It is a given at this point that full support for both Office 365, Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage service and the next generation Windows Server 8 will be included.  This will include new features that will be coming for Windows Server this year that we may not yet know about.  It will also possibly mean that there is multi-platform support for things like Windows Phone, Windows 8 Metro and tablets.  This is something Microsoft have always been very good at… or have they?

While it’s easy to argue that services such as Office 365 are groundbreaking, and this is why it has been so incredibly popular since launching, and that the Office Web Apps and their integration with SkyDrive is extremely innovative and very welcome for a great many people, the web has sadly continued to move on and Microsoft Office simply hasn’t moved with the times.

One example of this is the rumoured reluctance of the Office development team to create a version of the suite for Windows 8′s new Metro interface.  To a certain extent this rumour, if true, is understandable as Microsoft Office is an incredibly complex piece of software and also the price of tablet and expected price of Metro apps is but a small fraction of the overall cost of Office.  However not only have web apps such as Google Docs and Office Live proven that the majority of people only need basic tools, but software such as Adobe’s Photoshop Touch for Android tablets has proven hos easy and simple it can be to create truly immersive and powerful touch-friendly apps.

Despite my Microsoft ‘lock-in’ for most things I also use other operating systems and software.  For the last six months I have been using an HP Touchpad tablet every day for light web browsing, email and work.  This weekend I will be taking delivery of a Blackberry Playbook and I will evaluate it and decide which of the two will become my day-to-day sofa lounging computer.  The problem with these devices, and also with the iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and Android Smartphones, Linux and to a limited extent also the iMac is the lack of iniquity in the world’s most ubiquitous integrated Office and collaboration suite.

Microsoft may be currently in the process of releasing limited apps for these platforms such as their communications platform Lync and the note-taking app OneNote, but the vast majority of Office users, if not the vast majority of computer users, use Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  These are the applications they need on their devices and I very much doubt you will ever find a regular Office user who will admit that working on and editing a document in the Office web apps, inside a browser is a friendly and accessible experience!

It’s odd to look now at how, I was going to say fragmented but that’s the wrong word, how broad the computer and operating system market is.  When Microsoft started producing Office and when it became truly popular, taking over from software such as WordPerfect and Lotus 123 we had only the PC and the Mac.  If you wanted to work on the move you had to synchronise your files with your PC and they could only be stored on your PC.

Now, more and more of us are storing our documents in the cloud, and you only have to look at the success of services such as Mozy, Google Docs and Office 365 to see that this is an unstoppable roller-coaster.  This is something that Office 15 and Microsoft need to address, not just launching a new version of the suite for the PC, but simultaneously launching it for every other operating system available.

For instance they’ll see what emails you receive and subscribe to, what videos you watch, what things you search for, what sorts of documents you work on and what the content of those documents is, what you blog about, what you take photographs of and where, what newspapers and blogs you read, what you buy online, what parts of the world you’re interested in (and where you live), who you chat to and what you like to buy.

All of this information, when put together, helps advertisers paint an incredibly detailed picture of you and with about a billion users worldwide, that information is incredibly valuable.

Now Microsoft have hit back with newspaper adverts in the US saying that this isn’t what want at all and that you should ‘obviously’ use their products and services instead.

In the advert they say…

Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products. Those changes, cloaked in language like “transparency”, “simplicity” and “consistency” are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services.

But, the way they are doing it is making it harder for you to maintain control of your personal information. Why are they so interested in doing this that they would risk this kind of backlash? One logical reason: Every data point they collect and connect to you increases how valuable you are to an advertiser.

So is this fair enough, sour grapes or the pot calling the kettle black?  In fairness it is all of the above as there are elements of all of these in the advert.  Google make almost all of their revenue from advertising and the better and more attractive they can make their own advertising, and the data they collect on their users, the more companies they will attract and the more money they can charge for the (your) personal information.

Many people simply don’t want to be tracked and Microsoft point out that you can do this in the latest version of Internet Explorer.  What they don’t mention is that you can also do it the latest version of Google’s Chrome browser as well and that many of the advertising and data-mining tactics used by Google are also used by Microsoft.

Consumers will have to decide for themselves how they feel about the approach Microsoft are taking here, though many will just see it as a company taking advantage of an open goal for a publicity stunt.  The fact remains though that the US Congress is so concerned about the new changes Google is introducing that they are holding an closed door hearing to discuss what the changes mean.

So what do you think about Google’s new privacy policy?  Have you even heard about it and what do you think of Microsoft’s response?  Why not tell us in the comments below.

