I was shocked to learn that Microsoft has
torn
the IE rendering engine out of the Outlook 2007 e-mail client
. Going forward,
HTML e-mails will be rendered using the rendering engine in Microsoft Word.
The move could have security implications, since it takes the well-targeted
IE browser out of the loop. But Microsoft says the move is really an effort
to unify the display and creation of rich e-mail content. Until now, Outlook
has displayed HTML e-mail using the IE renderer, but rich format e-mails were
created using the Word rendering engine.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/17/20070 comments
In the drowsy space between the Christmas and New Year's holiday, a little presentation
by Italian security researchers nearly went unnoticed, despite the fact that
it unearthed a
show-stopping
security hole in a nearly ubiquitous application
.
That application is the Adobe Acrobat browser plug-in, which does its thing
whenever you click on a link to a PDF file on a Web site. The plug-in accepts
JavaScript to do things like open a linked PDF and jump down in the document
to a bookmark described in the JavaScript code, or to open the Print dialog
box once the file has loaded. The JavaScript that gets executed is contained
directly in the URL.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/17/20070 comments
I was fresh out of graduate school when I first met Rex Farrance at
PC World
magazine in 1992. A trim man with an easy smile and measured speech, Rex and
I shared a cubicle wall for a couple of years in the magazine's sixth-floor
offices in San Francisco.
I'll never forget how Rex would calmly set aside everything to greet me as
I approached. As a young editor struggling to understand the technical workings
of PC technology at the time, I benefited greatly from Rex's patient and gracious
explanations. Despite all the stress and deadlines, it seemed that Rex was always
willing -- always -- to make time for people in his life.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/12/20070 comments
Contrary to popular reports,
some
fueled by our own Stuart Johnston
, Microsoft's once-loudly touted Live effort
hasn't hit the skids. As reported in her blog by regular Redmond Developer News
contributor Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has once again begun talking about the
Live platform, specifically during briefings at the CES show in Las Vegas.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/10/200710 comments
Some time in the next couple of months, Microsoft is likely to release an updated
CTP of its forthcoming
PerformancePoint
Server 2007
product. A business performance monitoring, analysis and planning
application destined to hook deeply into SharePoint, Office and Windows Server,
PerformancePoint Server could really shake up a business intelligence marketplace
currently served by heavyweights like Cognos and Business Objects.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/10/20071 comments
In our January issue, we cover the latest beta of an intriguing, human-centric
BPM tool that integrates with core Microsoft technologies like BizTalk Server.
Called K2.net, the first beta of this next-generation platform from SourceCode
Technology Holdings Inc. out of Redmond, Wash., reached select customers and
partners in late December. The beta (codenamed "BlackPearl," and I'll
keep the Jack Sparrow jokes to myself, thank you very much) is built on the
.NET 3.0 Framework and integrates with SQL Server 2005 and the 2007 Office System.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/10/20070 comments
Last time we counted, Microsoft has been in the development space for 31 years.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Todd Bishop has managed to sum up Microsoft’s
history from Altair Basic to .NET and Vista in a short, easily navigable presentation.
Bishop injected some real methodology into the process, as he wrote: "We
collected dozens of key Microsoft-related speeches, interviews, internal e-mails
and other documents from the past three decades, and put them through a program
that generated a timeline of tag clouds showing the 64 most commonly used words
in each."
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/03/20070 comments
The battle for the embedded OS market between Windows and Linux is moving into
high gear with reports that Ford is putting its full corporate weight behind
Microsoft. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal
reported recently that Ford Motor Co. will unveil Sync, an in-car operating
system developed by Microsoft.
Sync will allow in-vehicle, hands-free phone communication and other types
of information transfers, such as e-mail or music downloads, according to the
report.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/03/20070 comments
When .NET Framework 3.0 arrived in November, a lot of readers expressed concern
about the rapid-fire pace of updates. The jump from .NET 1.1 to 2.0 was tough,
requiring IT and development shops to take careful measure before making a shift.
While the move to .NET 3.0 has been far less dramatic, dev shops face a lot
of questions as they move to support Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows
Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 12/20/20060 comments
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft took a moment to help support computer science
studies and achievement. On Dec. 4, Microsoft Research Cambridge and the University
of Cambridge Computer Laboratory hosted the Think Computer Science! event, which
featured talks, demos and interactive sessions for 250 grade-school students from
19 schools. The goal: to help motivate students to pursue studies and careers
in computer science.
A day later, Microsoft hosted scholars, researchers and programmers from Europe,
as part of a program that awards scholarships to European students entering
Ph.D. studies. Currently, Microsoft Research sponsors 56 students, with as many
as 25 scholarships to be awarded in 2007.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 12/20/20060 comments
From the infamous virus upload scene in
Independence Day
, to the cringe-worthy
Jurassic Park
line -- "This is a Unix system. I know this."
-- filmmakers just can't seem to get coding and computing right.
What silver screen moments left you shocked and dismayed? And which films managed
to impress you with their realistic depictions of programming and hacking? Let
me know and we may publish your insights in the next issue of Redmond Developer
News. E-mail me at
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 12/20/20060 comments
When it comes to rich Web media development, it seems like Microsoft has been
fighting with two hands tied behind its back. Like the ill-fated Black Knight
from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Redmond has been forced to fend of competition
with little more than its legs and teeth, facing mature Flash-based development
tools from Adobe to the white-hot popularity of AJAX development. Six months ago,
the folks at Adobe were probably asking: "What are you going to do? Bleed
on me?"
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 12/06/20060 comments