What recession? Yahoo shows signs of a complete resurgence

Exactly who should be buying whom? With only minimal mention of Microsoft from both Yahoo executives and analysts this afternoon, suddenly the "big deal" between the software giant and the portal keeper doesn't seem to be "on."
It is one of the biggest uphill battles in the technology industry, and last quarter, it seems "uphill" is the only direction Yahoo knows: Revenues up 9% on the year to nearly $1.82 billion, and gross profit up 11% annually to $1.06 billion versus Q1 2007. Operating income was down 28%, though actually that percentage can fool you: Last year's operating income at this time was low to start with, so the reduction is only $48 million. And the shock of the day, if there was one, is that this reduction was much less than expected.
Evidence the worst may be over for AMD's market share drop

The plunge in AMD's worldwide CPU market share in 2007 may have finally stopped in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the most recent statistics from hardware market analysis firm iSuppli.
Though the gap between it and Intel widened by 7.3 points of market share by revenue (as opposed to units shipped) for the total year 2007, the tick went up for AMD in the fourth quarter -- by pretty much as small as a tick, 0.3%, according to iSuppli's latest figures supplied to BetaNews this morning.
Office 2007 no longer measures up to OXML standard, says consultant

With the myriad changes that had to be made to DIS 29500 before it could be approved by three-fourths of the ISO subcommittee's voters, there was a very high chance that by the time Microsoft saw its offspring once again, it wouldn't recognize it.
As a consultant for conformance testing agency Griffin Brown confirmed last Thursday, indeed, Office 2007 may require an upgrade before it can say it faithfully adheres to an international standard.
NBC, not Fox, will provide political news for MySpace

In the burgeoning field of social networking, the prominence of the major players' brands is extremely important. But what signal does it send when a sister company of Fox pairs with NBC for its political news coverage instead?
In another curious signal of how warm the mood has been of late between NBC Universal and News Corp. -- normally considered direct competitors in the television space, though they're partners in the online video service Hulu -- the MySpace unit of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media division has decided to feature political content from NBC News.
Google's OpenSocial API could convert iGoogle into a social media platform

A simple demonstration of adding access to the OpenSocial API through iGoogle gadgets is the hot topic of discussion among both Web developers and social network aficionados today, as Google looks more poised to take on the social net leaders.
A new tool for skilled and amateur developers to build social networking gadgets using version 0.7 of the OpenSocial API, launched by Google last October, looks very conspicuously like a way to populate the service's iGoogle personalized home pages with features that could put it in competition with social networking sites like MySpace.
Microsoft denies its pledge not to sue security researchers is new

Microsoft's manager for security response communication told BetaNews this afternoon that a pledge made by a company representative at a security conference was not, as some sources reported from the scene, a change in policy.
"Microsoft did not announce anything new at ToorCon Seattle regarding its position on responsible disclosure, but we did mention our industry leading online services acknowledgement, which went public in July of 2007," stated Microsoft's Bill Sisk to BetaNews this afternoon. "Because we will not pursue legal action against researchers who report vulnerabilities to us responsibly, we hope to encourage those who want to help us protect customers to feel free to do so without fear of repercussions."
Windows XP SP3 released to manufacturing, downloadable 4/29

In a post to Microsoft's TechNet Forum minutes ago, a Microsoft official announced that Service Pack 3 of Windows XP has released to its manufacturing channels, in order to reach OEM and enterprise customers by the late-April deadline.
Microsoft's XP SP3 release manager Chris Keroack wrote that Web availability of the final service pack for Windows XP will begin on April 29, through the Microsoft Download Center. Confirming many users' suspicions, the company will wait until "early summer," Keroack stated, before enabling SP3 to be downloaded through Automatic Updates, perhaps in light of the company's recent debacle with Windows Vista SP1.
WD premieres ultra-fast VelociRaptor 10,000 rpm HDD