But the technology market is different, and in the last three years we’ve seen it take on a whole new dimension where Windows is no longer the obvious operating system choice, and where comparisons are increasingly being made with IBM.  On tablets, a market that Microsoft invented back around 2003 they’re going to have a real fight on their hands, and in computing generally it’s no longer clear what devices and form factors we’ll be using in even five or ten years time.  What is obvious however is that the traditional desktop PC is well and truly on its way out.  Lastly new operating systems such as iOS, Android and WebOS have blown away the notion that people will resist a learning curve on new devices.  So what would the world be like if Microsoft stopped making Windows desktop and server products?

First of all it’s not very likely, Microsoft would probably drop Windows products last of all with their expensive research and development centres and other products such as Xbox falling by the wayside first, so there’s no need to worry in the short term.  Windows 8 is a big gamble though and if it fails then Microsoft will either have to backtrack with Windows 9, pull an immensely impressive rabbit out of their hat or face the consequences of poor decision-making.

There has already been talk that Google would like to bring Android to the desktop.  HP said the same of WebOS, which they are still developing or at least maintaining, and could put extra resources back into quickly.  Ubuntu Linux is now at least as friendly as Windows XP was, only the lack of big name software for the platform is holding it back now and Apple’s OS X is becoming more like iOS with every release.  So it’s already clear that there’s plenty of choice.

We might also expect an open-source upstart operating system to appear too and it might even be a reinvigorated WebOS.  Companies such as the Mozilla Foundation might see an opportunity as their Firefox browser begins to fade in popularity, and this is just one of several places where a new operating system might emerge.

In the business space, some of the GNU/Linux companies including Red Hat, might jump in with versions that will run Windows programs on the desktop.  This isn’t new and has already been done with operating systems such as Lindows (later renamed Linspire).  This product still exists today and could prove popular with businesses if Windows 8 and Windows 9 fail to deliver the working experience that they need.

Again it’s very unlikely that Microsoft will cease development of Windows in the next twenty years at least.  If they’d have done it even five years ago there would have been almost no alternatives to choose from.  Should they do it now though businesses and consumers would probably just shrug their shoulders and quietly move on to the next big thing.

When Windows 8 launches the app store will likely be fairly barren, and it will take many months, if not years for Windows to catch up with the number of apps available in the iPad and Android markets.  This ultimately can hurt sales of the platform as people might choose an Android or Apple device over Windows because there’s more they can do with it, they’ll probably not even be able to run their existing desktop software on it so what will be the point in getting one?

It is crucial however that Windows 8 tablets take off in a big way and sell in the millions, the reason for this is that Microsoft have re-engineered Windows directly around tablets, effectively betting the entire platform on the success of these devices that will probably only ever form 10% of the whole computing market.

The remaining 90% is largely constituted of IT Pros and businesses, many of whom are already taking a dim view of Microsoft’s new direction for Windows or who are, at the very least, concerned about what it means for them.  If the new Windows 8 tablets don’t take off and sell in huge volumes it will essentially be seen as one huge slap in the face for the IT Pro community who will have had their precious desktop working environment decimated in the name of a product gamble.

The failure of Windows tablets to sell could see these IT Pros turning on Microsoft in huge numbers and perhaps even looking for an alternative (I’ve even considered a dual-booting iMac as my next PC for the first time ever!)  This means that Microsoft simply cannot afford to get Windows tablets wrong.  As the whole structure of Windows is being re-engineered around them, no matter how friendly they might say Metro will be on desktops and laptops, it is too big a gamble to get it wrong.

The result of a failure to sell tablets now, and crucially to convince hardware makers that it’s actually Windows tablets they should be making and not Android ones, could be the cause of the single-biggest backlash in Microsoft’s company history.  IT Pros and business users have got to be kept sweet and happy, above all else.  The main reason for this of course if the huge software eco-system that Microsoft have built around Windows, which include two products that help keep the company going; Windows Server and Office.  As we head inexorably into the cloud the need for individual companies to maintain their own servers will diminish, Microsoft’s own Office 365 is making sure of that but at least this means they get some of the cash back.  If people rebel against Windows that eco-system will be under threat like never before and Microsoft could find its market shares diminishing rapidly.

Of course this is all speculation, perhaps even slight scaremongering.  It is ultimately entirely possible however as IT Pros and businesses are not known as forgiving souls.

In an interview with veteran Microsoft journalist Mary-Jo Foley, Rizzo said “We want to work where people work, whether it’s online or offline, and on various platforms.”  He went on to say that Android is in the frame as well as a bigger focus on the iPad.

So why would Microsoft do this when they have their own tablet operating system, Windows 8, coming out within a year?  Well let’s not forget that Microsoft are a ‘software’ company, not an operating system company first and foremost.  While Windows might be a huge revenue earner for them on the desktop and the server, Office also does well for them on both PCs and Macs, where on both platforms it is the dominant office productivity package.

