microsoftinside.com

Mapuche say no to Microsoft Mapuzugun

Kristian — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 09:46:08 +0000

Mapuche Indians have accused Microsoft of violating their cultural heritage by translating Windows into their language, Mapuzugun, without permission. The language is spoken by some 400,000 indigenous Chileans, some of whom have taken the software company to court for ‘intellectual piracy’. A judge in Santiago will decide in two weeks whether the Mapuche have a case.

Microsoft and Novell

Kristian — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:37:04 +0000

Analysts are running around like beheaded chickens trying to make sense of a world gone mad. Microsoft has agreed to collaborate with a company that has recently sued it for more than half a billion dollars and has outstanding antitrust lawsuits against it in process. Yet the collaboration strangely seems to make sense.

Novell is a software company from the Microsoft era which relatively recently took a gamble and sailed into the open source Linux space. The company still makes money from its Windows-based Netware and Groupwise businesses. However, it is very much a runner up to Red Hat in the Linux market.

MSN Messenger 8.1 Beta Released

Admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:55:32 +0000

MSN Messenger 8.1 beta released. The popular messenging client that allows text chats, video chats and PC to PC calls as well as PC to Phone calls at an inexpensive rate.

Windows Live Messenger features the following improvements:

Video Call
Windows Live Call with Verizon Web Calling service
Integration with Windows Live Messenger phones
Integration with Microsoft LifeCams
Shared Folders
Offline Instant Messaging
Windows Live Contacts
Integration with other Windows Live Services

New exploit can disable Windows XP Firewall

Admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:05:37 +0000

It seems that an odd exploit has been found by a company. The exploit can disable the Windows XP firewall by using malformed DNS packets.

In this day and age, it is quote rare to see people using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) since the cost of a wired router is quite cheap. This exploit can only be done on systems running ICS.

If you have ICS turned on for some reason and are not currently using it, it is suggested that you disable the service ASAP to prevent your system from being exploited.

New XBOX 360 incorporates new DRM “Features”

Admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:00:15 +0000

According to 2 Old 2 Play, the latest in the XBOX 360 update contains a special surprised unbeknownst to its users and that is DRM.

Here is a quote from 2 Old 2 Play story:

“A couple of members have notice a new addition to their 360’s since the update this morning. Media is now tagged with a “Does not expire” message. Obviously this could only mean one thing, DRM for downloads.”

As with any DRM in the past and present, there will always be a way to get around the DRM. It seems like Microsoft has stuck in this DRM technology to improve user experience maybe by offering freebies. Only time will tell of what the DRM will do to its XBOX fanbase.

Microsoft embraces PHP

Kristian — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:37:35 +0000

In a step to attract more users to its server product line Microsoft forges ties with Zend, the company responsible for the engine used by open source solution PHP.

Although PHP has worked with Microsoft IIS for quite some time, the performance has been volatile. PHP runs on more than 22 million Web sites and is used inside 15,000 companies, and the numbers are increasing, despite the launch of Microsoft’s ASP.NET and the focus on ease of deployment. In the long run, however, deployment costs are marginal as compared to the total project cost, when factoring in elements such as, exactly, performance.

In addition to performance there are three important factors that influences the total cost of ownership. Those are Interoperability, Security and Reliability.
( Get the facts - The real ones ).Ease of deployment, if not properly handled contradicts several of such factors.

PHP is often part of what constitutes as LAMP, Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP ( although the abbreviation sometimes will oscillate between PHP and Perl, PHP is increasingly used).

One of PHP’s primary advantages is its cross-platform support, and increased performance also on Microsoft based web servers is a good thing for the framework.

XBox 360 to sell 4 million units by the end of the Holiday season?

Admin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:20:38 +0000

Well it seems that Microsoft is aggressively pushing its limits when it comes to selling its XBox 360 console. It will try to sell 4 million units by the end of this year’s holiday season and try to put the crunch on Sony’s upcoming PS 3 holiday sales.

Microsoft will be selling these 4 million units to its distributors and resellers and the consumer numbers will vary. Microsoft is facing a tough holiday season this year that 2 competitors will be releasing their long-awaited consoles the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

As with any console race it will be quite an exciting one and Microsoft is fairly confident that it will have huge sales since they already have a product and services setup while the others are still in its infancy.

News Source: BetaNews

Top U.S. court intervenes in Microsoft patent dispute

Admin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:04:03 +0000

Microsoft is currently in court over distributing infringing a copyright that AT&T uses for speech-coding technology.
According to the Associated Press that is covering this case, it could further implicate other companies when it comes to copyright infringement of technologies that are copyrighted in the United States but when asking for liability from abroad it could create even high liabilities.

A quote from a law professor stated the following:

“Almost every patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft asks for damages for U.S. sales as well as foreign export sales,'’ Crouch said. Microsoft has acknowledged its liability for domestic sales. Microsoft lawyers claimed the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of AT&T “threatens to impose massive liability on U.S. software companies” and could prompt companies to move their research facilities out of the country.”

News Source: Toronto Star

Internet Explorer 7 is available

Admin — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:17:44 +0000

Internet Explorer 7 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx. It has a couple of new features:

Cut through the clutter.

Simple is good. A redesigned, streamlined interface gives you more of what you need and less of what you don’t. The new look maximizes the area of the screen that displays the webpage.

Do more by doing less.

Open multiple websites in one Internet Explorer window with tabbed browsing. See thumbnail images of all open tabs in a single view. Organize multiple tabs into a single tab group and save it as a favorite.

Print it right the first time.

Internet Explorer 7 automatically shrinks text for improved printing , so all webpage content fits on your final printed page. Print options also include adjustable margins, customizable page layouts, removable headers and footers, and changeable print space.

The Internet Explorer 7 Print Preview window showing multiple printing options

Get news delivered directly to you.

Tired of looking for the latest news and information on the web? Internet Explorer 7 can deliver the latest updates from your favorite sites to you. Subscribe to RSS feeds through Internet Explorer 7, and get instant access to personalized sports, news, and shopping feeds that keep you up to date on the latest information online.

Put safety first.

Robust new Internet Explorer 7 architecture and improved security features help protect you against malicious software, and help to keep your personal data safe from fraudulent websites and online phishing scams.

The Internet Explorer 7 Phishing Filter showing an alert about a suspicious website