Microsoft and SUSE extend Microsoft's controversial Novell Linux pact

Summary

Microsoft and SUSE announced they are extending the 2006 Microsoft-Novell Linux patent-protection agreement, and that Microsoft is buying $100 million worth of SUSE Linux Enterprise certificates for its customers.

In November 2006, Microsoft inked its controversial cross-licensing pact with Novell. In exchange for Microsoft distributing to its customers certificates for Novell’s SUSE Linux, Novell paid Microsoft patent-licensing royalties for Linux.
The original pact was due to expire in 2012. On July 25, Microsoft and SUSE announced a year ahead of that expiration date that they’re extending their partnership.
Microsoft is buying $100 million in additional SUSE Linux Enterprise certificates and the pair are going to continue to collaborate on interopability solutions through January 1, 2016. The SUSE certificates are designed to insure Microsoft customers who are implementing Linux that they won’t be caught in any Microsoft-Linux patent crossfire.
In the years following the original Microsoft-Novell agreement, a lot happened. In February 2007, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated the deal between Microsoft and Novell was proof that open-source vendors need to respect Microsoft’s intellectual property. One month later,Microsoft licensing officials claimed publicly that Linux and other free software violated 235 Microsoft patents. Microsoft convinced a few smaller Linux vendors to sign patent-licensing deals with the company.
In 2010, Attachmate ended up purchasing Novell for $2.2 billion, and Microsoft and a handful of other tech companies bought 800 or so Novell patents as part of the arrangement.
In more recent months, Microsoft has increased its IP licensing pressures on Linux and Android vendors and has convinced quite a few, including Amazon, General Dynamics, Onkyo and Velocity Micro, to sign patent-licensing agreements. Barnes & Noble, maker of the Linux-based Nook, is fighting Microsoft over its attempt to exert its IP claims.
Microsoft and SUSE said that the agreement is benefiting customers and partners who need interop guarantees to do things like run SUSE guests on Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisor.from zdnet 25th july 2011

Together, Nokia and Microsoft Renew a Push in Smartphones-nytimes

February 11, 2011

Together, Nokia and Microsoft Renew a Push in Smartphones

By KEVIN J. O’BRIEN

LONDON — Nokia, the struggling world leader in mobile phones, said on Friday that it would discard its own cellphone operating system and begin using software made by Microsoft, in an alliance to shore up the halting efforts in smartphones of two market leaders.
The announcement by Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive hired by Nokia in September as the company’s first non-Finnish chief executive, was an admission of failure by Nokia, which had helped define the mobile phone age in its infancy.
The alliance is also a gamble, perhaps a last-ditch effort for both Nokia and Microsoft to gain a lasting foothold in the booming market for sophisticated smartphones, where Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android software are leading the way in technology innovation.
“Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward,” Mr. Elop, a Canadian who led Microsoft’s business software division before moving to Nokia, said in a statement. “Today, we are accelerating that change through a new path, aimed at regaining our smartphone leadership, reinforcing our mobile device platform and realizing our investments in the future.”
Microsoft’s operating system software dominates the PC industry. But mobile devices like smartphones are expected to surpass desktop and laptop computers this year as the main way to gain access to the Internet. Microsoft has only 2 percent of the global market for phone software.
At least at the outset, the alliance may “Microsoft will have the rationale to really double down with its investment in the smartphone platform and ecosystem,” said Al Hilwa, an analyst at IDC.
One measure, in addition to market share, of how far Microsoft trails in building that ecosystem is the number of software applications developers have created for the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system. The Microsoft applications store, though growing rapidly in recent months, has about 8,000 applications, Mr. Hilwa said. By contrast, more than 350,000 applications have been developed for Apple’s iPhone.
“It’s a big win for Microsoft today,” said Pete Cunningham, an analyst with Canalys, a research firm in Reading, England. “Windows Phone 7 is no one’s priority. But now Microsoft has a leading vendor committed to use the platform. For Nokia, the big question is how quickly can the company execute on this. That has been one of the major issues.”
Nokia held meetings with Google and considered Android, Mr. Elop said in an interview, but was concerned that Google, not Nokia, would benefit from a alliance. Android, which Google gives away to phone makers, is widely used by Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
Nokia risked becoming a commodity maker of mobile phones by ceding software to Google, Mr. Elop said. An alliance with Google, he said, “felt like giving up, not like fighting back.” With Microsoft, Mr. Elop said, “this is now a three-way horse race.”
Microsoft, analysts said, most likely offered Nokia more generous support than Google in paying for engineering assistance, revenue-sharing terms on mobile advertisements, search and map services. In 2007, Nokia paid $8 billion for Navteq, a mobile mapping service, which Google undermined by offering Google Maps free.
“It looks like a good deal for Microsoft, but far riskier for Nokia,” said David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “It’s choosing a new platform and an unproven one in Microsoft’s smartphone software.”
Dropping Symbian, Nokia’s operating system, will be temporarily disruptive to Nokia’s product plans. About 200 million phones around the world use Symbian and the company expects to sell another 150 million more before halting its development and switching to Windows. Investors were skeptical of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Nokia shares dropped 14.2 percent in Europe. Microsoft shares closed down 0.9 percent.

