As part of a push to regain the public trust, Microsoft plans to release a wizardlike program to help home software users and network administrators protect their computer systems from outside attack.
Called the Baseline Security Advisor, the program will scan Windows computers for unpatched programs, weak passwords and vulnerabilities in the operating system and in several Microsoft products.
"Our goal is to allow (home) users to check their own machines," said Jason Shaw, lead product manager for Microsoft. "Company administrators can also use it to check their entire network."
There still may be hope for this Judge, good decision!
The federal judge overseeing the Microsoft antitrust settlement has ruled against a nonprofit group that had sought to block the deal. The American Antitrust Institute filed the suit in January, alleging that Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department violated federal law by not properly disclosing all information and communications related to settlement negotiations. Microsoft, the Justice Department and nine states suing the software maker reached an agreement in November.
Computer security and privacy are among the top concerns facing not only information technology professionals, but also anyone who uses a computer. Every week there are reports of newly discovered security problems in all types of software, from individual applications and services to Windows, Linux, UNIX and other platforms. How will your desktop computer -- or your company's enterprise network -- fare when the next computer virus hits? How safe or private is your personal information? Does the computer industry have a long-term plan to address these concerns, and what can the industry, and you, do today? Earlier this year, Microsoft accelerated its response to these concerns, launching a company-wide effort called Trustworthy Computing. One of the key Microsoft executives leading this initiative is Craig Mundie, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Advanced Strategies and Policy, who today addresses issues including computer security and privacy in a keynote speech at the RSA Conference 2002 in San Jose, Calif.
Global business. A scattered and mobile workforce. Demanding customers. Eager partners. An organization with even one of these factors will probably require constant and secure communication. These days, most companies looking to be successful must contend with at least two, if not all of these factors. And they need help.
Enter Microsoft, which has teamed with Hewlett-Packard (HP) to make it easier for mobile professionals to stay a step ahead of the competition and customer desires. The new solution -- HP Express Service for Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002 -- is crafted to make it easier for enterprises to begin enjoying the substantial benefits of mobile computing and communications. The potential benefits include increased employee productivity, greater revenue from field sales teams, reduced costs and higher levels of customer satisfaction. The deployment is designed to be hassle-free and to not interfere with existing IT infrastructure.
Imagine that as a Christmas gift to yourself, you had purchased Microsoft's highly-touted e-Home, which contains SYS, Freestyle and Mira home automation systems that integrates all of your environmental (heating, air conditioning and lights), entertainment and PC needs.There is no way for you to realize just how integrated the system is until you put it into action. So, say that your family just returned from a two-week, mid-winter vacation in the sun-drenched Bahamas. On the way home from the airport, you reach into your coat pocket, remove your Personal Digital Assistant, commonly known as a PDA, and access the wireless Web. You prompt SYS to turn up the heat in your home and turn on the hall lights in preparation for your arrival.
Today at the Internet World Wireless East 2002 show in New York, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Mobile Information Server 2002 Enterprise Edition (MIS 2002 EE) and said that the company has delivered on yet another important step in its mission to make the benefits of mobility available to all enterprises.
Microsoft's strategy is to make mobile access a feature of all our enterprise offerings. More and more corporations are considering mobile solutions and realizing the challenges involved," said Paul Flessner, senior vice president of the Microsoft® .NET Enterprise Server Division at Microsoft. "We believe driving down the barriers for mobile deployment is a key factor in enabling the broadest number of customers to successfully realize the benefits of mobility. MIS 2002 EE is a key step in delivering on that strategy. We've listened to our customers and we are responding."
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said traffic to its MSN family of Web sites grew faster than its main rivals, and said it was talking to content partners about possible future premium subscription services. Microsoft saw traffic to its main MSN.com portal grow by 6 percent in January, while that to Yahoo! Inc. grew 5 percent and that to AOL Time Warner Inc.'s AOL portal grew 4 percent, the company said, citing data from Web usage tracking firm Jupiter Media Metrix.
Is Microsoft beefing up its Xbox video game console to create a whole new device with multimedia abilities like TV recording, video-on-demand and digital music? To hear the software giant tell it, no. But recent moves by the company have fueled talk about the rumored device, dubbed "HomeStation," or at least hinted at Microsoft's designs on the living room.
"This reared its head several weeks ago. The odd thing is there is no thing called the HomeStation product or initiative," a Microsoft spokeswoman said when asked about the mystery product.
The release of the Quadro4 family of chips follows by two weeks Nvidia's release of the GeForce4 family of chips for desktop and laptop PCs. Peter Glaskowsky, analyst for Microdesign Resources, said the new Quadro chips are built on the same foundation as the GeForce4, with extra circuitry for rendering images at higher levels of precision.
"It's either exactly the same chip as in the high-end GeForce4 or very similar," he said. "The difference between the chips would be minimal. But the 5 or 10 percent extra logic you'd need for a professional graphics processor makes a big difference when you're dealing with sophisticated CAD (computer-aided design) operations."
The links below will take you to the photography sections from where you will be able to download high-resolution images and screenshots.
Pocket PC 2002 screenshots
Hardware photography