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Microsoft and Yahoo! again in the news, “to explore and pursue alternatives”

In the morning news… Microsoft and Yahoo! are again in the spotlight, this time with a move that “Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business.” 

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business.  Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo!  Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties. 

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

All this after the post with a few thoughts on moving past “Microsoft and Yahoo!” where I noted that nothing spurs people on than competition, and such healthy tension ultimately benefits consumers.  Among other quips. 😉

Have a lovely Sunday – I’m out to enjoy the beautiful sunny, mid-seventies weather we’re having (that’s about 20 degrees for my friends up North and way out East). 

Which serendipitously enough turns out is similar to the weather their having in Menlo Park this weekend. 

Could this be related to the Microsoft news, and a plot to ensure that our weather is attractive to more transplants from Silicon Valley?  Nahhh… 😉

More info:

Link to the brief Microsoft PressPass story.

Microsoft and Yahoo! News Archive

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Windows Live.

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Conde Nast buys Ars Technica (CNET News)

CNET News reports that Conde Nast purchased the popular tech blog Ars Technica… according to techcrunch…

Ars Technica, a decade-old independent tech news and analysis site, is becoming a part of Conde Nast’s Wired Digital group.

The acquisition will be announced Monday, sources familiar with the acquisition said, confirming a report Friday in TechCrunch. The price tag was near $25 million, TechCrunch said.

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Microsoft vs. Apple: Who patches zero-day vulnerabilities faster? The Swiss chime in with an answer

So, the controversy is nothing new, and nearly as old as the as Apple 1984 commercial.  I’ve posted previously at Mac and PC Security and noted that — no matter what connected platform you use — there’s no immunity from security vulnerabilities.  And there is certainly no shortage of news on Macintosh vs. Windows vulnerabilities.

This week it appears that the efforts to improve security over the last few years had paid a dividend: Computerworld notes the Swiss research that examines which company patches zero-day vulnerabilities faster.  And the answer isn’t likely to show up in an Apple ad any time soon…

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 0day (zero-day) patch rate.

They analyzed 658 vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products and 738 affecting Apple. They looked at only high- and medium-risk bugs, according to the classification used by the National Vulnerability Database, said Stefan Frei, one of the researchers involved in the study. [Click here for the paper in PDF format.]

What they found is that, contrary to popular belief that Apple makes more secure products, Apple lags behind in patching.

Frei is with the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory (TIK) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich. The paper is “0-Day Patch – Exposing Vendors (In)security Performance, 2008” in which the researchers look at the “0-day patch rate as a new metric to measure and compare the performance of the vulnerability handling and patch development processes of major software vendors.”

I hear the Swiss are traditionally neutral. 😉

More at http://www.techzoom.net/risk/ and the Computerworld article at Microsoft vs. Apple: Who patches zero-days faster?

Tags: Microsoft, security, Macintosh, Stefan Frei, 0 Day, vulnerability.

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Advisory: Potential changes to Daylight Saving Time in Iraq

Microsoft has learned of a potential change to the observance of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in Iraq  that may impact customers using the Baghdad time zone.

An early, unsubstantiated report is that the Ministry of Iraq has decided that the country will no longer observe DST as they have in prior years, currently scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2008. 

Thus far, Microsoft has not been able to officially verify this change: if the change to the implementation of DST in the country is made, this may impact customers and partners in the region who use the Baghdad time zone, including military facilities and other entities engaged in business in or with the region. 

Microsoft is actively working with government representatives and customers in the region to confirm the change in Iraq, while also endeavoring to understand and document the scenarios and implications. 

Specific guidance will be provided as it becomes available on the Microsoft DST & TZ Hot Topics page off of http://www.microsoft.com/time.  For details on setting up RSS feeds for these pages, see my post on getting RSS feed updates.

(cross posted at http://blogs.technet.com/dst2007/archive/2008/03/15/dst-in-iraq-031508.aspx)

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST. 4,900,000 (up a million items); 4,450,000 (down approx. two million items); 1,880,000 (up)

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Steve Ballmer and Guy Kawasaki live at Mix08, with links to the video to prove it

Of interest today from MIX ’08 is this coverage in the Seattle Times of the interview with Steve Ballmer by Seattle Times technology reporter Benjamin J. Romano. The on-stage interviewer was my old friend Guy Kawasaki of Apple, Garage.com and truemors.com fame.

“Kawasaki pulled no punches during an hour of pointed questioning that hit on some of Microsoft’s and Ballmer’s most sensitive issues, but Kawasaki still managed to come across as good-natured…”

“In addition to his jabs, Kawasaki had some nice things to say.

“As a venture capitalist, he said, he’s worked with Microsoft a lot in recent years.

“It’s a different Microsoft,” he said. “There’s not the arrogance, there’s not the sort of bullying aspect. These people are really smart, they’re really hardworking. … I just want to give you a little bit of praise. The new Microsoft employee is very different. It’s really very easy to work with your company.”

You can read more in the Ballmer Q&A: Extended coverage in the Times, and see a video of Steve on stage at Mix on You Tube: Steve Ballmer screamed “Web Developer” at Mix08. 

Even better: the Steve Ballmer Q&A with Guy Kawasaki is available online via the following streaming media links, courtesy of the good folks at Mix on the visitmix.com blog:

Also of interest for further reading on Microsoft management: Seattle Times’ article on the post-Gates era, plus ThinkWeek and the need for more cowbell.

Tags: Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Guy Kawasaki, Mix08, Microsoft.