Mark Sue, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets who attended the investors’ conference where the announcement was made, compared the alliance to “two unpopular kids in high school with rich parents suddenly becoming prom king and queen.” He added: “It was clear that Nokia needed to do something different. But there is a lot of skepticism about whether this will work.”
During a joint interview with Mr. Elop, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, dismissed the initial market reaction and skepticism surrounding the alliance. “Objectively, is today a better day or a worse day for Microsoft?” Mr. Ballmer asked. “Objectively, is today a better day or a worse day for Nokia? Ding! It’s a better day for both. So whatever people thought yesterday, they should think something a lot more positive today.”
Mr. Elop also sidetracked Nokia’s one-year collaboration with the chip maker Intel, called MeeGo, to produce a new generation of Nokia smartphones. It will become a long-term open-source project designed to develop new kinds of devices, Mr. Elop said. The collaboration failed to produce a cellphone in its first year.
Nokia’s share of the global handset market, once more than 50 percent, is now falling rapidly as its rivals close in. According to the Gartner research firm, Nokia’s global share fell to 29 percent in 2010 from 36 percent a year earlier as Apple and Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry, both posted gains.
The announcement left some big questions unanswered. Mr. Elop declined to say when Nokia and Microsoft would sell the first handsets, later clarifying in a presentation to analysts that significant numbers would be ready by 2012. He also said he was not prepared to say if and when Nokia and Microsoft would collaborate on a tablet computer.
He said the alliance would coincide with “significant” job cuts, the scope of which he said remained to be determined after talks with its unions. Nokia employed 132,427 people at year-end.
During his two-hour presentation with financial analysts, Mr. Elop, who usually comes across as earnest and serious, had the audience laughing when explaining the new organizational chart of his leadership team, with his name at top. “If this works, I will be C.E.O.,” he joked, pointing to his name.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG- New PARTNERSHIP WITH MICROSOFT

