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Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage becomes mandatory

By on July 26, 2005 in Microsoft

OSNews points to an eWeek article, Microsoft Lowers the Boom on Illegal Windows Copies. “Microsoft is tightening the noose for those people running illegal or pirated copies of its Windows XP/2000 software on their systems. Starting Tuesday, it will be mandatory for users of this Windows software to certify that their software is a genuine and legal copy before they will be able to receive any updates except security patches.”

This just has Bad Idea written all over it. Copy Protection (and this is just a delayed form of Copy Protection) inevitably takes out some innocent bystanders while the really serious pirates work around it. (The first PC software I bought was CopyIIPC so that I could make backup copies of the company’s Lotus 1-2-3 key disks, since the employees were always destroying disks.) Some of Microsoft’s customers will end up in a situation where the “Windows Genuine Advantage” package, in an effort to enhance their experience, stops them from doing what they legitimately need to get done. More collateral damage. We’ve all ended up in a situation where Windows demands “Office CD 2” or that you type in some product key thats back in the office a thousand miles away. From the article:

Microsoft has also made changes to streamline the process, including no longer requiring customers to enter their product key since the ActiveX control used to validate their software can now automatically determine whether they have a genuine Windows product.

Oh, that should work fine.

The Vista’s a little cloudy…

By on July 26, 2005 in Microsoft

Computerworld News notes Microsoft could face trademark fight over Vista OS name. “John Wall, CEO of Vista Inc., said his company is “considering all of its options” for a potential lawsuit against Microsoft, which last week announced that the next version of its operating system would be called Windows Vista.”

Not surprising that the name was already taken. We’ll have to see if Microsoft can argue their trademark is sufficiently different.

Hasta La Vista, Windows Longhorn

By on July 22, 2005 in Microsoft

http://www.betanews.com/article/Longhorn_Gets_a_Name_Windows_Vista/1122002477

Imagine, a Windows product that has been in beta so long that they throw out its codename 17 months before it is even due to ship! Anyone taking bets that this test balloon falls over from high lead content and Microsoft Windows 2006+ (TPFKAL – The Product Formerly Known As Longhorn) gets yet another name? Besides “#$%&@!? Windows,” which is pretty much what every copy gets called, of course.

Roadmap comparison

By on July 21, 2005 in Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Interesting juxtaposition here. The Open Source Development Lab, a small group located in the Northwest US, posted a roadmap titled “OSDL’s Linux Initiatives.”

Nearly simultaneously, Information Week carries a 9 page story “Microsoft Lays Out Enterprise Roadmap,” where the lead paragraph reads:

Microsoft is making big promises about Longhorn and other product development, but will it deliver? We spoke with company execs about initiatives in security, server operating systems, storage, convergence and more.

OSDL is just one small group, advancing their own agenda of tools and utilities, with an obvious focus on making the platform more reliable, appealing and robust for a variety of vendors to deploy upon. Microsoft, in contrast, strikes me as withdrawing within a fortress of their own making tying together their tools ever more tightly. The Information Week interviews a number of high-placed Microsofties and each seems to have their own agenda, plans and acronyms (and titles, too!). Don’t miss the last two pages of the Information Week piece with some surprising survey results sure to delight partisans on both sides of the debate.

Bill Gates baffled; Rick Schummer explains

By on July 20, 2005 in Microsoft

Rick Schummer notes Bill Gates is puzzled by computer science apathy: “This is a headline in this morning’s Great Lakes IT Report: “Bill Gates is puzzled by computer science apathy.” I also read a couple of news items with the same story yesterday. If he wants to understand it, all he has to do is sit down with some high school students and he will get his answer. I have and can tell you there are several reasons.”

More on the RDP Exploit

By on July 19, 2005 in Microsoft

Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft Suggests Workarounds to Block SP2 Flaw. “Microsoft released a security advisory and some suggested workarounds for a new potential denial-of-service flaw in Windows XP SP2.”

It’s a good idea to double-check systems that ought to have RDP disabled. As part of chasing down a different problem, I was reviewing the Services tab of a WinXP workstations’s Adminstration interface, and noted all the Terminal Services items running. Disable Remote access on an individual box by right-clicking “My Computer” and selecting “Properties.” On the “Remote” tab, ensure the “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” is off.

Remote Desktop Protocol flaw can lead to DOS and crashed servers

By on July 18, 2005 in Microsoft

Computerworld News notes Microsoft warns of remote access protocol flaw. “Microsoft is warning users that a flaw in the software used to remotely access computers running the Windows OS could leave them vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack.”

This is the RDP flaw I blogged last week. Affected machine include Win2K as well. It appears that scanning for the affected port is on the increase, too, according to the Internet Storm Center. I’m advising clients to turn off port 3389 at the firewall, and only enable it (via ssh, for example) when needed.

Whither .NET – additional ramblings

By on July 18, 2005 in FoxPro, Microsoft

Andy Kramek posts a follow-up to his well-received essay: “Well, my little article on “Whither .NET” certainly prompted a variety of responses! I suppose it was to be expected that most of my regular readers are fellow FoxPro travelers and are probably pre-disposed to agree with my point of view. However what I found revealing was the comments from some people who obviously read something into my article that simply was not there.”

Windows RDP Exploit Discovered

By on July 17, 2005 in Microsoft, Technology

OSNews notes Windows RDP Exploit Discovered. “A denial of service vulnerability reportedly affects the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol.” OS News goes on to advise, “Either disable RDP or make sure you have a firewall enabled for port 3389 until a fix is available.” This is nonsensical advice. First, if you have “a firewall enabled for port 3389,” does that mean the process can’t go through the port. If so, what’s the point of running Remote Access?

The report does not identify the problem as something that could allow a malicious attacker to take over your machine, only inconvenience you with a denial of service issue, or possibly shutting down your machine. Obviously, you should turn off Remote Desktop access if you don’t need it.

There’s a stunning note on the Microsoft Security Advisory linked from the OSNews article: “Remote Desktop is enabled by default on Windows XP Media Center Edition.” What on earth were they thinking, by enabling a remote access interface on a OS designed to be used as standalone home media appliances? Is this Trustworthy Computing? Not even close.

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