With the hugely successful launch of Office 365 this year it makes complete sense for the company to roll out its products across as many platforms as possible.  Rizzo acknowledged that the iPad is “mattering more in the enterprise” and so clients for their office productivity software including Lync, OneNote, SkyDrive and Office Live matter.

All in all we’re moving towards a world of apps.  Anyone who picks up an iPad won’t expect to have to go online to use a service such as Office 365.  They’ll expect there to be an apps for it.  As such we can fully expect Microsoft to deliver such an app, or more likely a series of them, that will deliver the entire Office 365 experience to their customers on the iPad.

But why should Android be left out?  It’s becoming more and more common for cross-scripted packages to be ported to every mobile platform and the tools have existed for some time to enable this.  Thus it is cheaper and simpler than ever before and Microsoft would only be sensible to make sure that their productivity apps are available for Android devices and others including those form Blackberry and perhaps even WebOS.

As I mentioned before this is nothing new for Microsoft who have been producing and supporting office on the Mac for many years.  Why should this software company be defined by their operating system?  If their cloud products are genuinely good and people are using them in ever greater numbers, it makes good business sense to support those customers on the platforms they choose to use.  After all, you don’t make something a cloud-based service in order to tie them to a particular operating system, or even web browser.

Other companies, including Google with its own web apps system, have fallen some way behind Microsoft this year with products that simply don’t stand up against Office 365.  These companies could still come forward with a winner, but the longer they take and the more platforms Microsoft support in the interim, the harder it will be for competitors to compete long-term.  After all, just ask Microsoft what sales are like for their Windows Phone OS.  If anybody knows how tough competition can be when you arrive late to the party, Microsoft do.

Some support requests redirect users to the new Answer Desk website which – according to Microsoft – is a premium online support service. It is certainly no coincidence that Answer Desk is also the name of Microsoft’s in-store service.

The service offers 24/7 support for Microsoft products on the Internet. Customers are either charged by the hour or by service that they request. A two hour virus removal and protection session for instance sets you back $99. You get 60 minutes of premium Microsoft software support or advanced PC tune up for the same price, while one hour long personal training sessions are available for $49 each.

Each page lists what the service may include and the answer tech support members available for the session.

A particular support service, like virus removal and protection may include several support related tasks. It may include removal of viruses, spyware and malware, installation of Microsoft Security Essentials, an audit of the PC’s security configuration or a comprehensive PC health diagnosis.

Support sessions will take place over chat or phone, and remote connections to customer PCs will be established should the need arise. Customers need to have a Windows Live ID which they use to sign in on the Answer Tech website.

The service is currently only available to users from the United States. Proxies or vpns may display the site’s contents but it is still not that easy to get tech support as a US address is also required for the service (likely a credit card associated with a US address).

Visitors from outside the United States will receive the following notification message:

Sorry,this site restricted to US visitors only
Dear Answer Desk visitor We believe that your IP address may be from outside the United States. If you think we have incorrectly detected from where you are visiting, please proceed. In order to make purchases, your address will need to reside within the United States.
If you are outside the United States, we welcome you to visit any of the online resources listed below to help you with your Microsoft product questions.
Microsoft Answers:
Microsoft Solution Centers:
Microsoft Fixit Center:
http://answers.microsoft.com
http://support.microsoft.com/select/
http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal
Currently, we are working to expand our service internationally to best support all Microsoft customers.

Sincerely,
Microsoft Answer Desk Team.

It all comes down to how effective the service is. I personally would not mind paying $49 for one hour training sessions or even $99 if I had a pressing problem in a Microsoft product that I could not find an answer for. Microsoft backs the service with a 30-day service guarantee.

Technet offers a special mode that can be used to create and export document collections. Please note that you need a Windows Live account that you need to sign in to export the documentation to HTML or PDF. Here is how this works. Visit the Technet Library website and click on the printer icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Select Print Multiple Topics from the context menu and Start on the next page. The click on starts enables the collectors mode on Technet. You can use it to add documents to a collection.

A small toolbar is added to each page of the Technet Library. It can be used to add the current web page to the collection. Documents can also be added by right-clicking on a link and selecting the “Add this topic” menu option.

You can add as many documents as you want to the collection. Please note that you will only add that particular page and not pages that are linked from that page. You can add multiple documents directly by right-clicking on the menu structure in the left sidebar.

Here it is possible to add sets of topic to the collection. Root documents with to many sub-documents are limited to 100 pages. You may need to add pages manually after all in this case.

