Dino Dai Zovi, the New York-based security researcher who took home $10,000 in a highly-publicized MacBook Pro hijack on April 20, has stated in an interview that he thinks Vista is more secure than OSX.

From your research on both platforms, is there a winner between Mac OS X 10.4 and Vista on security?

I have found the code quality, at least in terms of security, to be much better overall in Vista than Mac OS X 10.4. It is obvious from observing affected components in security patches that Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) has resulted in fewer vulnerabilities in newly-written code. I hope that more software vendors follow their lead in developing proactive software security development methodologies.

Contest winner: Vista more secure than Mac OS [MacWorld]

Respected security researcher Joanna Rutkowska promises to reveal new rootkit techniques for Vista, and ways to defeat it’s BitLocker drive encryption. On her blog she notes there will be a training session for “legitimate companies” during the Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas, in late July.

As the training will be focused on Windows platform and Vista x64 specifically, we will also present some new kernel attacks against latest Vista x64 builds. These attacks, of course, work on the fly and do not require system reboot and are not afraid of the TPM/Bitlocker protection. (Although they could also be used to bypass Vista DRM protection, this subject will not be discussed during the training)

Understanding Stealth Malware [invisiblethings]

Back in January, I posted a preview of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, a product that should send shivers of delight down the spine of any home computing enthusiast. Windows Home Server, or WHS, is the product we’ve been waiting for quite a long time, and then some: In addition to the expected digital media sharing features, WHS also offers a pervasive platform for full-home PC backups, hot-add expandable storage, and remote access. And best of all, it will be made available both as a standalone software package (which you can install on any PC or server) and as a bundle with specially-made home server hardware.

WHS is expected in late 2006, but since my initial preview, Microsoft has made a number of improvements to this product. First, the company released Beta 2 (see my screenshot galleries), the first beta version of WHS to ship to users outside of Microsoft. WHS Beta 2 offered a decent look at the features I’d described back in my preview, so I didn’t provide an overview of that version. But since then, most recently, Microsoft has shipped another beta release. Dubbed the April 2007 CTP (Community Technology Preview), this WHS release offers dramatic improvements and a near-feature-complete look at this evolving product. The April CTP also comes on the heels of news that Microsoft has shipped a software development kit (SDK) that will allow enterprising third party developers to ship WHS software add-ons that will extend this product in exciting ways. Taken together, we now have a much better idea of how WHS is shaping up.

View: Full Story @ winsupersite.com

Windows XP will stop being available on new PCs from the end of January 2008.

Microsoft is keeping to a plan to stop selling the operating system even though surveys show a lukewarm response to Windows Vista among consumers.

A poll by US market research firm Harris Interactive found that only 10% of those questioned were planning to upgrade to Vista in the near future.

All versions of XP, including those made for media centre or tablet PCs, are affected by the decision.

View: Full Story @ BBCNews

Ultimate Windows Vista Celebration Sweepstakes winners from 25 states each receive 20 new computers equipped with educational software.

Thousands of students in 34 schools across the nation will have the opportunity to explore the new Windows Vista™ operating system for the very first time as new computers and software come rolling into their schools. Microsoft Corp. today announced the winners of its Ultimate Windows Vista Celebration Sweepstakes; each will receive $25,000 toward a computer lab “makeover” that includes a choice of 20 laptops or desktops equipped with Windows Vista Ultimate.

View: Full Story @ Microsoft Presspass

Microsoft on Tuesday launches a fierce attack on Google over its “cavalier” approach to copyright, accusing the internet company of exploiting books, music, films and television programmes without permission.

Tom Rubin, associate general counsel for Microsoft, will say in a speech in New York that while authors and publishers find it hard to cover costs, “companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the back of other people’s content, are raking in billions through advertising and initial public offerings”.

View: Full Story @ ft.com

NEW ORLEANS — Feb. 26, 2007 — The Gulf Coast region’s economic revitalization after Hurricane Katrina was boosted by an announcement today by Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer of $1.7 million in donations of cash, software and specialized curriculum to several nonprofit partners in Louisiana and Texas. Microsoft is supporting existing local government, academic and nonprofit organizations as they rebuild and establish community infrastructure, technology and work-force training centers. These centers support displaced residents in accessing the technology skills training they need to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy.

The grants Microsoft awarded to nonprofit partners in Louisiana and Texas today are part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential 2007 program investments of $55 million worldwide. Unlimited Potential was started in 2003 to broaden digital inclusion and meet the need for computer literacy in society and the workplace. Microsoft’s goal is to provide, by the year 2010, a quarter-billion underserved people around the world with access to the technology and technology skills training they need to improve social and economic opportunities for themselves and their communities.

By working with local business and government representatives, who are the experts in their respective communities, Unlimited Potential provides the necessary training to help foster local economic growth. Toward this end, Microsoft has now invested $255 million in more than 800 projects around the world.

View: Full Story @ Microsoft Presspass

Think of how you treat a brand-new car: You cherish and pamper it at first. You even give up your Sunday afternoons to wash and wax it by hand. Your heart skips a beat whenever you see that gleaming steel beast waiting for you in the parking lot. A newly installed version of Windows XP can inspire similar devotion. Not only do you thrill at its pristine condition but you patiently, and even eagerly downloaded all the latest patches from Windows Update so as to keep your OS shipshape.

But over time, most of us begin to take that new car—and that clean WinXP installation—for granted. As it accumulates miles and wear and tear, your erstwhile pride and joy becomes just another drain on your wallet—and your time. Hand-washing, you discover, just isn’t worth the effort anymore. In its place: a quickie car wash at the local gas station. If only there were a simple wash-and-rinse equivalent for WinXP.

Guess what? Such a thing does exist. It’s called slipstreaming—the mystical art of creating an up-to-the-minute Windows XP setup CD with all the latest patches preinstalled, so you won’t have to spend half your life on Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how to do it. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows. (Note: Service Pack 2 wasn’t available when we went to press, but it should be by the time you read this. If SP2 isn’t available, the instructions in this story will still work with SP1.)

View: Full Story @ MaximumPC

News that iTunes for Windows isn’t yet ready for Microsoft’s new operating system emerged earlier this week, with Apple warning PC folk to hold off on a Vista upgrade pending the release of updates.

Today’s tech support document names a range of additional Windows applications from Apple that don’t support that new operating system.

These include: QuickTime, the iPod shuffle reset utility, Bonjour for Windows, AirPort for Windows, the iDisk utility, AppleWorks for Windows, and Apple Software Update for Windows. The stand-alone iPod updater for iTunes 6 for Windows also isn’t ready for Vista.

View: Full Story @ ITWorld.com

If you choose to purchase an upgrade version of Windows Vista to upgrade XP, you will no longer be able to use that version of XP. Either on another system, or as a dual-boot option. The key will be invalidated, preventing activation.

View: Full Story @ TomCoyote.org