The Archives of The Evil Empire2001 June
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29 June: Dodge tips hat to Judge Jackson
Within the legal community, Judge Penfield-Jackson messed up for sure. He shot his mouth off and now the U.S. Court of Appeals with whom the Judge was annoyed for overturning his original injunction to stop Microsoft from tying IE to Windows, fired back. The 17 pages (the ruling was contained in 125 pages) about his alleged "Judicial Misconduct" was tinged with meanness. However, upon a close reading of the Appeals Court decision, one comes away with the impression those judges were repaying a debt owed to Penfield-Jackson. Clearly, he had a better sense of humor than the Appeals Court judges. 29 June: Ruling ignites furor over Win XP
State attorneys general, politicians and other critics pounced on Thursday's ruling to demand stiff remedies to prevent potential antitrust violations on Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, due out Oct. 25. Critics say the company is reverting to old tactics by forcing PC dealers to sell computers with Microsoft's own instant messaging system and other special features instead of those from rivals. 29 June: Why it's no victory for Microsoft
The court recognized that the passage of time or changes in technology will not solve this problem, as Microsoft claims. Rather, it will take strong action to restore competition and deny Microsoft, as the law requires, the ability to continue to benefit from its illegal practices. 29 June: A Cloud Lifted
"After dodging a breakup, Microsoft—its foes say—is back to the same tactics that got the company in trouble in the first place", Steven Levy writes in Newsweek. 28 June: Analysts: MS Can Bundle Up Now
Microsoft is free to cram more features into its upcoming software after a U.S. appeals court on Thursday put aside a ruling that could have blocked Microsoft's bid to tie together products, analysts said. Microsoft, the world's No. 1 software maker, is planning to introduce in October a radical redesign of its core operating system called Windows XP for use by businesses and consumers. The software is packed with controversial features that extend Windows XP into an all-singing, all-dancing multimedia console combining television, radio, Internet and e-mail messaging features— a far cry from its original role to manage the internal workings of personal computers. 28 June: Appeal: Microsoft stays together
In a 125-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a previous ruling that Microsoft used illegal conduct to retain its OS monopoly and asked a trial court to determine an appropriate remedy. The appeals court also asked the trial court to revisit the controversial issue of tying products such as the browser to Microsoft's ubiquitous PC operating system. However, in a crucial win for Microsoft, the appeals court said the trial judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, "seriously tainted the proceedings." It removed him from the case and tossed out his order calling for the breakup of the software company. 28 June: Microsoft Wages War on Open Source
Microsoft's battle against open source software has reached a fever pitch. Company officials have called open source software a "cancer" and "potentially viral software" that threatens intellectual property. All of the name calling, however, only highlights the notion that Microsoft considers open source software a threat to its own business rather than a scourge on the entire software industry. With open source software, programmers can view and modify the source code, or the underlying blueprints, of the program. That's precisely why Microsoft has a problem with open source. 27 June: Microsoft's Window into Your Personal Life
Over the next few years, Microsoft wants to sell sophisticated scheduling services to people who use products such as the Windows operating system and the MSN network. The company hopes to keep its customers' personal calendar in a centralized database, making it possible to match your schedule against Tom's, Lucy's, and the baseball team's (which might be located elsewhere on the Web). A few mouse clicks, and the same get-together could be squared away in seconds. This type of next-generation Internet service points to one of a series of troubling privacy issues starting to dog Microsoft. "They want to create a place where all manner of information about your life and your interests is stored. And they want to be in the sole possession of this," says Irwin R. Gross, an attorney at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, a firm representing many of the software giant's most vehement Silicon Valley critics. 27 June: Microsoft's XP: Hardware changes a turnoff
The company's new product-activation technology, which locks Office XP or Windows XP to a particular PC hardware configuration, can deactivate unexpectedly, rendering the software useless until a code number is obtained from Microsoft. The feature could present the biggest headache to people that frequently upgrade or change components on their PCs. 26 June: Smart Tags can be turned off with a META tag, unless...
