learning.
“Our three-year partnership with Microsoft provided us with new opportunities to have a positive impact on schools in the U.K. and abroad,” said Tim Tarrant, head of ICT at the U.K.’s Training and Development Agency (TDA). “Microsoft’s support for our jointly funded projects has been a tremendous asset, as has the ICT expertise it has contributed. Work between the TDA and Microsoft on Partners in Learning will continue as part of the memo of understanding signed with the Department for Children, Schools and Families in October 2008.”
The Innovative Schools program is a key component of the Partners in Learning program. With this investment, Microsoft is making a long-term commitment to working with governments, education officials, development organizations, teachers, students and parents globally to increase schools’ access to technology and improve its use in the classroom to empower teachers, enrich instruction and enhance learning outcomes for students. Partners in Learning is an integral part of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program, the company’s commitment to bringing the benefits of technology to people around the world.
Since its inception in 2003, Partners in Learning has positively impacted the lives of more than 121 million students and more than 5.5 million educators, and these numbers continue to grow. In March 2008, the company announced $235 million of additional support to the initiative to bring its total investment over 10 years to nearly $500 million.
“With Partners in Learning, we’re taking a realistic approach to education transformation that encompasses all of the key stakeholders and moves beyond abstract theory by putting innovative ideas into practice,” said Ralph Young, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft. “Through the Innovative Schools program, we’re implementing technology and tools in live education settings to identify what works and what doesn’t in an effort to help enhance learning outcomes around the world.”
Also today, Microsoft announced a partnership between the Microsoft Schools Technology Center Brussels and the Lumiar Institute, a groundbreaking educational nonprofit started by Brazilian industrialist and best-selling management thinker Ricardo Semler, and participant in the Innovative Schools Pilot Program. Lumiar seeks to apply Semler’s groundbreaking approach to management to the field of education to reinvent schooling. Under the research collaborative, Microsoft and Lumiar will work closely with educators, school leaders, government officials and private partners to identify the key skills and competencies students need in the 21st century and how schools can be transformed to support them.
“We’re delighted to be joining forces with Microsoft on this important pioneering initiative,” said Semler, president of Semco SA and author of the international business bestsellers “Maverick” and “The Seven-Day Weekend.” “Aligning education with the needs of the emerging global knowledge economy is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today. Microsoft brings invaluable vision, expertise, passion and entrepreneurial flair to the table in helping advance this objective.”
The Innovative Schools program will bring participating schools together through a global digital forum, enabling them to discuss innovation models, disseminate best practices, exchange smart ideas with their peers worldwide, support one other and access professional development resources. The digital network will be part of the next version of Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Network, which today connects more than 1.6 million teachers worldwide. It will be supplemented by a roster of global symposia and workshops that will spotlight individual school initiatives and tackle specific reform issues affecting individual schools.
In addition to the expansion of the program to 72,000 schools, Microsoft will select a group of 345 “developer schools” to work closely with the company, which includes 45 “mentor schools” that will help guide clusters of other innovative schools in their regions.
The Innovative Schools program seeks to foster improved global understanding of how schools can help students acquire the skills required for success in the global knowledge economy. To this end, Microsoft works with schools to examine how they can marshal technology to meet the educational imperatives of the 21st century and how technological innovation can underpin a comprehensive “whole school” approach to reform, spanning instruction, assessment, curricula, teacher training, school leadership and learning-space design.
“Participating schools benefit from Microsoft’s long-term commitment to education and exposure to insights captured from thousands of learning environments worldwide,” Young said. “It’s tremendous to see the bold, fresh thinking by local schools and, in turn, offer them the help and support of Microsoft and our partner network to design and deploy great technology that creates opportunities for their students, educators and communities.”
By design, the 12 schools taking part in the Innovative Schools Pilot Program constitute a representative cross-section of the diversity found in schools worldwide, which helps identify the universal challenges schools face plus those specific to particular countries. The ultimate goal is to generate viable, benchmarked and proven learning models for 21st-century education that can be cost-effectively replicated across entire school systems and easily adapted to local conditions, to underpin wide-scale education transformation.
