Microsoft has revealed plans to release a third service pack for its flagship Windows XP operating system.
"There will be a Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP," Bernard Ourghanlian, technical and security director at Microsoft France, confirmed, revealing that Microsoft's OS is set for another major evolution.
Windows XP's Service Pack 2, which came out in September 2004, has already deeply modified the operating system by updating its security.
Windows XP SP3 will be available in the course of next year, a priori after the launch of Windows Vista, which "is the priority for the development teams", according to Microsoft France.
Microsoft has yet to reveal any details about the contents of the service pack. Laurent Delaporte, assistant MD at Microsoft France said: "Historically, certain functions of new versions of Windows are integrated in the service packs of previous versions."
It's therefore likely that some of the less significant features of Vista will make an appearance in Windows XP SP3.
Recently Microsoft released a white paper on how to configure and use Windows System Resource Manager to manage Clusters. For those of you not familiar with WSRM, it’s a free product that comes with Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or DataCenter – both of which you can run a cluster on today. Here are a few features of WSRM:
Set CPU and memory allocation policies on applications. This includes selecting processes to be managed, and setting resource usage targets or limits.
Manage CPU utilization (percent CPU in use).
Limit the process working set size (physical resident pages in use).
Manage committed memory (pagefile usage).
Apply policies to users or groups on a Terminal Services application server.
Apply policies on a date/time schedule.
Generate, store, view, and export resource utilization accounting records for management, service level agreement (SLA) tracking, and charge-back purposes.
Basically you ensure with WSRM that your clustered application gets the resources it needs and so does your base OS. This way Exchange or SQL gets everything it can without impacting normal operations. The article correctly states that WSRM is not cluster-aware. It will monitor individual computers in a cluster I would follow the best practice of configuring each clustered node with WSRM and identical resource allocation policies, process matching criteria, and other components of WSRM. Scripting the process is an excellent way to configure WSRM, as the articles title suggests.
Whitepaper: Using WSRM and Scripts to Manage Clusters
Russ Kaufmann writes: "SP1 for Exchange Server 2003 can be installed by an Exchange administrator for the administrative group where the Exchange server lives and a local administrator on the Exchange server. Things have changed, though, for SP2. Now, for SP2, the initial installation must be done by an Exchange Administrator at the organization level. The reason it has to be done at the organization level is because the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) is part of SP2 and it requires and Org level Admin to install it properly. After the first install is done, then Exchange Admins can perform the installations in their administrative groups."
Note 1: If IMF versions before 2.0 are installed, SP2 will require that they be removed before installing SP2.
Note 2: IMF will be installed on cluster nodes but will be disabled and will not function on cluster nodes as it is not supported in Exchange clustering.
Russ Kaufmann's Weblog
The Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Availability Reporting Management Pack collects and analyzes data from the event logs of your servers, and generates reports that you can study to improve server availability and reliability. You can identify the causes for planned and unplanned downtime and take preemptive actions to decrease downtime in the future.
Availability Reporting uses a number of metrics to provides data that you can view and customize to suit the needs of your IT organization. Each type of report includes tables or graphs with information about the availability and reliability of servers in your environment. You can input parameters, such as specific periods of time, to filter the data presented in the reports.
MOM 2005 Availability Reporting Management Pack
This SMS Advanced Client.MSI has been released for the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Service Pack (SP) 1 Advanced Client. This software update adds support for the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates.
This MSI also includes individual SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client Windows Installer update packages (.msp). This MSI can be used to update existing SMS 2003 Advanced clients or can be deployed to install new SMS Advanced Client systems in an SMS 2003 SP1 environment. The individual Windows Installer package can be used to update existing SMS 2003 Advanced Clients.
Download SMS 2003 SP1 Updated Advanced Client
The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. The IPSec Policy Agent starts the ISAKMP/Oakley (IKE) protocol mechanism. The IPSec Policy Agent also starts the Internet Protocol security driver that is available for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and for Microsoft Windows XP. The IPSec Policy Agent includes a set of remote procedure call (RPC)-based interfaces. These interfaces are used by internal Windows components.
Microsoft has released a hotfix that corrects the behavior of the IPSec Policy Agent. After you apply this hotfix, a calling program can better provide its services.
Update for Windows Server 2003
Update for Windows Server 2003 64-bit Itanium Edition
Update for Windows Server x64 Edition
Update for Windows XP
Update for Windows XP x64 Edition
The Active Directory Migration Tool version 3 (ADMT v3) simplifies the process of restructuring your operating environment to meet the needs of your organization. You can use ADMT v3 to migrate users, groups, and computers from Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 domains to Active Directory® directory service domains; between Active Directory domains in different forests (interforest migration); and between Active Directory domains in the same forest (intraforest migration). ADMT v3 also performs security translation from Windows NT 4.0 domains to Active Directory domains and between Active Directory domains in different forests.
Download Active Directory Migration tool v3.0
Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2 contains significant security enhancements as well as stability and performance improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP2 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
This service pack also includes
Project Server 2003 Service Pack 1 previously released for Project Server 2003. Project Server 2003 SP2 will install even if Service Pack 1 has already been installed on your computer.
Project Server 2003 SP2 also includes stability improvements developed as a result of user input from the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis in Project Server 2003 and from Microsoft Product Support feedback.
You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article
(887621): Overview of the Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2.
Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 for SharePoint Services 2003. This service pack includes support for running SharePoint on a 64-bit system, support for SQL Server 2005, and ASP.NET 2.0.
The WSS SP 2 release has substantial supportability improvements including:
- Support for running on 64-bit machines in 32-bit emulation mode
- Support for Reverse Proxy and Alternate URL support
- Support for IP Bound virtual servers
- Support for off-box SSL termination
- Support for SQL Server 2005
- Support for ASP.NET 2.0
Download from SharePoint SP2
Ok, so some dude in Germany claims to have gotten their hands on a copy of iTunes for Windows Mobile 5.0. Let’s just get it right out of the way that we think this is fake. Or at least that we’re going to assume this is fake until we get some sort independent verification (email us the app already!). And you also have to wonder why exactly Apple would bother making a version of iTunes for Windows Mobile devices when they’ve been so reluctant to let even a single phone (the ROKR E1) run a mobile version of iTunes. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, but there are at least three possible explanations for what’s going on here:
- This is real, and Apple has some sort of amazing reason for doing this.
- The pics are fake and this is all an elaborate hoax.
- This isn’t an Apple product and was instead created by some sketchy developer decided to mimic the look and feel of iTunes.
The true test would be whether or not a Pocket PC with iTunes would be able to play FairPlay DRM protected AAC files, but conveniently enough the person hasn’t been able to sync with iTunes on a Mac or PC because they lack the necessary drivers.
Microsoft on Tuesday released a beta of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, which will include enhancements for storage management, collaboration and branch usage.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, previously known by the code-name "Storm," is the second generation of Microsoft's dedicated file server. The product is sold exclusively by OEMs as part of a complete hardware-software file server solution.
The product roadmap calls for a release to manufacturing by the end of 2005 with the rest of the Windows Server 2003 R2 editions. Allowing OEMs some time to build and test systems with the gold code, Microsoft does not plan a formal launch of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 until April.(
continue at source)
Microsoft Tuesday released the latest aggregated group of updates, Service Pack 2, for its Office 2003 suite. Included are significant security enhancements, in addition to stability and performance improvements.
Some of the fixes included with Office 2003 SP2 have been previously released as separate updates; the service pack combines them into one update.
The most noteworthy enhancement is the addition of a new Phishing Protection feature to Outlook 2003's Junk E-mail Filter. This feature will be turned on by default for users who have Office 2003 SP2 and the latest Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter Update.
Phishing is the luring of sensitive information through e-mail, such as passwords and other personal information, by an attacker masquerading as someone trustworthy.
Coming from Brian Madden:
A lot of information about the new features of Terminal Server in Longhorn has come out over the past few weeks. In this article, I’ve collected, organized, and commented on all the new stuff.
It’s important to note that the information in this article is all public information from Microsoft. (i.e. it’s “real.”) This is NOT rumor or speculation. Most of this information came from last week’s Microsoft Technet Terminal Server chat and the Channel 9 Terminal Server Product Group video.
(
continue at source)
Active Directory with Windows Server 2003 R2 includes Active Directory Federation Services.
Active Directory Federation Services, or ADFS for short, is the new Microsoft Web services technology that allows for companies to pursue Web based transactions with business partners (Business to Business or B2B) securely. When working with other companies you sometimes need to allows clients to access resources in your domain, or vice versa. Because of the nature of the Internet, resource sharing can always be nerve racking - there is more security that needs to be implemented and that technology is called WS-Federation. Most times, making Web transactions can be deemed insecure, and if you need to maintain identity information for outside business partners and customers, ADFS is for you. Integrated tightly with Active Directory, ADFS helps to keep Web transactions secure. (
continue at source)
Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Beta 1 and Windows Server™ "Longhorn" Beta 1 include a new implementation of the TCP/IP protocol suite known as the Next Generation TCP/IP stack.
