Technology News Blog

Forbidden Fruit: Microsoft Workers Hide Their iPhones

REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft Corp. employees are passionate users of the latest tech toys. But there is one gadget love that many at the company dare not name: the iPhone.

The iPhone is made, of course, by Microsoft’s longtime rival, Apple Inc. The device’s success is a nagging reminder for Microsoft executives of how the company’s own efforts to compete in the mobile business have fallen short in recent years. What is especially painful is that many of Microsoft’s own employees are nuts for the device.

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee’s hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft’s mobile phone software.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment and declined to make executives available for this story.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs referred an email asking about iPhone use at Microsoft to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment.

Despite Mr. Ballmer’s theatrics, iPhone users are in plain sight at Microsoft. At the sprawling campus here in a Seattle suburb, workers peck away on their iPhone touch-screens in conference rooms, cafeterias and lobbies. Among the top Microsoft executives who use the iPhone is J Allard, who helped create the Xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices division.

Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior Microsoft executives. That figure equals about 10% of the company’s global work force. (more…)

Mozilla pitches Firefox 3.6 upgrade offer to users

Computerworld – Mozilla yesterday began offering Firefox 3.6 to users running older versions of the open-source browser.

Thursday’s offer was the first coordinated invitation to Firefox 3.6 that Mozilla has displayed to users of 2008’s Firefox 3.0 and mid-2009’s Firefox 3.5.

As with past update offers, the one for Firefox 3.6 lets users accept the upgrade, postpone the next reminder by 24 hours or decline the invitation. The latter, however, doesn’t necessarily block future offers. Mozilla typically issues multiple upgrade invitations to users who have previously declined, hoping to get everyone onto the newest version.

According to Mike Beltzner, the director of Firefox, the offer screen appears after a minute of keyboard inactivity “to ensure we don’t get in the way of anyone’s activities.” (more…)

Symantec enables mid-size biz manage data back-up

BANGALORE, INDIA: Symantec Corp. today announced Backup Exec 2010 to help mid-sized businesses save time and money by protecting more data and utilizing less storage.

Backup Exec 2010 offers fully integrated data deduplication and archiving technologies and is the first backup and recovery solution to offer granular recovery of Microsoft Exchange, SQL and Active Directory in VMware and Hyper-V environments from a single pass backup.

The solution also adds new support for Microsoft Windows 2008 R2, Hyper-V R2, Exchange 2010, Windows 7 and VMware vSphere 4.0.

“Organizations of all sizes are struggling to effectively manage information growth, particularly as they leverage virtualization technologies, creating new backup and recovery complexities,” said Vijay Mhaskar, vice president, Information Management Group, Symantec. (more…)

Apple axes iPhone apps that simply reproduce Web content

Following reports that Apple began rejecting App Store software with “minimum user functionality,” the iPhone maker has now set its sights on applications that employ a “cookie cutter” formula.

As detailed by TechCrunch, Apple has recently started cracking down on submissions to the App Store that are just “basic applications.” These apps are “little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards.”

“In short, Apple doesn’t want people using native applications for things that a basic web app could accomplish,” the report said.

The issue has primarily been with iPhone applications built with “templates” that are available from a number of software generating services. Medialets CEO Eric Litman said the change in policy plays into Apple’s desire to control the user experience. (more…)

Opera Mini native version for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones

Opera Software today rolled out a native version of Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5- and 6-based handsets.

The beta version provides integration of Opera Mini with the Windows Mobile platform. “Opera is able to deliver an optimized version of the popular Opera Mini browser that dramatically improves performance and the overall user experience,’’ a company press release said.

The Opera Mini will work on any Windows Mobile phone, as it does not requires Java.

The Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile includes the same rich feature set as the Java-based version, the company said. Such features as tabbed browsing, password manager, bookmarks and Speed Dial, are built-in. (more…)

strong>Skype for Symbian Enters the Nokia Ovi Store

We all know Skype for Symbian devices was already available for quite sometime now. What’s new today is that Skype and Nokia have announced that the application can be now downloaded from the Ovi Store starting today.

If you were not aware, Skype for Symbian phones allows users to make free Skype-to-Skype calls to other users anywhere in the world. The only thing you’d be paying for is for your data charges. This holds true for SMS messages as well. Apart from these, Skype can double up as an IM client and more importantly, as a VoIP phone whenever you need to call an international number.

