22 February 2007
Users Want Linux and OS Software From Dell
Dell has recently launched the IdeaStorm Web site where users can give input into their decision-making process. Since Friday's launch 66000 users have suggested that Dell should offer Fedora, OpenSuse and Ubuntu as free pre-install options. Along with this about 40000 users said OpenOffice should also be a pre-install option along with MS Works and Office. Most of the suggestions were that Windows should not be the default option and that Linux and free software should be supplied.
Visit the site to see the results for yourself or contribute your own opinions.
Visit the site to see the results for yourself or contribute your own opinions.
Labels: computer, linux, microsoft, novell, office, openoffice, os, suse, vista, windows
28 January 2007
EC Again Looking at Microsoft Anti-Competitive Practices
Microsoft is yet again in trouble with the European Commission. This time IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Corel, RealNetworks, Linspire and Opera are the ones making the complaint that Vista will continue practices that have been considered illegal in the EU for almost 3 years.
The chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) agrees that Microsoft has ignored the principles set in the EC's decision from March 2004. The ECIS states that Vista is a step to dominate the Internet and feels that the XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML". XAML is completely dependent on Windows and discriminates against other systems like Linux. OOXML as well works only in Microsoft Office and was not made to 'play' well with other office suites.
The ECIS believes that the result of Microsoft's actions will prevent any real choice for consumers.
On the bright side, earlier issues raised by Symantec and other anti-virus and security software creators have been solved and Symantec and a few other companies have been able to release updates in time for the release of Vista.
Like most companies, Microsoft tries to keep a strong market position, the problem comes that unlike other companies who try to release products that actually are innovative and compete with competitors, Microsoft has a strategy of releasing a not so unique Windows. If Windows were considered stable and secure that may be enough to easily hold their market position ignoring the overpriced issue with Vista. Most people use some version of Windows and it provides them with most of what they want. What it usually fails to provide is security and stability - try leaving a standard Windows system up for 2 months of standard use. Vista adds another feature that people will not like, limitations. With the security features created for Vista, users are more restricted and put in a box that allows them to use their computer how Microsoft thinks they want to use it. There is no thinking outside of the box in Vista. This is not something that will help Microsoft keep users. We are already seeing in the news people and companies saying that Vista will not work for them and they are forced to choose from Linux and Mac.
The chairman of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) agrees that Microsoft has ignored the principles set in the EC's decision from March 2004. The ECIS states that Vista is a step to dominate the Internet and feels that the XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML". XAML is completely dependent on Windows and discriminates against other systems like Linux. OOXML as well works only in Microsoft Office and was not made to 'play' well with other office suites.
The ECIS believes that the result of Microsoft's actions will prevent any real choice for consumers.
On the bright side, earlier issues raised by Symantec and other anti-virus and security software creators have been solved and Symantec and a few other companies have been able to release updates in time for the release of Vista.
Like most companies, Microsoft tries to keep a strong market position, the problem comes that unlike other companies who try to release products that actually are innovative and compete with competitors, Microsoft has a strategy of releasing a not so unique Windows. If Windows were considered stable and secure that may be enough to easily hold their market position ignoring the overpriced issue with Vista. Most people use some version of Windows and it provides them with most of what they want. What it usually fails to provide is security and stability - try leaving a standard Windows system up for 2 months of standard use. Vista adds another feature that people will not like, limitations. With the security features created for Vista, users are more restricted and put in a box that allows them to use their computer how Microsoft thinks they want to use it. There is no thinking outside of the box in Vista. This is not something that will help Microsoft keep users. We are already seeing in the news people and companies saying that Vista will not work for them and they are forced to choose from Linux and Mac.
Labels: EC, microsoft, office, os, vista, windows
12 December 2006
More Office Vulnerabilities
This has been a dangerous week for MS Office users. Two exploits have been discovered.
The latest exploit is the result of an error when processing word files. Thankfully it is not being exploited very actively and requires a person to open the file to actually be affected by it, which mostly prevents anyone who practices safe computing habits from being affected by the exploit. The word file used in the exploits contains the PWS-Agent.g Trojan which collects passwords from IE, Firefox and email clients.
Unfortunately currently Microsoft has released very little information aside from a confirmation of the exploit and has no patch or workaround.
The latest exploit is the result of an error when processing word files. Thankfully it is not being exploited very actively and requires a person to open the file to actually be affected by it, which mostly prevents anyone who practices safe computing habits from being affected by the exploit. The word file used in the exploits contains the PWS-Agent.g Trojan which collects passwords from IE, Firefox and email clients.
Unfortunately currently Microsoft has released very little information aside from a confirmation of the exploit and has no patch or workaround.
Labels: microsoft, office, vulnerability
27 October 2006
Office Genuine Advantage added to Office 2007
For Microsoft Office users, it is required as of today to validate the authenticity of your Office 2007 before downloading online templets with OGA (Office Genuine Advantage). From January it will be required to authenticate Office before using Office Update.
OGA is created from WGA and hopefully doesn't have similar problems with misidentification of legitimate software. It seems the direction Microsoft is going is to have such features on all versions of their software, from Office to their games.
