In the aftermath of the MSBlast worm, Microsoft says it may be time to change the way Windows updates its security patches by making the process automatic by default. A Microsoft representative said the company is "giving strong consideration to enabling Auto Update by default in future versions of Windows," though the company has not yet committed to a time frame. If Microsoft decides to go ahead with the change, it could be implemented in "Longhorn," the code name for the next version of Windows expected to come out in late 2004.
Automatic installation of security patches might have helped prevent the recent MSBlast worm, which successfully attacked hundreds of thousands of PCs that had not installed a month-old patch.
Microsoft next month will launch new software and a time-tested strategy--undercutting prices--in an attempt to grab a larger share of the enterprise storage market. The company's Storage Server 2003 software, designed to run as the operating system on network-attached storage (NAS) devices, is expected to debut next month.
NAS devices are dedicated computers that serve up files and data to computer users on a network. The systems tend to be used by smaller companies or work groups within large organizations, such as law firms or financial services companies, that frequently access data in the form of files.
A virus that debuted this week has been declared the fastest-spreading e-mail plague of all time, while another malicious program that hit last week continued to disrupt computers worldwide.The "Sobig.F" computer worm infected more computer systems yesterday, even clogging state-owned networks in New Jersey, New York and North Carolina.
MessageLabs Inc., a company that filters e-mail for corporate clients around the world, yesterday said it had intercepted more than a million copies of the Sobig.F virus the previous day, the most it has ever intercepted in a single day. That was one in every 17 e-mail messages the firm scanned.
Microsoft released a cumulative security patch for Internet Explorer on Wednesday that addresses four flaws, including two that Microsoft considers critical risks. The flaws affect all currently supported versions of Internet Explorer, although all the problems are reduced to a "moderate" severity rating on Windows Server 2003. That operating system runs Internet Explorer 6.0 in a default, locked-down state, which is called Enhanced Security Configuration.
The most serious vulnerability could allow an attacker to take control of a user's machine if the user visited an attacker's Web site or opened an HTML e-mail. Another vulnerability creates a situation where an attacker, who succeeds in luring a user to a Web site, could view information located in the browser cache.
A new report from IDC suggests that Microsoft could emerge as a major force in the burgeoning telecom sector of voice over IP (VoIP) (define) services. Since the battle for control of the enterprise desktop may center on new and emerging technologies that let users communicate via voice over IP data networks or the Internet, instead of over the telephone companies' public switched networks, expect Microsoft to be in the thick of the fray, the Framingham, Mass.-based technology research and consulting firm said.
Besides the core 'dream team' members, there are other IW managers thinking outside the Office box. It's not only the core dream team that's focusing on how to expand Microsoft's information-worker (IW) charter. Other individuals are working on new products/scenarios/add-ons that are designed to expand the audience for Microsoft's business and productivity offerings.
- Lewis Levin
- Kurt Delbene
- Ross, Cutler
Microsoft may still be aiming for a 2005 delivery of Longhorn, the next iteration of the Windows operating system, but one analyst says don't hold your breath. Joe Wilcox, lead Microsoft analyst for Jupiter Research said Microsoft's efforts to align all of its products with the Longhorn operating system -- and its new Windows Future Storage (WinFS) file system -- will force it to push public release of the OS back to 2006.
"In mid-2003, Microsoft began making major changes to its development strategy for Longhorn, the next-generation version of Windows," Wilcox wrote in a new report called "Longhorn: Implications of Next Windows' Ship Date."
Even as the rest of Microsoft Business Solutions focuses on selling the soup-to-nuts Microsoft stack, one group is reaching out to other applications. MBS' FRx Software group is working on a new Integration Designer product that will open up unsupported general ledgers.
The move is being made so users of J.D. Edwards or PeopleSoft applications, or vertical ERP systems, can take advantage of FRx' talents. "We've talked to resellers who support nonsupported GLs, and they want to use FRx with those systems," Andy Kamlet, vice president of marketing for Denver-based FRx told CRN.
Late last week, Microsoft posted on its Web site an interesting document that outlined the company's release plans for various Windows service packs. The document listed "Q3 2004" as the release date for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), prompting reports that Microsoft will delay the service pack, originally due late this year, until late 2004. A little fact-checking goes a long way, however, and after conferring with various Microsoft representatives, I've confirmed that "Q3 2004" is, indeed, a typo. That's the good news. The bad news is that the service pack is still shipping a lot later than originally expected--not until the first half of 2004.
Two new computer attacks are wreacking havoc with PC users this week, clogging email systems and overwhelming corporate networks. The first, which oddly enough seeks to undo the damage from the infamous MSBlaster worm, is a worm called W32.Welchia or W32/Nachi; it aggressively looks for new hosts that MSBlaster has infected, then downloads and installs the Microsoft patch that fixes the vulnerability. The second, SoBig.F and its variants, is a virus and is more malicious. This virus infects users through email, searches for email addresses on the users' systems, then sends itself through email messages to each of those email addresses.