MAYOR BLOOMBERG DISCUSSES THE CITY’S GROUNDBREAKING PARTNERSHIP WITH MICROSOFT FOR A MORE EFFICIENT CITY GOVERNMENT IN WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS 
(My Comment integrated with Oracle Portal and SUN Servers!?)
The following is the text of Mayor Bloomberg's weekly radio address as prepared for delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, October 24, 2010
"Good Morning.  This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
"Mayor Ed Koch once said that New York City is the place 'where the future comes to audition.'  And that's something our Administration takes very seriously.  In fact, we're bringing the spirit of innovation to every corner of the city.  And by thinking creatively - by flipping the conventional wisdom on its head - by having the courage to try new things - we're gaining new ground on some of our most complex, longstanding challenges - like fixing our schools and protecting our environment.
"We're also using innovation to change the way government itself does business - making us more efficient and more effective than ever before.  A great example of this came to fruition last week when we unveiled a groundbreaking partnership with Microsoft.  The technology giant has a long history of working with our schools and our government, but our latest partnership - the first of its kind - elevates our commitment to innovation to a whole new level.
"Central to this agreement is a new licensing contract that significantly lowers our technology costs.  In the past, the City's numerous agencies would each negotiate their own licenses and purchase their own software individually.  But by leveraging City government's tremendous buying power, we've now been able to consolidate these dozens of agreements into one single license covering more than 100,000 City employees.
"And instead of us purchasing a bundle of products for every employee, Microsoft has also agreed to charge us based on which applications our City workers actually need and use.  Together, these improvements will produce an incredible $50 million in savings for the City over the next five years.
"This new agreement also gives us access to Microsoft's latest tools and products - like 'cloud computing,' which is becoming an increasingly popular way for people to collaborate and access information.  By storing some of our information on Microsoft's data servers, our employees are going to be able to work together online - regardless of where they are in the world.  This will also take some pressure off the City's own computer servers, which means we won't need as much hardware or use as much energy - which will save us even more money.
"And that really goes to the heart of what innovation can do for City government.  By harnessing the power of data and technology, we're not just making government leaner, faster, and more responsive. We're also making government more cost effective - and that's something that all New Yorkers can appreciate.
"This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.  Thanks for listening."

HP`s Deep Trouble: 10 Reasons Why HP is Struggling - Hewlett Packard news from Channel Insider

from http://www.channelinsider.com

HP finds itself in a somewhat unlikely position right now. With no CEO at the helm, its former leader at a top competitor, and little vision for what the future will look like, the wheels are coming off. And the chances of the company reversing its fortune anytime soon seem slim. Realizing that, it’s probably time to call some of HP’s decisions into question. Getting rid of Mark Hurd without a fully effective non-compete agreement in place was a mistake. And allowing the company to look bad in the process has proven to be even worse. Simply put, HP is in deep trouble right now. And here’s why:

HP`s Deep Trouble: 10 Reasons Why HP is Struggling - Hewlett Packard news from Channel Insider

10 More Smartphones That Will Fade Away Before 2011 - Mobile and Wireless from eWeek

10 More Smartphones That Will Fade Away Before 2011 - Mobile and Wireless from eWeek
Microsoft announced earlier this week that it has discontinued its Kin smartphones after just six weeks of availability. The devices, which focused heavily on social-networking activities, failed to live up to the hype Microsoft built for the Kin One and Kin Two. But the Kin smartphones aren't the only devices that will fail in 2010. Read on to see 10 other smartphones that, like Microsoft's Kin, will fail in 2010.

Why has Microsoft seemingly stopped innovating?/ from Quora

Rob Glaser: on Quora
This is a great question and one I've thought about for a long time. As some probably know, I was at Microsoft from '83-93, still have some talented friends who work there, and have a residual fondness for the place.

First, in fairness, it does need to be noted that in recent years Microsoft has demonstrated a number of interesting innovations -- e.g., Project Natal -- and has created at least one new successful business innovation -- XBox Live, which has an estimated 10 million paying subscribers (@ $50/year that's a very high margin $500 Million business).

Having said that, there's no question in my mind that Microsoft's per capita ability to get effective innovations into the market in 2010 is much more like IBM's or HP's than like Google's or Apple's. So I buy into the question's core premise.

So, why? I'd boil my answer down to a four core points:

1.  PC Software Centricity: Microsoft was, and still is at core, a company built on and financed by a paradigm of PC software.

The two core economic engines at Microsoft -- Office and Windows -- are PC software products. So is Microsoft's 3rd best business -- Server Software. While they go through 2 different primary channels -- Office and Server get sold to enterprises, and Windows principally gets sold through PC OEMs -- the core business is the same, getting paid per unit sold.  

As Bill (Gates) has said many times, "I like businesses where there's a high fixed cost of building something and a very low variable cost per unit." Implicit in the latter, of course, is that one is paid substantially more per unit than the variable cost of making it.  

