Microsoft orders ROM removals
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Not meant for mortal man Microsoft has ordered the removal of ROM images from popular Windows Mobile development site XDA-Developers.â¦
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By John Torro, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.  Sep. 4--UNINSTALL UPDATES TO FIND SOURCE OF PROBLEMS: Microsoft alerted  me to nine critical updates Aug. 9. My computer is set up to accept these  automatically, and they were downloaded Windows XP Home.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is suing a group of hackers who apparently gained access to the company's proprietary source code, creating a program that wipes media files clean of file-sharing restrictions. The suit, which Microsoft filed last Friday in a district court in Seattle, Washington, gives only a nickname for the ringleader, "viodentia," who is one of 10 "John Does" whom Microsoft believes are responsible for breaking its Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. Last month, a program calledÂ FairUse4WM surfacedÂ that removed the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology from Windows Media 10 and 11 files. Many major download services, such as Napster, use Windows DRM, and its removal would allow the files to be copied without restriction or uploaded to file-sharing networks. Microsoft is suing for copyright infringement, since FairUse4WM uses code from the company's Windows Media software development kit version 9.5, a toolset used by software developers to build applications. Microsoft said the hackers have caused it more than $75,000 in losses. It is seeking a permanent injunction against the defendants and compensation. In a separate document filed with the court, Microsoft said the defendants have gone to substantial lengths to hide their identities. It asked for extra time to issue subpoenas to e-mail service providers, to track down some e-mail addresses linked to the individuals, to help it to identify them. The hackers have proved enduring foes for Microsoft. Soon after FairUse4WM was released, Microsoft issued an update to its DRM software, making the hacking program ineffective. The hackers responded less than a day later by updating FairUse4WM again. Their efforts are unlikely to affect the growth of legitimate download services, however, since content providers are aware that no DRM is unbreakable, analysts said. "I think in the long term it's not going to deal Microsoft any crushing blow, but it's certainly an irritant for them," said Jonathan Arber, research analyst for Ovum in London. Technology companies will have to make it too hard for hackers to break the DRM, a leap that could be difficult considering any update to the DRM technology would still have to be compatible with hardware in the market, said Paul Jackson, principal analyst at Forrester Research. Additionally, frequent software updates tend to alienate users, he said. "Itâs a question of highly determined hackers desperate to prove their moxie, versus a corporation that can't release updates every 10 minutes because that annoys people," Jackson said.
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Games and security programs are on a long list of software that does not work well with the Windows SP2 update.
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Microsoft Corp. has discontinued a line of digital photo software, saying that the functions can now be found in Windows Vista and other Microsoft software.
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Microsoft was expected to show up at a closed-door hearing before Europe's Court of First Instance in Luxembourg today to push for suspension of an order requiring the software giant to alter its flagship product.
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Many PC makers have a list of drivers and other patches that should be in place before installing the OS update.
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Microsoft's operating system from 1.0 to Vista.
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Microsoft Corp. will immediately ship a version of Windows stripped of the company's multimedia player in Europe and divulge some software blueprints, even as it continues to appeal those same European Union sanctions.
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Reg review Windows Mobile 2003 in a clamshell
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Computer giant Microsoft has launched a pilot scheme to replace counterfeit versions of Windows XP with legal ones. The first-time initiative is restricted to the UK and to users with pre-installed copies
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(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ on Thursday released an update to Windows Vista that will shut down unauthorized versions of the OS that allow users to skip the product's activation system. The move comes asÂ pirated copies of Vista are already making the rounds, mere weeks after the product was released to business customers. The update, which Microsoft has dubbed "frankenbuild," detects tampering of Windows Vista code that would allow users of the OS to work around the product's built-in activation system, which requires users to validate their copy of Vista with a product activation key to use the full version of the product after 30 days. Frankenbuild mixes files from various test and final versions of the software. It will require only systems in which it detects specific tampering to go through a validation check for authenticity, according to a posting on the Windows Genuine Advantage blog. If a version of Vista that has used a workaround to avoid product activation is detected, a user of that software will have 30 days before the OS goes into a reduced functionality mode, Microsoft said. In this mode, all users can do is access their existing files and surf the Web for an hour before having to log back on to the software. The pirating of Windows has been a perennial problem for Microsoft, particularly in developing countries. The company began coming down hard against piracy last year withÂ a widely criticized systemÂ it called Windows Genuine Advantage, which initially required users to validate their copies of Windows if they wanted to use Microsoft's update services. Microsoft took its antipiracy campaign one step further with Vista by building the validation system directly into the OS. This system requires a Windows Vista user to validate the software through a product activation key within 30 days of using the OS to avoid having the software go into reduced functionality mode.
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: Microsoft Corp. today said that small companies and their customers would suffer most if it is forced to remove its digital media software from Windows, while the European Union accused
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Microsoft Corp., the world&#39;s largest software maker, asked a European Union court to suspend an order by antitrust regulators forcing it to disclose information on the inner workings of its Windows product to competitors.
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Microsoft has begun a short-term validation programme aimed at tackling software piracy. Users are invited to have their copies of Windows XP analysed, with the promise that they will be replaced free of charge if found to be counterfeit.
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WASHINGTON - Microsoft Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer frustrated users of its Windows software new tools within 30 days to remove spyware programs secretly running on computers.
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Microsoft Corp. released two security fixes Tuesday that carry its most severe threat rating, including one that applies even to computers that have downloaded the company's massive security update for the Windows XP operating system.