Skype for Symbian will run on any Nokia smartphone
using Symbian ^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype will soon introduce this client to Symbian mobile devices from other manufacturers, including Sony Ericsson. (more…)

Deploying mobile business apps

At the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona last week, the world’s largest mobile operators announced they were joining forces to launch an open international applications platform that would compete with Apple’s App Store.

Called the Wholesale Applications Community, the alliance will see the pooling of resources from 15 mobile operators, including AT&T, China Mobile, Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica and Vodafone.

However, the formation of this alliance will not necessarily make life easier for CIOs looking to deliver a mobile business application to their customers, according to Nick Jones, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst.

“I’m very sceptical about this. I wouldn’t rely on the operators to roll it out as it is not in their interests to create a vendor-agnostic platform,” explained Jones. (more…)

Symantec Ships Norton 360 Version 4

On Wednesday, Symantec announced Norton 360 version 4, the company’s utility suite that emphasizes a “reputation”-based approach to fighting malware, and adds online backup.

Norton 360 version 4 will cost $79.99 for the Standard edition with 2 GB of included online storage at n360.backup.com, and $99.99 for Norton 360 version 3.0 Premier edition with 25 GB of included online storage. The only difference between the two editions will be the amount of online storage, a Symantec spokesman said.

Users can renew the Standard edition for $59.99 per year, and the Premier edition for $89.99 per year.

As the Symantec disclosed with its beta, the new version of Norton 360 adds its “Quorum” technology, which attempts to discover previously unknown malware based on characteristics like the file’s originating IP address. The opt-in technology, also in the company’s Norton Internet Security product, has rated 177 billion files since September, the company said. (more…)

Adobe Flash, Reader, Acrobat Vulnerable

Adobe on Thursday issued two security bulletins to address vulnerabilities in its Flash Player software and in its LiveCycle and ColdFusion software.

It also issued a security advisory about vulnerabilities in its Reader and Acrobat software that will be addressed in a patch next week.

The Flash Player vulnerability is designated “critical” and affects version 10.0.42.34 and earlier. Flash Player 10.0.45.2 resolves the issue and is available for download.

The vulnerability affecting LiveCycle 9.0, 8.2.1 and 8.0.1, and ColdFusion 9.0, 8.0.1, 8.0 and 7.0.2, resides in the BlazeDS 3.2 component, or earlier, and has been rated “important.” Adobe has posted fix details on its Web site.

Adobe’s advisory warns of “critical” flaws in Reader 9.3 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, Acrobat 9.3 for Windows and Macintosh, and Reader 8.2 and Acrobat 8.2 for Windows and Macintosh.

“This vulnerability (CVE-2010-0186) could subvert the domain sandbox and make unauthorized cross-domain requests,” Adobe’s advisory says. (more…)

Early Windows 7 Testers Must Soon Upgrade or Backtrack

The unprecedented number of PC users who installed Windows 7 release candidate (RC) will soon have to decide whether to upgrade to the new OS or face bi-hourly shutdowns and significant hassle re-installing their old version.

Beginning on February 15, users of machines running the RC will see an expiration message above the taskbar, followed on March 1 by the start of shutdowns every two hours. The next key date will be June 1, the point at which the entire desktop wallpaper will be replaced with the message “This copy of Windows is not genuine”, a state that will nix updates of any kind and the ability to use Microsoft applications.

“To avoid any data loss, I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start. During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved,” says Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc in blog reminding the world of the issue.

At this point RC users have only two options if they want to continue using their computers; to upgrade to Windows 7 through a full install, or revert to a previous operating system such as Vista. How easy that the latter choice proves will depend on the way the OS was installed, the size of the hard disk, and the technical expertise and patience of the user.

Anyone who installed the RC over Vista or XP should be able to return to that version as long as their PC contains the folder Windows.old and the available hard disk space is double that consumed by this folder.

However, as an article on the topic makes clear, even then the re-install of Vista or XP could turn into a time-consuming process unless the user is willing to start from scratch and has the required OS disks to hand.

Oracle To Fire Thousands Of Former Sun Employees Reckons Analyst

Oracle may axe half of the Sun Microsystems’ workforce of 27,000 employees when it will take the reins of the beleaguered company in the coming few weeks, an analyst at UBS AG forecasted.

The gloomy prediction came from Brent Thill, an analyst with San Francisco-based firm UBS AG, and was reported by Bloomberg News. Thill claimed that Oracle will shed around 13,800 people from Sun, when the $7.4 billion takeover closes in.