The report being issued today will distill key insights gleaned from the first year of the Innovative Schools Pilot Program, including the following:
• The importance of strong school leadership and a collaborative professional teacher community as part of a common commitment to goal-setting and innovation
• The value of technology in support of innovative teaching practices, which involve students in higher-level thinking and regulating of their own learning
The separate white papers walk schools through the 6i process, a road map for envisioning, implementing and managing ICT-driven change, and the School Innovation Framework, which gives school leaders a guide to effecting educational change based on proven approaches, respectively.
In addition, this week Microsoft is hosting a two-day Innovative Schools Conference on Jan. 14–15 in London that will enable schools participating in the Innovative Schools Pilot Program to compare notes, evaluate their progress and hear from leading thinkers. The event will also feature an opportunity to view the state-of-the-art New Line Learning Academy in Maidstone, Kent, an example of the cutting-edge use of technology to enable new, more interactive and personalized forms of pedagogy. Microsoft served as a technology advisor to the academy under Partners in Learning.
“Technology allows us to rethink how we educate children by opening up possibilities that simply didn’t exist before,” said Chris Gerry, executive principal of New Line Learning, UK. “But to truly realize its potential, technology needs to be accompanied by a comprehensive vision for change. In working with Microsoft, we’ve been impressed with how the company understands the big picture and that technology by itself is not a panacea. It has brought to bear a refreshingly holistic approach to educational transformation, and we’ve valued its strategic counsel every step of the way.”
More Information
Additional background on the events occurring this week, including case studies, fact sheets, executive biographies and other materials supporting Microsoft’s goal of enabling access to high-quality educational experiences, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/EducationVPR/default.mspx.
About Unlimited Potential
Microsoft, through its Unlimited Potential vision, is committed to making technology more affordable, relevant and accessible for the 5 billion people around the world who do not yet enjoy its benefits. The company aims to do so by helping to transform education and foster a culture of innovation, and through these means enable better jobs and opportunities. By working with governments, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and industry partners, Microsoft hopes to reach its first major milestone — to reach the next 1 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology — by 2015.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.
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Posted in Microsoft, Quote, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 2:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“I am currently testing the Beta of Win7 in a closed VM environment. I am considering deleting it. It’s actually worse than Vista. Multiple program crashes, refusal to install any software, naff looks and many other complaints.”
–Moog
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Posted in America, Antitrust, Asia, Deception, FUD, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 2:02 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
THIS IS likely to be the last post in this series which explores Microsoft’s initiative against GNU/Linux in government and education. Previous parts include:
Today we cover Comes vs Microsoft Exhibit px08592 (September 2002) [PDF]. It is included as text in the Appendix, but here are key observations.
Studies of GNU/Linux penetration in different countries are presented, based on some surveys. There are charts to show this, but the B&W (greyscale) scans make them impossible to read.
Then there are many talking points against Linux and other competitors. This includes FUD like:
| Measurement (Linux + StarOffice) |
Result |
| Deployment Success |
2/3 IT Pros Could Not Complete Installation |
| Deployment Time |
Avg. 57% More Time to Deploy than Windows |
| Document Compatibility |
35.3% of Office Docs Opened in StarOffice Had Errors |
| Top 11 Office Tasks |
StarOffice Tasks Took 2.7 Times Longer |
eTesting Labs, AIR
- Myth: Linux costs 2X-3X less than Windows
- Reality: Windows costs ~30% less per year
This firm, eTesting Labs, seems to be doing work for Microsoft.
We will soon show more exhibits where Microsoft negotiates with Gartner and/or IDC for the sponsored, slanted TCO study referred to in this exhibit. It was secretly linked to a desktop Windows price break deal. This would not be the last such case because in another court case Gartner is shown negotiating Vista coverage with Microsoft. IDC does the same sorts of things and it’s a typical routine which involves Microsoft.
IDG and Gartner are quoted in page 9 of this exhibit:
“Sun has not yet provided a compelling vision for how StarOffice will integrate into the Enterprise” – Giga
“Some of the concerns with Linux – such as staffing costs, a lack of in-house Linux expertise, and the difficulty of managing this operating system – will continue to be significant barriers to desktop adoption.”
