Amusing spoof movie imagining how Microsoft would reconfigure the iPod packaging. Then, in a neat case of life copying art, someone got hold of a leaked promotional video for Microsoft’s coming mysterious portable product, Origami, that in some ways resembles the packaging parody.
Thanks to AA for the original link.
Oh, and while we’re at it, see movie of Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, in hysterical form.
This morning’s Observer column…
Many of the PCs in people’s homes are riddled with a rich ecosystem of viruses, worms, trojans, adware and spyware which exploit flaws in Microsoft software. While most companies escape the worst of these pestilences because they employ expensive IT support staff and robust defence measures, the average home user remains hopelessly exposed. In his keynote address, Gates finally acknowledged that his company bears a large responsibility in this area – which is great news. But in the same breath he went on to say that the ‘entire computing industry’ needs to get together to build a ‘trust ecosystem’. Let us deconstruct that. The problem, it seems, is largely Microsoft’s responsibility; but it’s the industry which has to fix it.
At the same time, Microsoft announced a helpful new service for those embattled home users mentioned earlier. It’s a ‘computer health’ software package called OneCareLive, which includes antivirus programs, automatic updates, back-up prompts and live customer service. It can be installed on up to three computers in a home and will be available from June. Oh – and it costs $49 a year. Neat, eh? Snake oil salesmen, eat your hearts out…
This hilarious NYT headline goes over an equally hilarious report about Microsoft and the $100 laptop project.
Mr. Negroponte has made significant progress, but he has also catalyzed the debate over the role of computing in poor nations — and ruffled a few feathers. He failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft on including its Windows software in the laptop, leading Microsoft executives to start discussing what they say is a less expensive alternative: turning a specially configured cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard.
Translation: Negroponte doesn’t want to clobber his laptop by getting it to run proprietary bloatware and had the temerity to say so to Gates & Co. So they’re going to teach him a lesson by, er, launching a mobile phone which runs Windows CE. Ho, ho. Wonder how you get Ctrl-Alt-Del on a mobile keyboard? Ah, I see. Like this:
From a CNN report on Microsoft’s latest results…
Microsoft, which in addition to Xbox 360, recently released its new SQL Server 2005 database software, is expected to see a pickup in growth thanks to these new products as well as the upcoming release of Microsoft’s long-awaited new operating system, known as Vista, and the latest version of Office: Office 12.
“I’m excited about the second half of the year,” said Michael Cohen, director of research with Pacific American Securities. “That’s when we’ll likely see Vista and Office 12, some of the most significant releases in the company’s history. I think that will lead to a PC upgrade cycle in the second half of the year.”
Translation: if you want to run the next version of Windows, you will also need to buy a new PC! Verily, Moore’s Law giveth and Bill Gates taketh away. It’s almost enough to make one feel sorry for Windows users. But resist the temptation: they only have themselves to blame.
Well, well. According to MIT’s Technology Review, Microsoft
is reorganizing part of its research-and-development operation to create new products faster, and to compete with the seemingly vast array of innovative consumer software and services that companies like Google and Yahoo bring to market on a weekly basis.
Its new organization, called Live Labs, consists of some 85 researchers drawn from two existing divisions, Microsoft Research and the Microsoft Network (MSN). Both organizations are heavily involved in creating new Microsoft offerings, such as MSN Search, introduced last year. But Live Labs is designed to act as a “perpetual startup” within Microsoft, in the words of the organization’s new director Gary Flake — an incubator where software engineers can rapidly test ideas for Web-based services and other software, then shepherd the best concepts to market.
The formation of Live Labs, says Tech review
appears to constitute an admission by Microsoft that its traditional, gradualist approach to research, code development, testing, and marketing is not well suited for an era when younger competitors post beta versions of latest software on the Web almost as soon as their programmers have dreamed them up, then let them evolve in response to user feedback.
Quite so. And how nice that the guy in charge is called Flake. Of Cadbury proportions, we hope.
Bruce Schneier drew my attention to a fascinating piece of research on the relative insecurity of different web browsers. He summarises the findings thus:
The researchers tracked three browsers (MSIE, Firefox, Opera) in 2004 and counted which days they were “known unsafe.” Their definition of “known unsafe”: a remotely exploitable security vulnerability had been publicly announced and no patch was yet available.
MSIE was 98% unsafe. There were only 7 days in 2004 without an unpatched publicly disclosed security hole.
Firefox was 15% unsafe. There were 56 days with an unpatched publicly disclosed security hole. 30 of those days were a Mac hole that only affected Mac users. Windows Firefox was 7% unsafe.
Opera was 17% unsafe: 65 days. That number is accidentally a little better than it should be, as two of the unpatched periods happened to overlap.
This underestimates the risk, because it doesn’t count vulnerabilities known to the bad guys but not publicly disclosed (and it’s foolish to think that such things don’t exist). So the “98% unsafe” figure for MSIE is generous, and the situation might be even worse.
Still using IE? Think about it.
… Ballmer for the White House? Excitable rumours are circulating based on alleged sightings of Bill Clinton in Redmond. Is he being lined up to be Microsoft’s next President? Or just an ordinary Board member? Will he be able to swear “I did not have relations with that software company”? Curious. It would make sense in one way, though: Gates & Co think their company is at least as important as the United States. On the other hand, having Clinton on the Board would alienate the Republicans. Hmmm….
There’s a nasty Windows vulnerability about. First reported on December 27. Details:
Microsoft Windows contains a vulnerability that can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability is due to improper handling of Windows metafiles by the Graphics Rendering Engine. Attackers can exploit the vulnerability by creating a metafile and enticing a victim into opening the file. Use of the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is one known vector of attack through the automatic display of certain metafiles. Known file types that will launch Windows Picture and Fax Viewer when opened are .wmf, .emf, .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .bmp, and .png. Note: Additional attack vectors may exist.
At the time of writing (January 5) Microsoft hasn’t issued a patch. They’re going to wait until Tuesday January 10 because that’s the next scheduled date for the release of Microsoft upgrades and fixes. Now that’s what I call customer service.
Update (January 6): According to The Register, Microsoft has now issued a patch.
Microsoft has announced that it will no longer ‘support’ the Mac version of Internet Explorer. Yawn. But Bill Thompson sees this as an opportunity. If Microsoft no longer wants Mac IE, he argues, why not release the source code and let keen programmers support — and maybe enhance — it. Now there’s a real optimist for you.
Behold the PC world’s first stab at replicating the Mac mini. According to the Guardian Online Blog it costs £699 inc VAT with no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse, no speakers and no wireless. A Mac mini with a comparable spec would cost somewhere between £359 and £429. So you pay extra for all those viruses, worms, trojans and other Windows-enabled vulnerabilities. Weird. If it had been priced at, say, £199 then you could understand the logic.