Not knowing exactly the scope of what this feature will eventually do, I cannot say whether this is a good or bad thing. With the Vista version limiting the number of times you can install the system or authenticate the system on a computer after hardware modifications, if OGA is similar it may not be so good. People's hard drives have problems and they have to reinstall everything, some have such problems that they are reinstalling even more often. The last thing that is needed is to have a problem on your computer and have to buy a new license for Office because you cannot authenticate it again after reinstalling it for example the third time.
OGA is created from WGA and hopefully doesn't have similar problems with misidentification of legitimate software. It seems the direction Microsoft is going is to have such features on all versions of their software, from Office to their games.
Not knowing exactly the scope of what this feature will eventually do, I cannot say whether this is a good or bad thing. With the Vista version limiting the number of times you can install the system or authenticate the system on a computer after hardware modifications, if OGA is similar it may not be so good. People's hard drives have problems and they have to reinstall everything, some have such problems that they are reinstalling even more often. The last thing that is needed is to have a problem on your computer and have to buy a new license for Office because you cannot authenticate it again after reinstalling it for example the third time.
Labels: microsoft, office, oga, wga
20 September 2006
Office and IE vulnerability surfaces
Yet another vulnerability and exploit has been found for Microsoft products. This time it's Office 2007 and Internet Explorer using Vector Markup Language(VML).
This is a slight modification to a bug that was fixed in 2004. The impact of this exploit now is potentially larger as a result of Office's Open XML format which relies on VML.
Microsoft has created a scenario of how an attacker might use the exploit. Their idea is that the exploit will sit on a website. When a person views the site the exploit could give an attacker the same permission as the person using their machine locally. (Another note as to why you shouldn't log on as administrator in Windows and root in Linux.)
Of course this is only one method and others could be possible.
This is a slight modification to a bug that was fixed in 2004. The impact of this exploit now is potentially larger as a result of Office's Open XML format which relies on VML.
Microsoft has created a scenario of how an attacker might use the exploit. Their idea is that the exploit will sit on a website. When a person views the site the exploit could give an attacker the same permission as the person using their machine locally. (Another note as to why you shouldn't log on as administrator in Windows and root in Linux.)
Of course this is only one method and others could be possible.
Labels: IE, microsoft, office, vulnerability
13 September 2006
Microsoft Student to help students succeed.
Microsoft has a product to help students "succeed in school." Microsoft Student combines Microsoft Math, Research Tools (namely the Encarta encyclopedia), language and literature resources and different templets and toolbars.
Microsoft Math helps students solve math and science equations and is compared to a personal math tutor. The language and literature resources help improve writing and reading comprehension and has other features such as book summaries. MS Student as well includes templets and help for creating presentations and reports in Microsoft Office.
The product seems very user friendly and is created for junior high and high schools students. I would say it's definitely worth investigating the product and will probably be very helpful for students and at $69.95 it's not too expensive for students and provides a good all-in-one resource.
Microsoft Math helps students solve math and science equations and is compared to a personal math tutor. The language and literature resources help improve writing and reading comprehension and has other features such as book summaries. MS Student as well includes templets and help for creating presentations and reports in Microsoft Office.
The product seems very user friendly and is created for junior high and high schools students. I would say it's definitely worth investigating the product and will probably be very helpful for students and at $69.95 it's not too expensive for students and provides a good all-in-one resource.
Labels: education, microsoft, office, student
05 September 2006
Word 2000 Vulnerability
A very critical security advisory has been released today regarding a vulnerability in MS Word 2000 that is actively being exploited. The vulnerability has been reported in Windows 2000, 98, 95, ME, NT and XP systems running Word 2000, but there is a possibility that it is present in other systems as well.
The only solution currently is to not open any Word documents that you don't trust.
The Trojan.MDropper.Q, actually located in the document file, uses the vulnerability to install a form of the Backdoor.Femo backdoor onto the system. These are names used by Symantec while McAfee has discovered it as well and is calling it W32/Mofei.worm.
More information can be found from McAffee and Symantec on this issue.
The only solution currently is to not open any Word documents that you don't trust.
The Trojan.MDropper.Q, actually located in the document file, uses the vulnerability to install a form of the Backdoor.Femo backdoor onto the system. These are names used by Symantec while McAfee has discovered it as well and is calling it W32/Mofei.worm.
More information can be found from McAffee and Symantec on this issue.
Labels: microsoft, office, trojan, vulnerability
29 July 2006
MS Office Beta for $1.50
Starting next Wednesday, people who want to download the beta version of MS Office 2007 will have to pay $1.50 for each download. This is said to help with the cost of running the servers which host the downloads.
I have two comments on this. The first, I always though those who beta test are doing a service for the people they are testing for and without the beta testers there could be more undetected bugs in the code. The second comment is, a company the size of Microsoft is going to actually be hurt by the cost of hosting a beta version of their software. Other companies seem to have no problem providing beta versions of their software free of charge. It seems to be another MS game to make more money from it's loyal crowd.
I have two comments on this. The first, I always though those who beta test are doing a service for the people they are testing for and without the beta testers there could be more undetected bugs in the code. The second comment is, a company the size of Microsoft is going to actually be hurt by the cost of hosting a beta version of their software. Other companies seem to have no problem providing beta versions of their software free of charge. It seems to be another MS game to make more money from it's loyal crowd.