The TCP/IP protocol stack provided with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 was originally designed in the early 1990s and was modified and enhanced over time to meet the needs of home and enterprise users.
The Next Generation TCP/IP stack in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" is a complete redesign of TCP/IP functionality for both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) that meets the connectivity and performance needs of today's varied networking environments and technologies.(
continue at source)
Microsoft and Intel are throwing their full weight behind one side in the long-running battle over the format for the next generation of high-definition DVD's.
Today, the two companies will announce that they are backing the HD-DVD format developed by Toshiba over the Blu-ray standard championed by Sony, Matsushita Electric, Samsung and others. Microsoft announced in June that it would work with Toshiba to develop high-definition DVD players. Now, Microsoft and Intel say they will develop software and chips that will allow personal computers to play the next-generation DVD's from Toshiba.
The companies said they had not ruled out incorporating Blu-ray technology in their operating systems and on their chips in the future. But they are convinced that as of now, the HD-DVD format discs can be produced more cheaply and more quickly than the Blu-ray discs, and are therefore likely to become the dominant technology.
For the last two years, Microsoft and Intel have been careful not to alienate either camp in the format battle because they sell software and components to companies on each side. They also hoped that the electronics makers and Hollywood studios developing the formats would reach a compromise.
But the major Hollywood studios are now split between the formats, and electronics companies on both sides plan to start selling next-generation DVD players as early as Christmas. Sony also plans to include Blu-ray technology in its new PlayStation 3 game console to be released next spring. (Continue at source, registration might be required)
Microsoft released serveral Service Packs today.
Here is a list:
Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate general availability of Microsoft® System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), the next step forward in the company’s Universal Distributed Storage strategy.
Bob Muglia (
interview), senior vice president of the Windows Server™ Division, will make the announcement during his keynote address at the Storage Decisions conference this evening at 6 p.m. Data Protection Manager promises to lower the total cost of ownership for backup and recovery while enabling entirely new customer scenarios around rapid and reliable recovery and near-continuous protection.(
continue at source)
Goto the System Center Data Protection Manager Website
Today Microsoft signed off on Team Foundation Beta 3! If you used beta 2, beta 3 is a vast improvement. Beta 3 should hopefully show up on MSDN in about two days. You may remember that beta 3 has the go-live license and will be supported for migration to the final release version 1, which means this is the last time you have to start from scratch. With beta 3, single-server installation is once again supported! I know many people didn't install the July CTP because of the lack of a single-server installation. With each public release, installation has gotten easier and more reliable, and this is the best installation thus far.
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server provides team collaboration tools that enable organizations to manage and track the progress and health of software projects. Team Explorer integrates the project work products found on the project site into the Visual Studio IDE for efficient team access. Team Foundation also provides extensible work item tracking and enterprise-class version control systems.
Visual Studio 2005 Team System
For companies that make public key encryption and smart cards part of their security strategy, Microsoft's acquisition of Alacris Inc., and the subsequent integration of this technology into Windows, could potentially cut time and expenses out of otherwise costly projects.
Microsoft acquired the identity and certificate management software vendor earlier this week for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition choice of Ottawa, Canada-based Alacris is logical given that Alacris' software is already tailored to work with Windows, experts said. Some of Alacris's competitors, such as Bell ID, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and U.K.-based Intercede Group PLC, are more focused on heterogeneous environments, said Trent Henry, a senior analyst at Burton Group, a Midvale, Utah, consulting company.
Alacris software helps streamline the management of smart cards and digital certificates, but the technology can also be used for secure VPN, IPsec and Web-based SSL certificates. (Continue at source).
One of the easiest ways for crackers to exploit holes in your system is through open services. And lately, viruses have been masquerading as services listed in the Task Manager, making them harder to detect, clean and prevent. When you audit and close unused services, in addition to security benefits, you receive performance enhancement because stagnant programs aren't taking up available resources. Besides, a full security audit of your service can reveal some interesting details about your machine.
Peruse the following list of best practices and consider implementing them.
- Give strong passwords to service accounts. When you install applications that require services to run, you are typically given the option to choose an account under which the service is to be run. Use 15+ character passwords, and remember that you must set these passwords both in Active Directory Users and Computers or Computer Management (depending on your operating environment) and in the Log-On tab of the service's property sheet.
- Never let users log on using service accounts. This particularly applies to the Administrator account -- never assign the Administrator account to a service, and never distribute any service account name and password to any users. There is absolutely no reason to do so, and if users can access systems in these contexts, they can wreak more havoc than you could imagine. Just don't do it.
- Do not allow network access to service accounts. For one, this means don't create domain accounts for services. Wherever possible, use a local account on the server where the service is located. Also, check the "Deny Access to this Computer from the Network" right within the service account's property sheet to eliminate network access for that account.
- Use accounts of least privilege for service accounts. Windows XP includes a great set of built-in accounts, collectively called the Network Service and Local Service. They are specifically designed to be used for services that require different amounts of network connectivity. Use these where possible to decrease the attack surface of services.
Windows XP comes with only two services that require open access to an external interface for normal operation: Terminal Services, or Remote Desktop Connection, and the Remote Access Service for answering dial-in calls.
(Continue at source).
"Google has released Firefox search toolbar (Version 1.0.20050923) after two months in beta. One interesting addition is Google Suggest, which guesses what you're typing and offers useful suggestions in real time."
Main features:
Google Suggest
Get query suggestions as you type in the search box
SpellCheck
Check your spelling whenever you type in web forms
AutoFill
Automatically fill out forms for faster online shopping
WordTranslator
Translate English words into other languages
Auto Link
Create a link to a map based on searched address
Download Google Toolbar for Firefox
There are two new downloads from Microsoft with publish dates of last week. The first is Internet Explorer 6 SP1, for systems that are not XP SP2. Not a lot of detail or documentation available on this yet. It shows a publish date of 21 Sept 2005.
Download Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1
The second is an update Security Fix for DirectX 8 on Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98 SE, and Windows 98. The KB article does not appear to have been updated, but the download has a publish date of 22 Sept 2005. The original advisory was MS03-030.
Download DirectX 8
Shared computers are commonly found in schools, libraries, Internet and gaming cafés, community centers, and other locations. Often, non-technical personnel are asked to manage shared computers in addition to their primary responsibilities.
Managing shared computers can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Without restrictions, users can change the desktop appearance, reconfigure system settings, and introduce spyware, viruses, and other harmful programs. Repairing damaged shared computers costs significant time and effort. User privacy is also an issue. Shared computers often use shared accounts that make Internet history, saved documents, and cached Web pages available to subsequent users.
The Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP provides a simple and effective way to defend shared computers from untrusted users and malicious software, safeguard system resources, and enhance and simplify the user experience. The Toolkit runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. This download includes a comprehensive, 107-page Handbook in PDF format. (Continue at source).
Download the Toolkit
Read the online handbook
Brian Madden posted a podcast of a presentation he gave at the Tyson's Corner Marriott on August 18, 2005. The topic was Citrix and VMware—how these two technologies work together today, and the larger role that virtualization will play in the future. In this hour-long speech, he talks very broadly about the future of Citrix, Windows applications, and virtualization in general. Specific topics include:
- The history of VMware and Citrix, why they got together
- Scalability. Does VMware help? How will 64-bit Windows will change this?
- A brief mention of the kernel memory changes from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003
- How does VMware affect consolidation strategies?
- When should you use VMware with Citrix, when not to?
- VMware ACE: Where can that be used with Citrix? Should you use that for Citrix or just do that natively?
- Citrix Access Gateway and Smart Access
- Future of utilization of servers
and more
Download MP3 of this show |
Stream this show live
Microsoft has released sample code and documentation that shows how to develop applications using Windows Communication Framework with the new "InfoCard" features for providing secure identity services. Also included are samples on how to create security token services.
Installation of the Resource Kit is, as usual, dependent of having the proper configuration of CTPs. Here is a step-by-step guide for installing and using the resource kit from Kim Cameron's Identity Blog.
As the name indicates, this release only works with WinFX Sept 2005 CTP and VS 2005 Extensions for Sept 2005 CTP. Please install in the following order:
- If you'd like to use the STS samples, please install IIS prior to installing WinFX Sept 2005 CTP.
- Then install WinFX Sept 2005 CTP
- Next install Visual Studio Extensions for Sept 2005 CTP
- WinFX and VS 2005 are installed, please download the resource kit
Palm has decided to run its next generation of PDAs on Windows Mobile 5, after having failed to buy back its own former software division, PalmSource. According to Business Week, "The sale of PalmSource, the software arm spun out of the former Palm Computer in 2002, will also affect the future of Palm OS. PalmSource had been struggling both to find more customers and to get its products, particularly a simpler operating system for cell phones, to market.
Earlier this year, it sold its share of the Palm trademarks back to the hardware arm and put itself up for sale."
As Microsoft's appeal against existing antitrust sanctions continue, the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has revealed that the European Commission is reviewing fresh antitrust complaints made against the company.
