Palladium. It's the newest word in our Microsoft vocabulary, but hardly anyone knows what it really means. Published reports so far have told us that it's Microsoft's new "trustworthy computing" architecture, and that we'll have to buy new computers and updated software to run it. But beyond that, it's hard to tell what, exactly, Palladium is. I want to take a shot at changing that. Though the details are still sketchy, here's my first attempt at a Palladium FAQ.
What is Palladium?
Palladium is not a separate operating system. Rather, it consists of enhancements to the Windows kernel and to hardware, including the CPU, peripherals, and chipsets. Together, these enhancements will support a trustworthy execution subsystem within the PC--think of it as a very secure little computer inside your larger, insecure one.
As computer users download more music and videos from the Internet, companies are jostling to provide the software they need to listen and watch. Microsoft, the No. 1 software maker, expects to vanquish RealNetworks in media players. To claim victory, Microsoft must win the allegiance of media companies -- to supply music and videos -- and telecoms to distribute the content. Microsoft is going hard after what it believes will be the sweet spot by distributing its Windows Media Player free and enticing consumer electronics makers to embed the Windows Media format in about 120 models of CD players, car stereos and portable music devices. The software giant wants to get consumers in the habit of using the Windows Media format to download music and copy CDs onto their PC hard drives, then rip copies to play on Windows Media-equipped devices.
An update to Microsoft's 64-bit Windows Server product, Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition (LE) version 1.2, will ship later this month, the company said this week. Windows LE is essentially a preview version of Windows .NET Advanced Server 64-bit Edition, which will ship late this year alongside other members of the Windows .NET Server family. This new version has been optimized for Intel's Itanium 2 processor, which began shipping Monday.
Microsoft will support the Itanium 2 with other products as well. In addition to Windows .NET Advanced Server 64-bit Edition, the company will ship a new 64-bit Edition of Windows Datacenter Server late this year and a new version of XP, dubbed Windows XP 64-bit Edition version 2003, in early 2003. Microsoft is also working on a 64-bit version of SQL Server 2003, which is currently shipping in beta form to select customers. "SQL Server 2003 is the anchor, next to Windows .NET Server, of our server products," Barry Goffe, Microsoft Group Manager of Enterprise Marketing Strategy, told me recently.
A security vulnerability in the search feature of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s iPlanet Web server can allow attackers to execute code of their choice on remote iPlanet servers, according to a security advisory released today by Next Generation Security Software Ltd. The flaw affects iPlanet Web server Versions 4.1 and 6.0, Next Generation said. Sun has released patches to address the vulnerability in both versions of the software.
IPlanet's search feature is turned off by default; but if it is enabled, a buffer overflow in the "NS-rel-doc-name" parameter can be exploited to give an attacker control over the execution of a vulnerable process, said U.K.-based Next Generation. Gaining such control would give an attacker the ability to run any code with the same access rights as the administrator account running on the Web server, which in some cases would give the attacker unfettered access, the company said.
Customers will have to wait a few more months for the first smart phone running Microsoft's operating system to appear. Four manufacturers have announced their intention to base products on the OS, originally codenamed Stinger and now known as Microsoft powered Smartphone 2002. Of these, the little known manufacturer Sendo, in which Microsoft holds a £10m stake, had hoped to be first to market. But the phones have continually been delayed. The latest deadline was June, which has now passed, and the phones are now expected on the market in September or October. A spokeswoman for Sendo said the phones are currently undergoing extensive testing. She said: "We have always said that we want to get the best phone we can out on the market rather than get to market quickly."
Microsoft on Tuesday released the first beta of Content Management Server (CMS) 2002, which features support for XML-based Web services, improved content authoring, and tighter integration with Visual Studio .Net programming environment and support for ASP.Net. One of the technical highlights of the new release is the Authoring Connector for Office XP, which allows users to generate and contribute content for a Web site from within the suite of Office applications. In doing so, Microsoft officials believe the adoption of solutions can be speeded up. The upcoming product's support for Web services makes it possible for users to expose content and functions of the server as Web services. This makes it simpler for users to integrate Web sites and content residing on other server-based applications regardless of the programming language used to build them.
Microsoft Corp., which has made security of its own software products a top corporate priority, has deployed NetScreen Technologies Inc. security appliances in its SQL Labs, which is responsible for SQL database software development. Microsoft deployed NetScreen-500 systems to secure and monitor the Microsoft SQL Labs network from Code Red and Nimda virus attacks. The network has 4,500 workstations. Microsoft's SQL software development teams use the SQL Labs network to upload, download, and test new code daily. The organization is using the NetScreen-500's denial-of-service blocking and reporting functions to protect against Code Red- and Nimda-related attacks starting from outside the company network. The NetScreen-500 promises security performance of more than 700 Mbit/s in firewall applications and 250 Mbit/s throughput in VPN applications.
Microsoft, Unisys, several Linux developers and a host of other high-tech companies pledged their allegiance to Intel's Itanium 2 processor this week but generally acknowledged that their products for the processor won't roll out overnight. Microsoft will start to come out with an Itanium 2 version of Windows Advanced Server next month but won't issue a version of Windows XP for workstations until the first quarter of 2003. Windows.Net enterprise and data-center servers for Itanium will ship to manufacturers this year but likely won't be in customers' hands until next year. Itanium 2, a chip for high-end servers and workstations that has been in development at Intel for years, will compete against chips such as IBM's Power 4 and Sun's UltraSparc line that go into servers that cost anywhere from $25,000 to well over $1 million.
Microsoft is sprucing up its business software for managing Web content.
On Tuesday, the software giant released a test version of Content Management Server 2002, software that helps businesses create and maintain Web content. Analysts say the new version offers the first major improvements in the software since Microsoft acquired the technology from start-up NCompass Labs more than a year ago. Content Management Server, part of the Microsoft's .Net e-business software, competes with products from software makers such as Documentum, Interwoven and Vignette in the growing market for managing Web content. According to Forrester Research, a recent survey of 900 businesses found that one-third planned to buy content management software this year.
Microsoft hopes to extend its Passport online identification system into authorizing credit card payments. The software giant will strike a partnership Tuesday with security-software maker Arcot Systems, which builds online payment systems for merchants and for banks that issue Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Arcot makes the systems behind Visa's own Verified by Visa program as well as a similar program in development at MasterCard.
Under the deal, Microsoft and Arcot plan to offer, later this fall, a service that will let banks require computer users to type in their Passport username and password to authenticate Visa or MasterCard credit cards.