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 SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users that its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker. The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down in case of a malfunction. For example, if the company suddenly started seeing a rash of reports that Windows copies were pirated, it might want to shut down the program to make sure it wasn't delivering false results. "It's...

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. has developed technology for people to pay by the hour to use a computer in their own homes, much like how many consumers use a pre-paid card for cell phone usage. The technology, called FlexGo, will be used as part of efforts to sell computers to lower-income consumers in developing countries, where Microsoft is eager to find new money-making opportunities but is battling software piracy and other barriers. Redmond-based Microsoft, working with computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. and others, plans to launch a second trial of the FlexGo plan in Brazil beginning Monday. In the next...

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- For the past year or so, this is what I've been telling people in private. Now that there appears to be some sputtering by both the stock and by those who defend Microsoft I think it might be high time to explain my position. Let me preface by saying that Microsoft (MSFT : Microsoft Corporation News , chart, profile, more Last: 23.33-0.68-2.83%2:17pm 05/03/2006Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolioAnalyst Create alert InsiderDiscussFinancials Sponsored by: MSFT23.33, -0.68, -2.8% ) is not about to stop making gobs of money. It's just that there is virtually nothing interesting or exciting happening...

Naked PCs: Free software supporters are angry that Microsoft is putting pressure on PC vendors not to sell machines without an operating system installed Microsoft has urged UK PC vendors not to give customers the opportunity to buy a PC without a pre-installed operating system. Supplying base systems, or 'naked PCs', is a missed opportunity, according to Michala Alexander, Microsoft's head of anti-piracy. Writing in Microsoft's Partner Update magazine, which is distributed to computer dealers, Alexander estimated that 5 percent of computers sold in the UK in 2006 would not include an operating system. Alexander is keen to bring that...

A dangerous new exploit in Internet Explorer could put PCs and data at risk, Microsoft has admitted. The flaw, for which code has already been published on the internet, could be exploited to set an email-borne virus free on the unsuspecting public. Potential viruses could come as an attachment that conceals the code, or could possibly redirect users to a site that will unleash the code on the user's machine, leaving the computer open to remote attack. Once the PC is being controlled by a malicious user, it can then be used to launch attacks on other PCs. Even supposedly...

BARCELONA, Spain — Microsoft Corp. has won backing from major cellular networks for a new generation of phones designed to transform mobile e-mail from executive accessory to standard issue for the corporate rank-and-file. The partnerships, with operators including Vodafone and Cingular, to be announced today at a mobile industry gathering in Spain, could spell more trouble for the embattled BlackBerry and other niche e-mail technologies........ Unlike the BlackBerry and its peers, phones running Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile operating system can receive e-mail "pushed" directly from servers that handle a company's messaging — without the need for a separate mobile server...

REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft and its hardware partners will continue to develop new digital media devices aimed at challenging the dominance of Apple Computer's ubiquitous iPod music player, Chairman Bill Gates said on Friday. "I don't think what's out on the market today is the final answer," Gates said, speaking to a group of minority students. "Between us and our partners, you can expect some pretty hot products coming out over the next few years." The Microsoft founder praised Apple's iTunes music store and said the software giant was talking with hardware partners to create media devices that can be less expensive...

Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program is causing troubles for people who also use Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus software; apparently, a recent update to Microsoft's anti-spyware application flags Norton as a password-stealing program and prompts users to remove it. According to several different support threads over at Microsoft's user groups forum, the latest definitions file from Microsoft "(version 5805, 5807) detects Symantec Antivirus files as PWS.Bancos.A (Password Stealer)." When Microsoft Anti-Spyware users remove the flagged Norton file as prompted, Symantec's product gets corrupted and no longer protects the user's machine. The Norton user then has to go through the Windows registry and delete multiple...