2.  Post-PC World:  Most of the action in technology innovation nowadays is taking place in areas where (i) PC software strength by itself is not sufficient, and (ii) the business models that lead to success are very different that the model that Microsoft was build on and is still at the core of Microsoft's DNA.

The biggest sources of value-creating innovation in the past 5 years have been:

(a) Search delivered to consumers/end users on the Web for free, supported by extremely valuable targeted ads (Google)

(b) Integrated Hardware/Software/Service device plays monetized both by selling the device and then selling services on top of the device (Apple, RIM)

(c) Social Network Platforms that are free to consumers, based on user-generated information put into highly integrated and extensible structured frameworks, monetized a few different ways (Facebook)

Although Microsoft made serious plays in the first two of these, were very late to the party and allowed the leader to establish a massive competitive advantage and super high market share. Moreover since the leaders (Google, Apple, RIM)) have been very competent and hard charging, Microsoft's catch-up efforts (Zune, Bing) have not been able to get significant traction.    

A note about Android as a competitor to Apple in mobile and tablet devices (b) and Microsoft's attempt to compete in "sort of" the same way (selling a platform).  Google's approach to (b) is to treat it as a business that's fundamentally subservient

 to the (a) business and business model. On the other hand, Microsoft's efforts have been plagued by friction associated with Microsoft trying to sell Windows Mobile/Phone/etc for a positive price versus Google's "Free/Open Source with strings" approach.  

Moreover, Microsoft has a path of debris associated with its decade-long effort to establish Windows Mobile. So even though Microsoft nominally has a large Windows Mobile installed base, from a developer (and hence consumer) standpoint, the Windows Mobile installed base is not a coherent target in the same way that the iPhone and Android bases are.  

To be fair, there is one non-PC area where Microsoft has been successful, and that's Xbox. In that business Microsoft got in relatively early (9 years ago), took an integrated hardware/software/service approach, and made enough commercial traction in its first generation that it could get its 2nd generation (Xbox 360) to critical mass in at least some major markets, and hence profitable. But, at least so far, Xbox is an outlier rather than a repeatable part of the Microsoft playbook.

3.  Monopoly Economics and Culture: Microsoft's 2 core businesses -- Windows and Office -- are natural winner-take-all monopolies. What it takes to maintain these businesses in a financially successful way is very different than what it takes to create successful new businesses.

This further reinforces the dominant culture, and requires extraordinary effort and focus to overcome, especially how fundamentally different the biggest adjacent business opportunities are from Microsoft's core financial engines. Moreover, because the two monopolies are so profitable, any new business will suffer by comparison to these monopolies for many years, especially if there is a viable incumbent already in place.

4.  Leadership: Any discussion of this topic would have to note that Microsoft has had a different leader for the past decade that it had for its first 25 years.   Having known both Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates for 27 years, I certainly have strong opinions on their relative strengths and weaknesses. Both are super smart and hard charging. But there are 2 critical differences, in my view.

(a) Listening and openness to any feedback. In my decade of working with him, Bill would always challenge opposing views, often aggressively and sometime caustically. If you didn't know your stuff, you were toast. If you didn't like his at times aggressively confrontational style, you would likely have your feelings hurt, and you might quit. But if you had thick skin and lots of passion, you could make your case and often really move the meter technologically and/or strategically. And when you did, you knew you had really made your case well.   In other words, Microsoft with Bill at the helm was a company that always tolerated, and often fostered, many different ideas and points of view, including views that the CEO was known to disagree with.

I never worked for Microsoft with Steve as the CEO, so my views here are based on 2nd hand data of Steve as the CEO combined with first hand data that's mostly at least 17 years old. Moreover, Steve was literally the person who hired me at Microsoft and was helpful to me on multiple occasions while I was there.  Having said all that, getting Steve to change his mind once his mind was made up was always extraordinarily difficult and often seemed literally impossible.  Moroever, even trying was often very unpleasant, even by Microsoft standards. As a result, I saw many people, including lots of good people, just "go along" with Steve rather than fighting for what they believed in.    

