News


Microsoft's 'Albany' Project May Take Aim at Google Docs

Microsoft appears to be working on a secret project called Albany, and while no one knows for sure exactly what it is yet, clues indicate that the company is looking to develop a stronger competitor to Google's free, online-hosted Google Docs service.

Windows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh: The Pause That Refreshes

Want Windows XP SP3 for real? You can't have it now, but there is a beta Refresh to play with in the mean time.

Analysts: Upgrading to Vista SP1 on Intel Chips? Proceed with Caution

PCs made by Hewlett-Packard, Gateway, China's Lenovo and others couldn't be upgraded to Vista Service Pack 1 if they were using certain Intel chipsets.

Microsoft Steers OOXML Into Apache POI Project

Microsoft yesterday disclosed some collaborative efforts that will help Java applications read Microsoft Office file formats.

Worldwide PC Shipments Expected To Rise 10.9 Percent in 2008

Gartner predicted that worldwide PC shipments will be up 10.9 percent this year over last, although it also warned that strains on the economy could drop that number.

Yahoo Backs OpenSocial; New Foundation Formed

Yahoo announced Tuesday that it's joined forces with Google and MySpace to back OpenSocial, a group that aims to define a common API to allow social applications across multiple sites.

Hadoop Summit: Yahoo Gathers the Stuffed Elephant Crowd

Yahoo hosted the first-ever Apache Hadoop Summit this week in Santa Clara, Calif.

April Release for Windows XP SP3 RTM?

Windows XP service pack 3 will have its release-to-manufacturing debut in April of this year, according to the Tech ARP Web site.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 Launched

Microsoft last week made available its set of IT deployment tools and practices called Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008.

NIST Unveils Tool To Foil DNS Attacks

Network researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have unveiled a method that federal systems administrators can use to protect their systems from increasingly complex attacks launched via the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet and private IP networks.

SaaS Shifts to Vertical Business Networks

Vertical business networks will play a significant part in the future of software-as-a-service (SaaS) by consolidating multiple SaaS solutions into more convenient packages, said Colleen Smith, VP of SaaS at Progress Software, in an interview this month.

Analysis: System z10 Drastically Alters the Mainframe Market

Like the z9 EC and z9 BC systems that preceded it, IBM's System z10 drastically alters the rules of the mainframe game.

Microsoft May Release Out-of-Cycle Patch for Word Flaw

Microsoft confirmed "very limited, targeted" attacks on an open Word security flaw. The company is researching a patch.

IT Gets Easier in the Big Easy

Like much of the rest of the city, New Orleans' information technology department was nearly crippled by Hurricane Katrina. But as the city continues to put itself back together, the IT department has been able to rebuild -- and even improve some operations. The automation of its business processes has been among the improvements.

Microsoft Reissues Security Patch for Excel 2003

A calculation-error bug in Microsoft Office Excel 2003, which was acknowledged by Microsoft last Friday, has been resolved with a security update.

Rootkit Security Vendor Snapped Up by Microsoft

Microsoft is on a buying spree, and its latest acquisition is rootkit security vendor Komoku.

Scientists Take Step Toward Molecular Electronics

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built working electronic devices using a thin layer of organic molecules on a traditional silicon platform, setting the stage for the next step toward practical molecular electronics.

Citrix, HP Team Up on Embedded Hypervisor

Citrix has become the latest entry into the increasingly-crowded field of embedded hypervisors.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 Launch Event Highlights 'Ease-of-Use'

Microsoft presented its latest customer relationship management (CRM) product, Dynamics CRM 4.0, this week.

Flash, AIR Get Media Rights Management

Adobe this week began shipping Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server, a $40,000 (per CPU) system designed to integrate with Adobe Media Player and Adobe AIR software to "safeguard video content created for Adobe Flash technology against misuse."