Category Archives: Microsoft

Word. Not Yours.

Information, Microsoft, news, office, patent

MSOfficeiWord (yes, pun intended) comes today that a Federal District Court judge has barred the sale of Microsoft Word until further notice.  The ruling stems from a patent infringement lawsuit brought byI4i, a software company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The infringement relates specifically to customized XML being used in the creation of XML and/or DOCX files. In addition to the ban on sales of Microsoft Word, part of the Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft has been ordered to pay over $287 million in restitution and damages.

Microsoft plans to appeal the decision, which means that any implementation of the ban could be put off indefinitely.

In the meantime, Microsoft can start working on removing XML functionality from Word or find another workaround to the ban.  And I imagine with a bit of extra greasing of palms, this whole thing will go away as if it never happened.

Here is the summation of the ban from the court record:

Microsoft Corporation is hereby permanently enjoined from performing the following actions with Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, and Microsoft Word products not more than colorably different from Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 (collectively “Infringing and Future Word Products”) during the term of U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449:

1. selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States any Infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML, .DOCX, or .DOCM file (“an XML file”) containing custom XML;

2. using any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;

3. instructing or encouraging anyone to use any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;

4. providing support or assistance to anyone that describes how to use any infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML; and

5. testing, demonstrating, or marketing the ability of the Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML.

Yahoo is Done Searching. Microsoft Gets Their Way (Sort of)

Microsoft, Search News, , , , , , , , , ,

bing yahoo

Well, it was a deal that was a year and a half in the making. Actually, it’s been longer than that – nonetheless, Microsoft has finally gotten what they want. While it still needs to have a final stamp of approval, it looks like Yahoo search will become Yahoo Search powered by Bing.

The real history is this: Back in 2005, Microsoft talked ‘Partnership’ with Yahoo to thwart the ever growing Google. That was during the Instant Messaging days – When it was announced that MSN Messenger and Yahoo IM would be able to talk to each other.

By May of 2007, Microsoft and Yahoo were in talks of an apparent $50 Billion dollar merger. While that didn’t happen, we started seeing the beginnings of the Mass Exodus of Yahoo. Employees such as Farzad Nazem – who was Yahoo’s CTO at the time – took retirement. That was followed by other key players in Yahoo’s stable.

However, the battle didn’t really start until Feb 3rd, 2008, when Steve Ballmer offered $41 Billion to take over the company. It was a long – drawn out battle that gave people like Carl Icahn a seat on Yahoo’s board and Jerry Yang the heave – ho as CEO. Since then, Yahoo has plummeted in stock price.

Carol Bartz took over as CEO in January 2009 with a renewed hope. However, the Yahoo name has been pretty stagnant until just a couple weeks ago when they revamped email. Closing services like Yahoo Music and Geocities helped Yahoo score a profit in Q2, but the search side had remained at a plateau.

Then along came Bing.

“I think actually Bing is a good product. ” Carl Bartz announces in a transcript. “It actually extends sort of the experimentation around search and how people use it instead of just thinking like a standard blue link.” She goes on with “…Microsoft should be given kudos for Bing.”

What is supposedly proposed is that Microsoft will take over the search engine side of things. Yahoo will continue with ad placement on the site. Yahoo is expected to get 110% of search ad deals until 2011, in which it will drop to 90%, according to Allthingsd.com.

The drama is expected to unfold in the next 24 hours as it is said to be a ‘done deal – with the formalities happening later today’. Right now, neither side is ready to comment.

Windows Update Shenanigans, Again

Microsoft

windows updateA couple of years ago, before I got my latest Dell laptop, I complained rather vocally about Windows automatic updates occurring even though I’d turned off the option for automatic updating.  I tend to leave my laptop (or whatever I’m using as my primary machine at the time) running 24/7, connected to the ‘net.  I’ve done this for my own convenience, as I schedule midnight backups to the ‘net so that my daily work isn’t affected.  There would be times when I’d get up in the morning and head to my laptop (a Gateway Tablet) and find it had rebooted itself.  In trying to figure out what was going on, I realized pretty quickly that Windows was pushing updates that did not honor my choice to not install automatically.  This annoyed me greatly, for many reasons.  Because of the tablet operating system, certain IE updates would crash the tablet function, and I would have to laboriously remove each individual patch until I got the tablet to work again the way it was supposed to.

