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March 31
Sincerely,
Christopher McMillan, CIO
CEEK Technology
Blog: http://ceektechnology.spaces.live.com
Web Site: http://www.ceektechnology.com
WM: chrismcmillan@ceektech.com or christophermcmillan@hotmail.com
E-mail: chrismcmillan@ceektech.com or christophermcmillan@hotmail.com
From: christophermcmillan@hotmail.com
To: christophermcmillan@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:03:24 -0600
Subject: FW: The low-cost laptop offer Microsoft can't refuse
Post from NewsGator.com:
The low-cost laptop offer Microsoft can't refuse
As the release of low-cost laptops based on Intel's upcoming Atom processor draws near, Microsoft is getting boxed into a corner. The software company plans to stop selling most Windows XP licenses after June 30, yet most of these low-cost laptops won't be powerful enough to run Vista when they arrive later this year.
That leaves Microsoft executives with a choice: Do they extend the availability of Windows XP for low-cost laptops, or possibly concede this nascent market to Linux?
[ Sidebar: Despite deadlines, Windows XP to be sold a few more years ]
The poster child for the low-cost laptop is Asustek Computer's $249 Eee PC, which hit the market in October last year and runs the Xandros distribution of Linux. Consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere embraced the laptop, which uses a version of Intel's Celeron M processor, for its small size and ability to perform basic tasks like Web surfing and e-mail. It became something of an overnight sensation, and that success caught the attention of other hardware makers, including top-tier PC vendors.
The Eee PC's success wasn't possible without Intel's support. The chip maker was initially hesitant to embrace Asustek's push into low-cost laptops for fear it would drive down margins for its mobile processors if users opted to buy low-cost laptops instead of more powerful -- and more expensive -- models. But Intel eventually decided that the opportunity to expand the size of the overall laptop market outweighed the risks of lower profit margins and gave its backing to the little laptops.
Intel's support for low-cost laptops is ready to shift into overdrive. The company's upcoming line of Atom processors, relatively inexpensive chips that consume little power, will show up during the third quarter in small laptops -- priced from $250 to $300 -- that will be aimed at users in developed markets and heavily promoted by the chip maker. Intel executives want these laptops to be cheap enough that U.S. and European consumers don't think twice about buying them as a second computer. Most are planned to ship with either Linux or Windows XP, even though they will arrive after Microsoft's June 30 deadline has passed.
Windows Vista isn't a viable option in this product segment: It's too expensive and does not work on the stripped-down hardware configurations required to keep prices low.
"At the low end, Vista's hardware footprint is too large," said Tom Rampone, an Intel vice president and general manager of the company's Channel Platforms Group, noting that some low-cost laptops, such as Intel's Classmate PC, have just 2GB of solid-state storage instead of higher-capacity, more costly hard disks.
That small amount of storage rules out the use of Windows Vista on these machines, even Vista Starter, the stripped-down, low-cost version intended for sale only in developing countries. If Microsoft declines to make Windows XP available for low-cost laptops, that could guarantee that Linux -- as the only realistic alternative -- would be left to dominate this segment of the market.
"They're not going to sit by and let that happen," said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific.
Microsoft officials say they are keeping an eye on the market, and the company's public relations agency confirmed that Microsoft is continuing to talk with OEM partners about low-cost computers. In the end, Microsoft may have little choice but to extend the availability of new Windows XP licenses beyond June 30 if it wants to tap this market and prevent Linux from making further inroads.
There are signs that Microsoft is already taking steps to ensure Windows is available in various versions for low-cost computers.
Windows XP Starter Edition, a slimmed-down version of the operating system for developing countries, will be available in those markets until June 30, 2010. In addition, the software company recently hired Len Kawell, formerly CEO of Pepper Computer and one of the founding members of Iris Associates, a company created by current Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie during the 1980s to develop Lotus Notes. Kawell, who started at Microsoft on March 10, was given the task of developing a version of Windows Mobile designed for MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), a product segment closely related to low-cost laptops.
MID is Intel's name for a range of devices that closely resembles the UMPC (ultramobile PC) platform developed by Intel and Microsoft, but with some key differences. Both will use a version of the Atom processor, and both are designed to be portable and rely on touchscreens or slide-out keyboards, but MID prototypes that Intel has shown are generally smaller and expected to cost less. The devices are also expected to run Linux instead of Windows.