You can click on Collection at any time to manage the collection. All documents that you have added to your collection are listed here. Options are available to rename or delete documents, and to add chapters.

The exporting options are displayed below. Here you can select the HTML or PDF export option. You may want to click on Advanced Options prior to exporting the documents to make changes to the destination document. Available are are options to include community contents, translate contents that is not available in your language, and to include example codes for all programming languages and not only Visual Basic.

Once you have made the output format selection you are asked to sign in to Windows Live before the service processes all documents. A new page with a download link is presented in the end. You need to right-click on Download Your Document and select to save it to store it on the local computer. (via)

The new version adds support for additional HTML5 technologies including File API improvements, Web Worker Thread Pooling and HTML5 video improvements. Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 4 offers support for new CSS3 and DOM technologies as well.

Users interested in the browser’s revision history can look at the history page here for a list of all modifications and changes to the web browser.

• Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) for safe use of XMLHttpRequest across domains.
• File API Writer support for blobBuilder allowing manipulation of large binary objects in script in the browser.
• Support for JavaScript typed arrays for efficient storage and manipulation of typed data.
• CSS user-select property to control how end-users select elements in a Web page or application.
• Support for HTML5 video text captioning, including time-code, placement, and captioning file formats.

Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 4 scores 299 points and 6 bonus points on the HTML5 Test website.

That’s an increase of 68 points over the second platform preview released earlier this year. In comparison, Firefox 10 Aurora scores 314+9, Google Chrome 17 Dev 344+13 and Opera 11.60 325+9 points. Compare that to Internet Explorer’s 9 score of 141+5 and you will realize that Microsoft made a huge jump in HTML5 compatibility.

Take a look at the following video to see some of the browser’s HTML5 technologies in action.

The Internet Explorer blog post offers additional information for web developers who want to take a closer look at the technologies that are now supported by the browser.

Windows 8 users can download the latest Internet Explorer Preview from the official test drive site.

This data will be analysed by Agari to see how phishing attacks can be identified and prevented.  The company has actually been in operation since 2009 and helps protect over 1 billion email accounts from these types of attack.  The company already collects data from around 1.5 billion emails a day, though they don’t collect the actual email messages.

Instead the company just passes on malicious URLs in the messages to the relevant companies who’s name is being used in the phishing message.  Google said it expects the new arrangement to benefit Gmail users as more mail senders will now be authenticating email and implementing common phishing blocking policies.

Cnet reported that Daniel Raskin, the vice-president of marketing for Agari said…

“Facebook can go into the Agari console and see charts and graphs of all the activity going on in their e-mail channel (on their domains and third-party solutions) and see when an attack is going on in a bar chart of spam hitting Yahoo.  They receive a real-time alert and they can construct a policy to push out to carriers (that says) when you see this thing happening don’t deliver it, reject it.”

Phishing emails aren’t just a nuisance, they cost businesses millions every year in credit card insurance payouts, a cost which is inevitably passed on in interest charges.  The sophistication of phishing messages, which purport to be from a bank, business or website asking you to log in to confirm your security details, or offering you a fantastic deal that doesn’t really exist, again to get your personal details including those for your credit card.

The simple rule is that no bank, company or website will EVER email you asking you to log in and confirm your details.  Modern web browsers will highlight the actual domain name for the site you are visiting, for example PayPal.com and you can see if you are being diverted to a different domain.  The best rule is that if you receive an email purporting to be from, say Bank of America, then never click on the link.  Instead manually go to the bank or company’s website and log in yourself.

Agari says they have been operating in “stealth” mode for the last few years to as to try not to attract too much attention to their work.  Currently they analyse 50% of all email traffic in the US.  Cnet say…

The company aggregates and analyzes the data and provides it to about 50 e-commerce, financial services and social network customers, including Facebook and YouSendIt, who can then push out authentication policies to the e-mail providers when they see an attack is happening.

This new alliance forms no guarantee that phishing emails will be eradicated, and it is still up to the end user to use caution when opening any suspicious email.

In the invitation email the company say…

The Beta program is a fully functional antimalware app with ongoing updates to help protect your PC from viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.  In addition to ongoing virus and spyware definition updates, we’ll provide software updates to the Beta for download through Microsoft Update on a periodic basis. To have these updates installed automatically, you must be subscribed to Microsoft Update with preferences set to Automatically download and install new updates.

This edition, version 4.0.1111.0 comes in both 64 bit and 32 bit versions and can upgrade a current Security Essentials installation automatically.  The company also say that…

At the end of the Beta program, participants who are subscribed to automatic updates through Microsoft Update will be upgraded to the released version of Microsoft Security Essentials.

Which is news that will be welcomed by many people who simply don’t want to have to worry about it.