In an interview with the New York Times, Ms Kroes said the competition commission had received a number of informal complaints against Microsoft's bundling of applications since she took office in November 2004.
European Commission spokesperson, Jonathan Todd, confirmed that the competition commission is considering the complaints but said that no decision has been taken on a course of action, adding that the commission does not have to wait for formal complaints to take action against a company it suspects of anti-competitive behavior. Neither Ms Kroes nor Mr Todd revealed any details of the new complaints.
Microsoft is in the process of appealing a record E497.2m ($613m) fine and other remedies imposed by Mario Monti, Ms Kroes' predecessor as EC competition commissioner. In June, Microsoft launched a version of its Windows XP operating system without Windows Media Player, but conforming to other sanctions has not been as smooth.
The DPM team writes: "Data Protection Manager 2006 will be
launched next week. And we made our commitment: the DPM Operations Guide is live and online in advance of launch. This is our final piece of major product documentation. The Planning and Deployment Guide and Help were made available earlier this summer. Still to come: DPM Frequently Asked Questions, which will contain instructions for upgrading DPM beta to the released version."
Data Protection Manager 2006 Operations Guide
Cardtrap.A transfers two Windows worms when the memory card is inserted into the PC.
"When infecting Symbian phone the Cardtrap.A copies two Windows worms Win32/Padobot.Z and Win32/Rays into the phones memory card," said Jarno Niemela, a virus researcher writing on the company's weblog. "Padobot.Z is copied with autostart.inf file in attempt to start automatically if the card is inserted to PC using windows. Rays is copied with filename System and same icon as system folder."
According to F-Secure the virus is the first of its kind. It attempts to catch out the more experienced user who would link an infected mobile phone to a PC in an attempt to remove the mobile virus. But the virus itself may currently be ineffective.
"To our knowledge no Windows version support autostart from a memory card," said Niemela. "But it still might work with some Windows versions and third party driver combination." (Continue at source).
By way of Robert Scoble comes a Channel 9 video interview of three of Microsoft's networking rocket scientists whose job it is to build better networking technologies into Windows Vista as well as Longhorn server. Both client and server will use the exact same stack. In the interview, Scoble asks what his mother will get out of the work they're doing (and later makes some inquiries on behalf of developers too).
The new technology enables Windows' built-in firewall to engage in outbound blocking including granular control over what applications have access to the network. Thanks to the new Vista driver model, new firewall drivers can be dynamically added and removed without tearing down the connection.
On the performance front, one of the interviewees said that the performance improvements may be so good that it will be frightening. The new networking stack will do what's calld receive side scalling. The new stack will also include significant improvements in traffic throttling. (Continue at source).
Watch the complete interview
In short, XSync is a program based on Microsoft's ADMT, a tool that's used to migrate data between Active Directory domains.
Ever came across the need to create a test environment identical to your own production environment? What about creating an R&D environment?
The biggest advantage with using XSync is that the whole domain synchronization process is completely automated. just set the preferences with a few simple clicks and after a few moments you have perfect copy of your domain, or depending on the chosen option, another domain with your entire active directory info inside it.
This program is simple to use and requires very little configuration.
XSync can be run on Windows2K/2K3 and Windows XP,
Supports Synchronization between WinNT 4.0 SP6 Domains and above.
Download XSync here
Microsoft will reorganize into three newly formed divisions, each of which will be led by its own president. In addition, the company said Ray Ozzie will expand his role as chief technical officer by assuming responsibility for helping drive its software-based services strategy and execution across all three divisions, and Jim Allchin will retire at the end of 2006 following the commercial release of Windows Vista. The three divisions are:
- the Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division, which will be led by Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin as co-presidents. This division comprises Windows Client, Server and Tools, and MSN.
- the Microsoft Business Division, which will be headed by Jeff Raikes as president. This division will deliver software and software-based services that enable organizations to succeed in constantly evolving workplace by amplifying the impact of their people.
- the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division, which will be headed by Robbie Bach.
MakeShortcuts is a simple straight forward tool that I wrote today (ahum yesterday it's now past midnight...) that can create shortcuts in the Windows Start Menu based on an INI file.
Layout of the INI file:
[Application Name]
startpath=tool.exe
menulocation=Programs\Tools
arguments=/s
iconpath=c:\windows\system32\moricons.dll
iconnumber=0
scope=U
- Startpath is the full path to an executable or associated extension Application Name, startpath and menulocation are mandetory, the other entries are optional
- Scope can be U or A, where 'U' will crate the shortcut for the current logged on user and 'A' will create the shortcut for all users
- Menulocation is the folder to create the shortcuts in, if it does not yet exist it will be created. You can specify more levels of menus by seperating each level with a '\'.
- The INI file can contain multiple items
- The sample INI file included in the zip file below contains definitions for some Sysinternals Tools, you probably have to change some pathnames to make it work for your setup.
Command syntax: MakeShortcuts .\inifile.ini
Download MakeShortcuts (23KB)
Single-image download and execution with no setup program has been a hallmark of almost all of the tools that Bryce and I write and distribute on Sysinternals. I think most visitors agree that it’s more convenient to download a 200 KB ZIP file, extract its contents and execute a utility than to download and execute a 2 MB installer, in the process adding more clutter to your Start menu, before you can gain access to the tool only by navigating through that cluttered start menu to find it. And in the unlikely event you don’t want to use a tool any longer uninstalling a Sysinternals tool usually means just deleting it. User-preferences in the user-profile portion of the Registry (HKCU) might get left behind, but a lot of uninstall programs leave behind more than a few hundred bytes of data.
Unfortunately, the requirements faced by many tools of supporting 3 major lines of Windows operating systems – Windows 9x (believe it or not, if I post a tool that breaks compatibility with Windows 95 by using an API introduced in a newer version of Windows I hear about it immediately), Windows NT and Windows 64-bit – and several minor variants of each line makes delivering a tool as a single universal executable a challenge. Besides finding backward-compatible ways to accomplish what newer Windows APIs might make trivial, the tools that require support from a device driver or that require a native 64-bit image in order to work on 64-bit Windows face the biggest single-image delivery hurdle. (Continue at source).
One of Vista's more important security features is known as User Access Protection or UAP. The idea is pretty straightforward. If you're running your computer under a lesser privileged account (in other words, not under an account with administrative privileges), then software cannot be inadvertently installed onto the system. Not only can't the user inadvertently install software, but supposedly, neither can malware. The same holds true of Windows today. But most people run under an account with administrative privileges anyway because of how inconvenient it is to logout and log back in every time software needs to be loaded or updated. With Vista and User Access Protection, users should be much more motivated to run under a lesser privileged account because they won't have to log out and log back in to install software. Instead, when any attempt to install software is made, end users logged into a lesser privileged account are immediately prompted for an administrator's credentials. UAP was turned off in earlier builds of the Vista beta. But as of the PDC Build (5219), UAP is turned on by default. Here's what it looks like, including the step of turning it on in pre-5219 builds.
(Continue at source).
NewsFactor is reporting that Microsoft has just released a new design studio consisting of the Acrylic Graphic Design, Sparkle Interactive Design and Quartz Web Designer Software. Supposedly the goal is not to compete head to head with the proposed Adobe/Macromedia merger but to turn developers into designers. According to Jupiter Research, The days when a designer worked alone have been traded in for an interactive world in which designers often work hand-in-hand with developers. "Microsoft is trying to address what it believes is a legitimate and longstanding problem in the design market."
(more)
Microsoft has announced their intention to port the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), a graphical application layer that will allow rich web applications to be developed for Windows Vista, to other platforms, such as the Apple Macintosh, older versions of Windows, and smart phones/PDAs.
WPF, formerly code named Avalon, is a framework for creating applications using the new WinFX Application Programming Interface (API). WPF applications are accelerated using DirectX and can take advantage of the power of modern 3D graphics cards to provide a smooth, glitch-free display, as well as special effects such as shadows, reflections, and rotatable 3D interface widgets.
(more)
Back in 2002, we decided to make a big bet on Audio for Vista and we committed to fixing all three of the problems listed above. The first (and biggest) change we made was to move the entire audio stack out of the kernel and into user mode. Pre-Vista, the audio stack lived in a bunch of different kernel mode device drivers, including sysaudio.sys, kmixer.sys, wdmaud.sys, redbook.sys, etc. In Vista and beyond, the only kernel mode drivers for audio are the actual audio drivers (and portcls.sys, the high level audio port driver).
The second major change we made was a totally revamped UI for audio. Sndvol32 and mmsys.cpl were completely rewritten (from scratch) to include new, higher quality visuals, and to focus on the common tasks that users actually need to do. All the old functionality is still there, but for the most part, it's been buried deep below the UI. The infrastructure items I mentioned above are present in Vista Beta1, unfortunately the UI improvements won't be seen by non Microsoft people until Vista Beta2.