Intel has been working closely with Canonical, Red Flag Linux and Pepper -- Kawell's former company -- to fine-tune the open-source operating system for MIDs. The chip maker set up a Web site, called Moblin.org, that provides developers with resources to develop mobile versions of Linux, including efforts to improve power management and develop a Mozilla-based browser that relies on a touch interface.
Much of this work, including Canonical's Ubuntu Mobile Edition, will run on laptops and desktops, as well as MIDs.
In addition to its large footprint, Vista may not be a suitable option for low-cost laptops because of its price, according to Navin Shenoy, general manager of Intel's Asia-Pacific operations. "I don't think you'll see a lot of Vista in this space for cost reasons," he said in a recent interview, noting that 25 low-cost laptops based on Atom are being developed by various companies.
PC makers are also saying that Vista is not a good option for the new class of products. During a recent press conference, Asustek executives predicted that of the 5 million Eee PCs it expects to sell this year, laptops running Windows XP Home edition will outsell their Linux-based counterparts by a ratio of 3 to 2.
While Linux is generally the preferred OS for low-cost PC maker Everex, the company has sold low-cost laptops with Windows XP in developing countries. Vista isn't an option since Everex's Cloudbook laptop doesn't meet the minimum hardware requirements prescribed by Microsoft for Vista.
"Even 512MB of RAM with [Vista] Home Basic, it's a slow machine -- underpowered and underperforming," said Paul Kim, director of marketing at Everex, adding that when it comes to low-cost computers, Windows XP "still seems to be a better path at this point."
Industry analyst Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, agreed that the cost of licensing Windows Vista will prevent Atom-based PCs from reaching Intel's target price of $199 to $250. "Given the cost of the Windows license, which hasn't decreased anything like the rate that hardware has ... that makes for a greater incentive for customers and [PC makers] to look for an alternative," he said, calling Linux the best option.
If Microsoft makes an exception to its plans and offers Windows XP licenses for low-cost computers in the U.S. and other developed countries after June 30, the software maker may not have to worry about eroding sales of Vista. Intel is working hard to segment low-cost laptops and mainstream laptops to prevent any overlap in sales.
To do this, Intel has set guidelines for low-cost laptops based on Atom, restricting the features they offer. For example, Intel has told hardware makers they can only use the chips in laptops with smaller screens, preventing vendors from producing a 14-inch laptop based on the Atom. The goal is to protect the mainstream laptop segment for more powerful and costly processors, like the Core 2 Duo, while catering to consumer demand for smaller, inexpensive laptops that complement -- but do not replace -- their main computers.
Perhaps Microsoft will realize that if Intel is comfortable segmenting the market in this way, they can be comfortable, too. They may not have another choice.
Test your Star IQ Play now! From: InfoWorld RSS Feed [mailto:InfoWorld RSS Feed]
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 6:53 AM
To: Christopher McMillan
Subject: With Vista breached, Linux remains unbeaten in hacking contest http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/31/Linux-unbeaten-in-hacking-contest_1.html The MacBook Air went first; a tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista was hacked on the last day of the contest; but it was Linux, running on a Sony Vaio, that remained undefeated as conference organizers ended a three-way computer hacking challenge Friday at the CanSecWest conference. Earlier this week, contest sponsors had put three laptops up for grabs to anyone who could hack into one of the systems and run their own software. A $20,000 cash prize sweetened the deal, but the payout was halved each day as contest rules were relaxed and it became easier to penetrate the computers. [ See related story Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest. ] On day two, Independent Security Evaluators' Charlie Miller took the Mac after hitting it with a still-undisclosed exploit that targeted the Safari Web browser. After about two minutes work, Thursday, Miller took home $10,000, courtesy of 3Com's TippingPoint division, in addition to his new laptop. It took two days of work, but Shane Macaulay, finally cracked the Vista box on Friday, with a little help from his friends. Macaulay, who was a co-winner of last year's hacking contest, needed a few hacking tricks courtesy of VMware researcher Alexander Sotirov to make his bug work. That's because Macaulay hadn't been expecting to attack the Service Pack 1 version of Vista, which comes with additional security measures. He also got a little help from co-worker Derek Callaway. Under contest rules, Macaulay and Miller aren't allowed to divulge specific details about their bugs until they are patched, but Macaulay said the flaw that he exploited was a cross-platform bug that took advantage of Java to circumvent Vista's security. "The flaw is in something else, but the inherent nature of Java allowed us to get around the protections that Microsoft had in place," he said in an interview shortly after he claimed his prize Friday. "This could affect Linux or Mac OS X." Macaulay said he chose to work on Vista because he had done contract work for Microsoft in the past and was more familiar with its products. Although several attendees tried to crack the Linux box, nobody could pull it off, said Terri Forslof, a manager of security response with TippingPoint. "I was surprised that it didn't go," she said. Some of the show's 400 attendees had found bugs in the Linux operating system, she said, but many of them didn't want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest. Earlier, Miller said that he chose to hack the Mac because he thought it would be easiest target. Vista hacker Macaulay didn't dispute that assertion: "I think it might be," he said. Dear Tech List and Blog Sites: Well for those of you who want XP here is some good news. Sincerely,
