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Windows

Submission + - Microsoft's Vista-capable debacle spills over Acer (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by N!NJA
N!NJA writes: With a lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco, California, two residents of Fostoria, Ohio seek damages and relief from the world's third-largest computer maker after purchasing a sub-$600 Aspire notebook that included Windows Vista Premium and a gigabyte of shared system and graphics memory.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft opposes cloud computing interoperability 1

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Microsoft is opposing an industry plan, the Open Cloud Manifesto, to promote cloud computing interoperability. Officially Microsoft says the plan is unnecessarily secretive and that cloud computing is in too an early stage of development, but there are allegations that Microsoft feels threatened by the plan because it could boost Linux-based systems. The goal of the group behind the manifesto, the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF), is to minimise the barriers between different technologies used in cloud computing. And this is where the problem seems to lie, with the group stating that "whenever possible the CCIF will emphasise the use of open, patent-free and/or vendor-neutral technical solutions." Some speculate that Microsoft is actually worried that this will allow open source systems, such as Linux, to flourish, at the expense of Microsoft technology.
Windows

Submission + - Windows 7 Touchscreen Details Emerging

Submitted by nandemoari
nandemoari writes: Microsoft has revealed more about Windows 7 and its support for touch screen technology. The system sounds impressive, however, reports suggest it appears to have a high error rate. In an early version of the system, Microsoft found some problems. For example, both the zoom and rotate functions worked less than 75% of the time, often because the computer confused the two. To rectify this, engineers redesigned the system so that it only looks out for gestures specifically relevant to the program being used. This made a significant improvement: the zoom gesture was now recognized 90% of the time. The problem is that even a 90% success rate may be too low. If you can imagine how frustrating it would be if one in ten keystrokes or mouse movements didn't do what you were intended, you can see why touch screen technology will need to be even more reliable if it's to truly improve the user experience.

Comment Windows is a menace. (Score -1) 3

by Erris (#27356421) Attached to: Rogue SharePoint sites pose security menace

Setting up a Windows "server" is a security problem but not much more of one than an office full of Windows desktops. How many stories do people have to read about M$ specific viruses and worms before they recognize a complete security failure?

If you are Gartner and your business depends on people using Windows, you might overlook such problems and other parts of reality. The ease of setting up GNU/Linux has been a big problem for M$ for the better part of a decade. Why bother with a Windows or Sharepoint install when you can have Apache from an auto configuring, zero cost CD in about 15 minutes?

NASA

Submission + - M$ Makes Deal with NASA to Publish Images. (crn.com) 2

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "from the oh-no-its-the-Olympics-and-silverlight-all-over-again-dept

Is this another case of Google envy or a coup for Silverlight? M$ has entered a deal with NASA to publish the Microsoft Worldwide Telescope.

Under the Microsoft-NASA deal, the two are developing the technology and infrastructure needed to make NASA content available through Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope site. NASA Ames is also developing a suite of planetary data processing tools to convert historic and current space imagery data into a variety of formats to make them easily accessible by the public.

Color me sceptical but I don't associate easy access with the company that has fought off reasonable standards like PNG, CSS, ODF, Java, etc, only to push their only works on their latest OS tech. NASA, like every other big science group, is a big user of free software and Unix and the article mentions their close association with Google. How did M$ land this deal and what kind of exclusivity will they demand? Has anyone actually had trouble locating space images?"
Windows

Submission + - Cloud Computing on Linux Has Microsoft Blogging (daileymuse.com)

Submitted by
Mike Dailey
Mike Dailey writes: "The Cloud Manifesto, a collaborative document prepared jointly by Amazon, Google, IBM and others has apparently upset Microsoft. In a blog post entitled "Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability" and penned by the senior director of developer platform management for Microsoft, Steven Martin, Mr. Martin stated his position that the Cloud Manifesto and the process of creating it was biased to benefit its authors, and unfair to their competitors--such as Microsoft.

The Cloud Manifesto document appears to describe design principles and guidelines for system interoperability in cloud computing. In his blog post Mr. Martin states that the document was created without the direct involvement of Microsoft, stating "What we heard was that there was no desire to discuss, much less implement, enhancements to the document, despite the fact that we have learned through direct experience". He added that Microsoft considers standards and interoperability key to the long-term success of the industry.

I find it ironic that Microsoft would be so upset by the fact that other industry leaders joined together to discuss and design a future technology that, in all likelihood, will change the way we process data. It is ironic because Microsoft has been developing industry solutions in a silo for years. Is Microsoft upset because they were left out, because they are worried the world won't see Microsoft Windows as the platform for cloud initiatives, or because the world may have already figured out the best platform for cloud initiatives--Linux?

Many industry leaders are positioning Linux/Unix operating systems and Open Source technologies as the platform for cloud computing. IBM, Sun, Google, Amazon, and RedHat are all developing and supporting Linux-based cloud solutions. Microsoft is likely upset not because they were left out of the design discussions but because this important future technology is being focused on a platform that Microsoft once publicly stated to be irrelevant in the technology marketplace. It goes without saying that Microsoft is viewing a variant of Windows Server as the best platform for cloud computing, and the lack of an invite just may be an indication that large sectors of the industry do not share that view.