Microsoft have said that among improvements will be a much simplified interface, though on initial inspection it is very difficult to tell the difference between this and the previous version.

The new features are…

• Enhanced protection through automatic malware remediation: The Beta program will clean highly impacting malware infections automatically, with no required user interaction.
• Enhanced performance: The Beta includes many performance improvements to make sure your PC performance isn’t
  compromised.
• Simplified UI – Simplified UI makes Microsoft Security Essentials Beta easier to use.
• New and improved protection engine: The updated engine offers enhanced detection with cleanup capabilities and better performance.

This software, which is based on the company’s Forefront anti-virus engine for enterprise customers, has been receiving some criticism in the last year for dropping down the ranking in anti-virus tests.  This beta includes an improved scanning engine and Microsoft will be counting on this to put Security Essentials back in the top two or three for quarterly effectiveness surveys.

Microsoft Security Essentials is being built into Windows for the first time with Windows 8 and as such is bound to become a significant target itself.  If people aren’t to install other third-party anti-virus software in Windows 8 they need to be reassured that Security Essentials, currently badged as Windows Defender in Windows 8, is a quality product that will protect them.

This inclusion into Windows 8 will make Security Essentials a target for malware writers who will try and undermine its effectiveness.  The overall security features in Windows such as User Account Control will help minimise the surface for attack, but this must be high on Microsoft’s mind at the moment.

The download is 19.91Mb for both the versions (the 64-bit version is 11.04Mb and the 32-bit version is 8.87Mb) and runs on any version of Windows from XP with Service Pack 3 or later.  The version you install must match the edition of Windows you are running, 32-bit or 64-bit.

The public beta is available through the Microsoft Connect website at connect.microsoft.com and I should stress it is just a beta, so should not be considered bug free and it might include vulnerabilities that leave your system vulnerable to malware and viruses.

Sadly the new update doesn’t address this, but the new features are indeed useful.  Firstly comes new options for sharing files.  Previously you’ve had to create permissions on a file or folder giving explicit permissions for sharing.  Now however you can share documents more easily, and even from within Microsoft’s Web Apps directly by just typing in either the emails addresses for people you want to share it with, or selecting their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profiles.  If neither of those suit you, the other option is simply to grab a link for the file that you can send on.  If you want to you can also post files and documents to Facebook or Twitter; though you should perhaps be careful how you use this feature!

Folder management is also being improved with support for creation of inline folders and with improved moving, deletion and download support, things that have always caused problems.  You can now perform these actions on a simple right-click, just as you would in Windows.

For people using the latest HTML5 compatible browsers there are also additional features such as improved drag and drop file addition and improved photo slideshows.

These have also been improved with support for RAW files, something Microsoft have been working on for a while and briefed me on about six months ago.  This will be a very welcome addition for serious photographers.

On the document front there is improved support for PDF files with better viewing of the files directly within the browser or, if you are using a browser that doesn’t have the Adobe PDF viewer installed, the most appropriate software on your computer or device.

Microsoft say of these new features…

In addition to some of the sharing and file management features, we continue to look for ways we can take advantage of modern browsing technologies. Today we rely on Silverlight to provide rich upload support. In this release, we’re introducing drag and drop as a way to upload files and photos for browsers that support HTML5 File API like Internet Explorer 10, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari. And while your files are uploading, you can continue to browse and use SkyDrive. You no longer have to sit and wait for uploads to complete.

Microsoft say int heir blog post that they’ve improved many things about SkyDrive including the sign-in time and general actions.  Their aim is to make is simpler and quicker to use generally.

There are other rumours about new features that may be coming to Skydrive.  One of the most interesting and useful is that the service could be used to host email attachments for people using Hotmail.  This means the attachment would never be stored in the email itself but would instead be stored online.  For people like myself with ever-expanding lists of emails going back many years this will be a very welcome addition indeed.

Overall the features are welcome and generally excellent, but they’re only a stepping stone to the service users have been calling for, and they don’t address many of the more important criticisms.  Microsoft will be continually improving SkyDrive and we can expect more Windows 8-centric changes to be made in the run up to the new operating system’s release next year.

Microsoft states that “Microsoft Office Starter 2010 uses the Application Virtualization (App-V) technology”, and that it “therefore requires the creation of a Virtual Drive”.

Microsoft also notes that “this virtual drive is intentionally not accessible by end users in order to prevent accidental damage to Microsoft Office Starter’s file structure”.

While that is all fine and good, users who uninstall Office Starter will notice that the virtual drive created during installation remains on the system. And that’s a issue. It took some fiddling around to find the reason for this. Microsoft Office Click-to-Run 2010 gets installed alongside Microsoft Office Starter 2010. This is the program responsible for the creation of the virtual drive on the operating system.

