Global News

Microsoft to make software open Microsoft has announced that it will open up the technology of some of its leading software applications so as to make them easier to operate with rival products. The company is expected to publish key software blueprints on its Web site, and has also said that it would not sue the open source software developers for making that software available for non-commercial purposes. Microsoft has also expressed that it is keen on promoting interoperability by making its products more open and by sharing information about its technologies. The company though is being investigated by the European Commission on the grounds that it could be stopping competition by limiting access to its technology. The Commission had in January launched two formal probes against Microsoft for suspected abuse of its dominant market position, including one on the interoperability of its software. In 2004, it had fined Microsoft 497m Euros and forced it to offer a version of its Windows operating system without Microsoft’s own media player. It was also told to give competitors more information about how Windows operates, so their own software could work better with the operating system, which runs on some 90% of the world’s computers.

Now use Google to hunt passwords The hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow is believed to have released a tool that helps users find sensitive information on Web sites on the Internet. This particular tool turns Google into an automated vulnerability scanner, scouring Web sites for sensitive information such as passwords or server vulnerabilities. This new tool called ‘Goolag Scan’ makes it possible for Web users to find sensitive information online. It has been designed to use Google to find sensitive information such as passwords or server vulnerabilities on Web site on the Internet. It makes it easy for unskilled users to track down vulnerabilities on specific Web sites or broad Web domains. The tool is a stand-alone Windows .Net application, licensed under the open source GNU General Public License, that provides about 1,500 customized searches under categories such as ‘vulnerable servers,’ ‘sensitive online shopping information’ and ‘files containing juicy information.’ The results are then displayed as a list of links that can be opened directly in a browser. CDC first achieved notoriety ten years ago with its backdoor Back Orifice, which demonstrated how easy it was to take unauthorized control of a Windows PC.

LinkedIn Goes Mobile Six months after Facebook came out with a version of its social network for the iPhone, LinkedIn is finally coming around to releasing a mobile version of its own. As part of a beta release, LinkedIn became available on various Web-enabled mobile devices, allowing members to search profiles with photos and bios, make introductions, invite people to join a network, and receive updates while on the go, said LinkedIn. LinkedIn has optimized its Web site specifically for mobile devices and members can log into the mobile application at m.linkedin.com. The beta version supports different languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. The final version will become available this spring, according to the company. More fully-featured, downloadable mobile apps geared to specific phones may be coming in the future. Even limited mobile browser accessibility should help LinkedIn keep its members happy. The regular Web site has been on a tear lately, nearly tripling in unique visitors over the past year in the US, to 3.6 million in January 2008, according to comScore.

Xbox to deliver community games Microsoft has announced the launch of its community drives service, which will allow amateur creators build and distribute games. Known as Little Gamers, through this service, hobbyist game developers would be able to share their homemade titles over Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service. It is estimated that approximately ten million people would be able to play games after this launch. Microsoft freely distributes tools, called XNA, which gives amateur developers the chance to build games for the Xbox 360 and for Windows. But until now the games were not shared. The tools have been downloaded 800,000 times and more than 400 universities worldwide are using the XNA package. The company also intends to build a revenue sharing model for community games distributed over Xbox Live. That said, through this initiative Microsoft is aiming at democratisation of development and distribution. In addition, it has also announced a sequel to its four and a half million-selling game, Gears of War.

Adobe launches AIR Adobe has announced the launch of Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), a cross-operating system runtime that enables Web developers to use their existing Web development skills, code and tools to build and deploy rich Web applications and content to the desktop. Known as AIR 1.0, the tool is available as a free and open-source technology. The company has also released the latest version of its developer framework for rich Internet applications (RIAs), Flex 3, along with a new technology, Adobe BlazeDS, a data-services layer that helps send information between back-end IT infrastructure-like application servers and front-end applications more quickly. The Flex 3 and BlazeDZ are also open source. Some of the Adobe’s existing AIR customers include, BusinessObjects, which is using AIR for a new product called BI Widgets, Saesforce.com which is using AIR to deliver applications built using its Force.com hosted developer environment to the desktop, and Deutsche Bank, which is using AIR for a new Internet service for its business customers called db-direct. AIR is Adobe’s attempt aimed at bringing the same functionality of RIAs built using technologies such as Adobe Flash and Flex Builder to the desktop. With AIR and related free offerings, the company is also hoping to drive adoption of its for-fee developer, design and server software in the business and enterprise market.