New outlook on Office
Microsoft hopes the integration between Office 2003 and the other Microsoft systems will win upgraders' hearts. Mary Branscombe looks at what you get in the Office suite.
Microsoft’s might makes us insecure
John Naughton: Everyone in the industry knows the world's chronic dependence on Microsoft products is one day going to cause catastrophe.
Hearts and minds
At Microsoft's first government leaders conference in Europe, Michael Cross sees the giant battling to protect its interests
Chatroom closures ‘not altruistic’
4pm: Microsoft's move to shut down its UK chatrooms in an effort to protect children from paedophiles has today been criticised by rivals as 'reckless' and 'irresponsible'. By Owen Gibson.
Windows Server 2003 continues to grow on the Web
"Windows 2003 continues to increase in total hostname and active sites, with the number of active sites growing 109% to 185K since July 2003," reports Netcraft. "Notably, the number of sites switching from Linux [to Windows] has proportionately kept pace since July when many commentators thought the 5% of sites switched to Windows 2003 from Linux was an aberration."
One way to cure Windows
Rob Pegoraro argues today in the Washington Post that Windows is insecure by design, ports open to all and nary a firewall to be seen. All of which, I think, we knew (he rather also glosses over the fact that it only takes a tiny percentage of naive Windows users to create a huge problem, through sheer force of their numbers).
Windows world due for devastating attack
"A hacker group released code designed to exploit a widespread Windows flaw, paving the way for a major worm attack as soon as this weekend," reports CNet. "While many security researchers believe the publication of such information can encourage security personnel in businesses to patch holes faster, the release of exploit code has typically preceded the largest worm attacks of the past few years. Maiffret and other security researchers worried that next week's Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas will act as a catalyst and spur a malicious hacker to create and release such a worm."
Playtime’s over
Microsoft is phasing out old software, with huge consequences for both adult users and three-year-olds, says Dave Moss
Efficient delivery
How well do competing development platforms from Sun and Microsoft work together? Simon Bisson finds out
News: Jack Schofield
Windows users can now look forward to a period of stability, if only because of Microsoft's late deliveries.
Games giants go head-to-head online
June 7: Sony launches its online gaming service next week in the UK, renewing its battle with Microsoft's Xbox Live, reports Rhianna Pratchett.
We are here to serve you
Microsoft Exchange Server has got it in the bag, says an impressed David Moss
Evolution of the console
Rhianna Pratchett reports back from the E3 gaming show on Xbox entertainment and Sony's sophisticated Eye Toy.
Windows XP now has more than a third of the online market
"As of May 7, 2003, Windows XP had a global Web usage share of nearly 35 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than the next most popular version, Windows® 98, according to WebSideStory's HitBox StatMarket (www.StatMarket.com), a leading source of data on global Internet user trends. Global usage share is the percentage of Internet visitors who are using a particular operating system." (Stat of the week) XP was launched in October 2001. StatMarket says Windows 98 got to a third of the market in a third of the time, and still has about 25% of the Web-user base.
Where Microsoft is the underdog
Jack Schofield: People whose view of the industry doesn't stretch much further than the ends of their noses - just as far as their PC screens - naturally see Microsoft as the dominant software supplier.