It is not really clear why it is not uninstalled when Office Starter is uninstalled. Could be that Microsoft is utilizing the technology for other products as well, so that an uninstallation could prevent those programs from starting up properly.

If you are certain that no other programs depend on the Click and Run application, you can uninstall it separately. Open the Windows Control Panel and search for the Programs and Features applet.

Locate Microsoft Office Click-to-Run 2010 (or another version depending on the Office Starter version installed) and select to uninstall it.

A restart of the computer is required to complete the removal of Office Click-to-Run and the virtual drive that it has created on the system.

Microsoft yesterday has opened registrations for the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials. Users who sign up early enough will get a chance to test the beta version of the security software before anyone else can do. Beta spots are limited according to the announcement on the Technet site and served on a first in first out (fifo) basis.

The beta will be released soon, considering that it will be made publicly available at the end of the year. More interesting to a wider audience, especially those who run Microsoft Security Essentials, are the planned improvements and new features that Microsoft is currently working on.

The new version of Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a new protection engine offering enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities. One of the improvements in this regard is automatic malware remediation, which basically means that the security application can clean “high-impact malware infections automatically” without user interaction.

Add to that better performance to avoid negativ performance impacts on PCs running Microsoft Security Essentials and a simplified user interface. It will be interesting to see how the simplified UI looks like, considering that many consider the current MSE interface bare-bones.

The improvements all make sense, especially the new protection engine with its updated detection and cleanup capabilities could improve the application significantly.

Users who want to sign up for the beta program need to have a Windows Live account. It is possible to create one on the sign up page or use an existing one.

It does not make much sense for most Windows users to sign up for the beta, considering that it will be available later this year for the general public.

Regardless of that, it is good to see that Microsoft is improving the free security software continuously. (via)

Microsoft’s Translation service is without doubt not as popular as Google’s service. The service is available over at Microsoft Translator. It works pretty much as Google Translate works. The translation service auto-detects the original content language and offers to translate it into one of the supported languages.

Users can enter text or website addresses at the translator site to get the textual contents translated.

Microsoft has released a bookmarklet for their translation service recently that everyone can use to translate web contents on the fly. The bookmarklet is available on this page.

You first need to select the language that you want the original text to be translated to. The pulldown menu lists many languages, from English and German to Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese.

You then need to drag and drop the bookmarklet to your browser’s bookmark’s bar or bookmarks. You can alternatively right-click the link on the Translator Bookmarklet page to bookmark it this way. Depending on the frequency of use, you may want to place it prominently in the browser.

A click on the bookmarklet on a foreign language page invokes the translation. The bookmarklet adds a small toolbar to the top of the page that is visualizing the translation process and the original and destination language.

A click on a language displays a selection menu where it can be switched to another language. That’s handy if the automatic language detection did not detect the correct language used on the page, or where you may want the text to be translated into a different language.

The original text on the page is displayed whenever you move the mouse over a translated sentence.

Microsoft’s Translator bookmarklet is a handy tool for users who need to translate web contents regularly. Google is also offering translate bookmarklets for their Google Translate translation service. (via)

How does malware propagate? According to Microsoft’s report (gathered from Microsoft’s Security Removal Tool) almost 45% requires user interaction, e.g. executing a file. Another 43% uses AutoRun capabilities via USB or a network to infect a system. The remaining 12% list file infections, exploits where updates are available and password brute force attacks.

It is interesting to note that disabling autorun would eliminate nearly 50% of all malware threats. Exploits, which get lots of coverage on the Internet attribute to only 6% of detections.

A look at the different types of exploits reveal that exploits targeting Java were responsible for up to one-half of all exploits in a given quarter. Operating system exploits have passed HTML and Script exploits in the second quarter which can be solely attributed to a vulnerability i Windows Shell which was for instance exploited by the Stuxnet family.

When it comes to document exploits it is Adobe Reader and Acrobat who have accounted for most of the exploits in the first half of 2011.

Operating system infection rates paint an interesting picture. Nearly ten times as many Windows XP SP3 systems get infected as Windows 7 SP1 64-bit systems. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 32-bit systems have a ratio of 1:6 compared to Windows XP’s infection rate.

Even Windows Vista with its latest service pack installed reports only half of the infection rate that Windows XP reports.

A look at the different threat families and categories sees Adware at the top followed by misc potentially unwated software, misc trojans and a second smaller group lead by Worms, Trojan downloaders, virus, password stealers and backdoors.

Email spam decreased dramatically in the past twelve months according to the Microsoft report. From 89 billion messages in July 2010 to 25 billion in June 2010. Microsoft attributes this to the takedown of two major botnets in August 2010 and March 2011.