Microsoft will omit anti-virus protection in Vista, the next version of Windows, which it plans to ship late this year. As with previous versions of Windows dating back to Windows 2000 at least, Redmond is promoting Vista as a landmark improvement in Windows security. Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's platform products and services division, told reseller magazineCRN that safety and security, improved user experience, and mobility features will be key additions in Vista. But there will be no anti-virus software, the Windows development supremo said during a questions and answers session with CRN. For unspecified business (not technical) reasons, Microsoft...

Tired of being an also-ran in the digital music arena, software giant Microsoft is reportedly considering offering its own device. Redmond won't confirm it is discussing a new device, telling publications like Business Week that no decision has been made. Microsoft did not respond for comment as of this writing. But the company ignited the discussion with its December shift of its digital media software division and the MSN Music service to the Entertainment & Devices division, which experts agree is the likely umbrella group to make a push against the iPod. Analysts believe such a product would likely will...

(CNET Networks Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)A Windows feature that automatically searches for Wi-Fi connections can be exploited by hackers, a security researcher has warned. The feature is part of Windows XP and 2000 and was exposed as being vulnerable at hacker conference ShmooCon on Saturday by vulnerability researcher Mark Loveless. Loveless claimed that hackers can take advantage of the feature to include a user's PC in a peer-to-peer network, giving them access to information on its hard drive. When a PC running Windows XP or Windows 2000 boots up, it will automatically try to connect to a wireless network. If...

This is a transcript from a show Steve Gibson did with Leo LaPorte. The link to the audio is at the above link. Also, I will excerpt a little of the relevant information here.Steve: And so, you know, because I'm a developer when I'm not being a hacker, I wanted to understand - oh, and the other thing is, I want to write a robust testing application, you know, that always works all the time. So I wanted to know, like, okay, what bytes have to be set which way, what matters, what doesn't. Because, you know, that's the way...

Men Face criminal charge for Xbox TamperingTue Dec 20, 2005 3:45 PM ET168 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with copyright infringement for selling modified Xbox consoles that enabled the original video game machine from Microsoft Corp. to play pirated games. The criminal complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday named ACME Game Store co-owners Jason Jones, 34, and Jonathan Bryant, 44, as well as Pei "Patrick" Cai, 32.

The European Commission has threatened to fine Microsoft up to 2m euros (£1.36m; $2.4m) a day until it gives rivals more access to its systems. Brussels said the software giant had failed to supply adequate information about its server programs. Microsoft has five weeks to provide improved documentation before the daily penalties are imposed. But the group pledged to contest the EU's "unjustified" demands by whatever means possible. 'Changing demands' "We will contest today's statement to the full extent permitted under EU law, including a full oral hearing on these issues," Microsoft legal chief Brad Smith said in a statement....

Microsoft Corp. has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper. The action came amid criticism by free-speech activists of foreign technology companies that help the communist government enforce censorship or silence dissent in order to be allowed into China's market. Microsoft's China-based Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request, said Brooke Richardson, group product manager with Microsoft's MSN online division at the company headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Though Beijing has supported Internet use for education and business, it fiercely polices...

Microsoft set out to adopt a formal and rigid support lifecycle in 2002, back at a time when most analysts were expecting to see Windows Vista (then, "Longhorn") within a couple of years. My own point of view was that this lifecycle business had a lot to do with Microsoft's then-new volume licensing scheme, which among other things is oriented towards selling software subscriptions. If you're buying a subscription for software, you can see how lifecycle plans become important. However, delays in Windows Vista coupled with a questionable approach to "consumer" products means that 2007 will carry a few surprises...

Microsoft has admitted to removing the blog of an outspoken Chinese journalist from its MSN Spaces site, citing its policy of adhering to local laws. The blog, written by Zhao Jing, also known as Michael Anti, was removed from MSN servers on Dec. 31, according to investigative journalist and former CNN reporter Rebecca Mackinnon. She claimed that the blog was actively removed by MSN staff rather than being blocked by Chinese authorities. A Microsoft representative told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that it blocked Anti's MSN Space blog to help ensure that the service complied with local laws in China. "MSN...

