The Archives of The Evil Empire1999 October | ||
30 October: No verdict yet in MS antitrust case After both sides in the Microsoft antitrust case spent 48 hours in frenzied preparation for a decision, complete with teleconferences and blast email to journalists, the result was a stunning anticlimax. Nothing happened. 29 October: CE losing Palm arm wrestle As the Palm OS continues to grow in popularity, some handheld hardware makers are abandoning rival Microsoft's Windows CE. To compound matters, the Redmond, Wash., company is falling short in its efforts to simplify an operating system that developers say is too complex for palm-size devices. 28 October: Microsoft Austria wins "Big Brother" award Microsoft Austria has collected the top prize in the Community category of the Austrian Big Brother Awards. The prize was given for the company's activities in spamming Austrian Linux users with questionnaires. Microsoft Austria recruited G3 GMBH to handle the mailing. This outfit seems to have helped itself to the email addresses of Austrian users registered with the Linux Counter and then sent them the questionnaire, which asked about their views on the software industry, about Linux, and about their employment. 27 October: Microsoft delays beta of Milennium OS Microsoft's announcement last week touting a first version of its Millennium operating system was a bit premature, the company confirmed today--the beta version has not yet been shipped to testers. Delays in software development are fairly routine, and for Microsoft this is hardly new territory. Windows 2000, the corporate OS that is expected to debut at the Comdex trade show in November, has been pushed back repeatedly. 26 October: Microsoft sets release date for Windows 2000 Microsoft will release its Windows 2000 operating system to customers on February 17, the company announced today. After months of delays, Microsoft said it will ship the next generation of Windows NT in mid-February. The software will be delivered to CD-ROM and computer manufacturers in December, however, allowing the company to make its self-imposed 1999 deadline, albeit on a technicality. 21 October: IE 5 Bug Parade Continues with JavaScript Redirect Danger This latest vulnerability employs some JavaScript sleight of hand and a little domain redirection to trick IE 5 into exposing local files. Basically, wrongdoers could create a JavaScript application capable of violating cross-domain restrictions between your browser and their Web server. 15 October: Microsoft targets funding for Antitrust Office Microsoft Corp. lobbyists and allies are aggressively pressing Congress to reduce next year's proposed funding for the Justice Department's antitrust division, the giant software company's accuser in a storied court battle. 15 October: Y2K cloud over MS Office Software giant Microsoft Corp. is expected to report strong earnings growth for its latest quarter, but "blowout" results are unlikely in part because of a year 2000-related slowdown, industry analysts said on Thursday. 11 October: Another security hole in IE 5 discovered For the 12th time, Georgi Guninski has found another huge hole in a Microsoft product. It lets ne'er-do-wells explore the contents of your hard drive. 1 October: DOS alive and not well hidden in Windows 2000 Microsoft will not be removing DOS from Millennium, but early reports form people who've seen Beta 1, which went out this week, indicate that the attempts to hide DOS instead are at best perfunctory. 1 October: Leaked email exposes MS charity as PR exercise Microsoft deliberately set out to use charitable contributions to bolster its image in February this year, according to a leaked internal Microsoft email we have seen. It was a most cynical exercise that shows beyond doubt that Microsoft "gives" donations and software to non-profit organisations to get favourable publicity. Many suspected this was happening, but were muted because it seemed somewhat churlish to criticise charitable contributions of considerable magnitude. |
