More on Teleo deal

Microsoft's acquisition of Teleo, which specializes in Internet-based voice calling, is expected to add new features to MSN Messenger and other MSN services. (See today's story for more details.) Many of the reports today speculate about how Microsoft will implement the technology. Gary Stein at Jupiter Research, for example, explains the potential opportunity for MSN based on the Teleo technology for clicking on a link to make a call.

"I imagine that pay-per-call would be an interesting offering within their AdCenter advertising/search offering. We know that local merchants would rather pay for a call than a click; having pay-per-call as a product is pretty much a must for anyone looking to get into the local directory business."

Mozilla threat translated

"Couldn't you just say 'Mozilla makes this great browser that we should be kinda scared about...'? " -- Daniel Steinbrook, on MozillaZine, suggesting plainer language for Microsoft's acknowledgement that the Mozilla Firefox browser has emerged as a competitive threat. Microsoft, as you may recall, put it this way: "Competitors such as Mozilla offer software that competes with the Internet Explorer Web browsing capabilities of our Windows operating system products."

Microsoft as aging boxer

Kevin Maney, USA Today: "Google is making Microsoft seem like George Foreman -- once a menacing, powerful presence, but now sort of eccentric and cuddly. ... OK, maybe not cuddly."

Creative exec on iPod

"We're second to them in market size. But now I think it is clear that our user interface has the largest market share in the world." -- Craig McHugh, president of Creative Labs, on the company's assertion that its recently awarded patent for navigating through a portable music device also covers the interface of Apple Computer's dominant iPod.

That was one of the things McHugh said during an interview yesterday, after I asked him about the implications of the company's patent. As explained in this story from the newspaper, Creative says it hasn't yet decided how to proceed. McHugh acknowledged that the potential options could include seeking royalties from Apple, but he declined to say whether his company has spoken with Apple about the issue. Creative is one of the key device makers working with Microsoft's digital music software and formats.

Recruiting via keyword?

Is Google trying to send a not-so-subtle message to Microsoft researcher Susan Dumais? Check out the paid ad that appears in the upper right when you search for her name in one popular search engine. (Via Robert Scoble.)

Creative's iPod patent

More complications for Apple on the iPod patent front: One of Microsoft's hardware partners, device maker Creative Technology, announced this morning that it has received a patent for "its invention of the user interface for portable media players, including many of the Creative Zen and NOMAD Jukebox MP3 players, and found in some competing players, such as the Apple iPod and iPod mini. The Zen Patent covers the user interface that enables users of portable media players to efficiently and intuitively navigate among and select tracks on the players."

No word yet on what Creative plans to do with regard to the iPod.

This follows news earlier this month that an Apple patent application had been turned down because a Microsoft researcher had submitted an earlier application for a related technology.

Here's the Creative patent. The application was filed in January 2001, about 10 months before the iPod was unveiled.

DOS killer app: Scrabble

Last week we marveled that a noticeable number of people are still using Windows 95. But one person, at least, has found a good reason to continue using the even older Disk Operating System. The reason? A Scrabble computer game. But he's finding that it's not easy. See today's Tech Q&A in the Miami Herald.

For the record, that's two DOS posts in a row. Maybe I'm on to something here. Time for a DOS comeback?

A game called DOS

As detailed in today's Software Notebook, one of the highlights of this weekend's Penny Arcade Expo was the Saturday morning "Pitch Your Game Idea" session, featuring representatives of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo listening to proposals from game enthusiasts in the crowd. Pictured at right is Dustin Davis, 29, of Austin, Texas, who wowed the crowd last year with a game concept he called "Robot vs. Ninja vs. Pirate vs. Monkey." This year, as you can tell from the photo, he proposed a game that would be called "Koalas of Perilous Rage." It didn't go over nearly as well as last year's pitch, but Dustin seemed to take it in stride.

Apart from that, there were several funny concepts that didn't make it into this morning's story. For example, Kevin Pereira, host of G4TV's "Attack of the Show," had the crowd laughing with his concept for a game called "Cable Television Darling" -- starring himself in a title role. Competitors would play hosts trying to make it to the top of the cable television world, juggling the competing demands of the job and adoring fans.

Then there was Matt Friedman, 31, of Virginia Beach, Va., who rattled off a series of proposed game concepts. One in particular was a crowd favorite: "This one is only on the desktop, it's not a console game. It's called Disk Operating System. You actually use your keyboard to type in commands," he said, explaining that the idea is to move files from one place to another. The great thing is that it only requires 640k of memory, which, of course, is all the memory anyone will ever need. (See this recent story on that topic, by the way.)

However, Friedman concluded, "it's only available for the Mac."

Microsoft, the musical

Sean Dugan is an experienced actor, known for roles including prisoner Timmy Kirk on the HBO series "Oz." But his upcoming part -- portraying Bill Gates on stage in a New York musical -- posed a unique challenge. How does an actor prepare to play the world's richest man?

"I became a billionaire," Dugan joked last week. "I'm finding it really great. Life is good right now."