The BlackBerry service, based on the handheld e-mail device that has become a must-have tool for the business elite, could be shutdown in the United States after a bitter legal battle over a key patent. This week, NTP, a small firm that holds a crucial patent that allows e-mails to be sent to mobile devices, announced a licence agreement with Visto Corp - an arch-rival of Research In Motion. (RIM), the company that created the BlackBerry. The announcement could put further pressure on RIM to settle a patent claim from NTP which could be worth up to $1 billion (£565...

The Open Document Fellowship has been created to give the OASIS Open Document Format added momentum, as the war of words between Sun and Microsoft gets bitter The Open Document Fellowship was launched on Monday to add momentum to what appears to be a growing movement to support the open standard for the production, storage and dissemination of documents. The Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, was developed by standards body OASIS. Last month, it received its first major seal of approval when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts became the first public body to insist on the use of...

The commonwealth of Massachusetts has finalized its decision to standardize desktop applications on OpenDocument, a format not supported by Microsoft Office. The state on Wednesday posted the final version of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model, which mandates new document formats for office productivity applications. As it proposed late last month before a comment period, Massachusetts has decided to use only products that conform to the Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, which is developed by the standards body OASIS. State agencies in the executive branch are now supposed to migrate to OpenDocument-compliant applications by Jan. 1, 2007, a...

Microsoft promises world domination at PDC IntroductionLos Angeles (CA) - The way we build and use personal computers will change dramatically over the next 24 months, and if Microsoft has anything to do it, they will be a principal catalyst for these changes. Linux developers will regret admitting this, but the changes being made to Windows, announced at last week's Professional Developers' Conference, will dramatically impact the architecture and feature set of all personal computers, handhelds, and to some degree, even other consumer appliances.This change at the software level is important, because it impacts not only how we work, but...

If you've been wondering why Windows Vista has taken a long time to reach Beta 1, we can now tell you why: there are seven separate editions of Vista headed your way. OK, that's not the reason for the delay, but how else do you introduce that many OS versions, without invoking Snow White & friends? Join me know as I romp through the various editions, many of which you'll see are just barely differentiated. First up, there's Starter Edition, which like XP Starter Edition, is a crippled (and lame) product aimed at the two-thirds world. It will limit users...

Former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee has accused the software giant of incompetence in its plans to gain a business footing in China, and testified that an expletive-filled tirade from chairman Bill Gates was a low point before he defected to rival Google. In testimony during a hearing on Microsoft's lawsuit against Lee and Google, Lee said on Tuesday he wrote a memo to another Microsoft executive saying he was "deeply disappointed at our incompetence in China - that we have wasted so many years in China with little to show for it." Lee went on to say in the email...

Excerpt - Microsoft is on track to outsource more than 1,000 jobs a year to China, according to blistering evidence released yesterday in Microsoft's increasingly nasty spat with Google over an employee who jumped ship in July. In a revelation that highlights the complexity of China President Hu Jintao's visit to Seattle and Microsoft on Monday, legal filings detailed claims of how Microsoft had offended the Chinese government by not outsourcing as many jobs as promised to Chinese technology vendors. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer visited China in 2003 and promised to step up the pace, from $33 million worth of...

The next time you visit the Web site of Microsoft Corp. to download some software, be prepared to let the world’s biggest software company have a look inside your computer. In a determined strike to quell the proliferation of counterfeit software, Microsoft is now requiring that all customers coming to its Web site for upgrades and other downloads submit their computers to an electronic frisking. If you use one of the estimated 100 million PCs running pirated software, don’t expect your upgrade. For Microsoft, the new policy is a stepped-up effort to combat the loss of billions of dollars’ worth...

REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts Thursday that Microsoft is planning new, higher-priced versions of both Windows and Office in the coming years as part of its effort to grow sales. Ballmer said that the company will add both high-end desktop editions and new server options in the next versions of Windows and Office. Microsoft's chief executive made his comments at a company-sponsored financial analyst conference here. Ballmer noted that the existing premium Windows XP Professional version had added billions of dollars of extra revenue for Microsoft. "We have plans in the Vista generation to introduce an Enterprise edition,"...