(more)
worm that modifies a user's HOSTS file to redirect visitors of Google.com to a spoof website has been discovered. The worm was found by Panda Labs and is currently circulating on P2P networks Shareaza and Imesh. It is masquerading as an executable of popular Star Wars game Knights Of The Old Republic 2. If infected, several Google domain names will be redirected to an unofficial German version of the search engine. Although the site looks identical to the original, the results have been modified in such a way that certain companies will gain an unfair higher ranking, and therefore will appear at the top of search results. Luis Corrons, director of Panda Labs said: "Its aims are to increase visits to the pages linked by the creator of this malware, or to earn an income from companies that want to appear in the first few results in computer where the identity of Google has been spoofed. In both cases, the motivation of the author of this malware is purely financial."
(more)
Microsoft has accused Linux of having "support issues" as the Redmond giant unveiled the first beta of its Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Solution operating system for high-performance computing (HPC). The new software clusters four, eight, 32 and 64 machines, and has the ability to run jobs across different machines with different requirements and memory demands. Microsoft is looking for increased leverage in its bid to gain a foothold in HPC installations, most of which are dominated by Linux.
(more)
As promised, Microsoft delivered an interim build of Windows Vista--build 5219--to attendees of the Professional Developers Conference (PDC 2005) in mid-September 2005. That build, which later went out to technical beta testers and MSDN subscribers, represents an interesting but incomplete look at the progress Microsoft has made since July's Beta 1 release. Microsoft is also referring to this build as Windows Vista Community Technical Preview (CTP 1), or as the September 2005 CTP. That notation is important: There will be an October 2005 CTP as well, and likely a November CTP. The goal is for monthly builds from here on out, and public monthly builds beginning with Beta 2 in December. Now that's transparency.
(more)
Paul Thurrott's Winsupersite
Microsoft Corp. bolstered its security hardware holdings Monday by announcing it has acquired digital security company Alacris Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
Alacris, a privately held, Ottawa-based company founded in 1998, builds integrated management systems using PKI (public key infrastructure), smart-card deployments and biometrics for large commercial and government organizations that employ Windows-based systems. PKI uses public and private cryptographic keys and digital certificates to securely encrypt messages and data over public networks. (Continue at source).
Microsoft is banning certain cryptographic functions from new computer code, citing increasingly sophisticated attacks that make them less secure, according to a company executive. The Redmond software company instituted a new policy for all developers that bans functions using the DES, MD4, MD5 and, in some cases, the SHA1 encryption algorithm, which is becoming "creaky at the edges," said Michael Howard, senior security program manager at the company, Howard said.
MD4 and MD5 are instances of the Message Digest algorithm that was developed at MIT in the early 1990s and uses a cryptographic hash function to verify the integrity of data. The algorithms are used to create digital signatures and check the integrity of information passed within Microsoft Corp.'s products. (Continue at source).
Microsoft and Time Warner have explored a variety of possible combinations of the MSN Internet portal with the America Online operation of Time Warner, including a merger of the two into a new company that would be jointly owned, according to several people involved in the talks.
The discussions were initiated by Microsoft, which has Google, its new archrival, clearly in its sights. Microsoft is trying to focus its Internet operations on its developing Web search product rather than its Web portal and Internet access business, which it no longer sees as strategically important.
Microsoft offered to sell its MSN Internet portal and dial-up subscriber business both to America Online and to Yahoo, according to several people with knowledge of the talks. While Yahoo considered and quickly rejected the proposal, Time Warner, the parent of America Online, expressed interest. (Continue at source).
According to BetaNews,
Microsoft is learning a few tricks from Apache for the next release of IIS, version 7.0. Specifically, the IIS feature set has been broken down into modules to reduce overhead. Modules can be changed on the fly, without restarting the Web server. Also, the IIS metabase has been completely dropped in favor of easily editable XML configuration files. Each Web application can have its own config file that overrides the system-wide configuration. (Continue at source).
Microsoft has overhauled its core software development practices to avoid any repetition of the delays that have bedevilled the next planned version of Windows, according to Steve Ballmer, the company's chief executive.
The changes, along with plans to release more frequent, less ambitious versions of the widely used software, mark a significant shift in Microsoft's approach following one of the most troubled new product cycles in its 30-year history.
"We attempted something that was beyond the planning and conceptualisation of the system," Mr Ballmer said of Windows Vista, the much-delayed version of the software that is now planned for late next year.
"The product cycle has been longer than it should have been," he told the FT.
In some of the earliest builds of Longhorn, the Sidebar was the most visible change. While its eventual use within the operating system wasn't initially clear, its sudden disappearance in the build given to attendees of WinHEC surprised many Windows enthusiasts.
In a discussion Tuesday evening with BetaNews, Windows lead product manager Greg Sullivan said the Sidebar was never fully removed as a feature within the operating system. "You'll see things reappear and disappear," he explained. Sullivan confirmed that there was always a development team working on the project. However, he did acknowledge that the focus of the Windows Sidebar has changed to become more developer centric.
In Windows Vista, the Sidebar will now serve as a platform for third parties to extend Windows with "Gadgets." (Continue at source).
Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else, Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice.
Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger; our blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results; and you can search not just for blogs written in English, but in other languages as well.
Google Blog Search
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2005 — Thousands of software developers at the sold-out Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2005 today got a preview of a new, redesigned user interface (UI) that will debut in several core applications of the next version of Microsoft Office, code-named Office “12.” The new UI – the most dramatic change to the way Office applications work since introduction of the toolbar in 1997 – will help users become more proficient with Office and produce better-looking documents faster.
While the Office applications have increased tremendously in power and added functionality in response to customer needs, the core UI has remained substantially unchanged for nearly 20 years. The command bar in Microsoft Office Word 2003, for example, looks much the same as the command bar in Word 2.0 did in 1998. In fact, the new UI is the biggest, most visible change to the way the core Office applications work since the introduction of the toolbar in 1997.
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Office 12 Screenshots: Word |
Powerpoint |
Excel |
Access
Have you ever wondered how new technologies get developed in Microsoft? Wonder how a cool idea goes from incubation to release? Well, we’re excited to announce that we’ve started a blog designed to bring you closer to the process with the Gadgets blog and we’re kicking it off at the PDC.
What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business.
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Microsoft Gadgets Blog
Windows Vista will allow users to add memory to the operating system through the use of USB memory keys, the company revealed at the Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles.
The option is part of a technology called Superfetch that is designed to make the next Windows versions faster to use over time. The technology will monitor what data and applications the user has accessed in the past months and preload those into its memory. This allows for faster access to data and applications.
Superfetch ads the memory on the USB memory key to the systems virtual memory, which in turn is used to preload applications and data that the user accesses frequently. The USB option offers users to upgrade the memory of their system even if there aren't any physical memory slots, allowing laptop users to increase system speed, said Alchin.
LOS ANGELES—Attendees at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference on Tuesday morning got to see the first live public demonstration ever of Windows Vista and Office 12 running together. Both of these products are still under development and due for release in the second half of 2006. In the opening keynote, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates took to the stage before several thousand attendees and talked up the new redesigned and results-oriented user interface in Office 12.
The new UI that runs across the top of the screen is known as Ribbon and replaces the traditional menus and toolbars with a set of highly graphical command tabs that correspond to the tasks that people want to accomplish, Gates said. He also talked about the developer opportunities associated with the extensible user interface and open XML file formats. Office 12 would be released in the same timeframe as Windows Vista, Gates said.
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Windows "Monad" Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology for Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. "Monad" Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications.
Microsoft Download Center:
“Monad” X86 |
"Monad" X64
Today at PDC 05 in Los Angeles our Director of High Performance Computing (HPC), Kyril Faenov, outlined Microsoft's plans for our newest addition to the Windows Server family - Compute Cluster Solution (CCS) in a packed breakout session. What is Microsoft’s CCS you ask? CCS is essentially taking a CPU intensive computational load and spreading it across multiple 64-bit clustered servers.. very inexpensively.
Microsoft's Compute Cluster Solution runs on only on our x64 platform. It will ship on 2 CD's. The first CD contains a special version of our X64 edition that is tailored to the needs of CCS. (If you want to use the regular versions of Server 2003 x64, they will work great too…. especially if you want to run other apps on a CCS box) The 2nd CD contains the management part of CCS - the job scheduler, management console, etc.
Nominate yourself for the CSS Beta
Microsoft on Tuesday released a photo-sharing program aimed at showing off the graphics abilities being built into the next version of Windows. Designed as a sample application to show off Microsoft's next-generation presentation and communications engine, Microsoft's "Max" allows users to create a display of their digital photos that can be e-mailed to friends and family.
The program is available as a free download, but it has some pretty hefty hardware requirements. It requires XP Home or Pro with Service Pack 2, along with a 1GHz processor, 256MB of memory and 200MB of hard-drive space. For a better experience, Microsoft recommends a 2.4GHz chip and 512MB of memory.
