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Fri, 18 Oct 2002
Apple Special Report at InfoWorld
InfoWorld, which usually ignores Apple, has published a special report: Apple Unpeeled.
The report seems very positive towards Apple, leading with the quote "Beneath Apple's soft consumer exterior lie the seeds for distributed enterprise computing."
It looks like the rest of the industry is finally starting to take Apple seriously, with Mac OS X and the XServe.
Spam via Windows Messenger
Spammers have started using a Windows administrative tool to put ads on your screen. Thankfully, Mac users aren't affected by it.
The feature, known as the messenger service, typically lets a network administrator send warnings to users when, for example, a server is scheduled to go down for maintenance. Now some advertisers are using it to send bulk messages to anyone connected to the Internet with an accessible address.
"Spammers are blindly sending their advertisements by randomly picking a series of Internet addresses," said Charmaine Gravning, product manager for Windows at Microsoft. "On computers without a firewall, a little messenger window pops up."
The messenger feature, not to be confused with Microsoft's instant messaging applications, can use many different protocols to send a single message, according to Microsoft. The intrusive messages only appear on computers running Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and XP and that are directly connected to the Internet via a valid address; Windows systems behind a firewall or attached to a router that links multiple computers to a single Internet address will be unaffected.
Free utilities that enable people to exchange messages with each other using the messenger service have been available on the Internet for a while, but one enterprising company has recently started selling such software.
DirectAdvertiser, a U.S.-based firm registered in Romania, has created an application that lets users send advertisements via the messenger channel to anyone whose computer is set up to receive messenger-service notes. The program costs US$700 and has, in two months, already sold more than 200 copies, company founder Zoltan Kovacs said in an interview.
"You always get some people who don't like the product," Kovacs said, referring to the moderate amount of critical mail he has received. "But many more are interested in the product."
What he has produced is essentially a NetBIOS attack tool. It's capable of attacking entire IP ranges, but will not (the company says) get past a firewall or provide a hyperlink in the alert to the attacker's commercial Web site. The latter shortcoming is currently being addressed, the company says.
If you happen to be running Windows, the quickest way to defeat it is simply to shut off Windows Messenger service (not the MSN Messenger IM client), so long as it's not needed by other applications. If you're using a hardware or software firewall, you should block incoming UDP and TCP connections on port 135.
For more information, visit securityfocus.com.
Microsoft taking action against fake switch ad
Microsoft may consider sanctions against a public relations consultant who tried to pass herself off as someone who had switched from the Apple Mac to Windows XP in a high-profile US advertising campaign, chief executive Steve Ballmer said yesterday.
The software company was forced to pull the advertising, which mimics rival Apple's Switch campaign from Windows XP to the Mac, after keen-eyed regulars to the Slashdot tech news and discussion Web site noticed irregularities in the case study of an anonymous woman that was presented on the Microsoft Web site.
Microsoft pulled the case study from its Web site after Valerie G. Mallinson, a public relations consultant for US firm Wes Rataushk and Assoc Inc, was forced to admit she was the person depicted.
The indiscretion strikes to the heart of Microsoft's attempts to turn around its unscrupulous image, while it tries to build support for its technical initiative chief software architect and founder Bill Gates dubbed last year, "Trustworthy Computing".
"I got a piece of mail that was vague that the assertion is some marketing person did something that was not entirely straightforward," Ballmer said.
"If that's right, I will certainly castigate the offender."
Although not referring specifically to the Mallinson case, he added it may be necessary to "weed out" employees who did not live up to Microsoft's code of behaviour.
Trustworthy Computing was something Microsoft had to live up to every day to convince customers it had improved, he said.
"On the technical front we acknowledged that nine months ago, and I wouldn't say we've done a bad job, but customer expectations for what they expect for reliability, for security, customer expectations were beyond our performance.
"I think we are progressing well in terms of executing on the principle but the proof will be in the pudding - I don't anybody to expect it until they see it.
"We will never get rid of security patches; it's not something that gets to be 100 per cent. I realise this is a multi-year endeavour."
Predictability was another aspect of being trustworthy, he said, an area where Microsoft has fallen down over licensing but which it hopes to address by recent changes to support policies that spell out when products will expire.
Changes aimed to simplify licensing - which left many customers paying considerably more - left Microsoft looking unpredictable and didn't give customers enough implementation time, he said.
"If you are going to change direction on something you give them a lot of lead time.
"In a perception sense this hasn't been a very good four to five months, I'll be blunt. On the other hand we now understand another important lesson in terms of what it means to be a trustworthy partner."
Read more at The Age.
Griffin releases PowerMate 1.5.1 software
Griffin Technology, Inc. today announced
the release of PowerMate Software Version 1.5.1 for Mac OS X for their
PowerMate USB Multimedia Controller. Version 1.5.1 includes minor bug fixes
and improves upon several features including a new Special Key command and
other usability enhancements.
PowerMate Software Version 1.5.1 further refines the newest PowerMate
Software release of 1.5 that included several major enhancements such as
Long-Click, Global Mode and Eject Key functionality. Version 1.5.1 builds
upon another new feature called 'Special Keys', allowing PowerMate to
produce the visual onscreen feedback associated with such commands as Volume
Up, Volume Down and Eject commands. Now you can also assign the "Mute"
Special Key and receive the same helpful visual feedback commonly associated
with activating the keyboard command.
This new Special Key 'Mute' capability works around an existing bug in the
Mac OS that caused the iSub subwoofer to act erratically when the system
volume is changed or muted. Other bug fixes include the Pulse Rate staying
stable when the Long Click Length is adjusted, Apply Button improvements and
enhanced user interface.
owerMate Software version 1.5.1 for OS X is
available now for free download at www.griffintechnology.com.
QuickTime 6.0.2 Released
Apple has released a minor upgrade to QuickTime, bringing it to version 6.0.2.
A true all-in-one, standards-based, cross-platform media tool, QuickTime 6 delivers a host of new features that include:
- MPEG-4 ISO compliant file creation
- MPEG-4 video codec
- AAC audio codec
- Instant-On streaming
- Macromedia Flash 5
- An enhanced QuickTime Player interface
- QuickTime Picks, bringing you the best, up-to-date QuickTime content
- JPEG 2000 (Mac OS X Only)
- Enhanced AppleScript support (Macintosh Only)
Apple hasn't provided details of the changes in 6.0.2. The upgrade is available from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/.
Scrollbar Tip
In Mac OS X's general system preference, you can select whether clicking in the scroll bar will jump to the next page or scroll to that point. You can temporarily select the opposite behavior by holding down the Option key while clicking the scrollbar.