Microsoft's smart tag technology can be shut off by web sites with a simple one line META tag—which is the good news. The bad news is that it appears the tag will have to be added to everything you've already published, so it's a case of updating templates and crunching through the back catalogue. What about this though: "After adding this META tag, any Smart Tags that the author has added to the page will continue to work, but Internet Explorer will not dynamically add new tags when users view the page." If we read that right, then the ability to disable smart tags isn't a blanket disable, but a tool designed (at least partly) for the convenience of Microsoft's smart tag partners. And we also get the ability to sell third party site smart tagging capabilities as advertising. 25 June: Microsoft Plugs Some IIS Security Holes
Microsoft acknowledges that there have been too many holes in the software for its dominant Web server, and promises to ensure that future products go out the door with safeguards to avoid another string of embarrassing problems. In May, hackers took control of at least 9,000 Microsoft IIS sites, according to Attrition.org, a site tracking Web site break-ins. 24 June: Microsoft issues three security warnings: serious security leaks in Word, Frontpage and NetMeeting
Microsoft issued three security warnings today, recommending that users of Microsoft Word, Frontpage or NetMeeting install new security patches immediately, as bugs in these applications might otherwise severely compromise system security. One of the reports is dealing with a new exploit of an old hole; oneis original; and one involves yet another unchecked buffer. 24 June: MS preparing license audit blitzkrieg?
Microsoft's legal department has sent letters to corporate customers demanding they conduct internal audits of their software licenses and submit their findings within 30 days to the software giant. The letter, using language no less intimidating than the Internal Revenue Service might use, also includes a form that spells out the audit process. Customers must report the number of installs, documented licenses, license upgrades and unlicensed software. The audits are not only costing IT shops time and money (some well into five figures), but several customers contacted this week who received the letters without warning said they bordered on harassment. 23 June: MS lawyers join open-source fray
Taking the war of words up a notch, Microsoft's legal team calls open-source software 'viral' in the license restricting what code developers may use in connection with its programming tools. The license of the second beta version of Microsoft's Mobile Internet Toolkit prohibits customers from using the Microsoft software in conjunction with "potentially viral software." In describing this category of software, Microsoft includes the most common licenses used for publishing open-source software, such as the Linux operating system. 23 June: Hackers wait to exploit MS server flaw
System administrators who have delayed patching the latest security hole in Microsoft's Web server software should think again, security experts said Friday. While a program to exploit the flaw has yet to be made public, at least one hacker group has already developed such a tool, said Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer for network-protection company eEye Digital Security. "Because the hole is so huge, they want to keep the exploit (program) to themselves," he said. 22 June: "This server IIS is very good" - Microsoft hacked four times in less than 60 minutes
Security leaks in Microsoft's IIS server software has allowed notorious hacker Prime Suspectz to go on a cracking spree against Microsoft servers that has resulted in the defacement of FOUR of the software giant's sites. 21 June: This is how Microsoft will end up running the Internet
Following a conversation with new boys/cowboys New.net, the very real possibility of a Microsoft-owned Internet draws closer. Not just a Microsoft-owned Net though. There'll also be an AOL/Time Warner-owned Internet. And if we're lucky a third, conglomeration Internet for homepages and the like. 21 June: Antitrust: MS is at it again with WinXP, say attorneys
Two of the state attorneys general who've been involved in the Microsoft antitrust action have damned the company's conduct since the prosecution rested. They specifically focus on what the company's up to with XP but stress that they're not planning a second antitrust suit. In which case one wonders what the point of the statement they issued yesterday was. 18 June: Serious security leak in Microsoft IIS leaves thousands of web servers vulnerable to hackers
Microsoft IIS is open to total exploitation by an attacker who can establish a Web session and execute a buffer overrun against an ISAPI (Internet Server Application Programming Interface) extension which contains an unbounded buffer. The result would be system-level access, enabling an attacker to run arbitrary code against the machine, or make file and setup modifications of his or her choice. All IIS implementations running on default installations of Win-NT 4.0, Win-2K, or Win-XP are affected. 18 June: Microsoft Uses Open-Source Code
Despite Denying Use of Such Software
Microsoft Corp., even while mounting a new campaign against open-source software, has quietly been using such free computer code in several major products, as well as on key portions of a popular Web site— despite denying last week that it did so. Software connected with the FreeBSD open-source operating system is used in several places deep inside several versions of Microsoft's Windows software, such as in the "TCP/IP" section that arranges all connections to the Internet. The company also uses FreeBSD on numerous "server" computers that manage major functions at its Hotmail free e-mail service. Microsoft acknowledged its repeated use of open-source code Friday, in response to questions about the matter. Just two days earlier, it had specifically denied the existence of any such software at Hotmail. 18 June: MSNBC doctors anti-MS WSJ story