Christopher McMillan, CIO
CEEK Technology
Telephone: 203 404 7275
Cell Phone: 203 444 5661
Fax: 203 286 2156
BLOG SITE: http://ceektechnology.spaces.live.com
WEB SITE: http://www.ceektechnology.com
Skye: chrismmcmillan
WM: chrismcmillan@ceektech.com
Get Skype and call me for free.
From: Christopher McMillan Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 3:32 PM To: christophermcmillan@hotmail.com Subject: FW: Despite deadlines, Windows XP to be sold a few more years Message from NewsGator subscriber Christopher McMillan: XP will be around for a couple more years. So lets see if its true.
Post from NewsGator.com:
Despite deadlines, Windows XP to be sold a few more years June 30 of this year and Jan. 31, 2009, may be the deadlines for U.S. retailers and custom system builders, respectively, to sell Windows XP. But, due to exceptions Microsoft has made, the operating system will be available for at least the next two years for those who purchased business and Ultimate versions of Vista, as well as for customers in certain geographies. [ Join with InfoWorld and petition Microsoft to save Windows XP! ] Microsoft has made it widely known that it will stop distributing XP to U.S. manufacturers and retailers on June 30, while custom system builders can put XP on hardware until Jan. 31, 2009. But what is probably less known -- and not because Microsoft has been hiding the fact -- is that Windows XP Starter Edition, a scaled-down version of the OS for emerging markets, will be available until June 30, 2010. Moreover, business and end-users who have purchased Windows Vista Business or Ultimate licenses either at retail or through enterprise agreements with Microsoft have indefinite "downgrade" rights to XP as part of their license agreements, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. As it's now become clear from internal e-mails made public in a class-action suit based in Seattle concerning Microsoft's Windows Capable program, Microsoft anticipated that customers would experience device-driver and application incompatibilities with Vista when it was first released. Giving buyers of high-end versions of Vista the option to downgrade to XP made sense in case users encountered problems. The availability of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 now is remedying many, if not all, of these issues, users report. With Microsoft pushing Vista, it's unlikely the company wants XP to be the OS of choice for anyone, even if XP will be in circulation for at least the next few years because of various exceptions. The company is promoting Vista Starter Edition for inexpensive PCs currently being sold in emerging markets, although that OS may not be a good option for the ultra-low-cost PCs that will run Intel’s Atom chips because of hardware and memory requirements. Like the other versions of Vista, Starter Edition still requires 15GB of free space; most low-cost machines, however, have only 2-8GB of storage and 256-512MB of RAM. Hackers have managed to get Vista running on the low-cost Asustek Eee PC with 4GB of RAM, but doing so required a complicated custom installation and an additional 1GB USB stick and an 8GB SD card to make it work. Another thing that's unclear is if Microsoft will let OEMs sell Vista Starter Edition, or an even more scaled-down version of it, in more mainstream PC markets such as North America. So far, ultra low-cost PCs that run Linux like the Eee PC -- which are gaining some, but not much, traction with consumers -- don't seem to be threatening Windows enough in the U.S., at least to require Microsoft to cut Vista's price or footprint even more. Sumner Lemon in Singapore contributed to this article. Well lets see how this can be made accessible for the visually impaired and blind cell phone users. Chris McMillan, CEEK Technology http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2201 The LiMo Foundation is set to announce at CTIA its first Linux reference platform for cell phone carriers and handset manufacturers. As announced in January, and promised for delivery in March, the foundation will offer up at CTIA its first stab at a standard mobile Linux platform: LiMo Platform Release 1. It won't be easy. The platform is far behind entrenched operating systems including Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone and will face off against Google's "Android" open source operating system being developed by the Open Handset Alliance. Still, its a step in the right direction and will likely please this class of OEMs -- which traditionally have sought out more customizable Linux operating systems but suffered under the... Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Microsoft TechCenters - all you need to know via TechNet Blogs by sayleong.lim on 3/29/08 TechNet TechCenters bring together content and resources for particular products or technologies. They connect you to Knowledge Base articles, downloads, beta and evaluation software, webcasts, virtual labs, technical articles, and technical documentation intended to help you plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot these products and technologies. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb421517.aspx is the link you need. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/default.aspx is the Exchange link and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/bb267356.aspx is the OCS link. 
