Microsoft to hand over Windows secrets to Samba team, Dec 21, 2007

Developers of open-source Samba software will find their work a little easier thanks to an agreement with Microsoft, signed Thursday, that will give them access to previously secret data on how the Windows operating system works.

Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Server 2008 provides a two-for-one bonus: virtualization software with the operating system itself, and potentially closer integration with some Linux operating systems than it has ever offered before, according to an early, initial look at the server's Release Candidate 1 (RC1).

Opera argues that because each version of Windows comes with only IE preinstalled, Microsoft has an unfair advantage against rivals like Opera and Firefox.

A year since its launch, there is only the smallest of fairy cakes for Vista. Although Microsoft claims high achievements for its new Windows operating system, the sense on the ground is that the OS is lagging badly behind people's expectations. Meanwhile sprightly geriatric XP is about to get a new shot of monkey glands in Service Pack 3.

It's been at least a week since the last bout of Microsoft FUD hit the wires, so I guess it was time for a new wave. Today's FUD comes from an article Microsoft released on how its security compares with that of Linux. It should come as no surprise that Windows comes off as the Second Coming while Linux is left on the wrong side of Acheron.

Almost a year on from the release of Microsoft's Windows Vista, only 13 percent of companies say they expect to move all desktops to the operating system, according to a survey released this week. Furthermore, adoption of Linux continues to gather pace, with a particular emphasis on the desktop emerging.

The majority of IT professionals worry that migrating to Windows Vista will make their networks less stable and more complex, according to a new survey.

Microsoft just isn't relevant to my daily computing. I don't need the programs that run on its operating systems; for the most part, I have programs as good or better, and those that aren't as good are adequate and improving quickly.

Users won't be booting up Vista PCs any time soon, according to a recent survey, which revealed a majority of IT professionals worry that migrating to Vista will reduce stability and introduce too much complexity into their environments.

The man in charge of Microsoft's strategy for living in harmony with Linux lays out the company's opportunities with open source and the open source business model.

Microsoft has long claimed that Linux violates its patents, but has refused to be specific. A recent deal between the software company and a printer maker may offer a clue.

Microsoft and industry body the Computing Technology Industry Association have teamed up to drive the adoption of Office Open XML in the Philippines.

Microsoft and Novell are using the one-year anniversary of their interoperability agreement to tout the increasing number of enterprise customers who are signing up because of the benefits offered through the collaboration.

At the time, the news that Novell and Microsoft were becoming partners was shocking. But, a year into the alliance, what has really come from it?

Microsoft is a tremendous competitor in every market in the world. And according to a letter written by Mandriva Linux CEO Francois Bancilhon, it's so bent on winning that it undercut a deal between the Nigerian government and the Linux vendor.

I will note that Nigeria's business center, Lagos, is one of the most corrupt cities on the planet. Microsoft, never one to let a mere bagatelle such as the law stand in the way of doing business, fits right in.

Nigerian schools bought thousands of PCs with Mandriva Linux pre-installed but after words from Microsoft, they switched to Windows.

Microsoft is making its Virtual Machine Additions for Linux available for download in a 32- and a 64-bit version. Installing the software is said to improve the running of Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux as guest systems under Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005.

Microsoft wants to bring its Windows operating system to the low-cost XO laptop for underprivileged children. It is currently working to adapt a basic version of Windows XP to be compatible.

There's a scene in the 2004 movie Mean Girls in which the most popular girl in the film's fictional high school finds out that a friend who now is a fast-rising social rival plans to throw a party without inviting her.

My colleague over at Microsoft Watch, Joe Wilcox, declared that "Microsoft bowed before the EU and took its whipping." Eh, after a couple of days to look at the decision, I don't think so. At best, I'd say the European Union got the more favorable end of a draw.

Microsoft and Turbolinux, a major Linux distributor in Japan and China, announced on Oct. 22 that they had signed a business deal that advances Linux-Microsoft Windows Server interoperability, furthers research and development collaboration, and provides IP (intellectual property) assurances for Turbolinux users.

