Microsoft Preps Rights Management Update
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At the RSA Conference in Barcelona, Microsoft announced beta availability of Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) Service Pack 1. RMS, which drew concern after its 2003 debut, is designed to lock down sensitive documents such as e-mails from prying eyes.
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Top executives will be the first to use Microsoft DRM technology when Mathias Thurman rolls it out. So what could go wrong? Best not to find out.
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Microsoft has promised to give advance notice of its monthly security updates to customers to help them prepare to install related software patches.
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Microsoft said today it would make the service pack 1 software update available this month to some customers.
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Microsoft Corp. plans to release 13 sets of security patches next Tuesday fixing critical vulnerabilities in a number of its products, including the company's new security software.
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In a bid to further differentiate itself from its Linux rivals, Microsoft has said it will expand its legal indemnification programme to cover almost all its customers.
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Users of the Linux operating system will get patent protection and access to updated Windows Media technology.
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Microsoft wants to make it easy for users to upgrade among editions of the next Windows.
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Despite pleas from fair-use advocates, Microsoft plans to patch an application that can strip Windows Media files of potentially restrictive DRM (digital rights management) technology.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will start to give some customers the benefit of the doubt with an updated version of its software antipiracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications. The company has added a new category to the tool, "indeterminate," for instances where it can't be sure whether the OS running on a user's PC is legitimate or not, said Michala Alexander, Microsoft's head of antipiracy for the U.K. Previous versions of the software labelled an OS as either valid or invalid. In the latter case it would block the customer from downloading software updates, except for critical updates such as security patches. However, some users have complained that the Notifications tool incorrectly identified their copy of Windows as unlicensed. The new category aims to address that problem, in some cases not ruling one way or the other on whether a user's software is pirated. The issue has arisen partly because, through no fault of the customer, the wrong product activation key can sometimes be used to unlock a legitimate copy of the OS. For example, a PC repair shop might reinstall an OS on a customer's machine with a product key that it uses over and over, Alexander said. She said she saw one repair shop that had a product key written up on a whiteboard so it could be reused easily. Software pirates can also complicate matters, by generating fake product activation keys to try to unlock software. The Notifications tool checks the activation key on a customer's PC and compares it to a database of legitimate keys. A computer may pass the test at one time, but six months later it may fail it if other computers have subsequently been registered using the same product key, Alexander said. The situation makes it difficult sometimes for Microsoft to make a clear call. "The last thing we need are false positives," she said. When a customer's software is flagged as "indeterminate," they will be redirected to Microsoft's Web site for more information. One way out of the problem would be to re-enter a legitimate product key, which does not require the user to reinstall the OS, Alexander said. Microsoft will continue to update Notifications every three to four months, she said. Earlier this month it released an update through Windows XP's Automatic Updates. It also rolled out 21 localized versions of the program for countries including China, Portugal, Russia, and Korea. Complaints from usersÂ have prompted Microsoft to make several changes to Notifications since it debuted in July 2005. It dropped the persistent pop-up messages that used to warn people their software might be unlicensed, for example. Notifications is one prong of Microsoft's antipiracy strategy, which also involves suing counterfeiters and visiting PC stores to ensure that sellers are installing the OS properly.
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Microsoft (Quote, Chart) has expanded the scope of its intellectual property protection policy to cover customers using current and earlier versions of its software.
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NOVEMBER 04, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Microsoft Corp. will give customers advance notice of its monthly security updates in an effort to help them prepare to install related software patches, the company announced today.
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Windows users are being urged to download the latest batch of security updates from Microsoft.
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Computer giant Microsoft has fully rolled out its crucial security update to computers running its Windows XP. Last week, it &quot;soft launched&quot; Service Pack 2 (SP2) security update, making it available for some
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In sharp contrast to last month&#39;s barrage of critical patches, Microsoft today offered up just one &quot;important&quot; fix for users to implement in its scheduled round of security updates for November.
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The U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general are concerned that Microsoft is revising deadlines that it agreed to as part of its antitrust settlement. At issue are changes that Microsoft says it needs to make in the schedule for releasing documentation related to Vista, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
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Documents released today detail changes Microsoft will make to its desktop search and indexing feature in Windows Vista.