Things you can do from here: Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: A Month Full of Windows Mobile Webcasts via MSDN Blogs by jasonlan on 3/31/08 The month of April brings a huge wealth of Webcasts on Windows Mobile which myself and a number of colleagues are delivering. I'm pretty sure you can find something in the huge list below to satisfy your needs and curiosity! TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Providing Mobile Access to Corporate Data and Applications (Level 200) Friday, April 4, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Improving Mobile Security and Management (Level 100) Monday, April 7, 2008 9:30 A.M.–10:30 A.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: How to Overcome the Top 10 Mobile Device Security and Management Challenges (Level 200) Tuesday, April 8, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Device Management and Device Provisioning (Level 300) Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Top 10 Features for Businesses (Level 200) Monday, April 14, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Why Windows Mobile for Your Business (Level 100) Tuesday, April 15, 2008 11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Messaging and Collaboration for Small and Mid-Sized Companies (Level 100) Thursday, April 17, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Get the Facts on Comparing Windows Mobile and Blackberry (Level 300) Friday, April 18, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Real-Time Messaging and Collaboration (Level 200) Tuesday, April 22, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobility and Windows Mobile (Level 300) Wednesday, April 23, 2008 1:00 P.M.–2:00 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Beyond E-Mail with Windows Mobile for Small and Mid-Sized Companies (Level 100) Thursday, April 24, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: The Optimal Mobile Communications Solution (Level 100) Friday, April 25, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Mobilizing Business Processes and Applications (Level 100) Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Mobility Infrastructure Optimization (Level 100) Wednesday, April 30, 2008 
Things you can do from here: Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta and Windows Live™ SkyDrive via MSDN Blogs by ElisaS on 3/31/08 What’s the difference and which is right for me? Do you save your work on a flash drive or email yourself documents to work on at home? Perhaps you share documents via email and then manually merge all the comments later, or are you planning an event, juggling multiple people or suppliers? If the answer’s ‘yes’ to any of these, then Office Live Workspace is for you. It extends all your favourite Office applications online. You get a workspace which is a secure online place to store 1,000+ files and documents, and you can access them from any computer with an Internet connection. If you want to share information, all you need is your colleague’s email address, and you choose whether they can edit or simply read your document. It’s that easy! Best of all, it’s absolutely free and you don’t need to download anything to use it! Sign up today and you could be using your Office Live Workspace in a few minutes! Looking for an online social space where you can share files, photos and music? Then you should think about Windows Live SkyDrive – your hard drive in the sky. If you use Hotmail, Spaces, Live Folders and Messenger, then Windows Live services are for you. SkyDrive gives you a massive 5Gb of password-protected file storage free – plenty of space for you to chat to friends, organise a get-together, and share your pictures. Why not get started now? 