Dugan is playing Gates in "Nerds," a satirical musical about Gates and Steve Jobs to be featured at a New York festival next month. After seeing number of weblogs (Steve Rubel, Mary Jo Foley, Inside Microsoft, Bink) mention the musical last week, I was intrigued enough to look into it further. I interviewed Dugan and the co-authors of the musical, Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, to get the story behind the musical. Here's a link to the resulting article, published in Saturday's newspaper.

But the best part is the songs: Access clips of "I am Just a Nerd" and "Windows Rap" on this page. The rap line notwithstanding, it's probably safe to assume that "bitch pimp of the software game" won't be added to the official chairman and chief software architect titles anytime soon.

Microsoft liable for flaws?

In addition to the new Firefox reference, Microsoft's annual Form 10K includes an interesting addition to the otherwise standard passage on the risk factors related to computer security problems. For starters, the heading of the passage last year (scroll to page 31) was simply "Security." This year, (page 14) the title is "Security vulnerabilities in our products could lead to reduced revenues or to liability claims." And here's the newly added language:

We devote significant resources to improving the security design and engineering of our software. Nevertheless, actual or perceived vulnerabilities may lead to claims against us. While our license agreements typically contain provisions that eliminate or limit our exposure to such liability claims, there is no assurance these provisions will be held effective under applicable laws and judicial decisions.

For background, the issue of Microsoft's potential liability for software flaws is one that I explored a while back. See the archived story here.

To be sure, risk factors are standard in such filings to warn investors of worst-case scenarios, and Microsoft appears to be more detailed in outlining those risks in general in this year's filing, not just in the section on potential security risks. But it's interesting nonetheless to see what the company chose to elaborate on when it came to security.

Firefox on Microsoft radar

Microsoft's annual Form 10K, filed late last week with the Securities and Exchange Commisson, included this new addition in a passage on the competition faced by the company's PC Windows division: "Competitors such as Mozilla offer software that competes with the Internet Explorer Web browsing capabilities of our Windows operating system products."

For the record, that appears to be the first reference to the Mozilla Firefox browser as a competitive risk factor any Microsoft SEC filing. See Microsoft's 10K from last year for comparison.

Also note that it's no longer plain old Internet Explorer -- it's "the Internet Explorer Web browsing capabilities of our Windows operating system products." That follows the trend seen with the recent unveiling of the new "Windows Internet Explorer" logo. Having survived its U.S. antitrust case without unbundling the browser from Windows, the company is apparently trying to drive home its controversial position that the browser is not a separate product but rather a Windows feature. (See also Mary Jo Foley's earlier post on that topic.)

Arrests in Zotob case

Associated Press: "Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people believed to be responsible for unleashing a computer worm that infected networks at U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this month, the FBI said Friday."

That would be the Zotob worm, as you might have guessed. Microsoft and the FBI are holding a news conference on the arrests shortly.

Google's new lawyer

How serious is Google about its legal dispute with Microsoft over Google's hiring of a former Microsoft executive? The San Francisco Chronicle reports this morning on the prominent lawyer, John Keker, hired by Google to work on the the Kai-Fu Lee case, along with Dorsey & Whitney, the firm already on the case for Google. Here's a 2003 Chronicle story that ranked Keker the top lawyer in the San Francisco area.

Measles case at Microsoft

From this morning's P-I: Health authorities trace steps of man with measles. The locations of potential exposure include Microsoft Building 40 and the adjacent cafeteria. For more information, here's the news release from King County Public Health.

More on '95 anniversary

Some additional items from various corners of the Web looking back at the Windows 95 release, 10 years ago this week:

• Brandon Rosenblum shows the evolution of the start button icons from Windows 95 through the preliminary versions of the upcoming Windows Vista.

• Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle recalls covering the launch in Redmond: "I remember sitting in the audience watching Jay Leno crack wise about a computer operating system and thinking, 'This is just too bizarre.' "

• Benjamin Bach, who was a Windows 95 beta tester, records his memories here (via comments to my earlier post.) The P-I's Brian Chin, who was also a beta tester at the time, recalls his encounters with the "Modern Windows Experience" in this post.

• Daniel Stout compares Windows 95 with the Mac operating system of the time.

• And no look back at the launch would be complete without perspectives from one of the retail workers on duty that night.

More on the 'Halo' movie

For some behind-the-scenes details on Microsoft's "Halo" movie deal, see this interesting article by Bungie cinematics director and writer Joseph Staten on the Microsoft game studio's Web site. Among other things, he promises "Halo" fans that Bungie is working hard to ensure that it's a movie they'll enjoy, not suffer through. He writes:

You've undoubtedly got questions: "What's the plot? Is it the same as Halo1? Halo2?" "Who's gonna play the Chief? Scratch that – who's gonna play Cortana?" "I read somewhere that the script had ‘bad buzz'. Does that mean the movie's gonna suck?"

I can't respond to any "who, what, where" queries without ruining a bunch of cool surprises, (there will be Grunts - that I guarantee), but as far as the quality of the finished film goes…well, the only thing I can say is: so far so good.

