27331606
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
WSJ's anonymous sources indicates that MS and Nokia casually considered to bid on Research in Motion Ltd (RIM). The talks outcome is not clear. The Journal suggests that this wasn't anything more than a simple idea that came up at one of the regular meetings between senior executives from all three companies — perhaps it could have even been just a casual talk—but one wonders how does Microsoft and Nokia executives think to profit on this take over. May be RIM provides a good backdoor entry for MS in the enterprise space for its Windows Phone 7. Recently, Amazon was also considering to bid on RIM. It is interesting to see who will gobble up RIM.
24800030
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is warning users to “stand up” for their freedom to install free software as Microsoft prepares its Secure Boot feature of Windows 8.
Previously Mathew Garrett a Redhat employee speculated about how OEMs can restrict linux installations. Microsoft cleared up the confusion. But now the FSF is organizing a petition-signing campaign over the use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) as a replacement for the conventional PC BIOS.
People like Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering at the University of Cambridge Computing Laboratory also writes in his blog about the increased lock-in if this succeedes.
24689444
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
Ballmer opened up the company's coffers to Nokia and Samsung for a holiday blitz of Mango marketing. Hold onto your hats though, it's no carte blanche access to Redmond's Gringotts. According to a report on Mobile Magazine, inside sources claim MS has set aside £28 million (about $44 million) for the endeavor, with about £20 million of that reserved for Nokia's first Windows Phone 7.5 handset. This joint marketing effort is reportedly a broader extension of the cooperative agreements all parties agreed to, ensuring future WP devices get the media saturation they deserve. Samsung is also due to unveil a major Christmas ad push for the Omnia W with an estimated £8m spend.
May be this is what Samsung gets for making a deal on Patents to cover Android OS? Not a bad deal for Samsung
24579838
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
In a move that’s sure to raise some eyebrows, Microsoft today debuted a new web site designed to raise awareness of security issues in web browsers.
When you visit the site, called Your Browser Matters, it allows you to see a score for the browser you’re using. Only IE, Chrome, or Firefox are included—other browsers are excluded. Not surprisingly, Microsoft’s latest release, Internet Explorer 9, gets a perfect 4 out of 4. Latest versions of Chrome or Firefox do not even come close to the score of 4.
Even though the web site makes it easy for users to upgrade to latest version of their choice of browser, Roger Capriotti hopes people to choose IE9 as it blocks more malware compared to Chrome or Firefox.
24153762
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
Redhat employee Matthew Garrett speculated that OEM machines that ship with copies of Windows 8 may lock out support for Linux installations. Garrett highlighted Microsoft’s new Secure Build OEM requirements for Windows 8 systems. Microsoft chose to directly respond to confusion surrounding its Windows 8 Secure Boot feature on Thursday.
Tony Mangefeste on Microsoft’s Ecosystem team revealed that Microsoft is working closely with its OEM partners to improve the security experience of Windows. “Microsoft supports OEMs having the flexibility to decide who manages security certificates and how to allow customers to import and manage those certificates, and manage secured boot,” says Mangefeste. ”We believe it is important to support this flexibility to the OEMs and to allow our customers to decide how they want to manage their systems.” Mangefeste believes the customer is ultimately in control of their PC. “Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves. We work with our OEM ecosystem to provide customers with this flexibility.”
24032854
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 and 10 browsers both pass the infamous Acid3 test thanks to changes by its authors. Google employee Ian Hickson and Opera employee Håkon Wium Lie both announced changes to the Acid3 test on Saturday. The changes will allow more browsers to pass the test and focus on allowing the specs to change according to what’s best for the web. ”As the Web matures, we have made a concerted effort to improve the precision of Web technology specifications,” said Hickson. More information on changes can be found at https://plus.google.com/107429617152575897589/posts/JdHnqpuUER4#107429617152575897589/posts/JdHnqpuUER4
23765706
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
The feature is a hybrid between start from cold boot and waking up from a hibernated state. This feature is called fast startup mode. More information on Buidling Windows 8 blog from Gabe Aul, director of program management in Windows. There is video as well on the blog which shows windows starting up in less than 10 seconds.
23157636
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
According to NSS Labs, IE 9 caught an exceptional 96% of live threats compared to other browsers. The story is also carried on ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/report-ie9-blocks-up-to-seven-times-more-socially-engineered-malware-than-other-browsers/14258.
Now slashdoters it is about time for you all to use IE 9
14833946
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
MS releases final IE9 preview and if the 8 week schedule is kept we can expect beta in September. With this release, IE 9 Preview gets 95 in Acid 3 tests and is surpassing Safari 5 in Webkit Sunspider microbenchmark. The latest preview version also integrates its Chakra Javascript engine natively inside the browser. Chrome and Opera are the only two browsers ahead of IE 9 preview in JavaScript Benchmarks. IE blog also recommends developers to send the same standards-based markup your site sends other browsers. Here is ZDNet version of the article.
13217704
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
The 5,500-year-old one-piece shoe antedates Stonehenge by a millennium and precedes every loafer, mukluk, wader, clog, bootee, stiletto, wingtip, mule, Oxford and cross trainer anyone has ever seen, according to Ron Pinhasi, a lecturer in prehistoric archaeology at University College Cork in Ireland. The right-footed, undecorated shoe — today it would be a size 5 — probably belonged to a woman, but we cannot be certain; it could be a man with small feet. More info can be cound here
10133012
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
An estimated 222 million records were exposed in 2009 in a wide range of data breaches. Many occurred in banking and government systems (systems which arguably do need to retain a significant amount of personal data), but more than half were disclosures by businesses, many of whom only retain private information because current technology gives them no choice. If convenience features like automatic "click once"-style payments are to be offered by these companies, they have to retain information about my name, address, credit cards, and so on.
The U-Prove system is designed to be a solution to this problem. It was put together by respected cryptography researcher Dr Stefan Brands. He created a company to develop and market U-Prove, Credentica, which was bought by Microsoft in March 2008. With U-Prove, identity information can be used securely, and private data can be safely shared to those parties that need it, without leaking more information than is required.
Here is the link to Microsoft's announcement
9549248
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
Business Week is reporting, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may give the world a sneak peek at Windows Mobile 7 next week during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Ballmer is scheduled to meet with reporters at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday to discuss Windows phones, according to a Microsoft statement.
Here is the link for Ballmer hosting Windows Phone Conference
8543818
submission
CSHARP123 writes:
Windows Mobile 7 may have been quietly pushed back to 2011, talks with partners may have revealed on Sunday. Representatives from Microsoft, as well as partners like HTC and NVIDIA, reportedly don't expect to see the new phone OS until Mobile World Congress next year. It's unknown what the alleged delay might be from the commonly accepted schedule, which would have Microsoft show the OS at this year's MWC and ship it before the end of 2010.