Single line of JavaScript allows systems to simply ignore authentication check Hackers have found a way to circumvent a check in Windows that aimed to prevent users of pirated copies from accessing software updates. By pasting a special JavaScript command in the address bar of the browser, users can disable the Windows Genuine Advantage 1.0 check that Microsoft took live last week. The Microsoft technology uses an ActiveX tool to force the user to go through an authentication check before he is allowed to access certain download sections on the Microsoft.com website. The JavaScript command simply instructs the computer to...

   http://www.news.com/ Why Bill Gates wants 3,000 new patents By Randall Stross http://news.com.com/Why+Bill+Gates+wants+3%2C000+new+patents/2100-1008_3-5812318.html Story last modified Sun Jul 31 08:15:00 PDT 2005 <div><img><br><a><img></a></div> "EXCITING," "uninteresting" and "not exciting" don't seem like technical terms, but they show up a lot in United States patent application No. 20,050,160,457, titled "Annotating Programs for Automatic Summary Generation." It seems to be about baseball. The inventors have apparently come up with software that can detect the portions of a baseball broadcast that contain what they call "excited speech," as well as hits (what I call "excited ball") and automatically compile those portions into a...

Get ready to register with Microsoft if you want to update your Windows operating system. In a shift toward greater monitoring of personal computer systems and potentially less copying of software, Microsoft will require users to let the company place a software "key" on their systems if they want the free, regular system updates it provides. Privacy advocates are concerned, but Microsoft said the system is anonymous and won't be used for anything other than verifying the operating systems' authenticity. Called "Windows Genuine Advantage," the system is designed to limit the spread of copied software, a widespread practice that has...

Microsoft has stepped up its fight against software piracy by requiring users to verify their copies of the Windows operating system. Anyone downloading updates for Windows XP will be required to check that their operating system is genuine. Security updates are exempt from this in order to prevent people spreading viruses across the internet. A third of software worldwide is fake, according to industry group, the Business Software Alliance. Losing billions Microsoft said that more than a third of its software is counterfeit, which it says costs it billions of dollars of lost income. With Windows accounting for 90% of...

As software rivals, Microsoft wants to wipe Apple Computer off the map. With Microsoft's new Web service for satellite photographs, did the world's largest software company find a way to do exactly that? Internet sleuths discovered that anyone using Microsoft's new "Virtual Earth" Web site for a bird's-eye view of Apple's corporate headquarters saw only a grainy overhead photograph of what appears to be a single, nondescript warehouse and a deserted parking lot - not Apple's sprawling campus, with 11 modern buildings surrounding a plush courtyard. Microsoft blames an outdated photograph. But Apple's headquarters in Silicon Valley shows up more...

The founder of a Redmond, Wash.-based custom application and services provider is considering taking action to challenge Microsoft Corp. over the naming of the next version of the Windows operating system (OS). John Wall, chief executive officer of Vista Inc., said his company is “considering all of its options” for a potential case against Microsoft because of the company’s choice of the name “Windows Vista” for the previously code-named Longhorn version of the OS. Wall said the naming of Windows may violate a trademark his company has and potentially create confusion over the software and services Vista provides. Vista is...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. countersued Microsoft Corp. Thursday in a legal battle over a prized research engineer that illustrates the escalating tensions between the technology titans. The tussle began earlier this week after Google -- the maker of the Internet's most widely used search engine -- raided Microsoft's management ranks by hiring Kai Fu-Lee to open a new research and development office in China. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, promptly sued Google and Lee in Washington state court, alleging a noncompete agreement that the engineer signed in 2000 prevented him from defecting. Google retaliated...

IBM Corp. will receive $775 million in cash and $75 million in credit for software from Microsoft Corp. to settle claims that resulted from the federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft in the 1990s, the companies announced Friday. The payout is one of the largest that Microsoft has made since U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled in 2000 that Microsoft engaged in anticompetitive practices. Jackson's ruling cited IBM as a company that Microsoft had forced to "desist from certain technological innovations and business initiatives." For example, Microsoft didn't charge all computer makers the same amount for its Windows operating...

