Microsoft will develop Windows for ARM architecture

The head of the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) project, Nicholas Negroponte, is expecting Microsoft to develop Windows version for ARM-based architecture in next 18 months. The first version XO of the OLPC educational laptop, was built with x86-based AMD chipset. OLPC is now switching over from x-86 architecture in order to build more power-efficient next generation low-price laptops.

ARM-based architecture, having established its dominance in mobile-phone chipsets, is making way into the next generation netbooks. Currently, Windows Mobile is the lone Windows version that runs on ARM architecture. Nicholas announced that next version of XO would be based on ARM architecture, and the first XO 2.0 will be out in 12-18 month’s time. He said he was confident that Microsoft will develop Windows version on ARM by that time.

The existing dual-boot XO laptop gives user options of using either Linux-based or Windows XP operating system. Negroponte in his email mentioned that OLPC has to decide its funding model out of 3 options, including single sponsor approach, consortium approach and ‘Give One, Get One’ approach, which is extensively availed by the people in developed countries, where they keep one for themselves and lend one to a child.

He declared that more details about XO laptops will be released in next 3 weeks.

Critix ups competition with offer of free XenServer hypervisor

Critix has intensified competition in the virtualisation market with offer of providing its XenServer hypervisor free of cost. Read more

Software giant Microsoft to rethink its strategy for SQL Server

Microsoft is reconsidering its strategy for its very popular product, SQL Server and particularly about what it intends to do with SQL Data Services. SQL Services, which is a part of Microsoft’s Azure services platform, apparently was about to produce a very straightforward and possibly a cut down platform for database services.

Many users were not very happy with this development. If Azure was being offered by Microsoft for cloud computing then it should have all the functionality of an advanced database. There were reports at the conference of MSDN Developers that Microsoft would be doing exactly that.

According to reports, officials from Microsoft had given a commitment that they would come up a service which would be fully hosted and that Microsoft would be delivering it before the end of this year.
Users had a mixed reaction, some finding it inevitable whereas some actually welcomed it. The concept of having a mix of business intelligence and critical applications like SQL Server and many such things have long been discussed, but now they are close to reality.

Steve Ballmer, the chief executive for Microsoft said the Wall Street Journal that the upcoming version of SQL Server would do exceptional things in data warehousing and business intelligence. The company would have an advanced version called Data Center sometime in the next year.

Microsoft, Yahoo reopen talks on search deal

A report reveals that Microsoft and Yahoo may be negotiating on a search deal once again.

According to the report Microsoft has reopened talks with Yahoo to acquire its search business with an offer of £13bn ($20bn). Ross Levinsohn, former president of Fox Interactive and ex-chief executive Jonathan Miller are heading the negotiation. Read more

Microsoft provides clues to an old flaw

Microsoft has provided an explanation as to why it took the company almost seven years to issue a patch for a known vulnerability. The flaw lay in the Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It could facilitate an SMB Relay attack that allowed an attacker to install programs; change or delete data; or create new accounts with complete user rights.

Christopher Budd, a security programme manager in the Microsoft Security Response Center, said that though Microsoft had been aware of the vulnerability, taking actions to fix it would have resulted in broken customer network applications.

He explained that, while Microsoft in 2001 advised customers to use SMB signing, it knew that the mitigation might not be a usable solution for some. Though they said that customers who were anxious about this issue could use SMB signing as a useful mitigation, but the in reality, there was similar limitation that made it impossible for customers to execute SMB signing. The vulnerability was first officially acknowledged by a security researcher called ‘Sir Dystic’ during the @tlanta.con convention in 2001.

Microsoft to explain innovations in Visual Studio and .NET 4.0

Microsoft has selected some of its key executives to explain innovations it planned incorporating in .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio. The move is part of an action plan evolved in the recently organised TechEd developer and PDC events.

Code-named as “Rosario”, Microsoft’s next version of Visual Studio is being promoted as a tool set which will raise analysis of application development process to new levels.

The company is committed to democratise application lifecycle management process. It is working on product enhancement which would meet software development requirements arising from cloud computing, virtualisation and parallelism trends.

Delegates visiting the UK to explain about forthcoming tools included Jason Zander, GM for Visual Studio and Matt Carter, Group Product Manager.

Shedding light on Visual Studio 2010 (VS2010), Carter stated that it is strongly focussed on providing insight, in terms of function and structure of code, of the development process. Microsoft is ensuring to make it easier for building web applications. It is also aimed at encouraging departmental business applications development that makes use of Office UI. Microsoft is also looking forward to make development of SharePoint feel like development of Visual Studio to improve usability.

Carter disclosed that Microsoft wants to reach out to those C++ developers who have made big investment on lines of C++ code, so that they could carry those into the Visual Studio environment.

Qualcomm develops alternative to Windows-based PCs

Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm announced development of a low-cost computing platform, called Kayak, to serve as an alternative to Windows-based PCs in those parts of the world which do not have access to traditional broadband connections.