Staten also tells the story behind Microsoft's unusual approach, in which it hired a screenwriter and financed the script itself, then presented it for the consideration of the major film studios. As noted in this morning's story, film studios bristled at the brashness of Microsoft's initial demands. According to this New York Times story in June, those demands included a $10 million upfront fee and a percentage of the box-office receipts, approval over the cast and director, and "60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft representatives and their guests to movie's premiere."

The deal reached with Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox appears to be something of a compromise, giving Microsoft 10 percent of box-office receipts, $5 million of it up front, according to Daily Variety. The agreement gives Microsoft a say in such decisions as the choice of director, and Bungie representatives will serve as consultants to the film. But Universal has ultimate creative control.

Without confirming any specifics, Xbox spokesman Carlos de Leon yesterday acknowledged that it was a learning experience for the company:

"There's no question that we learned lessons in this particular instance of working with Hollywood. We did get feedback on our approach from the studios, and it wasn't all positive, but the good news is that the feedback in terms of the quality of the script, the creativity around the outlining of what this movie could be, was positive, and was positive enough to be able to partner with two huge studios like Universal and Fox."

Google's latest moves

Wall Street Journal personal technology columnist Walter Mossberg rounds up the latest Google offerings today and concludes: "Google Desktop and Google Talk are useful programs that have great potential. They just might make Google your new best friend, and that would be bad news for Microsoft."

David Pogue of the New York Times assesses the Google Desktop in this story today, complete with an audio slide show.

On the subject of the new Google Talk instant messaging and voice communication program, Microsoft took the opportunity to point out that this is one area where Google is playing catch-up. Microsoft issued a statement yesterday in response to requests for the company's thoughts on the latest Google offering. It read in part:

"At MSN, we have been focused on building MSN Messenger and other communication services for 10 years and continue to invest and innovate. IM is something that Google absolutely has to do if they are going to be a real 'portal' type of site on the web with services that create sticky relationships with their customers."

The statement also referred to further plans to "delight" MSN's customers. Among other things, it mentioned some of the improvements in the latest update to MSN Messenger, version 7.5, released this week. (The company earlier this year added an enhanced voice chat capability to the program.)

On a related topic, in case you missed it, The New York Times yesterday ran a fascinating story about the shifting attitudes toward Google in the tech industry, comparing and contrasting its position with those of Microsoft and IBM. We also republished the article in today's P-I business section.

Windows 95 anniversary

Today is the 10th anniversary of Microsoft's landmark Windows 95 release, Aug. 24, 1995. Where is the operating system now?

Bill Gates and Jay Leno at the Windows 95 launch. (Robin Layton/P-I Archive)

Well, the Windows 95 product page is still online, you can still find copies of the 10-year-old program on eBay, the little rock band that supplied the product's anthem is still around, and Mary Jo Foley reports on Microsoft Watch that there are, in fact, some people still using it to actually run their computers. In fact, some of you may be among them: According to the paper's logs, about 0.4 percent of the traffic on seattlepi.com is from Windows 95 machines.

If you're in the mood to reminisce, here's the story the P-I published on the morning of the launch, by reporter Jim Erickson. It began: "Perhaps it's fitting that the first thing many Redmond residents see on their way to work this morning will be a pair of hot-air balloons, set loose from the Microsoft Corp. campus and sporting the Windows 95 logo. For sheer superheated overinflation, it's going to be hard to beat today's arrival of Microsoft's new computer operating system on store shelves."

This Wikipedia entry has the story behind the operating system, including technical details and some trivia you might have forgotten. And this Microsoft page tells the history of Windows, including the '95 release.

For a different perspective, Larry Seltzer, eWeek's security writer, points out in a column today the ways in which Windows 95 wasn't the start of something good: "It really did change the world, and in the process it doomed us to an insecurity in computing that it's hard to see us escaping." A related story looks back at 10 years of Windows worms.

Meanwhile, Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox wants to know where the anniversary hoopla is. In lieu of that, he offers some of his own memories of the launch. Another blogger recalls the Redmond launch party in this post. BetaNews looks back on the launch in this story, accompanied by a photo gallery.

And finally, on the SuperSite for Windows, Paul Thurrott reposts his original Windows 95 review, including the screen shot that accompanied the article. It's in black and white.

Google Talk: It's real

Google has released the previously rumored Google Talk, its new program for instant-messaging and voice conversations. Among other things, it creates another big area of competition between Google and Microsoft. About 155 million people worldwide use Microsoft's MSN Messenger instant-messaging program. See coverage by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, which has a screen shot of the new service.

The Google Talk site is up and running, inviting downloads. Google's Joe Beda, a former Microsoftie, explains in this post that most of the development of the new product was centered in Google's Kirkland office, the branch it opened last year just down the road from Microsoft.

A Media PC endorsement

The latest issue of Wired magazine has a series of stories on the future of television, including an interview with Daily Show host Jon Stewart and executive producer Ben Karlin. The Q&A isn't online yet, as far as I can tell, but one exchange in particular (p. 105) will no doubt get some attention from the people on Microsoft's Windows Media Center PC software team:

Responding to a question about new methods of delivering television, Stewart points out that, at some point, it reaches a saturation point where it's possible to have too much television in too many places. (He says it much more colorfully, actually, but that's the gist.) Then Karlin adds: "I do think it would be cool if at one point your computer and your television are more or less the same device. That's one less big box screen that you have in your house."