Tired of playing second fiddle in Web hosting, Microsoft is revamping its server software in an attempt to snatch market share away from the popular Apache-Linux combination. When the software giant releases Longhorn Server in 2007, it will introduce a re-architected edition of its Internet Information Services Web server, said Bob Muglia, senior vice president in charge of Windows Server development. The changes will make IIS more modular, which will speed up performance for Web applications, he said. "We're componentizing IIS so you can load just the pieces of the Web server that you really need," Muglia said. "In the...

Microsoft is readying a new consumer security product that offers virus and spyware protection, a new firewall and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs, a move that pits the software giant squarely against traditional security software vendors. The product, dubbed Windows OneCare, will be tested internally at Microsoft starting this week. A public test, or beta, version is scheduled to be available by year's end, Microsoft said in a statement this week. The final product will be offered as a subscription service, the Redmond, Washington, software maker says. OneCare marks Microsoft's long-anticipated entry into the antivirus space, until now the...

Groove Founder Ray Ozzie Will Join Microsoft as New CTO BEVERLY, Mass., March 10, 2005 - Microsoft Corp. announced today that it will acquire Groove Networks Inc., a leading provider of collaboration software for the "virtual office." The deal unites two top innovators of technology that help geographically distributed workgroups be as productive as those that work in a single physical location. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The addition of Groove products to the lineup of Microsoft® Office System products, servers and services builds on the capabilities of Microsoft's current collaboration products, allowing Microsoft to better meet...

As some of you may know, Microsoft is planning to totally restrict access to the Microsoft download center to all non-genuine windows users. So you would expect some check for pirated copies of windows to be involved. If you visit the download center with IE you get an activex control, but if you try with Firefox, you'll have to download a little program, that returns a code you have to copy into the download page, to get access to the download you selected. By quickly looking at the program, I noticed it looks for a registry key, this key is......

Microsoft is closing a loophole that enabled unscrupulous resellers to use Windows XP product keys that were stolen from large OEMs. The result: customers who purchase Windows on a new PC will not be able to activate, nor reinstall their operating system without first calling Microsoft.

The party's over. In the past year, the little browser that could, Firefox, became the people's hero, an underdog warrior that took a huge swipe at its enemy, Internet Explorer. IE dipped below 90 percent market share for the first time in years, while Firefox lured users like the Pied Piper, blowing past its own fundraising goals and reigniting the browser wars. Meanwhile, the bad news continued to mount for Microsoft. An IE exploit put even Windows XP SP2 users at risk from phishing schemes, even as Microsoft touted SP2 as the most secure version of Windows yet. Worse, major...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it would buy anti-virus software maker Sybari Software Inc. in a direct challenge to Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc., which currently dominate that market. If Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, bundles anti-virus features into its Windows operating system, security software makers could feel the pressure, analysts said. "Microsoft's acquisition of Sybari will get them into the (business) anti-virus market specializing in e-mail protection, a negative for Symantec and McAfee," said Sterling Auty, an analyst with JP Morgan. McAfee shares were down 8.55 percent, or $2.24 to $23.72 in afternoon trade on...

Aiming to crack down on counterfeit software, Microsoft plans later this year to require customers to verify that their copy of Windows is genuine before downloading security patches and other add-ons to the operating system. Since last fall the company has been testing a tool that can check whether a particular version of Windows is legitimate, but until now the checks have been voluntary. Starting Feb. 7, the verification will be mandatory for many downloads for people in three countries: China, Norway and the Czech Republic. In those countries, people whose copies are found not to be legitimate can get...