I have not had the same problem with the new Dell, until now.  I woke up one morning to find my laptop had been rebooted and there were a bunch of new installed updates from Microsoft.  I watched the blogosphere to see if others were having the same problem, and sure enough, I saw mention of it in several places.  Most noticed when they went to shut down a machine, that it installed updates before shutting down. Some have even reported that even though they’ve chosen NOT to install particular updates, upon shut-down, those updates are automatically installed anyway.  And some users are reporting that although they’ve chosen to be notified about updates, but not to automatically install, find out after these incidents that their choice has been changed to complete automatic updating.

Microsoft itself admits there is a problem, and blames it on a “partial download of a patch” when a user was unable to get the complete download due to throttling of traffic on a Microsoft server. This Knowledge Base article is from December, 2007, so the problem is a known issue to Microsoft.  This known issue has now seemingly gotten worse, occurring more often to more users, and needs to be addressed.  Users should not have to go back and reset their preferences on automatic updating over and over, only to have them changed again by Microsoft’s bungling of AU’s.  Further, they need to admit that there is a problem and that they are working on it, instead of referring everyone to an 18-month-old Knowledge Base article.

Anyone else experienced this updating problem with their Windows machines?  This happens to me on both my XP and Vista machines.

I have a Suggestion for Microsoft…

Information, Microsoft, vista

How about you sell your new operating system for under $50?  I’ll bet you’ll make as much or more money than selling it for $300 a pop.  Really, I think so!

The main reason I’ve not upgraded my personal laptop from XP is not because the hardware can’t handle it.  The reason is that I do not want to pay $200+ for the version of Windows Vista that I want (Ultimate).  There is not enough compelling reason for me to pay the price for the upgrade.  But if the upgrade were $30, or even $50, I might just be inclined to purchase it.

This is one time where Apple is doing it right.  I may fuss about the high cost of their hardware, but they have it right when it comes to software.  The upgrade to Snow Leopard, which is coming out soon, is just $30.  That’s a price almost anyone can swallow, and will quickly and easily be paid by customers.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has to spend much of their time, energy, and programming to try to staunch the bleeding wound that is pirated Windows software.  There are so many workarounds, even to their highly-touted Windows Genuine Advantage, that there is no reason to even consider paying $200 or better to upgrade to Vista.  I think there would be a lot less piracy of Windows software if the prices were more reasonable than they are.  I also think more people would upgrade to a new operating system if the prices were under $50.  It is likely that Microsoft would easily make as much as they are now using the higher price tiers, and may make even more as people who didn’t want to upgrade in the first place may be tempted to upgrade due to the phenomenally low price.

Of course they could just make the same amount, but they would also be meeting their goal of seeing genuine copies of Windows on machines, instead of all the pirated and/or “borrowed” copies that are floating around out there now.

Intrusion Alert!

Firefox, ie, Microsoft
Lightbulb Image
Lightbulb Image

I’ve spent a good amount of time this morning tracking down what I thought was a rumor about Microsoft forcing a .net add-on to Firefox.  Turns out the rumor was true.  And it’s not a pretty thing to contemplate.

Any Firefox user receiving a Microsoft update to either XP or Vista (and possibly Windows 7 but I cannot confirm this) in the last two weeks will have gotten this forced push, right into Firefox, and wouldn’t even have known it.  If you go to Tools > Add ons, you should see an entry for Microsoft .net Framework Assistant 1.0.  You will notice that you can disable it, but that the “uninstall” option is grayed out, meaning it is stuck there unless you do some fancy footwork to remove it.

This particular add-on is not something you want to have installed, in my opinion.  Upon installation, it provides a ClickOnce capability that pretty much lets Microsoft do what it wants when it comes to your browser, as well as opening you up to all kinds of other nasties out there, since we all know the .net Framework is riddled with bugs that are not always fixed as quickly as they should be.  The biggest security flaw with the ClickOnce install is that it allows easy installation of malicious software from websites, without your permission and knowledge.

Microsoft claims they were “helping” by providing a plug-in that “people were asking for.”  This is not something I would have asked for, and to be honest, I don’t trust Microsoft all that much to begin with so find this explanation a bit questionable.  One of the reasons I use Firefox instead of IE is the level of security Firefox offers, as well as an understanding that Firefox will continue to keep their product a safe alternative to less secure browsers.  For Microsoft to provide a “fix” I didn’t ask for is intrusive, at the least.

As of this morning, Microsoft will be sending out a patch to the patch which will make the add-on easy to uninstall, but if you just can’t wait to have this thing gone from your system, I located these instructions (the aforementioned fancy footwork).  I tested the removal steps and they do work.