There's no acknowledgement that such technology is already available from Microsoft and others. But Microsoft isn't likely to turn down even an indirect endorsement of a concept on which it's betting so heavily.

Google's new Sidebar

Google's enhanced desktop search tool, released today, comes with an on-screen sidebar of personalized information and items, including photos, stock quotes, news articles, and frequently used files and Web pages. It gives the search giant another foothold on the Windows desktop, and much of the coverage so far today speculates on the implications for Microsoft.

Here are excerpts and links to some of the articles and commentary on news sites and weblogs:

• Search Engine Watch: "The enhancements will likely have folks at Microsoft and Yahoo nervous but Google users pleased. Some of the changes will also no doubt kick off another round of speculation that a Google OS may be coming."

• Greg Linden: "In all, an impressive effort, full of easy-to-use, convenient personalization features. It is a strong move toward personalization from Google and an aggressive attempt to get a constant Google presence on the desktop."

• Internet News: "[T]he Sidebar represents a unified method for accessing content on the desktop and online, offering a new model for handling files."

• Michael Gartenberg, Jupiter Research: "... I don't think there's a need for Google to do their own browser. It's much easier for them to co-opt Microsoft here and this is the way to do it."

• John Battelle: "Sounds like Google acting like a software developer, strengthening a product in anticipation of it becoming a standard interface to your data."

• Search Engine Journal: The sidebar "is going to become Google’s center of balance."

• Associated Press: "The Sidebar's search box also finds applications, which can be launched directly from the results list that appears as words are typed in. It's similar to the Spotlight feature of Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X and the built-in search of Microsoft Windows Vista, which is expected to be released next year."

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that this won't be Google's only announcement this week, fueling recent rumors about a potential Google IM product: "Google executives say they plan to unveil on Wednesday a 'communications tool' that is potentially a clear step beyond the company's search-related business focus. While executives would not disclose what the new software tool might be, Google has long been expected to introduce an instant messaging service to compete with services offered by America Online, Yahoo and MSN from Microsoft."

BioCert trademark deal

An update on the lawsuit in which Microsoft was accused of trademark infringement over its use of the name BioCert: The case has been settled for undisclosed terms, with the company that sued Microsoft, Artemis Solutions Group, retaining rights to the name. See our Saturday story for more details. Here's the joint news release announcing the settlement late last week.

IE leader meets Steve Jobs

How's this for an intriguing encounter? Microsoft's Robert Scoble tells the story of a chance meeting Friday between Apple's Steve Jobs and Microsoft Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch. Scoble's post has all the details, including what they said to each other.

The Butterfly Adventures

MSN's Virtual Earth team has posted a lighthearted promotional video featuring the MSN Butterfly roaming around Seattle, gathering data for the service, interacting with the locals -- and getting into a little trouble with the law. Playing the butterfly is Steve Lombardi, Virtual Earth program manager.

On the Microsoft Monitor blog, Joe Wilcox calls it the type of thing that Microsoft should make public more often to promote its products. (Here's his original post on the subject.) The company often shows elaborate, humorous videos at industry events and its major internal meetings, but they rarely get shown more widely. (A Bill Gates/Steve Ballmer Matrix spoof at Comdex a couple years ago comes to mind, although that didn't focus on a specific product.)

Takahashi on Xbox 360

Mercury News reporter Dean Takahashi, author of "Opening the Xbox," weighs in with his opinion on Microsoft's Xbox 360 strategy, noting that the company is attempting to balance the dual goals of profit and market share -- as evidenced in part by its two-tiered pricing announcement this week.

Bill Gates: Modern philosopher?

	Gates speaks to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (AP Photo/Steve Shelton)

After listening to Bill Gates yesterday at the National Conference of State Legislatures convention, I spent some time approaching random legislators at the convention center in Seattle to ask for their impressions. I wondered if I might hear in their responses some lingering hard feelings about the tactics brought to public attention in Microsoft's antitrust cases. But as noted in this morning's story, it was quite the opposite, at least judging from the legislators I spoke with and from the crowd's reaction.

The scene illustrated the sharp contrast between feelings about Gates in the mainstream political arena and those in some corners of the technology world. For example, here's a more complete quote from Virginia state Sen. John S. Edwards (no relation to the former vice presidential candidate) on the subject of the Microsoft founder:

"He is one of the seminal thinkers in the world today. I think he is, in a real sense, a philosopher of the modern world. ... One of the questions that was asked had to do with what kinds of policies state and local and federal government can have to improve economic development. His answer was not so much tax and regulatory policy but education. Education trumps everything. That's something I've been talking about, something many of us have been talking about, but he is able to see it in a big picture, and he has such tremendous access to so much information through his own work and his own experience. Also in the position he's in, he's able to draw from a lot of different sources and then make sense of it all, as I say, connect the dots."

Probably safe to assume that Edwards isn't among the people posting to Slashdot on a regular basis.