(b) Loving consumer businesses. Bill was (and is) a polymath who has legitimate intellectual curiosity for almost any topic. This may be one of his 2-3 most remarkable traits. Steve, on the other hand, was always a guy who loved B2B businesses but, in my view, had less of a passion for Microsoft's consumer businesses. That may have changed over the past 15 years, I certainly don't know. But, at least circa 1983-1993, Bill was the chief sponsor of pretty much all of Microsoft's consumer initiatives while Steve was a guy who loved business but seemed less enamored of the whims, fashion, and capriciousness of consumers.

Others have observed these differences as well, for instance http://www.fastcompany.com/magaz...

In making these 4 points, I am trying to convey that Microsoft's current situation is not simply the result of one factor, and that there is not a simple quick fix.   But I do think there are valuable lessons that we can all learn from this situation, hence this rather lengthy (War and Peace like) note.

Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company/bbc

Apple passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company

Page last updated at 11:52 GMT, Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:52 UK

Apple's innovations have inspired a vast following

Apple has pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world's biggest technology company.

Changes in the share price values of the two in Wednesday's choppy trading left the total value of Apple at $222bn (£154bn).
Microsoft is now valued by investors at $219bn.
However, Microsoft still enjoys higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was $14.6bn (£10bn), compared with $5.7bn for Apple.
Microsoft also reported bigger full-year revenues of $58.4bn, with Apple on $36.5bn.
Apple's shares closed Wednesday trading down 0.4% at $244.11, while Microsoft fell by 4% to $25.01.
iPhone boost The value of a listed company, known as market capitalisation, is calculated by multiplying the number of shares in a company by the current share price.

MICROSOFT V APPLE

• Annual revenues: Microsoft $58.4bn, Apple $36.5bn
• Annual net profits: Microsoft $14.6bn, Apple $5.7bn
• Earnings per share: Microsoft $1.62, Apple $6.29
• Price/earnings ratio: Microsoft 12.8, Apple 24.

Apple, which makes computers, iPods, iPhones and now iPads, almost went out of business in the 1990s.
Its growth is partly owing to the launch of the iPod in 2001.
Although the iPod works with computers running Microsoft's Windows operating systems, it encouraged more people to to buy one of Apple's computers.
The big popularity of the iPhone, which has become a big seller since it was first released in 2007, has further boosted Apple's profits and revenues.

It's a long game, we have good competitors... we too are a very good competitor

Steve Ballmer Microsoft chief executive

The handset has brought internet access on the move to the mass market, and led to an explosion in downloadable mobile "apps" - applications that enable a huge range of activities, from map reading to booking restaurants.
A new version of the iPhone is expected to be unveiled next month.
Meanwhile, this week sees the launch in the UK and eight other countries of Apple's iPad tablet computer.
This has already proven to be a big seller in the US, so much so that the UK launch was postponed to enable Apple to keep up with demand in the US.
Heyday Apple has to look back to late 1989 to see the last time it was a bigger company than Microsoft.
Microsoft makes most of its money from operating systems and software Microsoft, whose operating system runs on more than 90% of the world's personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its heyday of the 1990s.
Microsoft continues to make the majority of its earnings from its software and operating systems, and has struggled to successfully diversify into other products.
However, Microsoft has achieved success with its XBox games console.
Questioned on the news that Apple was now a bigger company, Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer said his firm would continue to follow a long-term strategy.
"It's a long game, we have good competitors... we too are a very good competitor," he said.
"We are executing very well and that is going to lead to great products and great success."

See also

• Hotmail makeover targets rivals

  18 May 10Technology

• Windows 7 buoys Microsoft profit

  22 April 10Business

• Apple iPad sells 300,000 on debut

  05 April 10Business

• Apple sees profits increase 50%

  25 January 10Business

Related links

• Related internet links

  • Apple
  • Microsoft
  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

From Motley Fool Rule Report:
The Two words are "Cloud Computing"

Table of Contents

• The Next Great Tech Revolution
• Two Words Changing It All
• Like Buying Microsoft in 1990
• A Rule Breaker With Very Real Profits
• This Company Makes the Internet Fly

Format for Printing

The Two Words Bill Gates Doesn't Want You to Hear...