Martin added that Microsoft believes that principles and standards for interoperability in cloud computing systems need to be defined through a process that is open to public discussion and collaboration, and should not be a vendor-dominated process. When these discussions take place I hope Microsoft is open to the idea that many chairs at the discussion table will be filled by vendors and developers who believe Linux is the future of cloud computing. Based on the number of companies working on Linux-based cloud solutions Microsoft may need to bring more chairs. In fact, Microsoft may want to consider giving up their own chairs as there are signs that Microsoft isn't so concerned with cooperation, after all.

As Mr. Martin states in his blog post, "From the moment we kicked off our cloud computing effort, openness and interop stood at the forefront. As those who are using it will tell you, the Azure Services Platform is an open and flexible platform that is defined by web addressability, SOAP, XML, and REST." Click on the Azure Services link and the entire reason Mr. Martin is upset is centered in your browser window:

"Build new applications in the cloud — or use interoperable services that run on Microsoft infrastructure to extend and enhance your existing applications. You choose what's right for you."

Microsoft has already decided that cloud computing should operated on Microsoft platforms. The problem is that Linux may have just found a niche that Microsoft wasn't expecting, and if so, Mr. Martin's frustration bears evidence to their concern."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft cuts fees to Latvian government by 60%

Submitted by Janis Berzinsh
Janis Berzinsh writes: On Monday, Microsoft Latvia announced [ translation ] that it would reduce its fees to the Latvian government by 60% amid Latvia's worsening financial crisis. Coincidentally, this news came shortly after Friday's open letter [ translation ] from the Latvian Open Technologies Association (LATA) to the Latvian Government outlining how the government could immediately save nearly five million Lats by switching some software applications to open source competitors and millions more in the long term. Preempted debate aside, this precedent raises one simple question: Does your government qualify for Microsoft relief?
Internet Explorer

Submission + - IE8 Not Ready for SaaS, Hosted Services (twentyonetwelve.biz)

Submitted by
dasButcher
dasButcher writes: "Among Internet Explorer 8's many shortcomings is that it's not ready for hosted services, managed services or software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. As eWeek discovered (http://tinyurl.com/cvs6re), hosted and SaaS providers are encountering a number of configuration and presentation issues in Microsoft's new browser. The simplest recommendation: Don't upgrade. http://tinyurl.com/cvs6re"
Internet Explorer

Submission + - Disappointed IE8 Users Revert to IE7

Submitted by nandemoari
nandemoari writes: It was reported that as much as 2.61% of all web surfers were using IE8 just three days after the release date. While some assume that these numbers would have doubled or tripled by now, the figures have barely improved. This shows that a number of people decided to give the new browser a try, disliked it for some reason, and abandoned it altogether in a matter of hours. Microsoft has since been flooded with complaints regarding difficulties experienced when printing from web sites, search malfunctions, image problems, load times and the fact that the new browser takes up 4 gigabytes of disk space. While some people went back to using IE7, others decided to experiment with other web browsers on the market. This was the very thing Microsoft was hoping to discourage in the first place.
Space

Colbert Wins Space Station Name Contest 471

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the unintended-consequences dept.
As we speculated a couple of weeks back, it has come to pass. Reader mknewman writes to tell us that comedian Stephen Colbert has won the vote to have his name immortalized (or at least until it crashes) as the moniker on NASA's newest addition to the International Space Station. We can but wonder what NASA will do now. "NASA's mistake was allowing write-ins. Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, 'The Colbert Report' to write in his name. And they complied, with 230,539 votes. That clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast by the time the contest ended Friday."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - The Big Takeover (rollingstone.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Rolling Stone posted a fairly in-depth article on the recent US government bailouts. It provides a history of what lead up to the economic collapse and how it is being used to prop up selected groups using highly secretive lending procedures from the Feds. RTFA, its lengthy but well worth it. Here is an excerpt: "Liddy made AIG sound like an orphan begging in a soup line, hungry and sick from being left out in someone else's financial weather. He conveniently forgot to mention that AIG had spent more than a decade systematically scheming to evade U.S. and international regulators, or that one of the causes of its "pneumonia" was making colossal, world-sinking $500 billion bets with money it didn't have, in a toxic and completely unregulated derivatives market."
Security

Submission + - Pwn2Own 2009: IE8, Firefox, Safari Exploited 1

Submitted by growing PAINS
growing PAINS writes: ZDNet's Zero Day blog is reporting that Charlie Miller exploited a zero-day flaw in Apple's Safari browser to take control of a MacBook at this year's CanSecWest Pwn2Own contest. Miller performed the attack in a matter of seconds in a repeat of last year's contest win. Later in the day, a hacker named "Nils" exploited Microsoft's IE 8 running on Windows 7 to claim a new Sony Vaio machine. Nils also exploited Firefox and Safari for the trifecta.

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