-IDC
“For widespread desktop use, Linux faces hurdles. A new, albeit intuitive, user interface many be among the least of these …. Distribution, support, availability of peripherals and application readiness is a greater challenge. As with all uses of Linux, business customers need to look at vendor direction and support issues when considering Linux.” – Gartner
“[Linux] backers have faliled to produce the vital elements of a viable desktop operating environment: a good user interface and a suite of applications that users want and that create files compatible with the applications of most other users to whom they are connected” – IDC
Sooner or later we shall shed some more light on IDC and Gartner, both of which are corruptible and influenced by Microsoft. They occasionally attack Free software, unsurprisingly.
Additional market data was put into this presentation and “The Linux Desktop Playbook” has a reference to EDGI, which starts on page 10.
Pages 12-13 contain concrete field examples, EDGI “wins” with amounts of money committed/spent in Mexico, Malaysia, Egypt, and Tunisia; Jordan pending at the time.
India is obliquely referred to on page 14. “BRIC” stands for “Brazil-Russia-India-China”.
From the “Linux Desktop Playbook”:
Its important to engage with the proper BDMs on a business level discussion and not get caught up with technical folks in a religious discussion.
We saw lots of this in the OOXML fiasco. Microsoft did not want to talk about technical things, so it sent non-technical people.
Then they use IDC and Gartner as ammunition, along with EDGI:
A Linux costs less Just because the software license cost is free, doesn’t mean the cost of using Linux Is less than Windows When you consider both direct costs (additional deployment, management, support costs) and indirect costs (end user down time, loss of productivity, etc ) Linux costs more than Windows!
- Show customers existing TCO and business value data for Windows XP. There is a lot of data showing good ROI when moving from Win98 to Win XP. A Gartner audited TCO study completed in the City of Vassa, Finland (home country of Linux Torvalds) showed that moving to Windows XP/Office XP would save 31% per PC, per years compared to Red Hat and Open Office. If the customer still pushes back on costs, move to next step
-TCO challenge. The Windows Client PMG is offering to the field to fund 20 Gartner audited Linux desktop TCO studies in FY03 (5 per region. We will send in someone from MSC to perform a detailed cost analysis of Linux vs Windows XP using a Gartner approved TCO methodology. Since we will use the customer’s own data — there can be no arguing the results. Gartner will audit each study to approve the specific results from each company. If the customer still pushes back . .
- EDGI. This program is for Education and Government customers who face significant budget constraints. It is designed to allow relief to the customers when purchasing Windows. More details coming
This ‘bought’ study from Garner was conducted in the home of “Linux Torvalds”, according to Microsoft.
Another common fallacy/FUD then appears, regarding access to source code:
-Linux touts open source as a key advantage. The reality is that most customers would never work directly with the source code and compile the system themselves – that would be like taking on the role of system integrator or OS vendor themselves.
That’s a lie because one needs only to rely on other programmers or even forking with shared resources. Microsoft mentioned visibility of its code in special circumstance, but that totally misses the point.
Slide 11 mentions CompHot and EDGI again. According to Microsoft , CompHot is the emergency address to fight “Linux infestations”.
- Linux desktop virtual team
- CompHot escalations weekly review
- EDGI request escalations
- Linux compete squad – billv
- International desktop OS tracker
“Linux compete squad,” it says…
Who is alias “billv”?
Here are details of what Microsoft did, as per slide 12. They target Linux migrations on just about anything, even points of sale and embedded.
Linux Desktop Field Escalations
36 Escalations, 18 Active, 14 De-escalated, 1 Loss, 3 Wins
- Linux and StarOffice – 5 Active, 1 Deescalated
- Active Telstra, Bank of Ireland, First Community Bank, Indiana Web Academy, Standard Bank (South Africa)
- Linux OS – 3 Active, 2 De-escalated
- Active. ABM Amro (Workstation), ETC (Columbian Telco) and SBC Communications
- Linux POS – 5 Active, 2 De-escalated
- ChevronTexaco, Arrefour, Hollywood Video, CSK Auto, Waitrose Supermarkets
- Linux Embedded – 3 Active, 8 De-escalated, 1 Loss, 1 Win
- Active: Accent/FireKing – security for Taco Bell and others – close to winning. Safeway – smart clients in shopping carts
- Loss. VOPAK – Linux embedded on PC option – up to biz units to select
- Win Royal Carribean Cruise Lines – IBM Linux on client and server
- EDGI – 1 Active, 2 Wins
- Active. Jordan. Wins. Egypt, Tunisia
- Mexico and Malaysia EDGI deals were not escalated via CompHot
- StarOffice on Windows – 1 Active
- Dept of Homeland Security – 170,000 seats, McNealy involved
- OS/2 Migration to Linux – 1 De-escalated
So EDGI was used against Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Mexico and Malaysia.