  1. Open Registry Editor (type regedit in the Start menu Search box in Vista or in XP’s Run window).
  2. Expand the branches to the following key:
    • On 32-bit systems: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Extensions
    • On x64 systems: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Wow6432Node \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Extensions
  3. Delete the value named {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b} from the right pane.
  4. Close the Registry Editor when you’re done.
  5. Open a new Firefox window, and in the address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
  6. Type microsoftdotnet in the Filter field to quickly find the general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet setting.
  7. Right-click general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet and select Reset.
  8. Restart Firefox.
  9. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation.
  10. Delete the DotNetAssistantExtension folder entirely.
  11. Open the Add-ons window in Firefox to confirm that the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant extension has been removed.

Use your Mac as Mac

Apple, Microsoft, Windows,

Just because a Mac can run Windows doesn’t mean you should.  Yes I know that many tests revealed that the fastest PC on the market was a Mac running Windows on Boot Camp. I know that the virtualization software has made incredible progress.  If I buy a Mac it should be so that I can use the OS for what it is.  So why this blatant opinion piece?  Well, as a mac fan, I hear many complaints.

mac-os-x-v1056-leopard-apple-store-us “My Mac slows down and doesn’t run that fast.” Uh, well are you running OS X and Windows at the same time with several applications in each?  OS X does phenomenal at managing memory.  I often am running 10 applications at the same time and have no idea.  However, think about what you are doing in when running Windows at the same time.  You are running OS X, virtualization software, and monster Windows.  Windows Vista is so bloated that it barely runs itself without lots of ram.  Really, OS X does incredibly well at running both at the same time with all things considered.  If you insist on running Windows applications on a Mac and need super performance, then at least run Windows in boot camp and not virtualization.

“There are not as many applications out for the Mac so I need to use Windows.” That is so 90’s.  The Mac developer community is growing much faster than the Windows world in percentage.  I have yet to receive this complaint where I could not respond with multiple, great options of software on a Mac (and cheaper I might add).  If I must admit some ignorance, it would be in the world of enterprise.

The goal of this article is not intended to be a Mac vs. PC article, just a bit of balance on the issue of running Windows on a Mac.   If you love Windows then buy a PC and run Windows.  If you need to run both then a Mac is your only option.  Run Windows in Boot Camp or expect a slight performance ding in virtualization.  As a Mac man I stand by my title and opening statements.  Just because a Mac can run Windows doesn’t mean you should.  Use your Mac as a Mac.  It’s where I am happiest.

When Does Windows Security Go Too Far?

Microsoft

windows-7-logoAs a Vista user, I’ve had to learn to deal with the extra security in place to keep me from installing things that shouldn’t be installed.  (Yes, I know I can turn that off and have, but for the sake of argument, bear with me here.  Thanks.)  Anything that needs to install or update requires a second “yes” confirmation from the user, and some things won’t install without an administrator confirmation, as well.

This is all well and good when you can’t trust the users, and I understand why this failsafe exists in the Vista operating system.

Now comes word from the Windows7 developers that Microsoft’s latest operating system will no longer allow AutoRun to operate from anything but a CD/DVD drive.  This means that if you’re carrying around a flash drive with portable OpenOffice, inserting it in a machine running Windows7 will not trigger the AutoRun window in the same way as before; i.e. you won’t have a choice to run or install the program found on the flash drive, you will only have the option to open a folder to view the files.

This is may be only partially problematic for some users, as opening the folder to view would then allow you to run or install what is on the flash drive.  It just takes a few extra clicks.  Where it becomes problematic is when users need to have access to a particular program in order to use the computer in the first place, for example, a blind user with a screen reading program on a flash drive that s/he takes wherever they go so they can access public computer resources.  In most cases, that user cannot navigate the computer without the screen reading software, and with the AutoRun feature disabled, that person is completely locked out.

There is a way to “fool” the computer into thinking otherwise, at least for the moment.  Flash drives running the U3 operating system  actually fool the Windows7 operating system into thinking that it is a CD/DVD, instead of a flash drive.  But I expect a WIndows7 to sew up this hole pretty quickly.  I am wondering how Windows7 will deal with flash drives that contain security information that allow a user access to extremely secure systems, such as those used in bio and nuclear labs.  With the AutoRun so clamped down, these user-access security systems may become completely dysfunctional.

Information on Windows7 blogs indicate that this “security enhancement” will be put into an update to Windows Vista shortly.  Microsoft’s reasoning is to short-circuit the Conficker and other similar worms/trojans.  But I’m not so sure the cure is not worse than the cause, at this point.

More information can be found at Technet, and at Microsoft.com.