The Qualcomm’s new platform design is based on its dual-core MSM7 series chipsets which could also include Snapdragon chipsets that offer CDMA-based 3G and GSM-based technologies.

Qualcomm is confident of filling a niche between smartphones and Windows-based PCs through Kayak platform for providing internet-enabled devices to the markets in developing countries where laptops or PCs are too expensive. In this region people are unable to access internet due to unavailability of traditional broadband connections.

However, 3G networks, widely deployed in most regions of the world, are enabling people to access internet through 3G-enabled smartphones. But people experience inconvenience due to small sized screens and keypads and inadequate computing power supply for engaging the internet fully. This is where Kayak could prove to be a better alternative.

Devices that make use of the Kayak platform could be plugged into a computer monitor or TVs. Users will be able to play 3D games or music files and use keyboard and mouse.

According to Luis Pineda, vice president at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, the Kayak PC alternative demonstrated how Qualcomm was leveraging, for the first time, cloud computing over broadband networks, thereby unifying new regions into the global online community.

Qualcomm will be making a reference design, instead of producing Kayak computing devices itself. The recommended software specifications would be furnished to the device manufacturers for designing their own devices using Kayak specifications.

Microsoft unveils cloud operating system Windows Azure

Microsoft announced floating of cloud operating system Windows Azure, previously called ‘Red Dog’.

The cloud operating system is part of new and existing technologies behind development and execution platform called Azure Services Platform, that runs corporate and end-user software on Microsoft’s own servers which can be accessed over the web. Windows Azure now enters a very competitive market with big players like Amazon’s EC2 and Google’s App Engine.

Microsoft’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, addressing the Professional Developers’ Conference in Los Angeles, informed that the Azure platform was an important extension of Windows, meant for running applications at all scales, from data centre to mobile.

Ozzie added that the Azure Services Platform would run on a number of machines placed at Microsoft’s data centres and not on the company’s own servers. David Thompson, V.P. Microsoft Online, while delivering keynote presentation stated that all enterprise software of Microsoft would be delivered as optional online service.

However Azure Services Platform would not be displacing traditional platforms of Microsoft since many companies would prefer mix of software which could run in external data centre as well as on premises.

The Azure Services Platform consists of 4 main components – Windows Azure, NET Services, SQL Services and Live Services. Presently applications for Azure could be developed using Visual Studio. Windows Azure is currently being offered as technology preview.

Microsoft patch for rare vulnerability in Windows Server

A rare, out-of-cycle patch was issued by Microsoft for a ‘worm hole’ in the Windows Server service which handles remote procedure calls enabling running of code either remotely or locally.

While issuing MS08-067, Microsoft had warned that a vulnerability could be used for wormable exploit. Titled as “Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958644)”, the vulnerability has been designated CVE-2008-4250.

Microsoft has described and rated this patch as critical for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, while it has been rated as important for Windows server 2008 and Windows Vista. The patch, which replaces MS06-040, also affects the Windows 7 pre-beta version in limited release.

Patches are normally released on the second Tuesday of every month by Microsoft. This second Tuesday is called Patch Tuesday. But out-of-cycle patches though rare are not without precedent. Prior to this week’s patch, Microsoft had released vulnerability fixes in the Graphics Rendering Engine (January 2006), Vector Markup Language (September 2006) and Windows Animated Cursor Remote Code Execution (April 2007).

Microsoft informed that attacks to date were very limited and targeted and a firewall could block outside enterprise perimeter attacks on network resources.

The patch is available to the users via bulletin for MS08-067 or Microsoft Update.

Developers offer varied reactions to Windows 7

Windows 7 was presented in different forms at the Professional Developers Conference (DPC) held in Los Angeles. Microsoft Windows vice president Steven Sinofsky showed the key features of Windows 7 on stage, the OS was flashed on PCs throughout the convention centre and copies were presented to developers to take home.

Delegates at DPC 2008 were given pre-beta DVD copies of Windows 7 along with 160GB Western Digital portable hard drives with code.

PCs around the centre were switched to Windows 7 for attendees to check email during the key address. But the change was noticed by very few.

Some attendees tried out Windows 7 in hands-on labs in the main hall. Reactions were mixed.

Matthew Firth, chief technology officer of PetCareRX, who moved an image across touchscreen, remarked that controls could have been more intuitive. If improved, it could be as revolutionary as the mouse.

Allen Thraen, software developer at Swedish firm EPIServer commented that touch capability was very cool, but the operating system was not totally smooth. He and other attendees remarked that the user interface of Windows 7 was too similar to Vista. According to software engineer Daniel McGloin at Intuit, it looked like re-packaged Vista.

Other users were happy with Microsoft’s decision to keep many features unchanged, and commented that Vista could have been like Windows 7, a comment made by many attendees.

Next Page »