Computer security blogs

On the subject of the latest Windows-related worm, I've added a computer security category to my blogroll at right, reflecting some of the weblogs and other sites I try to check on a regular basis. Here's the list. I'm sure I'm missing some good ones. If anyone has additional security-related sites that they find valuable, I'd be interested in hearing about them:

• Microsoft Security
  
• Washington Post Security Fix
  
• Microsoft Security Response Center Blog
  
• Be Careful Out There
  
• Security Awareness Blog
  
• Bruce Schneier's Blog
  
• eWeek Security News
  
• Larry Seltzer
  
• Symantec Security Response
  
• McAfee Virus Information
  
• CNet Security Blog
  
• Security Focus
  
• Kaspersky Lab Analyst's Weblog
  
• Michael Howard (MSFT)
  
• Stephen Toulouse (MSFT)
  
• Network World Security
  
• Planet Security

Zotob worm update

Despite some high-profile victims, including major media organizations, the Associated Press reports that overall damage appears to be limited from Zotob, the latest worm to target a Windows vulnerability. Reports the AP: "It's a sign, security experts say, that computer users are heeding warnings to quickly install patches as they're released. It also indicates that Microsoft's efforts to batten down the hatches of its ubiquitous software is paying off."

But the Houston Chronicle quotes an analyst who says the situation should still remind companies of the need to keep up with patches and other security precautions: "Up until now, I think a lot of organizations have not put security as high on the priority scale as they should have," said Carmi Levy, a senior analyst with Info-Tech Research Group.

Here's Microsoft's security advisory on the worm, including a tool for removing it.

Xbox 360: $399, and $299

People who speculated that Microsoft would offer the Xbox 360 for the typical $299 launch price were right. Then again, so were the people who expected the company to charge as much as $399.

Microsoft this morning announced plans to sell two distinct versions of the upcoming game console, a $399 model with the previously announced detachable hard drive and the ability to play original Xbox games -- and a $299 "core system" with neither the hard drive nor backward compatibility. See our story for more information.

How will the gaming public react? You can offer your take through the poll and forum at the bottom of this morning's story. Also see coverage by gamesradar, spong, the Los Angeles Times, CNN/Money, GameSpot, and joystiq.

Here are some additional details on the two versions:

Xbox 360

• Price: $399.99 U.S./€399.99/£279.99
  
• Hard Drive: 20 GB, detachable
  
• Backward compatibility: Yes
  
• Includes: Wireless controller, headset, faceplate, basic (silver) online membership, media remote, component HD AV cable and Ethernet cable.

Xbox 360 Core System

• Price: $299.99 U.S./€299.99/£209.99
  
• Hard Drive: None
  
• Backward compatibility: No
  
• Includes: Wired controller, faceplate, basic (silver) online membership, standard AV cable.

The company also announced a list of expected Xbox 360 accessories, some of which can be used to upgrade the Core System to the full system -- but at a higher overall cost if you do it piecemeal in that way. Here's that list, with suggested retail prices:

• Hard Drive (20 GB) ($99.99 U.S./€99.99/£69.99)
  
• Wireless Controller ($49.99 U.S./€44.99/£32.99)
  
• Faceplate ($19.99 U.S./€19.99/£14.99)
  
• Memory Unit (64 MB) ($39.99 U.S./€34.99/£22.99)
  
• Wireless Networking Adapter ($99.99 U.S./€79.99 /£59.99)
  
• Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit ($19.99 U.S./€19.99/£14.99)
  
• Rechargeable Battery Pack ($11.99 U.S./€14.99/£9.99).
  
• Wired Controller ($39.99 U.S./€34.99/£24.99)
  
• Headset ($19.99 U.S./€19.99/£14.99)
  
• Universal Media Remote ($29.99 U.S./€29.99/£19.99)
  
• Component HD AV Cable ($39.99 U.S./€29.99/£19.99)
  
• Xbox 360 S-Video AV Cable, U.S. only ($29.99)
  
• Xbox 360 SCART AV Cable, Europe only (€24.99/£17.99)
  
• Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable ($39.99 U.S./€29.99/£19.99)

Xbox exec injury update

Xbox Live's Major Nelson, a.k.a. Larry Hryb, offers an update on the very painful-sounding mountain-biking injuries sustained recently by key Xbox executive J Allard. (See this previous Xbox 365 post for background.) Ouch. But the Major keeps things in proper perspective: "The good news," he writes, "is that this won’t affect the launch of the Xbox 360 at all."

IE7 logo and 'web feeds'

Microsoft's Internet Explorer team unveiled the planned logo for the upcoming IE7 on its blog late last week. That's it, at right, complete with golden planetary ring.

See the comments below the IE Blog post for some of the reaction, ranging from complimentary to critical -- and not just about the logo design. Says one: "The fact that you have found the time to play with the logo while this platform is being attacked through the browser from nearly all angles is very troubling." Others point out that the graphic designers who made the logo wouldn't be the ones working on the code anyway.

Meanwhile, Ed Bott has a good round-up of the debate over Microsoft's use of the phrase "web feeds," rather than "RSS," in the recently released IE7 beta.