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Microsoft Codename Max
Windows Vista is starting to look more appealing. During our hands-on testing of Vista build 5219, which Microsoft is handing out this week at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, we were able to try out a number of new features and observe some slick-looking interface enhancements. Build 5219 takes advantage of WPF (Windows Presentation Framework, formerly known as Avalon) to provide visual cues that make it easier to navigate between multiple open applications—and, frankly, more fun. It expands the search box embedded in the Start menu to let you kick off a search of the entire PC or of the Internet. And it enhances a number of security and administrative features and turns on User Account Protection by default.
Take our guided tour to see some of the new features in build 5219 for yourself. (Continue at source).
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates claims the bold promises of e-commerce and e-government made in the early 1990s are finally ready to be made a reality with a new "wave" of software development that can be built on the foundation of Windows Vista and Office 12.
Speaking at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles Gates showed off the first public demo of Vista and the next version of Office and said they are about "connecting people to the information they want" and improving the productivity of workers.
"For e-commerce and e-government…the foundation pieces have been laid," he said. "People are not paid to just browse at work."
Office 12, which is scheduled for release at the same time as Vista in the second half of 2006, will be the most significant release of the software since Office 95 a decade ago, according to Gates. (Continue at source).
Delegating GPO rights in Active Directory can be quite simple if you have just one or two domains, you then just use the default group 'Group Policy Creator Owners' and add users that you want to give the right to do stuff with GPOs. One small note: as this is a global group you can only add users from the same domain that the group is in. So if you have only one or two domains, this can be done by hand, it is not a lot of work. If you have more domains and even some forests you do not want to grant rights in each and every domain by using the 'Group Policy Creator Owners' global group, putting users in it and maybe even creating those users in some domains.
So what now? Specific delegation! That's what Active Directory is good at. But how? First you create a new group, but this time we make it a domain local group so we can put users and groups in it from other domains/forests. You might even want to create three groups, one to grant the Create/delete GPO right, one for the GPO link right and one for the RSOP right. In case you have one domain hosting your administrative accounts you can create three global groups in that domain for granting GPO rights and then populate those global groups with the administrator accounts that you want to grant the specific GPO rights. Next you make these global groups member of the corresponding domain local groups in all your domains. Now we have a nice role based access security for GPO management.
If you use a GPO tool like
NetIQ Group Policy Administrator you can use the so called export override feature of that tool and use just one account that does all the GPO creation. No other user is required to have the GPO creation right, which makes your domains a safer place for GPOs. The NetIQ GPA tool has its own delegation model for specific GPO tasks (like create GPO, link GPO, approve, export, offline rsop, version management) which can be used to grant to normal user accounts (non-admin) that do not have nor need direct GPO access in Active Directory. When using GPA you make just that one user account member of each domain local group you created in your domains that grants the create GPO right. Here it would also be wise to put a global group in between, that way you can always decide (in case of an emergency for example) to populate this global group with one or more accounts. Because that global group will be member of all the domain locals, each user you put in the global group will automatically have GPO create rights in all domains. When using GPA also do not forget to remove the GPO rights from Domain Admins and Administrators if you realy want to make it safe. You should keep the Enterprise Admins group in case there is a real emergency (if there is a problem with the GPO groups you created for example). And then of course make sure that under normal circumstances nobody is member of the Enterprise Admins group.
But now how to grant the specific GPO rights to the newly created domain local groups? There are two options, use GPMC and do it all by hand or use the DSACLS tool to automate it. For the GPMC method please see the online help of GPMC. We will now describe the automated method, to make it a bit more readable we will call the three domain local groups dlGpoCreate, dlGpoLink and dlGpoRSOP. For this method we will use the Microsoft tool DSACLS. Pay special attention to the syntax of DSACLS: the '/' parameter options must be specified in capitals, thus '/G' and not '/g' ! Why, why, tell me why dear Microsoft programmers, there are no lower case parameters at all...
Here are the DSACLS commands you need:
grant rights to create GPOs
DSACLS \\your.domain.com\cn=policies,cn=system,dc=your,dc=domain,dc=com /G "dlGpoCreate@your.domain.com":ccdc;groupPolicyContainer /I:t
CACLS command for setting correct rights on SYSVOL policy folder
CACLS /E /T /G dlGpoCreate@your.domain.com:RWC %SystemRoot%\sysvol\domain\policies
grant rights to link GPOs
DSACLS \\your.domain.com\dc=your,dc=domain,dc=com /G "dlGpoLink@your.domain.com":wprp;gPLink "dlGpoCreate@your.domain.com":wprp;gPOptions /I:t
grant rights to do RSOP
DSACLS \\your.domain.com\dc=your,dc=domain,dc=com /G "dlGpoRSOP@your.domain.com":ca;"Generate Resultant Set of Policy (Planning)" "dlGpoRSOP@your.domain.com":ca;"Generate Resultant Set of Policy (Logging)" /I:t
At this point the domain local groups have the right to do the specific GPO tasks. Of course you will have to run these commands for all domains you have. Now you can populate these groups with GPO administrator accounts and/or groups from any domain in your forest and if you have setup the correct forest trust, even accounts and groups from that forest.
Of course you can just have one domain local group granting all the three rights at once. Think about what would be best for your situation. In any case: don't just run the commands mentioned in this article, look at your own Active Directory design and see how you can make use of these commands and this implementation using domain local groups. A wise Active Directory advise is always: 'Think before you DO'.
Sources used:
Online auction house eBay Inc. (EBAY.O: Quote) has agreed to buy Internet telephone firm Skype Technologies SA (SKYP.UL: Quote) for $2.6 billion, a source close to the situation said on Monday.
EBay plans initially to pay $1.3 billion in cash and $1.3 billion in stock and to make a further payout of up to $1.5 billion by 2008 or 2009 if financial targets are met, giving the deal a total value of up to $4.1 billion, the source said.
Spokesmen for eBay and Skype declined to comment. The eBay investor relations site contains a notice of a conference call scheduled to be held at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) on Monday, but provided no details on the nature of the Webcast.
Skype, whose software allows consumers to make free or low-cost phone calls anywhere in the world via the Internet, would be the biggest acquisition so far for 10-year-old eBay. (Continue at source).
An examination of Microsoft internal documentation this weekend reveals that the software giant is prepping a number of major end-user features for Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn), many of which had not yet previously been revealed. Here's a rundown of many of the features we can expect in the various Windows Vista product editions. Two low-end versions of Windows Vista, Starter Edition and Home Basic Edition, will not feature the much-vaunted Aero user interface that will adorn all other Vista versions. Instead, these versions will utilize a lower quality, XP-like user interface that is more appropriate for the low-end hardware that infrequent PC users and those emerging markets might utilize. Starter Edition and Home Basic Edition will also lack the rolodex, tab previews, and task bar previews features that other Vista editions will offer.
A new version of Internet Information Services (IIS), now called Microsoft Windows Web Server, will be included with the business oriented versions of Windows Vista only (Professional, Professional N, Small Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions). These versions will also include other unique features, such as a Windows Fax client, and the ability to join an Active Directory domain. However, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition will be able to join new home-oriented domains offered by a new Longhorn Server version codenamed Quattro. (Continue at source).
Microsoft Corp. is releasing several new tools to help developers build software applications that work with its online search and communication products.
The hope is that such add-ons will draw more users to Microsoft products and help the company better compete with market leaders such as Google Inc. and America Online Inc. The tools will mostly be released at a Microsoft developer conference next week in Los Angeles.
Microsoft said the tools are for add-ons to its desktop, Internet and localized search technologies, as well as its MSN Messenger instant messaging program.
For example, one developer is working on a tool that would automatically translate instant messages from one language to another as they are being sent, said Adam Sohn, a director in the marketing group for Microsoft's MSN Internet unit. (Continue at source).
VMware (a subsidary of EMC) is going to release the beta of version 5.5 this Monday. In addition to added support for 64 bit Windows guests (since Vista64 is in beta, support is currently experimental), VMware Workstation 5.5 has a bunch of other enhancements on tap (be sure to note where certain 64 bit technologies from AMD and Intel are required).
According to company spokesperson Amber Rowland, here's the company-provided version 5.5 enhancment punchlist :
- 64-bit Guest Support for AMD64 Technology Systems and Intel EM64T
- Two-way Virtual SMP (Experimental)
- Enhanced VMware Virtual Machine Importer
- Enhanced Command Line Interface
According to Rowland, one extremely cool feature of 5.5 is that, in a VMware-based system, the host operating system doesn't need to be a 64-bit operating system in order to run 64-bit guests. In other words, as long as the underlying hardware has the right 64-bit capabilities, an officially supported 64-bit guest OS like FreeBSD or Linux should be able to run when the host OS is 32-bit Windows. Whether or not I'll attempt to run the Vista64 beta as a guest on top of the beta version of VMware Workstation 5.5 remains to be seen. By running beta like that, I'm not just asking for trouble; I'm asking for double trouble. We'll see. (Continue at source).