Global Infection Rates by country

• United States:
• Brazil: Most trojan downloaders and droppers, most exploits, most password stealers and monitoring tools.
• France: Most Adware
• United Kingdom
• China: Most backdoors and spyware
• Germany
• Russia: Most misc potentially unwanted software
• Italy
• Canada
• Turkey: Most misc trojans, Worms and Viruses

Interested users can download the latest report and previous reports from Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report website.

Now Google’s patent counsel, Tim Porter has admitted that the entire patent system is broken.  In an interview with the San-Francisco Chronicle he said that the lawsuits and counter-lawsuits by technology companies merely wastes time, money and resources.

For too long, the patent office granted protection to broad, vague or unoriginal  ideas masquerading as inventions. That inevitably led to the legal dramas now  unfolding.

One of the most interesting things he said in the interview concerns the subject of innovation I mentioned earlier.  When asked the question ”Google has said these lawsuits and tactics are a threat to innovation.  Do you think the uptake or development of Android has slowed because of these  issues?” Porter told the paper.

I don’t think we’ve seen that happen yet. But the concern is that the more  people get distracted with litigation, the less they’ll be inventing.

He says that all the players have been involved in this and he pointed out that Patents were a way for Microsoft to battle against Linux.  He said.

You can look at the development of the software industry and see a point when  (software wasn’t being patented) and it was a period of intense innovation. You  didn’t see Microsoft’s first software patent until 1988. By that time it had  come out with Word, not to mention DOS.

It is clear that freedoms do encourage innovation and that software innovation has been somewhat stagnant in recent years compared to the 1970′s and 1980′s when new and exciting concepts were emerging all the time.  Porter argues that the current system for patenting software doesn’t make sense.

During the period I talked about, software was protected by copyright and other  legal protections. There are certainly arguments those are more appropriate.

It’s fantastic to finally hear someone at the heart of the ongoing patent wars talking sense about the whole issue.  The only people who can lose in all of this are consumers who will face limited choice and higher prices.  Apple’s attempts to ban the Samsung Galaxy Tab for instance aren’t based on any real fact other than the fact that the Galaxy Tab is a truly superb piece of technology that Apple are afraid of.  They’re attacking it purely because a patent or two that they own means that they have a technicality at their disposal to eliminate their strongest competitor.

The problem is that, while Mr Porter might say these things, actually convincing the major corporations to back off from their lawsuits is another matter entirely.  Apple are still going after Samsung aggressively and Microsoft have recently bought up a load more patents to help them attack their main competitor, Google’s Android operating system.

For now, we can only hope that governments or the judiciary step in to bring some calm and common sense to proceedings.

I’ll start this conversation by getting all teary-eyed.  It’s a huge pity that two operating systems as capable as MeeGo and WebOS both seem to be on their way out forever.  We all know that the worldwide smartphone market is easily big enough to support them, but support is the issue as it costs millions for companies to develop and maintain these operating systems.  This is money that Nokia simply don’t have and that HP may not be willing to pay.

But what will this mean for you in the coming years?  For the moment people who have iPhones seem to want the next iPhone when their mobile contract ends, and people who are on Android seem to like it too.  Windows Phone hasn’t yet been around long enough for anyone to reach the end of their first contract using it but RIM’s Blackberry’s also have a loyal following.

There are several main reasons for smartphone loyalty.  These include people being resistant to change and not wanting to learn something new, just getting really comfortable with an operating system and also having paid a lot of money for all those apps you won’t be able to port to a new OS.

But loyalty and favouritism for the operating system isn’t the whole picture.  There is also loyalty to the handset manufacturer.  Many people love Nokia, or HTC because they’ve always had a good experience with their phones.  Many more people like Sony Ericsson (soon to be just Sony) for their gaming integration and so on.

In the end though we all tire of the mundane and want a change occasionally.  This could mean iPhone users jumping ship to Android or Blackberry users jumping ship to Windows Phone.  In short, it could mean anything and there are a whole lot of factors to consider.  There is also the question of if you have loyalty to any one manufacturer and how you feel about this?  I’m very fond of HTC but I’ve owned phones by LG, Sony and others and all have been very good too.

So I’m interested ot ask here what platform you are currently loyal to, if indeed you’re loyal to one at all and what other ones you would consider in the future if you’ve even thought that far ahead?  To start I’ll say I’m very loyal to Windows Phone but, as and when I get bored I’d consider either the iPhone or a BlackBerry.  This would be for several reasons, I’m not happy with the malware problem that still exists on Android and while I don’t like iOS very much, you can’t easily complain about Apple’s hardware.  For BlackBerry, they’d have to produce another handset similar to the Storm, a full touchscreen as I’d never want a full QWERTY keyboard.