Plus, the 2 companies poised to rule the post-Microsoft world

On October 30, 2005, something incredible happened...

In Redmond, Washington, one of the world's richest -- and most powerful -- businessmen sent an urgent memo to his top engineers and most-trusted managers.

It sounded the alarm that a very disruptive "wave" was about to wash over the entire world -- forever changing the way we get information and do business.

It also warned this would wipe out the $200 billion business empire he'd spent his life building.

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles south, on the banks of the Columbia River, a mysterious outfit known only as "Design, LLC," quietly constructed two massive windowless warehouses.

This mammoth undertaking was code named "Project 2," and the International Herald Tribune described the towering monolithic structures as "looming like an information-age nuclear plant."

This may sound like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, but you'll want to have all the facts because...

Merrill Lynch estimates this "wave" has grown into a $160 billion tsunami.

And experts say it's going to upend a $1 trillion industry. Yet very few investors understand just how huge it's going to be.

That's why it's crucial to take the next few minutes to read this report in its entirety.

At the very least, you'll get the full story so you can decide for yourself if you'll be front and center when the big money starts rolling in.

But be warned, the smart money is on the move...

A handful of investors are already quietly positioning themselves to cash in on this incredible economic shift. Soon, tens of thousands will be rushing to join them.

One of the most lucrative investment opportunities we'll ever encounter

The next great technological revolution is already under way.

And now that the last pieces are falling into place, the floodgates are beginning to open.

Which is exactly where you come in...Just ask David Gardner, co-founder of The Motley Fool. He's convinced that this technological shift will dump millions of dollars into the portfolios of investors just like you.

You've probably seen David on CNBC discussing his favorite growth stocks with some of the nation's other top-tier equity analysts. Or perhaps you've read one of his many best-selling investment books...

Or maybe you're just familiar with some of his remarkable stock recommendations... eBay in 1999... Starbucks in 1998... AOL in 1994... Amgen in 1998... Amazon in 1997.

Regardless, it's not hard to see why Money.com says he's "among the most widely followed stock advisors in the world."

And surely you can understand why anytime David gets excited about an investment opportunity, people stand up and take notice...

He's been closely tracking the development of this blockbuster technology and the 3 dominant players heading the revolution.

These are the companies he believes will rule their respective industries over the next 5 to 10 years and hand investors life-changing wealth along the way.

Recent developments have him particularly excited about one of the companies. Right now he considers it the No. 1 way to profit from this coming technological boom. And he's telling his followers to snap up shares immediately.

To see why he's so convinced about this company, you must learn the six traits he looks for in a growth stock -- and how they have led him to companies that have soared 231%, 233%, 375% and even 478% in just the past four years.

But first, a little bit more about this amazing technology and why, once again...

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Did you get an e-mail from Microsoft like this!!

On two computers I have with Legal Windows, VISTA on this computer and XP on a netbook
They are both Stuck I dowloaded 7 RC onto a disk legally and ran it sometimes usualy on SUN virtual Box I am also for Legal Software but do I deserve this:
It’s time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate

While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven’t moved yet, it’s time to replace the RC.

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you’ll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you’ll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base

Microsoft Warns About 17-Year-Old Windows Bug

Microsoft Warns About 17-Year-Old Windows Bug
By Stuart J. Johnston
January 22, 2010

Microsoft acknowledged that a security researcher has located a 17-year-old hole in Windows that could be used to take over a user's system and said it plans a patch.

However, compromising a user's PC would not be easy, requiring physical access to the machine as well as authenticated password access, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said in a Security Advisory Wednesday.

The hole, which originated with the release of Windows NT back in 1993 and is present in every 32-bit version of Windows since, including Windows 7, was discovered by Tavis Ormandy, a Google security team member in Switzerland.