IBM's latest Linux moves

Microsoft may be making some overtures to the open-source community, but to keep things in perspective, see this story from the latest issue of Red Herring magazine, detailing IBM's latest Linux and open-source business initiatives. One of the topics explored is the role of open-source programs in developing nations. From the story:

"Microsoft is in deep trouble in countries like China and Brazil," says Mark Hanny, IBM’s vice president of independent software vendors (ISVs) and developer relations. "In Brazil, all of the top ISVs have rebuilt their applications from the client/server base. They are now built on Linux."

Packing a Golden Penguin

What happens when you try to get a 20-pound glass penguin through airport security? For the answer, see this post by Brian Aker, the MySQL architecture director who won the trophy as part of the Google team that topped Microsoft in last week's Golden Penguin Bowl trivia contest at LinuxWorld.

To get a sense for what caught the attention of the security screeners, see this photo (by Roger Binns) of Google's Marc Merlin holding the trophy. (Also note the shirt and hat Merlin wore during the contest.)

Microsoft's Linux guy

		Roger Binns
	Microsoft "Stormtrooper" Bill Hilf, left, and others donned "Star Wars" costumes at a LinuxWorld event last week. With him, from left, are Rob Mensching of Microsoft, Rob Curran of Waggener Edstrom, and Jeremy Allison (co-creator of the Samba open-source software) who hosted the Golden Penguin Bowl trivia contest. Visible at far right is Brian Aker, a Seattleite who works on the MySQL program and was on the Google team.

The Stormtrooper in the foreground in the photo at right is Bill Hilf, a former IBM Linux specialist who now heads Microsoft's Linux and open-source lab as the company's director of platform technology strategy. See this week's Software Notebook for more on Hilf's work, Microsoft's evolving relationship with open-source software, its continuing areas of friction with the open-source world -- and the story behind those Star Wars costumes.

Hilf, who has worked for Microsoft since early last year, took some time as LinuxWorld wound down last week to speak via phone about Microsoft, his job, and open-source issues. Excerpts from the interview:

ON HIS JOB AT THE COMPANY: "I was brought on to help Microsoft understand the open-source software world, really, the technology aspects in particular. I've spent most of my career in Unix, Linux and open-source systems. ... I spend most of my time with our product teams, and helping our product teams really have that deep line of sight into open-source software and those technology trends."

ON THE COMPANY'S CHANGING APPROACH TO OPEN SOURCE: "Microsoft is full of a lot of really good technologists. Probably one of my most exciting parts of the job is just how many people get technology at Microsoft and how fast they understand it. It wasn't like Microsoft had its head in the sand and just didn't get it until I showed up. Nowhere near that. What I think helped in the past couple years has been the ability to recognize that there is this balance and that there are some ways that people are finding economic value on the Windows platform in multiple different models. There's commercial and non-commercial software models and they're both finding success building on the Windows platform. ... At the end of the day, Microsoft is a business, and they're going to look for where the opportunity is from a business perspective."

ON HIS APPROACH TO THE JOB: "I can be that critical and objective voice. We're not typical Microsoft people looking at this outside technology. Myself and my team all have pretty deep backgrounds in this stuff. ... So we have not only the expertise on the team but also we're able to take those different perspectives on Microsoft technology that maybe the typical Microsoft person would not take. Kind of a fresh-eyes approach of looking at things."

ON SOME OF THE TESTING THAT GOES ON IN THE LAB: "We've done some tests in the lab with groups like our high-performance computing group that's building a product next year called the Compute Cluster Edition. We'll help them do benchmark tests. How fast can we solve this problem on a Linux cluster vs. how fast can we solve it on the product that we're building. Are we better or worse, and if we're worse, where? If we're better, where? So we can really understand what this product is going to be able to do once we bring it into the market."

ON ONE OF THE LAB'S UNEXPECTED BENEFITS: "Having all of this Linux and Unix and open source stuff inside the Redmond IT environment created a really interesting experiment in itself, because we had now to interoperate with all of this Microsoft technology around us -- probably the most, of course, Microsoft-centric IT environment on the planet. ... By virtue of that, we've learned a whole bunch about how to do all sorts of interoperability things. Even just getting out to the Internet from all of these systems, or connecting to Active Directory, or using our management tools across Windows and Linux. We've found all sorts of different issues, and we've found lots of solutions, both our own, as well as third-party solutions that have helped us do these interoperability scenarios."

ON THOSE OUTFITS AT LINUXWORLD: "We played the march music from 'Star Wars' as we walked in -- just totally playing to the Evil Empire stereotype, being self-deprecating, trying to have fun with it. Everyone got a kick out of it."

The Microsoft team wore those outfits for the Golden Penguin Bowl, a trivia contest at Linux World, in which the company lost narrowly to a Google team. See this Associated Press story, via BusinessWeek, for more on the contest.

Hilf's separate technical presentation at LinuxWorld (sans the Stormtrooper costume) focused on the spawned a number stories of about him in the technology press. See coverage by eWeek and CNet News.com. A few months ago, Microsoft's Channel 9 site ran a video interview of Hilf and Microsoft Linux strategist Martin Taylor, plus a tour of Hilf's lab.

