Microsoft Accedes to EU Demands, Setting Bad Precedent By Paul Thurrott

Late last week, Microsoft announced something that virtually no one--myself included--saw coming. Rather than continue with its previous approach to dealing with antitrust regulators from the European Union (EU)--an approach that, frankly, was the technical equivalent of a middle finger lofted in the direction of Brussels--Microsoft said that it would simply accede to the EU's demands. It will allow Windows 7 customers in the EU to choose between competing web browsers via a so-called ballot screen. The company’s previous approach, the Windows 7 E Editions, which simply removed Internet Explorer from Windows 7, was apparently not radical enough.


Check out this article... (the evil empire may be crumbling)
http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-70133-793-207-162433-3639221-0-0-0-1-2-207

Kon-Boot Lets You Bypass Logon for Windows and Linux

Kon-Boot looks like a very interesting tool since it can get you into a system without having to logon first.

According to the description at the tool's site, Kon-Boot alters a Linux or Windows kernel on the fly during boot up. The result is that you can login to a system as 'root' or 'administrator' without having to know the associated account password.

The tool reportedly works with Windows Vista, XP, Server 2008, Server 2003, Windows 7, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora.

All of you admins out there might want to give this tool a whirl to see how it works against your systems - before one of your users does!

Microsoft, What's Going On? IT Pros and Partners Want to Know By Paul Thurrott

Next week, Microsoft hosts its annual Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, the first time the software giant has returned to that city in a major way since the Katrina debacle (at least to my knowledge). On the face of things, the WPC doesn't sound like it would be a thrilling event per se--images of CEO Steve Ballmer bounding across the stage caterwauling "partners, partners, partners!" notwithstanding--but this show has always offered up some compelling info about Microsoft's upcoming products. This year, on the eve of WPC, however, I have some questions.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft previously announced that it would complete development of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in July 2009, so it's likely that the company will reveal that milestone at the show. But numerous questions surround these products, even in the wake of last week's Windows 7 retail pricing announcement.

For example, will businesses be able to get access to these products electronically before the October 22, 2009 launch date? And if not, why? And what about MSDN and TechNet customers?

Indeed, the sheer number of questions swirling around Windows 7 pricing, availability, and various upgrade issues is astonishing, especially when you consider that Microsoft had months to prepare for this event. The company could really clarify things a lot better than it has.

Office 2010/Office Web Applications
Last year at the Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft announced that it would deliver a beta version of its upcoming Office Web Applications (using the now-overloaded OWA acronym, with due respect to Outlook Web Access) by the end of 2008. Now 2009 is nearly half over, and it still hasn't happened.

We can expect a lot of Office 2010 pomp and circumstance at WPC next week, including the release of the previously announced Office 2010 Tech Preview (which leaked to the web over a month ago, by the way). But what about OWA?

GMail Security

Gmail users interested in enabling HTTPS before Google can do so by logging into their Gmail account, then click on the “Settings” tab, scroll to “Browser connection,” and then click on “Always use HTTPS” so the security feature will be enabled.

Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace also use HTTPS when logging a user into the service, but don’t have the security feature available once a user is logged in, according to security experts. Normally only sites such as banks and credit card web sites have permanent HTTPS connections, but there is growing pressure for e-mail services and other sites to support HTTPS at other times besides log in.