The European Union said Monday that Microsoft is now in compliance with its antitrust rulings -- paving the way for greater use of open source operating systems like Linux in the workgroup server market.

Microsoft has given up its nine-year fight against antitrust regulators in Europe, saying yesterday that it would not challenge a court judgment from last month and would share technical information with rivals on terms the software giant had long resisted.

Maybe not for the average corporation yet, or even the average home user, but every time Canonical releases a new version of Ubuntu (and with it comes Edubuntu), Microsoft becomes a little less the default vendor of choice for educational computing.

It’s become an annual event. Steve Ballmer shoots his yap about how Linux and open source violate Microsoft patents. The open-source community says, “OK, show us your cards, your patents,” and Ballmer shuts up for six months or so.

I was walking down the street when a limo pulled up beside me and Big Steve Ballmer emerged.

At a small meeting of Web 2.0 developers and partners on Oct. 1 at Microsoft's London office, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once more attacked Linux and open source for violating Microsoft's patents.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his company expects payment from computer users who run Red Hat Linux because the open source operating system violates Microsoft's intellectual property rights.

Microsoft is regretting the way it handled the patent protection deal with Novell and other Linux vendors, according to open-source advocates.

The head of the Open Invention Network (OIN) has dismissed Microsoft's claims that Linux violates over 200 of its patents.

Microsoft wants to destroy open-source by opening its code for examination, but not for use.

The days of the monolithic upgrade are over. Five years, $6bn later and what do the ingrates do? Ask for a downgrade to Windows XP.

While Vista was originally touted by Microsoft as the operating system savior we've all been waiting for, it has turned out to be one of the biggest blunders in technology.

After the International Organization for Standardization voted to reject Microsoft's Office Open XML document format as a standard, the detailed results from ISO member countries give us a lot of material to analyze.

While Microsoft is still pushing Vista hard, the company is quietly allowing PC makers to offer a "downgrade" option to buyers that get machines with the new operating system but want to switch to Windows XP.

The Microsoft Permissive License, one of two licenses the software maker submitted to the Open Source Initiative for approval as open-source licenses in August, is unlikely to be approved in its current form.

Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, said he is "not ruling anything out" as the company assimilates a landmark judgement by the European Court of First Instance.

A European Union court on Monday dismissed Microsoft Corp.'s appeal against an EU antitrust order that ordered it to share communications code with rivals and sell a copy of Windows without Media Player.

To at least some people at Microsoft, this isn’t about meeting the needs of customers who want a stable, solid, vendor-neutral format for storing and managing documents. It’s just another skirmish with the open-source crowd and rivals like IBM, and all that matters is winning.

Microsoft's claims that open-source software infringes its patents do not apply in the UK, according to a top lawyer.

Microsoft is touting BMW and Siemens as the latest enterprises to sign up for the three-year priority support certificates for Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server it offers, which are designed to help them run Windows and SUSE Linux Enterprise systems seamlessly together.

The mobile wireless routers on board the company's "Connector" employee bus system, made by Seattle-based Junxion Inc., use the open-source Linux operating system

Microsoft's ISO standardization ambitions for its Office Open XML file format have hit a rough patch, as OOXML recently failed to garner enough votes for fast-track ratification

Eric S Raymond, a founding member of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), labelled Microsoft's behaviour in pushing Office Open XML (OOXML) for fast track ISO certification as "egregious", and said that he was almost ready to recommend that Microsoft not receive approval from the OSI for the Microsoft Permissive License.

Obviously this is one of those non-announcements announcements if you're a Linux and open source fan, as Novell has not yet created anything you could consider an installable package.

Microsoft conceded that it had been unsuccessful in its attempt to make its document formats, Open XML, an ISO standard in an early morning press release on Sept. 4.

Gaming giant Tattersalls has chosen to abandon Linux as it moves ahead with a $43 million project to streamline its multi-state Maxgaming poker machine business.

France has voted against the adoption of Microsoft's document format Office Open XML as an international standard, while Australia has decided to abstain.

The Department of Justice has declared Microsoft's antitrust settlement to be a success, and if they say so, it must be true!

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