Incidentally, Oracle, the second-largest software maker in the world, has predicted $1.5 billion in operating profits from Sun Microsystems in the first financial year after the acquisition completes.

The acquisition, announced back in April last year, was delayed because the European Commission launched a probe into the deal to find out if the buyout would affect the existence of Sun’s open source MySQL database.

However, Larry Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, had already claimed in September that the European Union’s probe had in fact creating uncertainty about the Sun’s future, as the company had reportedly been losing $100 million in month.

While Oracle has already been going through a difficult phase due to the EU’s probe into the acquisition, the prediction from the analyst could further create scepticism about the proposed takeover.

UPDATE: Microsoft CEO: Windows Offers Best Variety Of Content Tools

LAS VEGAS (Dow Jones)–Consumers want to access their growing libraries of videos, photos and other media on all of their electronic gadgets, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) can provide that experience, said Steve Ballmer, the company’s chief executive.

“Windows PCs will absolutely offer the greatest variety and the most interesting content and entertainment experiences in the world.” Ballmer told a crowd of about 3,500 during his keynote speech opening the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday. “More than ever, we are delivering the experiences that people want, wherever they want them, wherever they are.”

Ballmer also unveiled a prototype table-style computer from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) that he says will be available later this year. (more…)

Mozilla to launch web browser for cellphones

NEW DELHI: Mozilla, the world’s second-largest Internet browser firm, is all set to release its Firefox web browser Fennec for mobile phones next
year, in order to compete with existing rivals including Opera Mini, Safari, Chrome, Nokia, Netfront and Internet Explorer for mobile. The war for browser market share is set to be shifted to the mobile market, experts say.

Globally, on the mobile front, Opera commands the largest market share—about 26%, followed by Safari (22%), Nokia web browser (19%) and iTouch (10%). Other web browsers which may face competition from Fennec will be Netfront, Android, Blackberry and Sony PSP.

However, on desktops Mozilla’s Firefox browser commands a global market share of about 25%. Internet Explorer, commands a majority share of almost 63% while Safari has a market share of about 5%. In India, however, Opera is the clear leader on the mobile with a market share of 63%, followed by Nokia at 26%. (more…)

End of the road for Steve Ballmer?

NEW DELHI: Is it end of the road for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer? So predicts NewWeek magazine. In its tech predictions for 2010, Newsw
eek has forecasted that Microsoft will oust Ballmer during his 10th year as chief executive.

According to the magazine Ballmer led Microsoft into a decade of failures, set up by the Windows Vista fiasco. While he was distracted by poor reception of the operating system, Newsweek argues, Microsoft’s other businesses lost direction.

NewsWeek writes, “Microsoft stock has dropped by nearly 50 per cent on his watch, lagging not just other tech companies but even the Dow Jones industrial average. Distracted by the Windows Vista fiasco, Ballmer has missed every big new tech market of the past decade.”

Adds NewsWeek, “Google won the race for Internet search and keyword advertising. Apple won in MP3 players and online music sales, and now holds the high ground in mobile phones, while Windows Mobile fades away. Microsoft’s Zune music player is a dud. Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, will never catch Google.”

According to NewsWeek, Ballmer is said to be a brilliant guy, but he got a black eye for the way he blundered and blustered and finally botched an attempted acquisition of Yahoo. He’s a screamer and a bit of a bully — not the easiest guy to work for. If Microsoft were any other company, this guy would be in trouble.

However, according to the magazine, the catch is that Ballmer was put into the job by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and the two have been pals since their undergraduate days at Harvard. If Gates wants to get rid of Ballmer, he’ll have to craft some kind of graceful exit that lets his buddy save face.

Microsoft Ordered To Stop Selling Word In 2010

Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, has been ordered by a court to pay $290 million to a small Canadian firm, i4i Inc, after it lost its appeal in the patent infringement case pertaining to its popular Microsoft Word application.

A Federal appeals court refused to change the decision of a Texas jury, which had found the software giant guilty for violating patents held by the Canadian start-up. The court has told Microsoft to stop selling the Word application which contain the infringing code.

