The SANS Internet Storm Center presents an overview of the September 2007 Microsoft patches and their status: several “remote code exploit” issues with Office, Messenger, the Crystal Reports bundled in Visual Studio and the Microsoft Services for UNIX. Exploits are in the wild for some of these, so plan on patching soon!
I’ve been disappointed for years that “PC” Magazine didn’t recognize that Windows was just one option of what to run on a “PC.” In his farewell column as Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine, Jim Louderback give Microsoft a kick in the, uh, pants:
“I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won’t bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain’t cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can’t get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.”
ZDNet Asia does a nice job of summarizing August’s MS patches: Microsoft fixes 14 flaws in 9 patches; 6 are critical. Lots of critical software to patch: XML processing, Office, OLE Automation, GDI and Internet Explorer means that every Windows installation is threatened by “Remote Code Execution” — someone else owning your machine. Get Patching!
Over at Ed Fosters Gripelog, No Shame Over Bogus Eli/New Hill Subscriptions takes on one of the worst operations I’ve ever had the misfortune to get tangled up with:
I’m occasionally accused of focusing too much on the minor sins of the technology giants instead of exposing more of the outright scams perpetrated by lesser-known companies. And there might be something to that criticism. But one reason I lean that way is that at least the Microsofts and HPs have enough of a sense of shame that they will try to fix some of the problems we air. That doesn’t tend to be true of the shadier outfits, such as the Eli Journals/New Hill Services publishing operation.
The FoxTalk journal was one of the best. I published my first FoxPro article with them, back in 1992, and subscribed for over a decade. It’s sad to see them go out in such an ugly manner.