Microsoft Says EU is Withholding Docs
Microsoft has attacked the European Commission for violating its right to a fair defense by withholding 71 out of 100 documents relating to the EU's antitrust case against the Redmond company. Microsoft has also requested an extension to a February 15 deadline that it comply with EU demands.
In a letter sent to the Commission on January 30, Microsoft lawyer Ian Forrester demanding "full access" to the company's case file. Of the 29 documents it has been provided, 25 of them were actually correspondence between Microsoft and the EC, the letter alleges.
Honeywell, Rhode Island Leak Data
Honeywell International acknowledged late Tuesday that personal information, including Social Security and bank account numbers, on 19,000 employees was inadvertently posted to a public Web site. In a separate incident, hackers stole thousands of credit card numbers from a Rhode Island state government Web site.
Honeywell says it contacted employees within 24 hours of learning about the breach on January 20. The company is working with federal and state authorities to determine who posted the data, and whether it was done purposely by a disgruntled employee.
AT&T Sued for Opening Network to NSA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a class action lawsuit against AT&T for allegedly violating laws and the privacy of its users by collaborating with the National Security Agency. News that the NSA was working with major telecommunications companies first surfaced shortly before Christmas.
According to the New York Times report, by working with backbone networks in the United States, the NSA was able to tap directly into switches and monitor any traffic moving across the networks. This included e-mail, instant messages and even phone calls, as most traditional phone communication is routed using voice over IP these days.
Mass. Moves Ahead with OpenDoc Plan
Publicly reaffirming its intent to transition away from Microsoft Office to the OASIS backed Open Document format, Massachusetts has appointed a new Chief Information Officer to oversee the switch. Louis Gutierrez will replace Peter Quinn, who resigned due to the controversy and personal attacks he received.
When announcing his resignation in late December, Quinn stressed to employees of the state's Information Technology Division (ITD) that his departure did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending. Indeed, Gutierrez will be tasked with final implementation of the proposal.
Good Technology Sued Over Patents
The never-ending saga of wireless e-mail patent battles continued on Tuesday, as Visto filed suit against software provider and BlackBerry rival Good Technology. Visto previously sued Microsoft in December claiming Windows Mobile 5.0 infringed on three of its wireless patents.
Visto previously signed a licensing agreement with NTP, which has taken BlackBerry owner Research In Motion to court over alleged patent infringement. RIM has accused NTP of strong-arming the company into paying outlandish royalty fees, but NTP has proved victorious thus far.
Microsoft Releases Public IE7 Preview
Microsoft on Tuesday made available for public download a pre-Beta 2 release of Internet Explorer 7, which is designed to showcase features the new browser will bring and give developers time to play with the latest technology. IE7 notably adds a tabbed interface and improves browser security.
Although the release is not yet Beta 2, because it "requires additional fit and finish work," Microsoft sees the preview as a major milestone over Beta 1. A key addition is the integration of the Windows RSS platform that provides a framework for downloading, storing and accessing RSS feeds across the operating system.
EU: No Fee for Windows Source Code
European Commission antitrust head Neelie Kroes told EU lawmakers on Tuesday that Microsoft cannot charge a licensing fee for the Windows source code it has promised to share, unless it can prove such code is "innovative." Microsoft made the offer last week in order to comply with a 2004 court ruling.
The EU fined Microsoft 497 million euros in March 2004, and attached stipulations for compliance. One demand was a version of Windows without the company's media player software, which it released last year, and the other was to open the source code of Windows Server networking protocols to third party developers.
180solutions Drops Zone Labs Lawsuit
Adware provider 180solutions has voluntarily dropped a lawsuit it filed in November against security software vendor Zone Labs after claiming the company was making "false and misleading statements" about its products.
180solutions did not offer a reason for dismissing the suit; however, the company came under immense public fire after its actions were picked up by the press. Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm tool alerts users to the existence of 180's Zango software, and says it may log keystrokes and track Web sites visited.
Google Betas New Browser Toolbar
Google on Monday released a beta version of its new toolbar for Internet Explorer, complete with an enterprise edition that simplifies network installation and searching a corporate network. Google Toolbar 4 adds the ability for users to create Custom Buttons for Web sites they visit often.
Through the Custom Buttons feature, a user can search any site they please, along with integrating an RSS feed as headlines in a dropdown menu. According to Google Toolbar developer Othman Laraki, it only takes a few seconds to make a new button. "And don't miss some of the other cool features for everyone: a greatly-improved search box for formulating better queries; a streamlined bookmarking interface; and Send-To, for posting or sending content via Gmail, Blogger or SMS," Laraki added.
Critical Security Flaw Found in Winamp
UPDATED An "extremely critical" security vulnerability has been discovered in AOL's Winamp digital media player, relating to the way the software handles filenames that include a computer name. An exploit has already surfaced for the flaw, which affects version 5 of the software.
By late Monday, Winamp developers had already released version 5.13 of the software, which plugs the security hole.
VS Team Foundation Server Due in March
As the VSLive! conference gets underway in San Francisco Monday, Soma Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division, announced that Visual Studio Team Foundation Server will arrive in March and serve as the cornerstone for the VS 2005 Team System.
The software was built to better manage application development. "Team Foundation Server is designed to provide a single collaboration point for developers, testers, project managers and architects," Somasegar explained. "The Visual Studio Team System offers role-based tools for Architects, Testers, Developers, Designers and Managers."
IBM Delivers Free Version of Database
IBM is set to deliver a free version of its enterprise DB2 database software on Monday, following in the footsteps of competitors Oracle and Microsoft as they fend off the adoption of open source offerings MySQL and PostgreSQL.
IBM DB2 Express-C only limits the hardware that the database can run on, but is otherwise identical to the full-fledged DB2 release. The software can be installed on machines with up to two AMD or Intel processors, and utilizes up to 4GB of RAM. There is no limit as to the size a database.
MS Source Code Seller Gets Two Years
A Connecticut man convicted of selling stolen portions of Microsoft's source code for its Windows operating system was sentenced to two years in prison by a federal Judge on Friday. William Genovese Jr., 29, pleaded guilty in August to the crime after being charged in February 2004.
An undercover FBI agent and a paid Microsoft investigator were able to successfully purchase and download the source from Genovese's Web site. Genovese, who went by the alias "illwill," was selling code for Windows 2000 and NT 4.0, but was likely not the person who originally obtained it.
Google Heads to Court to Protect Users
Google will face off against the United States government in a federal court on February 22 over whether the Department of Justice can force the search giant to turn over records from its database. The conflict stems from a subpoena demanding information on searches, which Google refused to comply with citing privacy concerns.
The government is attempting to gather data to support a child protection law that was struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under that law, the government could punish pornography sites that made content easily accessible to minors.
AOL Secures High-Speed Internet Deals
One day after announcing a deal with Sony to ship its applications on all new VAIO computers and become the default homepage, AOL has inked partnerships with BellSouth and AT&T to bundle exclusive programming for broadband users. AOL will also provide security software to customers from both companies.
With its dial-up business dwindling, AOL has turned to its content and software as a way to keep consumers visiting the company's properties, and in turn focusing on the advertising revenue such traffic brings in. Such deals with BellSouth and AT&T join similar agreements with Verizon and Time Warner as a way to keep AOL relevant in the broadband era.
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