MSNBC has been caught doctoring copy originating from the Wall Street Journal to make it more favourable to the news channel's co-owner Microsoft. The changes introduced by MSNBC also had the effect of removing references to Microsoft competitors. Amongst many fairly harmless edits, designed to improve readability, were some more ominous changes. 17 June: Legal experts question Windows XP
Despite Microsoft's confidence that it will ultimately prevail in its federal court battle, critics feel the company is playing with fire in its recent maneuvers. "What we have here is a very aggressive, monopolist working way beyond what are appropriate standards for its activities," said John Soma, who was part of the U.S. Department of Justice's legal team on the IBM anti trust case. The bundling of Windows Messenger into XP, the inclusion of smart tags—a technology that can link other sites and services—and the possible exclusion in XP of an encoder that would allow people to convert audio tracks from CDs to the MP3 format are issues that could be introduced by the Justice Department, he said. Microsoft officials have denied any wrongdoing and said the company is innovating and giving customers what they want. 16 June: AOL, Microsoft dissolve Windows XP talks
Discussions between AOL Time Warner and Microsoft over whether AOL's online service software would be bundled with Windows XP collapsed Saturday. AOL Time Warner and Microsoft had been deeply divided over a number of issues, but most had been worked out, said AOL Time Warner spokesman John Buckley. The inclusion of RealNetwork's RealPlayer with the AOL online service was the issue that tripped up negotiations, he said. "All the major issues between AOL and Microsoft had been largely worked out when the talks foundered on an issue that really isn't about AOL and Microsoft," Buckley said. "It was Microsoft's desire to try to have as much control of music on the Internet as possible." 14 June: MS Poised for Music Domination
At first glance, Microsoft, the company that has crushed its competition and gobbled up rivals over the years, hasn't seemed so imposing in the music business. Sure, it launched MSN Music in April. But the service offered no real innovation. It's a mix of what its competitors already offer: Internet radio, music news and music search. But what looks like Microsoft's muted attempt to compete with other music services appears to be a red herring. While other companies are focusing on getting music from retailer to customer, Microsoft appears well on the way to making its media delivery system indispensable. According to one analyst, Microsoft is using content delivery as a way of getting more people to use the company's brand of media file and desktop media player—which could ultimately lead to control of the digital distribution marketplace. 14 June: Embrace and Extend in 2001
On various mail lists, websites, newspapers and magazines, the discussion over Microsoft's Smart Tags continues. It's a great story, because for the first time press people have a clear picture of how Microsoft enters domains that previously were exempt from their control. Journalists can now feel, on a personal level, the full effect of Microsoft's dominance or monopoly in Web browsers. Have you been wondering what Microsoft would do once it controlled the browser? It's the old Embrace and Extend strategy, applied to e-commerce, literature, and journalism. 14 June: Security leak in Microsoft Word opens computers for Trojan horse
A month-old flaw in Microsoft Word has opened up PCs to attack by a new Trojan horse, antivirus researchers said Thursday. Dubbed "Goga," the malicious code poses as a Word document saved in rich text format but actually reaches through the Net to run a Word macro—a small program that runs within the application—saved on a Russian Web site. 13 June: Have you been smart tagged? WinXP IE6 has a little list
Recent builds of the Internet Explorer 6 beta have included the IE implementation of Microsoft's smart tag technology, prompting choruses of disapproval from the media. Which is of course understandable—smart tag technology parses its way through a web page, underlines the words it's been pre-programmed to react to, and inserts its own hyperlinks. These take you to wherever the smart tag developer wants to take you, entirely without the knowledge or permission of the web site proprietor—in essence, IE6 is taking your HTML and re-editing it locally. The system could be used to convert news stories into vehicles for advertising, without the perpetrator actually having to bother paying the owner of the stories, it could be used to blacken the reputation of, say, Dave Winer of Userland (Connie Guglielmo of ZD Interactive Week has a most entertaining exposition of this very thing here), or it could be used as a cheesy gag to get hits for MSN. 13 June: Microsoft: We messed up
Microsoft contritely acknowledged Wednesday that its second attempt to fix an Exchange security hole went awry. Rather than fix the problem—and the security hole—the company's second attempt at a software patch included a catastrophic bug that caused many servers to hang. The company was not aware of the problem until alerted by CNET News.com. 13 June: Microsoft Tries To Get Smart
Microsoft is considering adding a feature to Windows XP, due out Oct. 25, that would take users to links predetermined by Microsoft. The Smart Tags feature automatically scans the Web pages that a Windows XP user browses, and then inserts new links beneath certain words, like the names of companies, products or whatever. If the user clicks on that Microsoft-created link, a new browser window opens with more links to Microsoft owned-sites or other sites and Web pages chosen by the company. Dave Winer, a longtime industry pundit and founder of UserLand Software, doesn't agree. "Microsoft is now not only a monopoly in operating systems, they are also a monopoly in Web browsers. Will we allow Microsoft to use that power to edit our content?" 12 June: WinXP IE6 spells death for Doubleclick - and a boost for
MSN?
