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Microsoft

Microsoft Responds to DOT Ban on Vista, Office, IE 218

Posted by samzenpus from the words-words-words dept.
roscoetoon writes "From the blog of Mary Jo Foley: What's Microsoft's response to the DOT's charges? A corporate spokeswoman sent this statement, via e-mail: (caution: microbrain double-speak ahead) ... "We respect the customer's decision. As with any of our other Federal customers, it's our job to help DOT maximize the value of its Enterprise Agreement through the adoption of our technology. We are engaged with large, strategic customers across government at every level, and are working closely with them on these products through their participation in our Technical Adoption Programs.""
Censorship

Submission + - Free speech challenged at law student forum

Submitted by
The Xoxo Reader
The Xoxo Reader writes: "The Washington Post has a front-page article about AutoAdmit (a.k.a Xoxohth), a message board for law students and lawyers that has been criticized for allowing users to post racist and sexist attacks under the cover of anonymity. The article (and the message board itself) raises important questions about whether freedom of speech can go too far, even if anonymity and loose moderation can otherwise promote useful discussion about the legal community."
Microsoft

Submission + - The Deal Steve Jobs Couldn't Refuse

Submitted by
Government Drone
Government Drone writes: "Remember the 1997 deal in which Microsoft bought $150 million in non-voting Apple stock? According to this story in InformationWeek, it wasn't done all out of the goodness of Bill Gates' heart:

Weeks prior to bailing out a struggling Apple Computer by purchasing $150 million of its stock, Microsoft officials threatened to cut development of a key product for the Macintosh in order to coerce its rival to make the deal, according to an e-mail unearthed during a recent court hearing.

The original text of the E-mail is here, which mentions a threat to pull the plug on Office for Mac, but argues against it for a variety of reasons. An interesting backend view of what was happening in Apple's darkest days."
Data Storage

Submission + - Samsung Begins Shipping Hybrid Hard Drives

Submitted by
writertype
writertype writes: "Samsung has become the first company begin shipping hybrid hard drives, we report on ExtremeTech. Unfortunately, there's no word yet (besides "soon") on when retail shipments will begin, or when (or if) 3.5-inch models will be available. Note that these are different than the ReadyBoost USB flash drives optimized for Vista; hybrid drives contain a smaller amount of flash, and work as a write cache for your notebook drive, extending battery life."
Privacy

Submission + - Military recruiters have access to student records

Submitted by
piersonr
piersonr writes: "Under No Child Left Behind, high schools are required to turn over lists of student contact information to the Department of Defense, which adds this information to an extensive database of children. The Department of Defense claims to need the names, addresses, and phone numbers of high school students for recruiting purposes, because it enables recruiters to contact children directly in their homes and at school, which is often done without the knowledge or consent of their parents. Yesterday, Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda introduced legislation to restrict recruiter's access to just those students who have "opted-in" to the list."
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Apple says iTunes bugs remain on Vista

Submitted by pointbeing
pointbeing writes: According to MSNBC an update to Apple Inc.'s iTunes music software still hasn't resolved some of the compatibility problems with Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system.

The iTunes program is key to synching music on computers with iPod portable players, and the latest version, iTunes 7.1, comes a month after the iPod and Macintosh computer maker warned PC users against installing Windows Vista until Apple could fix the problems.

Apple removed that outright warning from its Web site on Monday and stated instead that the updated iTunes is recommended for use with most editions of Windows Vista. But Apple also conceded that some glitches, including possible corruption of a user's iPod player upon ejection from a PC, remain. Story continues below advertisement

"Apple is actively working with Microsoft to resolve a few remaining known issues," the posting stated.

Apple representatives declined further comment and would not say how much longer users would have to wait for iTunes to be completely Vista-friendly.

According to the notice posted on Apple's Web site, the previous glitch that prevented Vista users from playing music or video purchased from the online iTunes Store is no longer an issue.

But in addition to the iPod-ejection problem, Apple warned that iTunes 7.1 may still exhibit difficulties synchronizing Windows contacts with an iPod. The text and graphics of iTunes running on a Vista machine also may not be correctly displayed, though resizing the iTunes screen should correct the issue.