Making an AMD-like play for the cost-conscious computer enthusiast, Western Digital has found a way to release what should be a laptop drive, but repackaged for the desktop builder at what could be perceived as a respectable price.
Typically the notion that smaller is faster applies to the microprocessor realm, but today, hard drive manufacturer Western Digital is demonstrating that notion applies to storage as well. This week, WD is premiering its first 10,000 rpm enthusiast-class hard drive; and to accomplish its transfer speed, rather than try to rev up a conventional 3.5" form factor, it's taking a 2.5" HDD and encasing it in a 3.5" form factor heat sink.
Privilege escalation vulnerability affects Windows Vista SP1, XP

It is the type of vulnerability that Microsoft wanted to head off as long as possible, especially since Windows Vista's new kernel was designed to thwart this possibility.
Now, as the company acknowledged in a security bulletin yesterday, a malicious program running as a local or network service can leverage another local or network service running in the same system, to elevate its own privilege and potentially cause damage.
AMD treads water in Q1, promises a path to profitability

The long road to writing with black ink again may at last be coming to an end, said AMD's chief executives yesterday. But that depends on more than a handful of factors boding well, including Opteron CPUs suddenly giving it no more trouble.
There may yet be light at the end of AMD's dark tunnel, its chief executives tried to reassure analysts during its quarterly conference call yesterday afternoon. That light will start to shine in the second quarter, and could be pretty bright by the third quarter.
Latest CTP of OXML SDK reflects its ownership shift

Microsoft is just another contributor to the OXML (formerly OOXML) community now, and today the work it has been doing to build developer tools for what's now an international standard, has been changed to reflect that new status.
Work at Microsoft on the system developer's kit for the OXML format suite continues mostly on schedule, with a Community Technology Preview released today in advance of a final 1.0 release now moved back a few weeks to June. But it's no longer the Microsoft SDK for Office Open XML Formats. Instead, it's just another effort (assuming there could be others) to build programmable access to Open XML formats, as Microsoft is now referring to it as just the Open XML Format SDK.
Carmi Levy: Could Google take Microsoft's place, in every respect?

If an AOL + Yahoo deal were to be effectively brokered, then Google would be perceived as the ultimate victor. But is that really part of the company's plan, to replace Microsoft in the public conscience...and does it really want that role?
It is Yahoo that has skillfully advanced the name of Google as the possible spoiler for Microsoft's takeover bid, without Google ever having to lift a finger. It need not even be the alternative corporate parent: AOL is now being seen as the speculative alternative, in a deal that Google would presumably facilitate.
Yahoo indicates it's pleased with its Google test

There may have been a little extra cash flow in Yahoo's direction from its beta test of Google's AdSense in its own search pages. But whether you take that as a sign of a deal in the works depends on how you read the carefully phrased speculation.
In the mergers and acquisitions game, the key players typically establish back channels in the major media in order to give them reliable outlets for bluster. Yahoo's choice of late is one of the best, The Wall Street Journal; and this morning, the word from that publication is that Yahoo's initial beta test of Google's AdSense for Search, announced just last week, was apparently successful.
MySQL contributors remain confused over Sun's Enterprise plans

The business model for MySQL is that someone, at some time, must pay for something. In this case, Enterprise users are Sun's paying customers; and at a conference this week, free users wondered again whether the other group is entitled to exclusive new features.
The debate over what paying MySQL customers should be entitled to that non-paying ones should not, re-ignited after comments made during a simple roadmap presentation at a MySQL conference in Santa Clara ruminated in attendees' minds for awhile, and then pointed to an otherwise obvious point: The features new MySQL parent Sun Microsystems intends to include in the commercial MySQL Enterprise edition will only be tested by paying customers, under what is probably a more common commercial beta testing system.
ISO defends the positive outcome of the OXML vote

The very fact that there may still be problems to iron out with what used to be Microsoft's XML-based file format suite, is the justification for the creation of a managing body to manage it as a standard, reads a fresh statement from the ISO.
A newly published FAQ from the International Organization for Standardization, which on the surface would appear to address questions regarding the standard now known as ISO/IEC 29500, actually goes all out and responds to concerns individuals may still have about how fairly its predecessor, Microsoft's Open XML format, may have been judged.
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