Internet Explorer 6 will spell doom for Doubleclick, and by some strange coincidence will provide a massive boost for Microsoft's own MSN/.NET activities, according to a source at a major international financial organisation. The organisation in question, says our source, has read the runes, noted that the Doubleclick tracking cookies it currently uses (copiously) across its sites bounce off IE6, and is poised to switch to the alternative offered by those nice people at Microsoft. 12 June: Windows XP and MP3s may not mix
Microsoft is weighing how much support it will offer in its upcoming Windows XP operating system for MP3s, a popular music format that competes with the company's own Windows Media technology. Test versions of the new operating system have alternately included and excluded an encoder that would allow people to convert audio tracks from CDs to the MP3 format, according to Windows XP Product Manager Tom Laemmel. A decision has not been made on whether an encoder will be included in the final version of Windows XP. 8 June: DoS worm invades Microsoft servers
A program created to automatically overload Microsoft's Web and e-mail servers has been discovered on several corporate networks and may have spread further on the Internet, antivirus researchers said Friday. First reported this week, the worm—dubbed DoS.Storm—spreads on Web servers running Microsoft software and is designed to use the infected servers to level an Internet attack against the company. 7 June: New Windows XP Feature Can Re-Edit Others' Sites
Windows XP contains a feature, which hasn't yet been made public, and which allows Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser—included in Windows XP—to turn any word on any Web site into a link to Microsoft's own Web sites and services, or to any other sites Microsoft favors. In effect, Microsoft will be able, through the browser, to re-edit anybody's site, without the owner's knowledge or permission, in a way that tempts users to leave and go to a Microsoft-chosen site—whether or not that site offers better information . These Smart Tags are something new and dangerous. They mean that the company that controls the Web browser is using that power to actually alter others' Web sites to its own advantage. 7 June: MS back to old tricks with new IM?
The battle over today's instant messenger market is vintage Microsoft, whose strategy enemies call "the three E's" in a parody of the company's marketing mantra: Embrace a rival's technology, extend it to work best with Windows, and extinguish the competition. 6 June: Windows XP may steer users' Web choices
Microsoft is extending to Windows XP a new technology that could give the company some control over consumers' access to sites, content and services on the Web. The feature, known as Smart Tags, would strengthen Microsoft's ability to tie its newest applications and operating systems to its own Web sites or others that it favors, including those that charge fees. "This is another example of Microsoft integrating Internet content into the OS that could benefit them for Internet services," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver. "This is exactly like what Microsoft did in the past with the bundling, where they're leveraging what they have on the desktop into another market where they don't have dominance." 6 June: Exchange 2000 security flaw revealed
Microsoft revealed a security hole in its Exchange 2000 mail server Wednesday that could allow an attacker to target corporate employees with programs that delete their mail. The flaw affects only companies that use a program included by Microsoft in its Exchange mail server package. Known as Outlook Web Access, the program allows companies to offer e-mail access to employees via a Web browser. According to the software giant, Outlook Web Access and the Internet Explorer browser don't play well together. Because the two programs aren't entirely on the same page, an e-mail attachment that appears to be a text file could contain a script that, when opened with Internet Explorer, would be able to modify a person's in-box and other mail folders. 4 June: Office.Net not quite user-friendly
I'm finally buying into the notion that in the next few years the application service provider model will become a major factor in the way enterprises do business—but only as long as the user is at a fixed terminal. The more I study Microsoft's plans for Office.Net, the more I'm persuaded that productivity software should not be delivered online in the foreseeable future. 4 June: Smart tagging in Office XP - what Melissa did next?
Microsoft is shuttering its software against viruses, but the latest edition of its flagship productivity suite, Office XP, just might be introducing a whole new class of back door. Office XP includes the facility to build a kind of multi-dimensional version of a hyperlink into data files, and that's where the problem could lie. Microsoft's Smart Tags, as they're known, allow items in Word docs, spreadsheet cells and so on to have properties attached to them. 1 June: MS Monopolizes U.K. Gov't Site
The British government and Microsoft have brought all government-related services onto the Internet—unfortunately, the site only works for users running IE 5.1.
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