All it takes is a minor error in the Windows Registry or a virus infection, and your operating system can become unbootable. But with a properly configured USB flash drive on hand, you'll always have a compatible replacement no further away than your pocket or keychain. In addition, the flash drive can also provide a secure browser and virus scanner, and lets you take your favorite DVD burning and Office software with you wherever you may go.
All that's needed is a bootable USB Flash drive with at least 256 MB of storage capacity and a Windows Setup CD. Using the program
Bart PE Builder (Freeware), you can install Windows XP on the flash drive, along with other software as needed (and as available space permits).
Read the very complete description of how to create a bootable USB Flash drive at
Tom's Hardware Guide.
Two days before the start of Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005, I've received exclusive insider information about the product editions, or SKUs, which Microsoft intends to create for Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn). While the exact breakdown of the Windows Vista editions has been the subject of much speculation, this list closely matches the editions list I first published on the SuperSite for Windows last year. Here's how the Windows Vista product editions break down.
There will be two general categories of Windows Vista editions, which map closely to the two that exist today for XP ("Home," which comprises Starter, Home, and Media Center Editions, Pro, which includes Professional, Professional x64, and Tablet PC Editions). In Windows Vista, the two categories are Home and Business. In the Home category, Microsoft will create four product editions: Windows Vista Starter Edition, Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (previously known as "Uber" Edition). In the Business category, there will are three editions: Windows Vista Small Business Edition, Windows Vista Professional Edition, and Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. In all, there are 7 product editions planned for Windows Vista.
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Next week's "Patch Tuesday" was already going to be quiet, with an update only for Windows. On Friday, Microsoft pulled that update, saying more testing is needed.
"Late in the testing process, Microsoft encountered a quality issue that necessitated the update to go through additional testing and development before it is released," the software maker said in a
statement on its Web site. (Continue at source).
The Microsoft corporate website team have their own weblog and posted some nice figures about the microsoft.com website. They write: "We are a bona fide Enterprise level Ops team. Anything that ends in *.Mirosoft.com we run. Windows Update, Microsoft Update, the Download center…our team keeps all this humming. We run the 4th largest web site in the world.. Here are some quick facts about what we run."
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I've been using a personalised Google home page for a little while and have found it a pretty good starting point for browsing the web. Then recently I came across Start.com, an R&D project of Microsoft's, and while initially wowed, thought I'd reserve my judgement until I could sit down and really compare the two. Tonight, I'm sitting at work, much too late, waiting for Karen to come and pick me up so thought I'd give it some time.
On first impressions the two seem very similar. In their rawest form, they're front ends to search engines with the capbility to add personalised content - in effect allowing you to roll your own portal. They each have a sidebar on the left from which content can be added. They each require you to have an account with the respective provider, Gmail for Google Personalised, and Hotmail for Start.com.
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John Howard writes: "This continually comes up as a query, what the limitation is for installing Virtual Server 2005 standard edition? Standard edition supports up to four processors, and indeed won't install on a machine with more than 4 processors. But what is a processor? What about dual-cores and hyperthreaded processors? The answer: Virtual Server counts dual-core and hyperthreaded processors as a single processor. Hence, four refers to physical processors."
John Howard's Weblog
Dear Windows OneCare™ Beta Testers, first, a huge thanks to everyone for your great feedback and ideas! We've been hard at work fixing bugs and implementing new features based on the valuable input you have provided. This newsletter contains information on upcoming product improvements, the first in a series of top tester awards, and how you can help expand our beta program.
Invite your friends and family to signup for the Windows OneCare Beta! Do you know others who are interested in trying out Windows OneCare? We are now at the point where we would like to expand our group of beta testers. We encourage you to extend Windows OneCare beta invitations to your friends and family. Just have them go to http://beta.microsoft.com/, sign in with their Microsoft® Passport Network credentials, type in
OneCare (case sensitive) when prompted for the guest ID, and follow the instructions from there.
Microsoft Beta Place
Microsoft plans to open access to MSN and its other public Web sites to let developers assemble new applications that build on those sites -- a technique used successfully at Google and other Web companies to promote their properties. Microsoft will detail its "Web platform" strategy at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles next week, company executives said. It intends to publish the application programming interfaces, or APIs, to some of its public Web sites, including MSN Search, and deliver better tools to write those applications.
The move to lure more developers to MSN expands the competitive battleground between the software giant and Google, a company it is now competing with for developer mindshare. A Google representative wasn't immediately available to comment. Acrimony between the two companies has come to light in recent days, as they spar in court over former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee, who was hired by Google.
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Bill Gates. Do we need to say anything more? Visit Bill in his office for a few minutes to talk about where he sees the future going. This is a fun interview, prepares you for the PDC that's coming next week. It's going to be a fun next week, make sure to come back on Tuesday when we'll have tons of videos from teams showing off their secret stuff for the first time. Next Tuesday morning not only will his keynote at the Professional Developer Conference be broadcast live (it'll be on Bill's webcasts page on Tuesday), but we'll have a bunch of videos all week long.
A short chat with Bill Gates (00:16:34)
Vulnerability testing firm
eEye Digital Security has reported a high-risk security flaw affecting Outlook and Internet Explorer. The alert relates to a buffer overflow flaw potentially allowing attackers to execute malicious code on a system. The bug affects default installations of Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer on Windows 2000 and XP Service Pack 1. EEye said that additional versions of Windows may also be affected.
Microsoft stated that it is investigating the problem, and expects to issue a fix in the near future. The company claims not to be aware of any exploits to date. (Continue at source).
August was a brutal month for IT shops. First, Microsoft released six security updates -- three for critical flaws in Internet Explorer and services embedded in Windows. Then Zotob and other malcode exploited one of those flaws in the worst attack so far this year.
This month's patching load will be lighter, at least.
Microsoft said on its TechNet site Thursday it plans to release only one security bulletin for Windows next week. But it will address at least one critical issue.
The software giant will also release an updated version of its malicious software removal tool, as well as one non-security, high-priority update for Windows. As it does every month, Microsoft warned that "the number of bulletins, products affected, restart information and severities are subject to change until released." (Continue at source).
Microsoft is developing a low-cost version of the Windows XP operating system to introduce personal computing to first-time Filipino PC users, a company official said Thursday. The Filipino language starter edition will be a stripped-down version of the popular operating system, said Mark Yambot, director for corporate affairs for Microsoft Philippines Inc.
Development on the system was started this year, and no date has been set for its sale.
"It's to improve access to technology, that's what it's trying to answer," Yambot said, adding that it will be bundled with low-cost personal computers. (Continue at source).
At the first-ever Microsoft Business Summit today in Redmond, Washington, the company will announce its long-term goals for the midsized-business market, a market for its business-oriented products that's second in size only to the small-business market. Building off the temporary Windows Server System product bundle for midsized businesses that the company announced 2 months ago, Microsoft will ship a new server suite, code-named Centro, that's designed for midsized businesses.
The Centro product bundle will ship in the Longhorn Server time frame (2007) and will be based on the Standard Edition of Longhorn Server, not Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2003 Release 2 (R2). Other products in the bundle will include the standard editions of Longhorn Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 12, the next version of ISA Server (as well as other security technologies), and several key technologies that the company is developing as part of the Microsoft System Center family of products (which will include software- and patch-deployment capabilities, among other features).
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Once a month Steve Ballmer sends an exec email to subscribers. These emails usually talk about Microsoft's vision/strategy in certain areas. In this month's installment, Steve discusses Microsoft's strategy to meet the unique business and IT needs of the "mid-market" (defined as 25-500 PCs, ~1,000 employees, 1-15 servers, etc). Steve mentions Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Workgroup Edition as being a first step towards helping mid-market "IT Generalists" get a handle on their IT infrastructure. Future products such as "Centro" will provide an integrated user experience for computer/server management. Read the entire mail
here.
Microsoft Executive Mail RSS Feed
Seven updated Management Packs for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 were released to the web on 8/31/2005:
Server Clusters Management Pack for MOM 2005
Windows Base Operating System Management Pack for MOM 2005
Domain Name Service (DNS) Management Pack for MOM 2005
SQL Server 2000 Management Pack for MOM 2005
Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Management Pack
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) Management Pack for MOM 2005
Internet Information Server (IIS) Management Pack for MOM 2005
They are all version 05.0.3100.0000 except the Cluster MP which is 05.0.2803.0000. The MPNotifier XML has NOT been updated. It is my hope that the next release of Management Packs will see the MPNotifier XML updated at the same time that the MPs are released to the web, and that a “What has Changed” document is included in the MP package.
The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) provides a comprehensive set of COM interfaces for scripting many Group Policy-related operations. The interfaces are documented in the Group Policy Management Console SDK, which is located at %programfiles%\gpmc\scripts\gpmc.chm on any computer where you installed GPMC. (The Group Policy Management Console SDK is only available in English.)
When you install GPMC, a set of sample scripts illustrating the use of these interfaces are installed to the %programfiles%\gpmc\scripts directory.
The sample scripts address real-world administrative problems and scenarios. You can perform various tasks such as finding all Group Policy objects (GPOs) in a domain that have duplicate names or generating a list of all GPOs in a domain whose settings are disabled or partially disabled.