Full text of a letter from Microsoft, in response to coverage of companies moving from IE to Firefox and other alternative browsers. InformationWeek Editor's note: the following is the full text of Microsoft's response to an InformationWeek.com poll and related story regarding Internet Explorer, and whether companies are switching to the Mozilla browser. It came from Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft's public-relations agency. You mentioned that many or the respondents in the self-selecting survey recommended against IE and that many people have said Microsoft needs to address security issues more fully. Regarding the recommendation, we're aware that some people have recommended against...

Tuesday, January 04, 2005 Microsoft Readies 'A1' Security Subscription Service By Mary Jo Foley Microsoft's anti-virus/anti-spyware strategy is taking shape. Sources say Redmond's prepping a fee-based bundle, which could go beta soon. Publicly, Microsoft continues to be cagey about packaging and pricing plans for its anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions. But privately, Microsoft has begun informing partners of its plans for a security subscription service code-named "A1," according to developers who requested anonymity. Microsoft bought anti-virus vendor GeCAD in the summer of 2003, and anti-spyware maker Giant Company Software last month. As to how it plans to deliver these technologies, Microsoft...

WASHINGTON - Microsoft Corp., whose popular Windows software is a frequent target for Internet viruses, is offering a free security program to remove the most dangerous infections from computers. The program, with monthly updates, is a step toward plans by Microsoft to sell full-blown antivirus software later this year. Microsoft said Thursday that consumers can download the new security program from the company's Web site — www.microsoft.com — and that updated versions will be offered automatically and free each month. It will be available starting Tuesday. Also, Microsoft offered Thursday a free program to remove "spyware," a category of irritating...

Microsoft is showing off its Smarter Retailing initiative this week at the National Retail Federation (NRF) convention in New York. Several Microsoft partners are announcing products based on, or supporting, Windows Embedded for Point of Service, a specialized version of XP Embedded aimed at the retail and hospitality industries .................. Hewlett-Packard -- will offer Windows Embedded for POS on its rp5000 POS device, a PC-like device with additional functionality to support POS requirements. ............. Microsoft claims that Windows Embedded for POS will be the first retail-optimized software platform to provide plug-and-play functionality to enable retail peripherals to be easily installed...

Just 6 easy steps, and we come full circle on the indemnification story: 1. First, we had SCO announcing it was suing IBM and threatening Linux users for contributory copyright infringement. 2. Then the chorus broke out in song about how Linux has no indemnification. 3. Then we found out from BayStar's lips that Microsoft inspired them to invest in SCO, an investment that made all the lawsuits financially possible. Thanks for nothing, BayStar. 4. Meanwhile, the Linux world began setting up indemnification and legal funds for Linux users and developers.5. SCO sued everybody else. Terror ensued, sorta, briefly. 6....

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. Chief Operating Officer Steve Ballmer on Thursday warned Asian governments that they could face intellectual rights-infringement lawsuits for using rival open-source operating platforms such as Linux. Linux is open-code software that is freely available on the Internet and easily modified by users. Its growing popularity with companies and governments around the world, and particularly in Asia, is a threat to the global dominance of Microsoft's proprietary Windows platform. Ballmer, speaking in Singapore at Microsoft's Asian Government Leaders Forum, said that Linux violated more than 228 patents. He did not provide any detail on the alleged...

The update for Windows XP makes a long list of programs appear to stop working, including Microsoft's own SQL and Visual Studio .Net Microsoft has published the details of more than 40 programs that have conflicts with the newly released Windows XP SP2. The list includes several widely used Microsoft products including SQL, Visual Studio .Net, and SMS 2003 Server. The list can be found under the heading "Some programs that seem to stop working when you install Windows XP Service Pack 2" on Microsoft's website. XP SP2 has also created problems with Symantec's Antivirus Corporate Edition 8.0, MacAfee's...

If you're one of about 200 million people using older versions of Windows and you want the latest security enhancements to Internet Explorer, get your credit card ready. Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2. The upgrade to XP from any previous Windows versions is $99 when ordered from Microsoft. Starting from scratch, the operating system costs $199. What's new: People using older versions of Windows can't get an important security update to the Internet Explorer...