So what are your preferences?

Integration with Facebook was apparently just the first step in a much bigger plan. Skype two days ago announced that they are about to release the developing software SkypeKit for Desktop with video calling. With the release, Skype is extending their “developer initiative to include desktop applications”.

Developers have now two options to integrate Skype into Windows, Mac or Linux applications:

• SkypeKit for Desktop, which is intended to add native Skype functionality directly into partner applications
• Skype Desktop API, previously known as the Skype API or Public API, which allows developers to extend the functionality of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac and Skype for Linux.

The new Skypekit version includes the new Video APIs which developers can use to add Skype Video calling functionality to their applications.

The big news here is that Skype is opening up their developer program for a wider range of developers.

Part of those efforts are reflected in the re-designed Skype App Directory which is a directory of desktop applications that work on Skype. The directory groups free and paid applications into categories such as business, call recording, faxing or integrations with popular software.

A total of 32 apps are currently hosted in the directory, not a lot but a solid selection of programs for Skype. Included in the listing are for instance the free Skype translator Clownfish or the Skype video call recorder Vodburner.

Software developers can use Skype’s SDK to implement voice over IP and video chat functionality in their applications. It is likely that the new tools will be used by developers to integrate Skype functionality into their desktop applications. (via)

Microsoft has created the Firefox with Bing website to distribute a special version of the Firefox web browser. This particular version of Firefox ships with Bing set as the browser’s homepage, default search engine and search provider in Firefox’s address bar.

Internet users who click on the Get Firefox with Bing button are redirected to a download on the Mozilla website. The download pops up automatically, the download itself is the latest stable Firefox browser version. Users who install the latest stable version of Firefox this way will use Bing instead of Google in the browser.

This does not really change anything else. Firefox versions available for download directly at Mozilla will still ship with Google as the default search provider. And that’s the place where most Firefox downloads happen.

It is up to Microsoft to promote Firefox with Bing, and it remains to be seen if a lot of users will take up Bing’s offer and download the Bing Firefox version from the promo page.

Existing Firefox users can install the Bing add-on for the browser instead to add the same functionality. If you do not want to install and add-on for that, you can head over to the Mycroft Project website instead to pick search providers from the list there.

So, Mozilla is teaming up with Microsoft, and probably rewarded handsomely for it. Some may see the move as a first step to become less dependent on Google, which in my opinion is a path that Mozilla should have taken a long time ago.

You can read the official announced over at the Bing Community blog.

What’s your take on this?

The third service pack includes two main categories of fixes. The service pack includes all public updates, security updates, hotfixes and other updates that were released for Office 2007 through September 2011. It also includes fixes that were made specifically for the service pack. This includes according to Microsoft “general product fixes and improvements in stability, performance and security”.

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 3 is a cumulative update, which means that it includes all fixes that were part of Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 for Office 2007. Office users and administrators can install the third Service Pack release to apply all patches to the software.

The service pack can be downloaded via Windows Update or Microsoft Update automatically, or manually from Microsoft’s Download Center.

The following link points to the download of the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 3 (SP3) on Microsoft’s Download Center. The Office Language Pack 2007 is available as an alternative download as well. Please note that there is only one version of the service pack available (no 32-bit and 64-bit edition).

The core improvements are the following ones:

• Documents that require custom security trimming are not returned from alert search queries, even if the user who created the alert could see and query for these documents.
  Non-Unicode characters in certain error message strings now display correctly.
• Four new bibliography styles are now available in the “Word Citations & Bibliography” feature: Harvard Anglia, IEEE, APA Sixth Edition, and MLA Seventh Edition.
• Chinese New Year holiday is now included in the Outlook calendar for Singapore.
• Fixes an issue in which Excel 2007 sometimes crashes when you open an Excel workbook previously saved in a newer version of Excel. This occurs if the file uses a new feature that is not available in the 2007 Office system.
  Fixes issues with the Pre and Post Reform rules in the French Thesaurus.
• Fixes an issue in which encryption settings are not configurable when they are used with a file format compatibility pack converter and Office 2003 or an earlier version of Office.
• Fixes an issue in which a crash sometimes occurs when an Excel workbook is opened in Excel and then previewed by using the Windows Explorer preview pane feature.
• Fixes an issue in which Excel Slicers and Ribbon customizations are lost when an XLSX file is first saved as an ODS file, and then saved as an XLSX file in Excel 2007.

Office users and administrators who notice issues after installing the service pack can use Microsoft’s Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office suite to uninstall the service pack without affecting the core Office 2007 installation.