Oh, It’s Patching Time Again
Yesterday Microsoft
patched
three newly discovered flaws. Two of the flaws are critical, and as with most
critical flaws, allows hackers to commandeer unpatched systems. Windows XP and
Windows Server 2003 with recent service packs still need to be patched.
My question is: Will Vista and IE7 be more secure than the Swiss cheese that
is XP and IE6? Let me know at [email protected].
Microsoft used the patch announcement to get users to sign up for Microsoft
Update, through which security
tools are installed automatically.
Microsoft AntiSpyware and Its Sneaky New Name
For once, Microsoft has come up with a cool, meaningful product name, as its
new anti-spyware product will no longer be known as Microsoft AntiSpyware but
as Windows Defender. But not all is well in Defender land, as new Redmond columnist
Mary Jo Foley (of Microsoft-Watch.com) reports.
It seems that Microsoft officials contacted a 22-year-old Australian, told him
he was violating their trademark, and the young man quickly caved in -- giving
up the name free of charge. Apparently, Adam Lyttle, creator of the original
Windows Defender, didn’t realize that Microsoft was going to use the name
for itself.
| Subscribe
to Redmond Report |
This column
was originally published in our weekly Redmond Report newsletter.
To subscribe, click here. |
|
|
Borland Snags a Redmond-ite
Years ago Microsoft stole away every good Borland executive it could find, including
Brad Silverberg, who went on to launch Windows 95 (among other things) and is
now a venture capitalist (who invested in Linux/Windows interoperability vendor
Centeris.
More than a decade later, Borland is fighting back, having hired
Tod Nielsen as its CEO. Nielsen, mostly known as the man who launched Access,
has been kicking around at startups and BEA in recent years.
There is a huge irony here. You long-timers might remember how Access was in
a race against Paradox for Windows as to which would ship first. Quality-conscious
Borland waited until its DBMS was fully debugged. Meanwhile Microsoft shipped
a bug-laden product, and sold it at the then rock-bottom price of $99. Virtually
the entire DBMS community went for Access, and actually started to use it when
the first upgrade (which should have been the first commercial release) came
out. It was game over for Paradox. Not sure if that little anecdote made it
into Nielsen’s first company speech.
Oracle Loses a Redmond-ite
Hope this isn’t an omen for Nielsen, but Oracle hired
and lost (fired or resigned, you decide) a major Microsoft exec, all in
the space of four months. Greg Maffei joined the DBMS giant as CFO, only to
leave after reports of infighting and conflict. As with all these deals, the
truth of whether Maffei was fired or left on his own accord is thoroughly obscured
by the boilerplate “left to pursue other opportunities” corporate
explanation.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.