Updates: MSN and Google

Search Engine Journal reports on a study showing Google maintaining its lead over Yahoo and MSN Search. At the same, Nielsen NetRatings recently reported (PDF) that MSN's Maps and Directions service has seen a significant traffic boost from the recent launch of the MSN Virtual Earth beta.

Two weeks ago, MSN Maps and Directions launched its highly anticipated Virtual Earth site, which allows visitors not only to map specific locations, but also to view those locations via satellite photo. The result has been a marked increase in visitors, from 438,000 at home during the week ending July 24, to 1.2 million during the most recent week. At work the differential is significant as well, as audience traffic increased from 845,000, to 1.4 million weekly visitors.

Meanwhile, Google announced that its Google Print program, through which it plans to make books searchable online, will delay the scanning of copyrighted books to give copyright owners a chance to tell the company if they don't want their books included. See coverage by Search Engine Watch.

And finally, Microsoft Watch reports on updates to the MSN Start.com project and MSN Spaces.

Apple patent documents

In its statement on the rejection of one of its iPod-related patent applications, Apple put things in context by explaining that it has "many patents for inventions related to iPod, and has many more patents pending." One of those additional applications in the pipeline, in fact, involves an iPod characteristic that's even more distinctive -- the "rotational user interface," also known as the scroll wheel.

Here's the abstract from that patent application:

Improved approaches for users of computing devices to interact with graphical user interfaces are described. According to one aspect, a rotational user action supplied by a user at a user input device is transformed into linear action with respect to a graphical user interface. According to another aspect, a portion of an extended list of items is displayed by a graphical user interface and, through rotational user actions at a user input device, the portion of the list being displayed can be varied with welcomed ease of use. Although the type of computing device can vary, the improved approaches are particularly well-suited for use with a portable media player.

However, Apple is encountering some resistance on that patent application, as well. In June, a patent examiner issued a "non-final" rejection of the rotational user interface patent application (as opposed to the final but appealable rejection of the patent application for the iPod's hierarchical on-screen interface). The examiner cited issued patents including this one and this one.

Back on the subject of the iPod's hierarchical on-screen interface, these are the documents related that Apple patent application, as well as the Microsoft researcher's patent application that, for now, is blocking that Apple patent from going through:

• Microsoft researcher John Platt's May 2002 patent application

• Apple's October 2002 patent application for iPod interface

• Examiner's rejection of Apple's patent application (PDF)

Swatting at spam

P-I editorial cartoonist David Horsey on Microsoft's $7 million spam settlement:

iPod killers on the way?

Microsoft says upcoming music players using its software will pose a stronger challenge to Apple's iPod, according to this Bloomberg News story (via the Arizona Republic).

Xbox accessory program

This story today by Ina Fried of CNet News.com looks at a new program in which console peripheral companies will pay Microsoft royalties to make accessories for the upcoming Xbox 360: "Only accessory makers that get Microsoft's blessing and fork over a slice of their sales to the software maker will be able to produce Xbox 360 game pads, steering wheels, joysticks and other controllers."

Group fights Vista release

A group known as The Committee to Fight Microsoft says it has has "begun a campaign to block Microsoft Corporation from releasing Windows Vista to the general public unless and until Microsoft offers a general and unconditional warranty to purchasers that the program does not include 'bad code.' "

See the news release for more details, including a threatened lawsuit and this quote from the group's executive director, Andy Martin.

"Windows 95 was a disaster; it took three years to correct the major deficiencies. But the 95 fix, Windows 98, only created new vulnerabilities, and required yet another round of fixes for Windows 98. On and on it goes. No other company in America gets away with selling defective products and then expecting its customers to wait years for proper product pperability."

Josh Meier of Ars Technica offers an alternate view in this post:

Windows 95 certainly had its share of problems, and Windows 98 even saw a Second Edition, but to call them flat out defective is going a tad far. While Windows 95 made the term "BSOD" commonplace, it achieved a number of milestones. It brought preemptive multitasking and protected memory to the mainstream market years before Apple, while maintaining backwards compatibility with 16-bit Windows applications, and even most DOS programs.

(Via News.com Extra.)

Updating the IE update

After "a crazy 24 hours," Microsoft's Security Response Center blog reports today that the company has fixed the glitch that caused yesterday's Internet Explorer patch to be pulled from the Microsoft Download Center. (It remained available and glitch free on the Windows Update and Microsoft Update services.) Separately, the IE team blog talks about the patch and the glitch in this post.

See this page for a summary of the Windows and Internet Explorer security patches released yesterday, including three ranked as critical. This story by the Associated Press, published in today's paper, explains how one of the Windows flaws is similar to the vulnerabilities exploited by the Blaster and Sasser worms.

Dethroning spam kings

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith says yesterday's settlement with Scott Richter shows that companies "can now succeed in separating spammers from their money, and the profits they've been making."

Turns out companies can also separate spammers from their gold bars and Hummer H2s.

AOL this morning announced it has recovered "nearly $100,000 worth of gold bars and cash, as well as a fully-loaded 2003 Hummer H2," seized from another spammer that the company says it caught with the help of its members. The company says it will give away the loot to its members through what it's calling the "AOL Spammer's Gold Sweepstakes," a contest that starts today. USA Today notes that it's the second time the company has held such a sweepstakes. Last year, AOL gave away a Porsche Boxster. AOL is also donating computer equipment seized from the spammer to schools in Northern Virginia.