Things you can do from here: Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: The origins of hacker attacks via MSDN Blogs by tzink on 3/30/08 Here's an article from the March 31, 2008 issue of Investors Business Daily: About half of all hacker attacks originate from the .edu domain used by colleges, according to data recently compiled by network security experts at Microsoft. The software giant’s chief security officer said this frustrating trend is a fundamental problem and indicates that more collaboration with universities is needed to stop it, tech news site NetworkWorld.com reported. A couple of thoughts on this. First, I was not among the security experts who compiled the data. I know some of my readers may be shocked to hear that, but alas, it's true. Second, this report tends to correlate with my own general observations about the nature of security. Universities and other educational institutions usually have open terminals. Many times they don't have the best security software on there. People tend to come and go, come and go, and terminals can have multiple users on them on a single day. This is contrasted from many large corporations where terminals usually have only a couple of people working on them. Also, large corporations have security personnel dedicated to enforcing network security. I think universities do the best they can but the inherent insecurity (namely, people coming and going, sleep-deprived students passing out their password information) of open terminal locations is going to be a problem for a long time. I think that this is an area that technology is going to have to solve. I don't mean in the sense that technology can prevent hacking attacks if it's enforced, I mean that technology will need to be developed that can pre-empt users from doing something that compromises the integrity of the network. In the anti-spam world, the optimal solution is for humans to write spam rules but computers to score them. This allows for flexibility in rule creation but technology to prevent a badly written rule from going in and causing havoc. Similarly, I envision technology that allows users to use the workstations but prevent them from doing something silly, like giving out passwords or downloading viruses. In other words, we need better IT enforcement of the nullification of PEBKAC. 
Things you can do from here: March 30 Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs  Ever since Intel compared the criticality of its (still) forthcoming Silverthorne (which now goes by Atom, if you couldn't guess) processor to the original Pentium last June, we've all wondered just how fantasmical our worlds would become when this thing finally dropped. Now, however, Tom's Hardware has discovered that the release may actually do more for Intel than we geeks. After consulting a source it believes to be quite credible, it found that the CPU -- which will likely sell for upwards of $30 at the low-end -- will cost Intel just "$6 to $8, including production, packaging and shipping." Without busting out the abacus, it's still fairly easy to see how profitable said chips could be if Intel can move these at even a snail's pace, but of course, we'd take the dollars and cents estimates with a grain of salt until they actually hit the market.
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March 29 Dear Tech Friends and Blog Site: Share with all of the USA friends you know.
Get Skype and call me for free.
From: Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 5:51 PM To: christophermcmillan@hotmail.com Subject: Windows Vista SP1 free USA unlimited phone support Dear List:
For users who are having issues.
Chris Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Windows Vista SP1 free USA unlimited phone support via TechNet Blogs by Keith Combs on 3/29/08 I found a little gem today I wasn’t aware of. M3 Sweatt posted an article on his blog about the Windows Vista SP1 installation and application compatibility support that is being provided free of charge via a toll free number. For the support options, see the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Support Page. When you go there, right at the top of the page is, “Unlimited installation and compatibility support is available at no charge until March 18, 2009.” Sweatt !!! Here are a couple of snips from the page: 
Things you can do from here: Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Black Hat: Who patches security holes faster, Microsoft or Apple? via TechNet Blogs by chsecblo on 3/29/08 Apple's teasing commercials that imply its software is safer than Microsoft's may not quite match the facts, according to new research revealed at the Black Hat conference on Thursday. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology looked at how many times over the past six years the two vendors were able to have a patch available on the day a vulnerability became publicly known, which they call the 0-day patch rate. They analyzed 658 vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products and 738...(read more) Things you can do from here: With thousands of Web sites affected, Adobe will address a known hole with an automatic update to unpatched apps. 
     
Adobe Tackles Flash Flaw
Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:13:13 GMT The last day of the Pwn to Own contest at the CanSecWest conference saw a Windows Vista laptop taken down by a group of hackers who exploited a newly discovered flaw in Adobe's Flash. Flash flaw leads to Vista laptop's fall
Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:36:00 GMT Aaaaah... to come full circle. Microsoft's OSs started at the command line, went GUI, and you can now do more from then command-line than ever before. Between PowerShell, the Windows Command Reference, and now the Netsh Technical Reference, you can script until you are blue in the face. The Windows Server® 2008 Network Shell (Netsh) Technical Reference provides a comprehensive command reference for networking technologies such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Network Policy Server (NPS), Network Access Protection (NAP), and Routing and Remote Access Services (RRAS), among many other technologies for which there are netsh commands. Netsh commands offer an alternative to configuring network technologies using the Windows interface. You can run netsh commands in batch files and scripts, and you can run them from the netsh prompt by manually typing commands. You can use netsh commands to configure both local and remote computers. Get it here. 
