Exchange in Peril
Our own security swami Russ Cooper is warning of
new
threats to Exchange—a buffer overflow vulnerability in both Exchange
2000 and 2003. Cooper suggests, beyond checking out Microsoft bulletin
MS05-021,
filtering traffic before it gets to Exchange.
More Hacker Trash News
The SANS Institute this week dropped
off its latest report, and things ain’t gettin’ any better.
Hackers are getting sneakier by the minute. Case in point? My daughter’s
computer. Recently I did a full reformat and installed the latest and most popular
anti-spyware and anti-virus packages. Not two weeks later, her laptop started
acting funky—every time she ran the virus scan, the system would shut
off.
SANS is onto this little scam, as it reports that sleazy virus authors are
attacking anti-virus software—successfully, I might add!
Rock on Billy G!
Where does U2’s overexposed front man stay when in Seattle? Why, Chateau
Gates, of course! Bono was in town recently for a concert and Gates put
him up—for free. The two share an interest in charity and helping
lesser-developed countries. It was unclear if the two had a private jam.
Does Apple Have Longhorn by the Tail?
Thanks to the iPod, the Mac has a brand-new cool factor. My 11-year-old, David,
thinks they're the coolest and is just about begging for an iBook.
But even wizened techies may soon be impressed by the company's new operating
system, OS X 10.4. Apple released
Tiger, its newest Unix-based desktop, last week, and critics are crowing about
its superiority, arguing that Longhorn is not just too little, way too late,
but is a pale imitation of Tiger.
The Tiger list of over 200 new features fills page after page on Apple.com
and, being based on Unix, the OS should be relatively crash-proof.
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Today it seems that IT only buys Macs for those "wackos" in the graphics
arts department who refuse to touch anything built by Dell, Gateway or HP. But
we should broaden this view. Take a look at how much time is spent patching
PCs, removing viruses and spyware, and talking users off the ledge after their
latest document-gobbling crash. Maybe the Mac is a better way.
At a minimum, this attitude certainly can’t hurt the next time you negotiate
an XP volume license.
Loving To Hate Microsoft
A new survey about the most prominent Internet brands puts Microsoft at A-No.
1. The company also comes in sixth for least-liked brand—a category McDonalds,
still smarting from the documentary “Super Size Me,” won hands down.
That’s the story of Microsoft’s life—an aggressive, powerful
company that is hated, respected and loved—all at the same time.
Auction site eBay is the most-liked brand. (Those ripped off must not have
voted.)
Our upcoming June cover story reports what you, the Redmond readers, think
of Microsoft. And, while there are plenty of negatives, there is more than a
fair share of respect and love. In the meantime, read more about the general
public's take on various tech brands.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.