Microsoft Criticized For Gifts to Bloggers

Microsoft has been accused of trying to influence and even bribe tech bloggers by 'gifting' them Acer Ferrari PCs, loaded with Microsoft Vista. The two models (Acer Ferrari 1000 and 5000), worth approximately $2,400 each, were handed to big and small bloggers as Christmas gifts.

Microsoft issued a statement last week, saying the company "sent out machines loaded with Windows Vista, to bloggers to encourage them to experience the product and to solicit their valuable feedback, offering full disclosure that no editorial commentary was expected as a condition of acceptance." However, the issue has drawn criticism from some of the bloggers themselves, as well as others, on grounds that these bloggers are bound by journalistic ethics which prohibits 'gifts' from companies they write about.

After the matter was publicized on the net and widely criticized by internet surfers, a Microsoft employee sent an e-mail to some of the recipients of the laptops, asking them to return or give away the machines when they had finished evaluating Vista. However, the spokeswoman for Microsoft stated that the follow-up message had caused confusion and that the bloggers were still welcome to keep the computers they had been given.

Vista security flaw blow to Microsoft

MICROSOFT'S security experts had an uneasy holiday break after a security flaw was discovered in Windows Vista, the software company's new operating system.

It was the first security flaw discovered since Vista's official release four weeks ago.
The flaw is a symbolic blow to Microsoft, which has spent 5 1/2 years developing Vista.

The software, which was launched two years later than originally planned, is the biggest upgrade to the operating system since the release of Windows 95 and Microsoft focused heavily on improving security.

The company confirmed the vulnerabilities, which were first reported by independent third parties, but pointed out that no malicious programs taking advantage of the flaws had yet appeared.

The flaw allows a user with standard system privileges to gain wider access to system tools and settings without the approval of a network administrator.

This potentially disables a key security feature of Vista but attackers would first need to gain access to a computer through some other means before exploiting the vulnerability.

A vulnerability in the new web browser Internet Explorer 7 was reported at the same time. Mike Reavey, operations manager at Microsoft's Security Response Centre, acknowledged on the company's security blog that it was "closely monitoring developments" over the Christmas period. "Of course these are preliminary findings and we have activated our emergency response process involving a multitude of folks who are investigating the issue in depth to determine the full scope and potential impact to Microsoft's customers," he wrote.

He added: "I still have every confidence that Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date", and said that as always, Microsoft encouraged users to take other security measures such as firewall, security updates, anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer with Finnish security company F-Secure, said the vulnerability was significant for being Vista's first since its launch, but was unlikely to be a big concern either to Microsoft or corporate users of Vista, because attackers would need to already have access to the system to take advantage of it.

However, he said said criminal gangs would inevitably increase their efforts on attacking Vista.
"Within a year or two, there could be tens of millions of computers running Vista, so there will be more attacks."
This was reported by -The Australian News Website.

Your Online Office

Internet productivity suites innovate with online sharing and storage, but don't yet challenge Microsoft for document-creation features.

A host of new free or low-cost online competitors are trying to nibble away at Microsoft's $11.8 billion Office pie by pulling together productivity suites with online document storage and innovative sharing and collaboration features. The new options can prove useful for group efforts, and the price is certainly right. But none of these packages have the feature set to truly challenge Office--for now.

Google recently launched its free Google Docs & Spreadsheets service, creating a new interface for its previously separate word processing and spreadsheet applications. ThinkFree and Zoho, in their more extensive suites, also offer PowerPoint-like presentation programs. Like Google, ThinkFree and Zoho are free for individual users and allow you to save documents in a variety of formats, including HTML. A fourth contender, gOffice, charges 99 cents per month for its limited word processing and spreadsheet programs, with a presentation app to come.

Document-creation applications have been available online for some time. But by bringing such tools together as suites and offering downloadable business packages, these companies are obviously making a distinct effort to entice users away from Microsoft's ubiquitous software.