Network Shell (Netsh) Technical Reference released
smearp
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:12:46 GMT March 28 Great round table experts. Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Mark Russinovich Windows Vista SP1 Roundtable via TechNet Blogs by Peter Albus on 3/28/08 Microsoft Technical Fellow and IT guru Mark Russinovich hosts a panel of top independent industry experts to drive an open discussion around Windows Vista adoption and deployment, and demystify known issues. The panel will feature leading third-party Windows Vista adoption subject-matter experts including Mark Minasi , author of Administering Windows Vista Security: The Big Surprises; Tony Bradley, foremost security expert and Microsoft Enterprise Security MVP; and Jerry Honeycutt, author, speaker...(read more) Things you can do from here: Add to calendar. Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: Windows Server 2008 Certification Information via TechNet Blogs by mattmcspirit on 3/28/08 
There were a couple of Windows Server 2008 Live Meetings recorded a while back covering Certification and the new Certification model around the 2008 launch wave. If these are of interest to you, the details are below: Certification 101: Getting Started with Microsoft Certification Audience: IT Professionals, developers who think they might like to get certified, but aren't sure it's right for them and/or aren't sure where to start. People who have never taken a Microsoft exam and work with Microsoft products, or people who will be working with Microsoft in the very near future. Join the Microsoft Certified Professional team to learn about the benefits of certification, how to choose a certification path, how to prepare for your first exam, and what to expect after passing your exam. There will be plenty of time for your questions 9th April 2008 - 15:30 GMT - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032369351 10th April 2008 - 01:00 GMT - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032369349 There are also a number of offers currently ongoing around Windows Server 2008 Certification, which you can find here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/windowsserver/offer/default.mspx 
Things you can do from here: Blog Site Update Sent to you by Chris McMillan, Federal Marketing Manager via Google Reader: How to build more secure software: all platforms have vulerabilities including the Apple Mac Air and LINUX systems via TechNet Blogs by Steve Lamb on 3/28/08 Reading Engaget's article about a hacking competition @ CanSecWest where a Mac Air was compromised in just a few moments reminded me of recent conversations with some Apple Mac enthusiasts many were realistic, a few still believed that their systems were immune from security problems. Personally I really like the design philosophy of the Apple hardware - clean flowing lines, minimalist, nice. I am not familiar with the Apple software as it's quite different to what I'm used to. I spent a day using a Mac just to see what the experience was like. BTW: Prior to joining Microsoft five (and a half) years ago I used LINUX every day for the previous ten years. I actively engage with LINUX user groups and have respect for many of the Open Source developers I've met. All software developers make mistakes in design, architecture and implementation. IT Professionals make mistakes implementing software. We are human. Improvements to the training of developers, the processes by which they consider and review security and the guidance given to IT Professionals & users are critical to improve the security of information systems. Microsoft are on a journey to continue to improve the inherent security of our products. We have made great progress since commencing the Trustworthy Computing Initiative. The number of security vulnerabilities and their severity have dropped significantly over the last five years. Our Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) is a fundamental part of how we build software. We are working with other vendors and the open source community to help improve the quality of software across the industry. We are learning from one another. We advocate using powerful techniques including threat modelling where information trust boundaries are clearly defined together with threat trees where the impace of a notional vulnerability can be modelled on the rest of the system. No one produces software that is totally impervious to security vulnerabilities. The threat landscape changes over time too hence over time new ways are found to attack software so even if it was possible to ship perfectly secure software over time it would cease to be so. The Microsoft Security Response Centre (MSRC) team provide around the clock every day of the year response to investigate security vulnerabilities and ensure the speedy resolution of problems. We do root cause analysis of vulnerabilities to identify both other instances of similar problems and to find out which area of people, process and technology needs to be improved to prevent future occurences. We are always learning and constantly drive to produce more secure software. It is naiive to think that changing from one vendor to another will free you of security concerns. A single security vulnerability (whether in the code or the implementation/configuration) can cause chaos for customers hence it is not the time to rest on laurels nor to think "we're secure". Software developers and architects need to provide sufficient guidance to help IT Professionals implement their products in the best way to suit their balance between information security and ease of use as determined by both their appetite for risk and security policy. 
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