Excel Open to Zero-Day Hack
Microsoft is investigating a
flaw
in Excel similar to the four zero-day flaws the company is still working
to patch in Word. Thankfully, there has been limited activity so far.
Major Hack Fails To Take Down 'Net
Hackers staged a prolonged
and vigorous attack on the key computers that manage worldwide Web traffic.
Either the hackers aren't that good or the Internet is pretty darn resilient,
since there was no discernable effect on Web operations.
Word Edges Closer to OpenDoc
Nothing is ever simple in Redmond. Product names are more confusing than they
have to be (first there's a code name that's usually pretty good, then a final
name that's usually pretty bad, and after we all get to know the product, Microsoft
changes the name to something even worse).
And when it comes to MS Word file formats, Microsoft is spinning a story as
a tangled as a plot from "24."
While it could have just included OpenDoc -- the same format used by OpenOffice
and other tools -- in Word, Microsoft instead decided to help start
an open source project to build a translator that would turn Word OpenXML
files into OpenDoc and vice versa.
Time Mag Doesn't Love Vista
Recently, Newsweek interviewed Bill Gates and gave him an open forum
to promote Vista and complain about those "lying" Mac ads. Time
took a different approach, recently publishing a rambling
and disjointed review of the new OS.
Despite some praise, the review -- in a rare moment of lucidity -- called Vista
"an embarrassment to the good name of American innovation, but it's perfectly
fine."
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.