The court had found that popular Word program, which is distributed by the Redmond based software giant, contained a custom XML feature which allows users to encode data that can exchanged between programs, whose patent is held by the Canadian company, headed by Loudon Owen. (more…)

Symbian Users Get GPS Navigation Maps

SatNav Technologies has launched a free version of its GPS Navigation Software
and Maps for Symbian smartphones from Nokia. The software that boasts of maps of 412+ Indian cities already had versions for Windows based phones from HTC, HP, imate, ASUS and ACER. It seems the company wants to target the large base of Nokia users in India. The USP of these maps from SatGuide is that they are heavily localized.

The “Free” tag of the Maps software comes with a catch though! The free version is valid only for a limited time. Users can use the service free for upto 10 times. After that, they would have to either reinstall it, or purchase a license that will set users back by Rs. 2,138. This is a one-time payment for a lifetime subscription. “SatGuide is an onboard solution, which allows users to avoid incurring heavy GPS subscription prices and suffer from poor GPRS connectivity,” says the company. Apart from the 421 plus city maps, there are as many as 16 lakh points of interests (POIs). In addition, SatGuide offers partner’s maps for U.S., Canada and Europe as well.

As of now, SatNav is providing a cash back offer to the users downloading free version of their website. If they choose to upgrade the software within 30 days of the downloading the free version, they will get Rs. 1,000 cash back from the company which in effect would mean a 50 percent discount on the regular price. Interestingly, the company also adds that because Nokia has its own Ovi Maps thing for its phones and for the same reason, Nokia and its associates ain’t exactly upbeat about the arrival of SatGuide. (more…)

Proteans Software ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2009

December 16, 2009 /India PRwire/ — Proteans, a leading outsourced product development company today announced that it is ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2009, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over three years.

According to Sudhakar Gorti, CEO at Proteans Software Solutions, “this achievement is very encouraging for us. The economic background caused prices to fall, but we strived for innovation through cost reduction on existing services generating maximized returns. This was backed by extraordinary support of our staff. ”

“Making the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is commendable in today’s highly competitive technology industry,” said Yoshitaka Asaeda, partner in charge of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program. “We congratulate Proteans on being one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in the region.”
(more…)

Microsoft Abandons an Old Windows Bug

Microsoft has decided to disable a 17-year-old video codec in older versions of Windows rather than patch multiple vulnerabilities, according to the company’s security team.

Last week, the same day it issued six updates that patched 12 bugs , Microsoft released a security advisory that outlined the unusual move, which blocks the Indeo codec — software that compresses and decompresses video data — from being used by either Internet Explorer (IE) or Windows Media Player. The update also prevents other applications that access the Internet from loading the codec.

It’s unclear exactly how many unpatched vulnerabilities the Indeo codec contains, but at least two security companies — VeriSign iDefense and Fortinet — issued their own Indeo bug alerts Tuesday. The vulnerability uncovered by iDefense was reported to Microsoft more than a year ago.

The update targets only the oldest editions of Microsoft’s operating system: Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 already bar the Indeo codec from loading. Intel introduced the codec in 1992. (more…)

Over 2,000 Indian firms adopt Windows 7

Microsoft had set a target of having Windows 7 installed on over 100 PC models.

In less than a month since its launch on October 22, over 2,000 Indian companies are in the process of installing Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), Windows 7. The companies include major IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, NIIT, car companies like Maruti and even the Bangalore airport, and Manipal University, besides many small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to Steven Guggenheimer, Microsoft’s corporate vice-president, OEM.

“We also see a reasonable amount of Windows XP (which has been around for eight years) on machines. We expect the natural refresh cycle over the next 12-24 months,” says Guggenheimer. Microsoft has tied up with 17 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India. During the launch, the company had set a target of having Windows 7 installed on over 100 personal computer (PC) models. (more…)

леглаGigabyte fixes Windows 7 iPhone bug for some users

Gigabyte has released a new beta BIOS for its GA-P55-UD4P motherboard, addressing problems with iPhone sync on certain Windows 7 systems. Issues are said to remain with ASUS and MSI motherboards, for which no patched software is available. People may nevertheless be able to solve errors by upgrading to the latest available BIOS and chipset drivers, or running Windows in Vista SP2 compatibility mode.

The bug is only triggered by motherboards based on Intel’s P55 design, and predominantly affects systems running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. When connecting an iPhone to a vulnerable PC, both Windows and iTunes 9 may detect the device, but subsequently refuse to sync. Intel has suggested that the problem indeed lies with BIOS or system configurations; likely as a result, Microsoft has yet to comment on any relationship between troubles and Windows 7’s codebase.