See this
Microsoft Technet web page for a more deteailed description of all available scripts.
Intel is branching into anti-virus security with a $16 million investment in Czech anti-virus software vendor Grisoft. Grisoft’s AVG anti-virus is used on more than 25 million computers worldwide, according to the company.
Intel said its investment will help the software to reach a wider market and approach new customers. The company’s product is already distributed through resellers worldwide and through the Internet. (Continue at source).
Computer Associates has introduced a package of protection software for Microsoft's new mid-market version of its Windows Server System. The announcement was made at Microsoft's Business Summit Wednesday in Redmond, Wash.
The product, dubbed the CA Business Protection Suite for Midsize Business for Windows, incorporates antivirus, anti-spyware, data backup and restore technologies, as well as desktop migration features. It's available in 10 languages.
The package protects computers from viruses and other web-based threats, while automatically updating virus signatures, backing up desktops, laptops and servers. It also improves the capture and transfer of user settings and data during a refresh, operating system upgrade, or desktop recovery.
Microsoft's Windows Server System for Midsize Business edition includes Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Exchange Server 2003, Standard Edition; and Operations Manager 2005, Workgroup Edition. The offer also includes 50 new combined promotional Client Access Licenses for Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003.
(Full press release).
Microsoft has launched a legal challenge to protect itself from an order by the European Commission to make valuable information about the group’s flagship Windows operating system available to rivals in the open-source community.
The move comes is the latest twist in the long anti-trust battle between the Commission and the US software group that saw Microsoft punished and fined for breaking European Union competition rules in March last year.
Among other things, the Commission’s ruling against the group forces Microsoft to share sensitive information on Windows contained in so-called communication protocols with rival groups. While Microsoft has accepted this obligation, it refuses to allow competitors to distribute products developed with the help of the protocols under an open-source licence. Microsoft says such a move would allow rivals unfettered access to its intellectual property and is not covered by the March decision. (Continue at source).
Windows Vista introduces breakthroughs in user experience, security and reliability for end users - while providing a host of advances that hardware vendors, system manufacturers, and driver developers can take advantage of to build cutting-edge, next-generation products.
On this site Microsoft collects the latest news for engineers and designers creating new products, including hardware design guidelines and driver development tips for Windows Vista.
Main topics are:
- What’s New for Windows Vista Hardware Platform
- Development Tools and Kits
- Driver Development Tips and Notes
- PC Design for Windows Vista
- Device Design for Windows Vista
- Windows Vista Logo Program
- Windows Vista for OEM and System Builder Installers
(Continue at source).
We're unsure* as to how we should take the claims of
Atom Chip Corporation, which maintains it will show off a 2TB diskless notebook based on a 6.8GHz "quantum-optical" microprocessor at next January's Consumer Electronics Show.
An image of said notebook, the Atom Chip SG220-2, popped up on a number of websites this week. According to Atom Chip's own description, the machine has no hard drive, relying instead on the company's "non-volatile Quantum-Optical RAM" of which it's packed with 2TB. Hoax or not, it sure sounds very cool!
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On the site of
CES 2006 International Exhibition there is an announcement of this super machine also.
A security flaw has been found in the default installation process for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express, according to eEye Digital Security. A common thread with these applications is the potential for a buffer overflow, which in turn could allow an attacker to gain access to users' systems remotely, said Mike Puterbaugh, eEye's senior director of product marketing.
eEye, which issued an announcement about the problem late last week, noted that systems at risk include those running Windows XP with Service Pack 0 or 1 and Windows 2000. The security specialist noted that it is still conducting reviews of the flaw and could find that other versions of the operating system are affected. Microsoft is not aware of any attacks involving the reported vulnerability or any customers who have been affected, a company representative said.
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This weekend Microsoft started with a webbased rss-aggregator. Microsofts competitors already have their sites up and running, so they could not wait any longer.
Officially Start.com is still a 'preview', but since last weekend there only exists a start.com not start.com/1, start.com/2 and start.com/3 anymore. It is clear that waiting any longer was not an option now that Yahoo and Google already have a similar service running.
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The Windows Vista code tree was recently forked between the version Microsoft will give out at the PDC (Professional Developers Conference) 2005 conference and the version that will become Beta 2. The current PDC build--build 5219--could very likely make it into the greedy little hands of attendees, and it's got a couple of interesting surprises: It includes the infamous and once-missing Sidebar and has the Tablet PC and Media Center functionality enabled. And fear not, people. You've been waiting to hear which product editions Microsoft will ship in the Vista time frame, right? That announcement is coming next week. Stay tuned.
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Microsoft has revealed that Longhorn, the next manifestation of Windows Server, will be optimised for three specific workloads. The company said that the Itanium version would be designed to support databases, ERP and CRM application and customised applications.
The forthcoming release is due sometime in 2007. The Itanium version of Windows Server is the OS for servers running on Intel's x64 Itanium processor, which is targeted mainly at high-end enterprise customers.
Because of the specific high-end optimisation plans, the Longhorn release for Itanium won't be a good fit for servers handling less computing-intensive applications. These include applications such as Windows Media Services and Windows SharePoint Services, or common office functions such as file and print and faxing.
The plan to tweak versions of Longhorn for specific business needs meets the objectives of a strategy outlined by Bob Muglia, senior vice president for the Windows Server Division, at Microsoft's TechEd Conference in June. Muglia outlined what Microsoft is calling "the right server for the right job."
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Microsoft has teamed up with mobile operator Orange to try to gain control of the digital music business, which the software giant believes could be worth hundreds of billions of pounds a year.
The Business has learned that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has persuaded Orange to develop a mobile phone, the SPV C550, which will double as a Microsoft music player. Consumers will keep their music on a computer and transfer it to their mobiles. The music phone will go on sale in HMV’s flagship stores next month. HMV is using Microsoft software to run its digital music internet download service, HMV Digital Jukebox, which can be accessed by the phones.
Microsoft spokesman Jason Langridge said: “The mobile digital music market is about to take off. Porting digital music on to mobile phones represents a massive opportunity for Microsoft. While Apple has sold about 10m iPods worldwide to date, a quarter of the world’s population own mobile phones, which Microsoft software can turn into digital music players.”
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The developers of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) email authentication technology have requested that the Internet Engineering Task Force revoke approval of Microsoft's "conflicting" Sender ID Framework's designation as an "experimental protocol," reports ComputerBusinessReview (via TechDirt). If the request is approved, or Microsoft is compelled to make changes in Sender ID, its anti-spam strategy would likely be dealt a serious setback.
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"Probably due to the Microsoft suit against Google over human resources, some very heated exchanges have turned up in some court documents. Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer has apparently vowed to kill Internet search leader Google, according to documents filed in the increasingly bitter battle between the rivals."
From the article: "At some point in the conversation, Mr. Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not Google,'' Lucovosky said in his statement. Lucovosky replied that he was joining Google. 'At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office,' Lucovosky recounted, adding that Ballmer then launched into a tirade about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. 'I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google.' Schmidt previously worked for Sun Microsystems and was the CEO of Novell."
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SINGAPORE--Microsoft has launched its first paid-search advertising application that offers advertisers information on searchers and their search activity, and the frequency at which keywords have been accessed. According to Eva Balan, MSN's international marketing manager for MSN adCenter, advertisers pay a one-time subscription fee of S$5 (US$3) for MSN Keywords.
For each keyword, they bid a minimum of S$0.10 and pay for the number of times search users click on their advertisements, which appear as sponsored links alongside search results. The placement of the links will depend on the bid price, click-through rate as well as the types of user profiles captured by the system. Speaking at a media briefing here Tuesday, Balan noted that the application helps to "level the playing field" for small and medium-sized businesses which may not have budgets for "flashy campaigns". Besides marketing directly to SMBs, Balan said MSN intends to conduct workshops and engage partner organizations to "educate" them.
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Microsoft won't be distributing Beta 1 bits at its upcoming Professional Developers Conference. But it will be providing new details on some of its pending Office 12 desktop and server products. While Office 12, Microsoft's next-generation desktop suite, is not expected to hit Beta 1 until later this fall, Microsoft officials are set to show off a number of its components at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in mid-September. Recent PDCs have focused almost exclusively on operating system and tools futures. But this year's will include tens of tracks aimed at Office developers and users.
At the conference, Microsoft officials are set to show off some of the individual Office 12 desktop applications; InfoPath and Excel server capabilities; SharePoint "Version 3" futures; and new functionality on the Groove collaboration front. Company officials are expected to outline Microsoft's updated enterprise-content-management strategy at the confab. And Senior Vice President of Office, Steven Sinofsky, is slated to deliver the September 14 PDC keynote.
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Norway's best known IT export, DVD Jon, has hacked encryption coding in Microsoft's Windows Media Player, opening up content broadcast for the multimedia player to alternative devices on multiple platforms.
