URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2010-12-14-016-35-NW-LL
URL: http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=e5595170b6dd204f0fe5ba1be56d9667
Does the presence of a virus scanner guarantee reduced performance, or does it have a negligible impact? We test 10 different products to see if you're unknowingly suffering with security software.
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URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2010-08-27-025-35-OP-DT-MS
A new Windows flaw that allows all current, supported versions of Windows to be crashed was published on Friday by Israeli researcher Gil Dabah. The bug allows a local user to cause a system to suffer a blue-screen of death crash. In principle, this may also allow attackers to run code of their choosing with kernel privileges, though in practice, the looks as if it would be difficult due to the nature of the flaw.
The bug is in a kernel-mode component called win32k.sys, which handles many key Windows features like window management and 2D graphics. This specific flaw is in the component's handling of the system clipboard; by placing specially malformed data onto the clipboard, the system can be made to corrupt the screen or crash outright. In the early days of Windows, the component in question did not run in kernel mode; it was moved there for Windows NT 4, as doing so made 2D desktop graphics substantially faster.
win32k.sys has remained in kernel mode ever since, and as a result, this flaw affects Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, for both x86 and x64, both with or without Service Packs.
Microsoft is aware of the flaw but has not announced when a patch might be made available. Due to the nature of the problem, it has been assigned a "Less Critical" rating by security group Secunia. This rating is a result of the lack of remote exploitability and the difficulties in using the flaw to execute an attacker's code.
So far this year, Microsoft has patched a number of similar flaws in the Windows kernel, including bugs in the win32k.sys component. The company tends to give them an "Important" rating, again due to the requirement that the attacker be logged in to perform the attack. Researcher Tavis Ormandy went so far as to suggest that so far this year, Windows has not gone more than a few days at a time without a known, published kernel flaw of this kind.
If the flaw could be exploited in such a way as to allow arbitrary code execution, an attacker with a regular user account would be able to increase his privileges. This does not directly increase the risk of the flaw—the ability to log on is still required—but it does make the flaw more useful, as it allows attackers to break out of system sandboxes such as those used in Web browsers like Chrome and Internet Explorer. This in turn magnifies the risk of those browser flaws.
It is precisely this dual technique—a browser flaw to allow malicious code to run, coupled with a kernel privilege escalation flaw—that is being widely used to jailbreak iPhones and other Apple devices. The privilege escalation is needed because the iPhone runs software in a sandbox; merely being able to attack Safari is not enough to make the system changes required to jailbreak.
Though Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and Chrome both incorporate this kind of sandboxing on Windows Vista and Windows 7, typical attacks on Windows systems don't bother attempting to use kernel flaws to escalate their privileges. The widespread use of Windows XP and users running with full Administrator rights makes it not worth the effort. As Windows XP finally starts dying off and sandboxing becomes more common, we could start to see greater attention paid to, and exploitation of, this kind of flaw, just as we already do on locked-down phone platforms.
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URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2010-07-22-028-35-NW-SV
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URL: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/four-reasons-why-microsofts-kin-phone-failed/
Microsoft’s attempt to be hip and cool in mobile is a bust. The company has decided to stop introducing new Kin-branded phones and will scrap the device’s European launch. Instead it plans to integrate Kin into its existing Windows 7 Phone team.
It will continue Kin sales in the United States, Microsoft said in a statement.
The move comes just two months after Microsoft introduced two phones under a new brand called Kin. The devices, called Kin One and Kin Two, were built with social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter at their core. Manufactured by Sharp for Microsoft, and available exclusively on Verizon Wireless, the phones were targeted at teens and social networking addicts.
But, from the start, Kin devices seemed doomed. The phones got tepid reviews and were plagued by reports of extremely poor sales.
Here are four reasons why we think the Kin failed:
Microsoft has been pouring resources into beefing up Windows Mobile and seems poised to introduce Windows Phone 7 in time for holiday season this year. But in a surprise move, Kin made its debut in April running a flavor of the new operating system.
Kin’s OS isn’t exactly Windows 7 Phone but it’s not entirely a new operating system either, Microsoft executives attempted to explain. Call it a fork in the road of Windows Phone 7, they said at launch.
Kin had features such as easy sharing and automated backup that didn’t seem part of the announced Windows Phone 7 OS. But that only confused mobile phone enthusiasts. Now Microsoft seems to realize splitting its OS brand could be a problem.
Microsoft executive Roz Ho who headed the Kin project, will “oversee” her team’s move into the Windows Phone 7 fold, and then move to another role in the company, says Engadget.
The Kin isn’t a smartphone, but it sure had a monthly cellphone plan priced like one.
At launch, the palm-sized Kin One — which had a 2.7-inch screen — cost $50 with a two-year Verizon contract, while the Kin Two with its 3.5-inch display cost $100. A few weeks later, Verizon dropped the price on the two phones to $80 and $30 respectively.
Sounds cheap right? Not really. The fine print is in the monthly cellphone plan for the device. All Kin phones require a data plan. That means a $70 a month minimum on the bill.
For someone flipping burgers at McDonald’s for their summer job, that’s a lot of money to be handing over to a cellphone company.
If only Microsoft had offered all those social networking features on the Kin without requiring a data plan, Kin might have had a better shot at survival.
Microsoft executive Robbie Bach was confident enough to wear a pink shirt to the unveiling of the Kin, but it didn't save the phone -- or his job.
Though Kin forced a data plan on its users, they’re not really smartphones.
Kin phones have a browser and can access social networking sites through widgets. But Microsoft crippled the overall functionality of the device by not allowing apps or games on the phone.
That means users ended up paying for a smartphone but got an amped-up feature phone instead.
Consumers, even teens, are smarter than that. Many just gave the Kin a pass.
Kin made a bold move into an extremely competitive cellphone market. But the devices lacked the cool factor and never really made it clear why a user would want a Kin over a Motorola Cliq or a HTC Hero.
Microsoft’s marketing of the Kin seemed to make it worse. The company focused on projecting a faux hipster vibe for the product.
Kin would be a device that would make it easy to share photos, videos and access social networking feeds, promised Microsoft’s ads.
However, almost every smartphone today can do that, and at times better than the Kin. At launch, Kin’s Twitter client, for instance, was half-baked. Users couldn’t view @ replies, search, or post photos. Similarly, Facebook features were limited to showing or posting status updates, though you could post photos.
What Microsoft failed to drive home were the truly innovative features of the phone — mainly the automated cloud backup. The Kin backs up the entire device, including photos, videos, message history and call log into a free online storage area that can be accessed from any browser — all without the user doing anything to trigger it. It’s a feature that can come in handy when the phone is dead or missing.
But you wouldn’t have known that from Microsoft’s Kin ads.
See Also:
Top photo: Kin One and Kin Two
Photos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
URL: http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-mar-jun.html#18%20June%202010%20%28If%206%20were%209%29
Bill Gates cites copyright enforcement to justify Chinese censorship. Microsoft executives used to call us communists, but they are now clearly revealed as the ones who support communist-style dictatorship.
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 Lazer Tecnologia (Blogue) | Google decide abandonar Windows por razões de segurança Computerworld Para a empresa, mudança pode ter até relevância estratégica. Mas, em termos de segurança, resultado pode significar apenas uma troca de alvo. Funcionários da Google confirmaram, na terça-feira (1/6), que a gigante das buscas e da publicidade online ... Uso do Windows é suprimido nos escritórios do Google Google abandona gradualmente o Windows por razões de segurança Em esforço de segurança, Google deixa de usar o Windows |
URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2010-06-01-008-35-NW-BZ-MS
URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2010-05-31-003-35-OP-OO-SW
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