Stores open for Microsoftees!

Apples got one so why not Microsoft? Ok, Apple sells the works - MacBooks, iPods, servers etc. But look at Microsoft - you can buy…the Zune! To be fair, Microsoft has a lot to offer but at what price? Massive discounts? We’re not sure yet but the Redmond giant has stated that they aim to open the store to existing partners who sell MS products through their own platform.

Microsoft believes the stores will deal with customers who want a high level of interaction before commiting to a purchase.

Products purchased through the MS store are currently only available for download but Microsoft is planning the delivery of packaged goods.

The stores are only operating in the UK and Germany but Microsoft plans to open more locations throughout 2008.

Enjoy. I’m off to write another article using Open Office.

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The word according to PC Tools.

Yes, you read it right. It looks like Vista is more susceptible to malware than it’s younger version, Windows 2000.  Not good news for Microsoft.

Using ThreatFire security service, PC Tools found that Vista lets through 639 threats per 1,000 compared to 586 for Windows 2000. Windows 2003 comes in even lower with 487 but XP does not fair well: 1,021 - I’m not sure how that works based on a figure of 1,000 analysed threats! Working on those figures, 64% of the Vista installation base is infected and 100% of XP - can’t be right, I’m clean (I think).

Microsoft bites back.

What else would you expect? According to a spokesman from MS, statistics from the Malicious Software Removal Tool show the figures to be far lower - but didn’t give any figures. MSRT ran on around 400 million Windows machines in November 2007 and, apparently, the figures returned do not show the same level of vulnerabilities found by PC Tools.

Just to be safe, I’m going to fire up my Ubuntu laptop.

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The writings on the wall.

If you’ve installed XP SP3 you’ll now know that you can’t roll back Internet Explorer 7. The only option you have is to downgrade IE 6 BEFORE you install your shiny new Servie Pack 3. The same will apply to IE 8 in future. According to Jane Maliouta, MS deployment manager for IE 8, Microsoft this feature is all part of the design: “When we install IE7 on Windows XP SP2, we back up the existing IE6 files in an uninstall directory,” Maliouta wrote. “Those IE6 files are the ones that shipped on XP SP2, plus all the security updates you’ve installed while using IE6. Windows XP SP3 contains a newer version of the IE6 files. If you have XP SP3 on your system and uninstall IE7, your system would revert to the backed-up (older) version of the IE6 files, rather than the newer XP SP3 version.”

Choices, choices.

All your preferences will be saved will is a small plus but I don’t like being forced to upgrade. I know IE 7 has been in the wild for sometime now but I like to test software and get some feedback from other user before I CHOOSE to upgrade. IE 6 is still on  my XP box because I simply didn’t like version 7. There you have it: if you don’t want to be stuck with IE 7, downgrade before you apply Service Pack 3.

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It’s here.

I’ve just downloaded the latest Windows XP service pack. So far, no problems (I haven’t rebooted yet!) so hats off to Microsoft so far. The issue with Dynamics RMS is still present and Microsoft are working hard to resolve this - if you’re using DRMS, don’t worry; Microsoft automatically detects your installation and does not stream the download to your server. The problem also affects Vista SP1 but, as per XP, this has been covered by Microsoft until the issue is fixed - later this month, according to MS sources.

Now go, download and enjoy!

P.S Let me know if you have any problems. I’m off to reboot. See you later…maybe.

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I was wrong!

I’m sure you’ve had one of those days when you’re sure you could never get it wrong. You know the answer way ahead of everyone else. How could you ever be wrong? If your views are ever proved wrong the fragile world you’ve crafted will crumble and fall.

Ok, it’s not that bad but I was sure that Microsoft would make a more aggressive move on Yahoo. Not so. Despite Redmond upping the bid to $47.5 billion (£24.1 billion) no breakthrough was made. The major stumbling block was that Yahoo were insisting on at least $53 billion - a price Microsoft shareholders were not prepared to pay. Microsofts withdrawal was announced by Steve Ballmer in a letter to the head of Yahoo, Jerry Yang.

What now?

This leaves Microsoft with one option - go it alone. The Redmond based company has made a number of search oriented acquisitions suggesting that Microsoft were prepared to take the hard route if all else failed. Ballmer and co. will need to start moving fast. The stakes are high. The Yahoo bid was part of a Microsofts plan to gain a greater share of online advertising - a market predicted to be worth $80 billion by 2010, double that of 2007.

What about Google?

A recent announcement suggests that Yahoo will use Google ads to generate revenue. This may have been a ploy to try and throw off Microsoft. Yahoo has seen a rise in the share of the search market and will work hard to continue this trend. Don’t expect them to give Google an easy rid. There you have it, I’ve put my hand up and admitted I was wrong. But the glittering prize, to the tune of $80 billion, is still up for grabs. Let’s see how it goes.

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Creation of a grotesque love child?