Jon Lech Johansen has reverse engineered a proprietary algorithm, which is used to wrap Media Player NSC files and ostensibly protect them from hackers sniffing for the media's source IP address, port or stream format. He has also made a decoder available.
ohansen doesn't believe there is a good reason to keep the NSC files encrypted, because once you open the file with Media Player to start viewing the stream, the IP address and port can be revealed by running the netstat network utility that is included with most operating systems.
The hacker hopes his move will make content streamed to Media Player more widely available to users of alternative players on non-Windows platforms.
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When Internet Explorer 7 Beta released to testers it left testers with a broken Windows Update that wouldn't load properly, disabling the ability to update Windows with critical patches that have been released since the end of July. This seems to of been fixed and on my PC it even redirects to Microsoft Update before my chosen homepage is loaded.
I'm not sure how long this hasd been fixed, because I've been away visiting family in England for the past 2 weeks. I checked my PC last night and wasn't prompted to use Windows Update (linked in IE7 Tools menu), but this morning I was redirected to Microsoft Update when I opened the browser. It may not be the default action for everyone, but it seems now is the time to get those critical patches installed on your Windows XP box if you use the IE7 beta.
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Microsoft Update
At a High Technology Crime Investigation Association event on Wednesday, Microsoft Latest News about Microsoft announced plans to launch a Web site that will aid police in investigating Internet crime. Analysts say the move should resonate with the law enforcement community as a valuable crime-fighting tool. The announcement comes on the heels of the FBI's Microsoft-aided investigation into the origins of the ZoTob worm, which crippled business across the U.S. last month. "Over the past months, cybercrime has gone from casual to malicious to criminal," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research.
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Slashdot writes: "Executives at Google, the rapidly growing online-search company that promises to 'organize the world's information,' announced Monday the latest step in their expansion effort: a far-reaching plan to destroy all the information it is unable to index. 'Book burning is just the beginning," said Google co-founder Larry Page. 'This fall, we'll unveil Google Sound, which will record and index all the noise on Earth. Is your baby sleeping soundly? Does your high-school sweetheart still talk about you? Google will have the answers.'"
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Massachusetts government officials on Thursday unveiled plans to phase out Microsoft Office in favor of office productivity suites that support an open-document format from the OASIS standards body, according to a statement from the commonwealth.
Massachusetts will support the newly ratified Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, as the standard for its office documents, according to the statement posted on the governmental Web site by Peter Quinn, chief information officer for Massachusetts. Developed within Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), OpenDocument is an XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based file format that covers the features required by text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical documents.
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Because virtual machines work by time-sharing host physical hardware, a virtual machine cannot exactly duplicate the timing behavior of a physical machine. VMware virtual machines use several techniques to minimize and conceal differences in timing behavior, but the differences can still sometimes cause timekeeping inaccuracies and other problems in guest software. This white paper describes how timekeeping hardware works in physical machines, how typical guest operating systems use this hardware to keep time, and how VMware products virtualize the hardware. The paper also describes several known timekeeping issues you may encounter and how to correct or work around them. You can find the paper on the VMware website.
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John Howard writes: Gilles Vollant of WinImage fame contacted me a few weeks ago to have a look at the latest beta of WinImage. I've been playing with it for a while now and it's been acting flawlessly. Why would this be of particular interest to me? One very good reason - the beta supports mounting VHD (Virtual Hard Disk), VUD (Virtual Undo Drives) and VFD (Virtual Floppy Disk) files.
The VHD file format is available under license, and I'm guessing that this beta is using that interface to support that capability? If you're lucky enough to work at Microsoft, you have a raft of internal tools at your fingertips. One of these allows you to mount a VHD file directly as a disk on the host. It uses a device driver to do this, but unfortunately I've never been able to get it to work under Windows Server 2003 which I run on my laptop. Great under XP though. Hence, for me there's always been an option to boot into XP and mount VHDs, alter them accordingly and not need to boot the Virtual Machine itself. Although WinImage doesn't expose the VHD as a drive in that way, I can still add/delete files & folders from within it's interface, including drag-and-drop.
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You can tell what version of Operations Manager 2005 you have by going into the registry and looking under HKLM\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\2.0\Setup\InstalledServerSKU. It will say "Eval" for the evaluation version, "Select" or "Retail" for the licensed versions.
You can tell when Operations Manager 2005 Eval version is going to expire by going into the registry and looking under HKLM\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\2.0\Setup\InstalledOn. Add 120 days to the install date and you will know when the eval license will expire. This is unfortunately something we did not show anywhere in the MOM 2005 UI. While this is one way to find out, Microsoft does not support or recommend any customers going into the system registry.
Note: Changing the install date in the registry does not extend the Eval period either.
The Windows Server team write on their weblog: We posted a Web bulletin today to let customers know that Longhorn Server running on Itanium-based servers "is designed specifically for database workloads and custom and line-of-business applications." The bulletin goes on to state:
Windows Server roles that don't apply to these workloads for example, fax server, Windows Media Services, Windows SharePoint Services, file and print servers, and others, won't operate on Windows Server "Longhorn" for Itanium-based systems.
Along the same lines, Cnet reported the other day that a group of vendors, to be called the Itanium Solutions Alliance, are pooling efforts "to make it easier for customers to adopt systems using the high-end chip." Here's an excerpt:
In addition to Intel and Hewlett-Packard--the co-developer of Itanium and the top seller of Itanium servers--the alliance includes server makers NEC, SGI, Unisys, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Bull, and software makers Microsoft, Red Hat, Novell, Oracle, SAP and SAS, the source said.
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Windows Server team weblog
Microsoft has decided against enhancing its Services for Unix (SFU) product and will not release any new versions of it going forward, according to company officials. SFU is a Unix environment designed to run on top of the Windows kernel. It includes hundreds of Unix utilities, scripting shells and other Unix services. Microsoft has decided to nix any future, out-of-band releases of SFU, Microsoft officials confirmed earlier this week.
Until recently, Microsoft had been expected to release a "Services for Unix 'Next'" version, which company officials had been hoping to ship in calendar 2005. Microsoft offers Windows Server 2003 R2 RC0 for download. This release, the follow-on to the currently shipping SFU 3.5 product, was set to deliver support for botoh x64- and Itanium-based hardware. Microsoft will continue to support SFU 3.5 until 2011, and to offer extended support for the product until 2014, however.
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A flaw in Windows Firewall may prevent users from seeing all the open network ports on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 computer. The flaw manifests itself in the way the security application handles some entries in the Windows Registry, Microsoft said in a security advisory published Wednesday. The Windows Registry stores PC settings and is a core part of the operating system.
The bug could allow a firewall port to be open without the user being informed through the standard Windows Firewall user interface, according to the Microsoft advisory. The company has released a fix that can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site and will be part of a future Windows service pack, the company said. Microsoft said the firewall issue is not a security vulnerability but said the flaw could be used by an attacker who already compromised a system in an attempt to hide exceptions in the firewall.
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Update for Windows XP (KB897663)
Microsoft is to change the initial service pack of bug fixes and enhancements that had been planned for its Virtual Server 2005 software into an "R2" product upgrade that some users may have to buy.
There have been no major feature changes since Microsoft announced a beta version of what was supposed to be Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server 2005 in April, said a company spokesman. But Microsoft officials decided that the update's performance and availability improvements, 64-bit compatibility and other planned enhancements "passed the bar" necessary for a full product release, said Zane Adam, a director of marketing for Windows Server.
Users who bought a Software Assurance maintenance package for the virtualisation software as part of a volume licensing deal with Microsoft will be able to get the R2 upgrade for no extra cost, Adam noted. But those who didn't purchase the maintenance plan will have to pay for R2.
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As test versions of the new WinFS file system were released this week, Microsoft said the technology would not be ready for the so-called "Longhorn Server" release, due in 2007.
While the company announced almost a year ago it was dropping WinFS from the desktop Vista release, Iain McDonald, director of Windows Server Group, has confirmed the file system will not ship with the server release scheduled for 2007, despite earlier promises it would be.
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Windows Vista will include a new technology known as Freeze Dry designed to maintain application states and unsaved documents even when patches are automatically applied and PCs are rebooted.
Many IT managers plan to automatically install patches and updates on machines during periods when they are inactive, such as overnight or on weekends. However, as some patches require machines to reboot, users who leave documents open and unsaved run the risk of losing that data if the machine is automatically updated.
Freeze Dry eliminates that problem by automatically saving application state and documents and then restoring them once the system restarts, Stephan said.
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REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 31, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it has completed the acquisition of FrontBridge Technologies Inc., a leading provider of managed services that help address corporate e-mail compliance, security and availability requirements.
Originally announced July 20, the acquisition of FrontBridge allows Microsoft to deliver services for enforcing compliance through archiving, ensuring e-mail availability in the case of a disaster, and improving protection of employee inboxes from viruses and spam. FrontBridge, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, will continue to offer managed messaging services for multiple e-mail platforms such as Microsoft® Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and other SMTP-compliant servers currently supported by FrontBridge.
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