The next slide gives a detailed breakdown:
Reactive EDGI Results To Date
- Mexico- $2.5MM ¢committed, adding $25MM to MS
- Govt-financed PC purchase for home teacher use with Windows XP Home
- 250K PCs from Acer, iBM, and HP
- Govt was considering Linux and Win98 due to cost
- EDGI distributed $10/PC to be used for teacher training
- Additional purchase of $60/PC for Office, Encarta, and Encarta interactive
- Malaysia – $500K committed, waiting for govt decision
- EDGI used as delivery mechanism for previous exec commitments
- Funds used for rural schools, teacher training, non-bootable software
- Egypt – $355K committed, addl $500K to MS, $1 2M to MS over 2yrs
- EDGI used as delivery mechanism for previous exec committees
- Govt purchased 6250 PCs at full price, 4166 PCs w/ 100% Windows rebate
- Tunisia – $600K committed, addl $600K to MS
- Wave 2 of govt-financed purchases of 15K home PCs. Wave 1 was Windows-only, but wave 2 offer includes Linux PCs for $60 per PC less to the end user
- EDGI contributed $40/PC -$15 end user rebate. $20 sys builder joint mktg, and $5 end user mktg
- Jordan – Pending
- Ministry of education purchase of 8K PCs, considering Linux
- We are still working through operational logistics
According to this, they even use government funds to stick Windows into the homes of teachers. Later on we hear about students who complain about their non-Windows laptops. It’s inbred. Student are pushed into it whilst teachers impose it. █
Appendix: Comes vs. Microsoft – exhibit px08592, as text
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Mail, Microsoft, Security, UNIX, Vista, Windows at 6:38 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Two security researchers have developed a new technique that essentially bypasses all of the memory protection safeguards in the Windows Vista operating system…”
–Dennis Fisher, August 7th, 2008
Peter Kraus and David Gerard drew attention to the following interview with an author of adaware a few days ago. It explains in simple terms why Windows is inherently lacking in terms of security as it accommodates intrusion, despite all the denialist spinning [1, 2, 3]. Here is just a portion of this interview:
Eventually, instead of writing individual executables every time a worm came out, I would just write some Scheme code, put that up on the server, and then immediately all sorts of things would go dark. It amounted to a distributed code war on a 4-10 million-node network.
S: In your professional opinion, how can people avoid adware?
M: Um, run UNIX.
S: [ laughs]
M: We did actually get the ad client working under Wine on Linux.
S: That seems like a bit of a stretch!
M: That was a pretty limited market, I’d say.
Patching
Earlier in the week we found reports of new holes in Windows.
As previously announced, Microsoft has released a security update for Windows to close a total of three holes in the SMB protocol implementation. All three holes are based on buffer overflows. Two of them can apparently be exploited to inject and execute code remotely, without previous authentication. The third buffer overflow reportedly only causes the computer to reboot.
This is a lot more serious than Microsoft wants people to realise.
Microsoft Patch Tuesday bug is scary
THE FIRST Patch Tuesday fix of 2009 put out by Microsoft addresses a dangerous security vulnerability in its Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, or so say some insecurity experts
Botnets
“It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows operating systems, are used throughout the United States Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United States in Afghanistan and elsewhere.”
–Jim Allchin, Microsoft
The pace of infection is very high and one worm alone is claimed to have seized millions of Windows-run computers in just one day.
The computer worm that exploits a months-old Windows bug has infected more than a million PCs in the past 24 hours, a security company said today.
One worm alone is spreading like wildfire.