But do big settlements and contests actually discourage other spammers? Brian McWilliams, author of the book "Spam Kings," doesn't think so. On his blog today, McWilliams writes that spammers "are not especially deterred by news of multi-million dollar settlements or spammer booty giveaways. If anything, these developments simply confirm to them that spam is a potentially rewarding, if dangerous, profession." (Link via WebProNews.) He concludes his post:

"Anecdotal proof of how seriously AOL's sweepstakes is being taken by spammers: I talked to a couple spammers about it, and they didn't act worried that the same thing could happen to them. They just wanted to know how to enter the contest."

Microsoft plans to put $5 million of the Richter settlement into further Internet safety enforcement efforts, including anti-spam activities. It's giving $1 million for computer access in community centers in New York state. (New York AG Eliot Spitzer had joined Microsoft in suing Richter, settling last year for $50,000.)

As this morning's story explains, neither Scott Richter nor his company, OptInRealBig.com, admits any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. His lawyer and father, Steven Richter, said yesterday that the company made several key changes last year "that would remove any doubt from anyone’s mind about whether or not it's in compliance with both federal and state statutes."

He blamed the past problems, in part, on the company's previous use of e-mail lists from third-party vendors, a practice it has since stopped. In the news release announcing the settlement, Scott Richter said he is "committed to sending e-mail only to those who have requested it." That goes beyond the requirements of anti-spam laws, which ban deceptive practices and require opt-out mechanisms but don't prohibit unsolicited e-mail outright.

As a special bonus, here's a transcript of last year's "Daily Show" segment in which Richter famously declared himself a "high volume email deployer." This site has the video.

$7m spam settlement

Microsoft this morning announced a $7 million settlement with alleged spammer Scott Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.com. Neither Richter nor the company acknowledged any wrongdoing, but they agreed to comply with anti-spam laws. The deal is Microsoft's largest settlement to date in a spam-related lawsuit. The text of the settlement agreement hasn't yet been made public. Here's Microsoft's original complaint: PDF. Also see this earlier post, about OptInRealBig's bankruptcy, for a series of related links.

Related coverage: Reuters, Associated Press.

Tracking Microsoft stock

A small sign of life in an area where Microsoft has struggled: The company's share price fell 63 cents in trading yesterday but still retained most of the increase it had achieved late last week. See the chart at right for the trend over the past several weeks, through the close of trading Monday afternoon, along with some of the key events during that time.

As this story explained, the increase has been driven in part by speculation that Microsoft may raise its dividend. The share price has rebounded again in trading today. But to put things in perspective, the share price is still relatively flat, even with the recent increase, not yet rising back above the $28 mark.

Latest on Windows Vista

		Guillermo Munro / P-I

This story today by the P-I's Dan Richman examines the possibility of heightened competition between Microsoft and Adobe Systems, as the Redmond company incorporates features into Windows Vista that could rival widely used Adobe software. (The illustration at right accompanied the story in the newspaper.) In the story, a consultant explains the connection to Microsoft's broader business goals.

"For Microsoft to continue to grow at the rate it wants, it needs to be conquering new markets, and Adobe's is the biggest, juiciest prize right now," said Jesse James Garrett, a director at consultancy Adaptive Path.

Meanwhile, Ina Fried of CNet News.com reports today on some underlying Windows Vista features meant to optimize PC performance over time: "Vista will automatically de-fragment hard disks, make better use of memory to more quickly load programs, and include a new performance control panel that will identify performance bottlenecks, according to the company."

Catching up from last week, here are two Vista-related stories that ran in the newspaper: Microsoft's choice of 'Vista' draws more fire; and an AP review, Beta version of Microsoft's Vista shows a lot of potential.

And finally, on Microsoft's Security Response Center, security program manager Stephen Toulouse had this response to recent articles on what was reported to be the first Windows Vista virus:

First of all, in examining the details of the reports, there is no Windows Vista virus described in them. Instead, the reports are regarding potential proof of concept viruses in the form of malicious scripts that are developed to affect a new interactive shell codenamed "Monad", which is currently in early phase of beta testing.

Now to be clear, these reports pose no risk for Microsoft customers. The viruses do not attempt to exploit a software vulnerability and do not encompass a new method of attack. Furthermore, “Monad” is not widely available for general use. It’s a beta, and we do not recommend or support the use of beta software in a production environment. Microsoft continues to analyze the feedback from testers as Monad continues to be developed.

But most important, “Monad” is not included in the beta release of Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2003 R2.

Toulouse's explanation prompted this initial Slashdot post: "According to Stephen Toulouse at Microsoft, because of the possible virus threat that targets Monad the shell will not be included in Windows Vista."

That also was incorrect, Toulouse wrote in this follow-up post, saying the potential viruses and the decision not to include Monad "had nothing to do with the other." He added: "Monad is probably going to be a longer term project than Windows Vista, and we didn't just decide to remove it today or yesterday."

Slashdot corrected its post, with a mea culpa.

Ah, the joys of the information age.