Ormandy claimed in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list earlier this week that the hole is in a portion of Windows originally meant to enable NT to run 16-bit MS-DOS applications.

The problem lies in what is known as the Virtual DOS Machine or VDM, which is meant to allow NT-based versions of Windows run 16-bit x86 programs. By manipulating what's called the kernel stack, an attacker can elevate his or her user privileges to an administrator’s level in order to take over the user's system.

Ormandy said that he notified Microsoft of the hole in June but, after receiving no response other than an acknowledgement, decided to publish his discussion as well as a proof-of-concept exploit.

That got Microsoft's attention and, on Wednesday, the software giant released the Security Advisory regarding the problem.

Microsoft noted that the proof-of-concept has not triggered any real world attacks so far. Partly, that is related to the requirement that any attack be carried out locally, not remotely. For that reason, the hole is not as dangerous as most zero-day vulnerabilities. Some Windows users are not at any risk

One piece of good news is that users of 64-bit versions of Windows are not affected. Many new PCs sold today are shipped with 64-bit Windows 7 preloaded, meaning they are not at risk, according to Microsoft's Security Advisory.

Microsoft's Security Advisory contains a workaround, which is to disable the use of the 16-bit VDM. That should have little impact on most users since the feature is rarely used today.

Even Ormandy played down how broad the hole's effect might be.

"The primary audience of this advisory is expected to be domain administrators and security professionals," Ormandy's post stated.

Microsoft normally patches zero-day vulnerabilities as quickly as possible, especially if they critically affect users' security.

For example, Microsoft patched a previously unknown zero-day that surfaced last week in attacks on Google China with an "out-of-band" fix Thursday.

Microsoft said it is working on a patch for the problem but hasn’t decided yet whether it will be released as an out-of-band fix or during a regular Patch Tuesday cycle.

However, since it took 17 years to discover the bug in the first place, and the additional requirement that a hacker be physically in control of a PC being attacked, Microsoft's security response team may view the hole as less likely than most to be seriously exploited.

Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing writer at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals

Free Software Foundation Attack MS Windows 7

Windows 7 Sins: The case against Microsoft and proprietary software

from windows7sins.org by FSF

The new version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, Windows 7, has the same problem that Vista, XP, and all previous versions have had -- it's proprietary software. Users are not permitted to share or modify the Windows software, or examine how it works inside.

The fact that Windows 7 is proprietary means that Microsoft asserts legal control over its users through a combination of copyrights, contracts, and patents. Microsoft uses this power to abuse computer users. At windows7sins.org, the Free Software Foundation lists seven examples of abuse committed by Microsoft.

1. Poisoning education: Today, most children whose education involves computers are being taught to use one company's product: Microsoft's. Microsoft spends large sums on lobbyists and marketing to corrupt educational departments. An education using the power of computers should be a means to freedom and empowerment, not an avenue for one corporation to instill its monopoly.

2. Invading privacy: Microsoft uses software with backward names like Windows Genuine Advantage to inspect the contents of users' hard drives. The licensing agreement users are required to accept before using Windows warns that Microsoft claims the right to do this without warning.

3. Monopoly behavior: Nearly every computer purchased has Windows pre-installed -- but not by choice. Microsoft dictates requirements to hardware vendors, who will not offer PCs without Windows installed on them, despite many people asking for them. Even computers available with other operating systems like GNU/Linux pre-installed often had Windows on them first.

4. Lock-in: Microsoft regularly attempts to force updates on its users, by removing support for older versions of Windows and Office, and by inflating hardware requirements. For many people, this means having to throw away working computers just because they don't meet the unnecessary requirements for the new Windows versions.

5. Abusing standards: Microsoft has attempted to block free standardization of document formats, because standards like OpenDocument Format would threaten the control they have now over users via proprietary Word formats. They have engaged in underhanded behavior, including bribing officials, in an attempt to stop such efforts.

6. Enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM): With Windows Media Player, Microsoft works in collusion with the big media companies to build restrictions on copying and playing media into their operating system. For example, at the request of NBC, Microsoft was able to prevent Windows users from recording television shows that they have the legal right to record.

7. Threatening user security: Windows has a long history of security vulnerabilities, enabling the spread of viruses and allowing remote users to take over people's computers for use in spam-sending botnets. Because the software is secret, all users are dependent on Microsoft to fix these problems -- but Microsoft has its own security interests at heart, not those of its users.

August 12th, 2009

Examine the patent that made selling Microsoft Word a crime

Microsoft is barred from selling any Microsoft Word products that can open XML files (.xml, .docx and .docm), according to a U.S. District Court ruling in favor of i4i, a small Canadian company that sued the software giant for patent infringement.
from zdnet http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22595
PS. I thought XML is a Open Standard?!
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Red Hat Moves to Expand Server Virtualization Interoperability

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows Server to be validated and supported on the companies' corresponding virtualization platforms

RALEIGH, N.C. - February 16, 2009 - Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that, in response to strong customer demand, it has signed reciprocal agreements with Microsoft Corporation to enable increased interoperability for the companies' virtualization platforms. Each company will join the other's virtualization validation/certification program and will provide coordinated technical support for their mutual server virtualization customers. The reciprocal validations will allow customers to deploy heterogeneous, virtualized Red Hat and Microsoft solutions with confidence.

"The world of IT today is a mixture of virtualized and non-virtualized environments. Red Hat is looking to help our customers extend more rapidly into virtualized environments, including mixed Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Windows Server environments," said Mike Evans, vice president, Corporate Development at Red Hat. "Red Hat listened when our customers asked us to provide interoperability between our respective guest and host virtualization solutions. We are excited to announce these agreements today as the result of our collaboration with Microsoft."

With the efforts being undertaken today through this announcement, Red Hat and Microsoft customers will have the ability to run Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual servers on either host environment with configurations that will be tested and supported by both virtualization and operating system leaders.

The key components of the reciprocal agreements are:

• Red Hat will validate Windows Server guests to be supported on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization technologies.
• Microsoft will validate Red Hat Enterprise Linux server guests to be supported on Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server.
• Once each company completes testing, customers with valid support agreements will receive coordinated technical support for running Windows Server operating system virtualized on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization, and for running Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualized on Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

"Customers are rapidly adopting Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and in doing so are interested in support for running more operating systems on Hyper-V in their virtualized environment, including those from Red Hat," said Mike Neil, general manager of Virtualization Strategy at Microsoft. "We welcome Red Hat's participation in our Server Virtualization Validation Program and look forward to ongoing collaboration with them to bring the benefits of coordinated technical support to our customers for their heterogeneous IT environments."

"Physical hardware doesn't care what operating system is installed on top of it, and virtual hardware provided by a hypervisor should be no different," said Gary Chen, Research Manager, Enterprise Virtualization Software at IDC. "Most customers run heterogeneous networks and having interoperability between these two major platforms will make virtualizing these environments much easier for enterprise customers. IDC research shows that Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are two of the main operating environments deployed by enterprises, accounting for 80% of the x86 operating systems running on hypervisors. It is great to see two of the big platform vendors put aside their competitive differences and put the customer first."

The agreements establish coordinated technical support for Microsoft and Red Hat's mutual customers using server virtualization, and the activities included in these agreements do not require the sharing of IP. Therefore, the agreements do not include any patent or open source licensing rights, and additionally contain no financial clauses, other than industry-standard certification/validation testing fees.

Validations for Red Hat and Microsoft server virtualization solutions included in the reciprocal certification and support agreements are underway today, with the first results expected later this year.

Independance for Yahoo!

Hope Yahoo! stays Independent.

Linux at Renault:

Linux News: 12:01 Jan 30, 2008
Microsoft and Novell Provide Renault With Interoperability
Under the agreement, Microsoft will deliver to Renault more than 1,000 certificates for priority support subscriptions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell ( R), as Renault consolidates existing Linux* distributions to SUSE Linux