Apple also reminded users that iTunes remains unsupported on 64-bit editions of either Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Microsoft has said it is working with a long list of partners, including Apple, to make sure their software is compatible with Vista. The new operating system launched Jan. 30.

Though Microsoft and Apple are partners in some cases — iTunes works with Windows PCs and Microsoft Office has a version for Macs — the two are also longtime rivals. They compete in computer systems, which Microsoft dominates, and in the digital music arena, which Apple dominates.
Patents

Submission + - What the GPLv3 Means for MS-Novell Agreement

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "I read a dry but interesting interview with a lawyer (Antoinette Tease) on the effects the GPLv3 would have on the well known Microsoft & Novell alliance. From her answers: "Unlike prior versions of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which did not address patent rights, the current draft of the GPL version 3 has several provisions that address patent rights. Section 2 states that the license to use the open source code 'terminates if you bring suit against anyone for patent infringement of any of your essential patent claims' based on any version of the open source program." She goes on to say "the GPLv3 as currently drafted would impose an obligation on Novell to somehow 'shield' its customers from patent lawsuits brought by Microsoft, or, alternatively, to make the source code publicly available...""
Communications

Submission + - SC considers wireless net as public service

Submitted by
jeffery_donahue
jeffery_donahue writes: "According to The Lancaster News, the legislature of South Carolina is considering offering municipal wireless internet throughout the state. "The state House recently passed a resolution creating the S.C. Wireless Technology and Communications Commission, which will study the feasibility of creating a statewide wireless broadband network using existing ETV towers." Also among the topics of debate is the matter of a virtual classroom."
Security

Submission + - Microsoft OneCare Can Eat Your Email

Submitted by
writertype
writertype writes: "Neil Rubenking has posted a report on PC Magazine's AppScout blog, warning that Microsoft's dodgy OneCare antivirus software will quarantine your entire email store if it detects a virus. And, of course, since OneCare finished dead last in a recent A/V roundup, the problem is even more serious. As the reputation of OneCare disintegrates, it looks like Microsoft has some work to do in developing OneCare 2.0 before the company brings it to market."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Verizon Fails 3rd Grade Math - Over and Over

Submitted by
stdio9
stdio9 writes: "One man's struggle to re-educate Verizon employees about 3rd grade mathematics fails, with recorded audio. Hey Verizon: If the customer service manager is making $100k a year, you have a great opportunity here. Rather than paying $0.01335 a second, try paying 0.01335 cents a second. Imagine the cost savings you will turn over for all the phone reps that don't understand the difference. (Assumes a 2080 work hour year, with paid vacation and holidays.)"
Operating Systems

Submission + - New DST to cost $350 million?

Submitted by
ktappe
ktappe writes: "An analyst at Forrester Research estimates the daylight saving time (DST) switch coming this Sunday will cost the average company $50,000 in time and labor expenses — a conservative figure that doesn't take into account missed airline flights or forgotten appointments. That's a total of $350 million for the 7,000 publicly traded companies in the U.S. Is this another case of an analyst pulling numbers out of the air, or will we really be paying a high price for earlier DST?"
Media

Submission + - Who needs iTunes? Indie-friendly video stores

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Adams Media Research predicts that by 2011, the online video market will be worth $5.8 billion, and bucking today's trend, the majority of that revenue will be generated through selling downloads not ad-supported content. It's perhaps no surprise then, to see a number of paid-for download services pop up over the last 18 months — with Apple's iTunes being the market leader. However, in the eyes of many of these stores, not all producers are created equal. For example, if you're an independent and you want to get your work into iTunes, you're out of luck. The same goes for Google Video's paid-for download option. As ZDNet reports, a number of indie-friendly paid-for download services have stepped up to fill the void.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Submitted by
Andru Edwards
Andru Edwards writes: "Bluetooth SIG just announced the new spec for Bluetooth, that being Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. Gear Live has a video demo with Mike Foley, Executive Director of Bluetooth SIG, where he shows off all the new Bluetooth 2.1 features. Take a look at what is improved in the new spec, like the ultra-cool near field communication technology, and five times better battery life."

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