Do you have platforms running Windows and Novell Linux? You’re in for a treat - if you run SCOM 2007. Novell is working with Microsoft to produce a suite of tools that will allow you to manage SuSe from a Windows platform. The move is part of the joint effort to push both Novell and Microsoft products deeper into Enterprise territory.

Novell have also announced a major push to use Open Source providers to enhance it’s ZENworks management tools for Linux.

I know that many of you will be thinking that Novell is a possible acquisition target for Microsoft but I doubt this will happen. Why buy a company when you can just squeeze them out of the market?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Service Pack ate my hamster.

Oops! It would appear that the rigourous pre-release testing Microsoft applies to patching and update has failed…again (remember SP2?). Microsoft has said that, due to a ‘compatability issue’, the updates should not be applied to machines running MS Dynamics RMS (Retail Management System). DRMS is a Microsoft application designed to handle retail chain management for small to medium sized companies. The glitch has caused Redmond to delay the SP3 release through Windows Upate and Microsoft Download Center.

The issue is also seen in Vista Service Pack 1. Microsoft is planning to filter automatic deployment of both Service Packs to systems running DRMS until the issues is resolved.

Hmm, no comment!

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Annoying UAC beaten with a shovel!

A non-profit organisation, NeoSmart, claims to have bypassed Vista’s User Access Control. On Sunday they posted an article on their website which suggests that UAC has only been added as ‘annoyance-ware’ - I made that word up. Will it carry? To be fair, I think any of you that use Vista are already aware that this feature is pretty useless. In my opinion, the prompt that you receive should be more along the lines of: “Do want to run this software even though it might turn your machine into a useless lump of plastic and metal?”. Back to the article.

The system was designed to be broken!

Yes, you read that the subtitle right. Critics have said that, by bypassing UAC, NeoSmart are doing feature was doing as Microsoft intended - Yeah, let’s spend about $10 billion dollars on product with tightly integrated security features. The best part is that we want the security to be bypassed! It’s an odd world.curity”.

As you may know, UAC was designed to stop the installation or execution of dangerous code. I think most people will agree that it’s more of a hindrance. The constant requests for confirmation of trivial tasks make this a contender for ‘annoyance-ware of the year’ award.

Lowdown

NeoSmart have developed iReboot. This that helps users decide which OS they would like to reboot into. UAC caught the application at startup and  stopped it from running. Using some dark coding arts, the NeoSmart eggheads worked around this issue by splitting iReboot two. One of the parts, a background process, runs privileged access to the operating system. This does not require administrator approval at boot time. The second component runs as a client program and talks to the background service. This allows the code to run without invoking UAC.

There’s not much more I can say. Another hole or simply Microsoft having some fun to the tune of $10 billion. You work it out.

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There’s life in old dog yet.

Want to keep your install of Windows XP secure and patched? Good news. Microsoft have released the latest Service Pack for the venerable OS. Downloads are available direct from Microsoft now or you could just wait until later this summer when it will be pushed through Windows Automatic Update. One update that will be of interest to companies is the inclusion of Network Access Protection: a policy enforcement tool designed to ensure security policy compliance.

What about Vista?

What about it? It would appear that many companies are shunning Vista in anticipation of the Windows 7 release date. The sheer cost of hardware upgrades to support Microsofts latest OS are enough to put many consumers off upgrading. This Service Pack should give the business community an added sense of confidence around the retention of XP. Or, they could just deploy Ubuntu 8.04 once the SMB bug is fixed!

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Ready for the slippers and pipe?

On 30th June Windows XP will go to the great code breaker in the sky. There’s no disputing this figure. It’s a done deal. End game. Except for the manufacturers of ULCPC’s. Oh, and maybe for the masses if we all shout loud enough. So, no uncertainty there!

Leading from the back.

Why the change? Well, this has mainly been driven by business demand. Vista simply doesn’t cut it as far as many companies are concerned. The hardware demands alone have made made IT departments recommend skipping the purchase of Vista. Let’s face it, do you really want to spend huge sums of money on hardware upgrades when your system is ticking along just fine? Microsoft seems to get it, to a degree. Steve Ballmer stated: If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end of life for new XP shipments,”. Err, if feedback varies? Wake up! Dell shelved plans to ship Vista only computers due to…customer demand.

Slow train to tech Nirvana.

I’d say Microsoft have some serious thinking to do. Businesses are pushing back upgrade plans to allow themselves a glimpse of Windows 7. Steady growth of Ubuntu could also impact decision makers. The Linux OS now includes Likewise Open which allows integration into Active Directory which may have a significant bearing on its uptake.

But how should Microsoft approach this? I think they should take the XP code base and bring it up to date without the bloat and hardware requirements of Vista. Am I wrong? Maybe but the success of XP and the reaction of the business community would suggest that Redmond needs to sort out their game.

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