Report: 2.5 million PCs infected with Conficker worm
According to F-Secure, there are already almost 2.5 million PCs infected with the Conficker worm, also known as Downadup. Since the worm has the ability to download new versions of itself, it is expected that the infection could spread much further. The new code is downloaded from domain names generated with a complex algorithm, making it hard to predict what domains will be used to spread the worms updates.
About 300 million PCs are still primed to become zombies too because of this one flaw.
With nearly a third of all Windows systems still vulnerable, it’s no surprise that the “Downadup” worm has been able to score such a success, Kandek said. “These slow [corporate] patch cycles are simply not acceptable,” he said. “They lead directly to these high infection rates.”
In general, it is estimated that 98% of Windows PCs are ripe for hijacking [1, 2].
Attacks
Is there room for some humour in all this?
Here’s a new way to get Microsoft to pay attention to you: Slip a brief message into the malicious Trojan horse program you just wrote.
That’s what an unnamed Russian hacker did recently with a variation of Win32/Zlob, a Trojan program victims are being tricked into installing on their computers.
The message is surprisingly cordial, given that Microsoft’s security researchers spend their days trying to put people like Zlob’s author out of business. “Just want to say ‘Hello’ from Russia. You are really good guys. It was a surprise for me that Microsoft can respond on threats so fast,” the hacker wrote, adding, “Happy New Year, guys, and good luck!”
E-mail
Many people remember Windows for submarines — a fiasco that reportedly led to the departure of many angry engineers. Well, not more than a month passes by and the Royal Navy, which runs Windows, gets stung by a virus infection that causes harm. Interestingly enough, the report from The Register mentions only lost E-mail as the severe consequence, but surely there is considerably more.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed today that it has suffered virus infections which have shut down “a small number” of MoD systems, most notably including admin networks aboard Royal Navy warships.
The Navy computers infected are the NavyStar (N*) system, based on a server cabinet and cable-networked PCs on each warship and used for purposes such as storekeeping, email and similar support functions. N* ship nets connect to wider networks by shore connection when vessels are in harbour and using satcomms when at sea.
It is no surprise that the United States military gradually moves to Red Hat Linux. Crucial operations were getting stung by Windows, even in the recent past.
Along with a rise of botnets, whose masters exploit vulnerabilities in Windows, comes a lot more SPAM as well. SPAM affects everyone.
The demise late last year of four of the world’s biggest spam botnets was good news for anyone with an email inbox, as spam levels were cut in half – almost overnight. But the vacuum has created opportunities for a new breed of bots, some of which could be much tougher to bring down, several security experts are warning.
This short report is based on just a few days. Nothing has improved — security-wise — in Microsoft’s product line. █
“Usually Microsoft doesn’t develop products, we buy products. It’s not a bad product, but bits and pieces are missing.”
–Arno Edelmann, Microsoft’s European business security product manager
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Posted in Microsoft, Review, Vista 7 at 5:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“If you flee the rules, you will be caught. And it will cost you dearly.”
–Neelie Kroes (about Microsoft), February 27th, 2008
Last year we foresaw a situation where Microsoft would use a new (rebranded) operating system to promote its own Web services and formats, thus abusing its monopoly. According to the following short report, this may already be actualising.
Now it is time for the Windows 7 Anti-Competitive in Nature part. I opened IE8Beta2 and it prompted me to choose either express settings or customizable settings….. which do you think I picked. I did not want to search with Live Search. I do not want to Define with Encarta. I never want to blog with Live Spaces. Most of all I just want to use Google Mail instead of Windows Live Mail. Not that I have anything against Live mail as I do have an account and it does look really nice as the designers have finally figured out what we the customer wants. 
I had decided to go to customize the preferences… Guess what! The Windows Live stuff is still recommened in every box that pops up afterward! it doesn’t want you to use google search. It doesn’t want you to use maps with google or yahoo. This started to just get plain Silly as all I could do was to keep myself from deleting the IE8 executable from the computer and not leave any marks on that nice computer.
As for the quality of Vista 7, reviewers are sometimes underwhelmed, but then again, it was expected all along.
I take the Windows 7 Beta plunge and find the waters a bit choppy.
This remains an exercise in marketing at Microsoft [1, 2] and marketing of this kind is best tackled by search for evidence [1, 2, 3]. █
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