Digital artists should rejoice. The Adobe Illustrator weakness that has left it vulnerable to hacking will be fixed come January 8, 2010. Artists do not have to fear the loss of their works of art because the Illustrator’s developers have been alerted by an unknown hacker’s attacks and are discovering ways to fend such attacks in the future. If attacks such as these can target a weak spot in software, the effect is more than about losing digital illustrations. According to Adobe, hackers can infiltrate into computer systems through the software and spread malware that could mess up the personal computer. Adobe’s security advisory emphasizes that versions 3 and 4 from the Illustrator Creative Suite are the two most vulnerable to similar attacks. Those using versions 3 and 4 may suddenly find their computers invaded by unauthorized software. Adobe hopes that the solution due January 8 will bounce all attempts to attack.

The hacker’s attack is posted through a "proof of concept" blog post. This means that the hacker's information can be accessed by cybercriminals, making this flaw a critical issue for the developers of Adobe Illustrator.

How the attack will work

The attack, however, does not work on its own. Users will have to unknowingly open an Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) file for the attack code to be generated. The scary thing about this attack code is that it is publicly available. If the code gets into the wrong hands, there could be more possibly successful attempts at infiltration and malware spread. The real solution then is to fix the software itself. Getting rid of the code is far more complicated. Adobe Illustrator users are also further warned against opening .eps files from unknown or uncertain sources. They should await the Illustrator patch, which will be available early January of 2010.

Brad Arkin, head of Adobe’s Product Security, reveals that his team has not yet confirmed if the point of concept attack can include the release of viruses on the personal computer with versions 3 or 4 of Adobe Illustrator installed. Software flows are not limited to the Adobe Illustrator, however. Both Microsoft and Adobe are experiencing software problems that should be remedied as soon as possible. Both companies are hoping to deliver patches for flaws found in Adobe’s Flash Player and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The vulnerabilities and flaws of other software, unfortunately, are only discovered when attacks have already occurred.

Microsoft's bug fixes

Microsoft’s bug fixes also extend to Windows and Office. There will be no less than six security updates to correct some of the flaws. Internet Explorer alone will need a patch to be secured. Consumers can only hope that the said security updates and patches can truly make the software safe and bug-free.

Microsoft Office is going through several upgrades recently. Just a little after Microsoft revealed its Enterprise version for Office, it released the streaming version of Office. The enterprise-worthy version is called the Professional-Grade Plus. As of recently, streaming office is in its beta version. Microsoft made this version available to the public three days after improving on the Home and Business section and just a week after the release of Professional-Grade Plus. It seems that the software giant is moving fast in terms of Microsoft Office’s improvements and apparent move towards word processing perfection.

Microsoft staged previews of all three recent innovations. The public can decide which Microsoft Office suits them best. The preview includes all the popular and important applications, such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and One Note. The prices for the 2010 versions had not yet been revealed but at least prospective consumers already know what to expect of the new Microsoft Office offerings. Knowing the changes could ultimately help in deciding whether to upgrade or stick to an older version. Some consumers do want to wait it out, letting other people test the new product so that they can hear out reviews from those who have really experienced working with the software.

More details about MS Office 2010

The developers of Microsoft Office had decided to place Home and Business as the first 2010 beta to be delivered via the company’s Click-and-Run system. Put simply, people who are downloading the beta version will see streaming pieces of the suite. This means that the consumer can use the software in a short period of time. Home and Business differentiates itself from the other existing software users know by being virtualized.  It runs its applications from a virtual drive. The Click-and-Run system download, however, still have some bugs. Even Microsoft had to acknowledge that the version is not yet perfected.

The Home and Business, when downloaded through the Click-and-Run system, is still having trouble interacting with other applications. Office add-ons also cannot work with the software yet. Part of the problem here is that Click-and-Run Office products are operating in a completely virtual environment. The good point about these products is that they get updated automatically. Their users do not have to download patches to fix some current flaws. The bad side of this is that the updates are truly automatic. They are installed into the system even when the user has not approved the update.

Microsoft is constantly looking for new environments. It is also constantly seeking to improve current versions. The company has acknowledged the problems with Office 2010’s beta version. This acknowledgement could prompt early responses that could help users land bug-free versions in a shorter period of time. For now, users can only hold their breath on the Click-and-Run “streaming” technology.

Window’s users have recently experienced attacks dubbed by some as the “black screen of death”. Microsoft is now investigating whether there is some truth in reports that what caused the blank screens was none other than the company’s recent security updates. A Microsoft spokesman delivers the software giant’s promise to release information as soon as the investigation is finished. This information will include how to prevent and react to the so-called black screen of death.

Facing a black screen

The report that it was Microsoft’s latest security updates that triggered some problems with Windows came from UK’s security vendor, Prevyx.  Prevyx claimed that Microsoft’s November 10 updates caused some major changes, such as what happened in the Access Control List (ACL). A change in the ACL could result to the blank screen that left some Windows users bewildered. However, the color used was black. Blue screen is supposed to be a more serious occurrence, pointing to a major system crash.

According to Prevyx, Windows users experienced totally blank screens with only the My Computer Explorer window left for some bit of comfort. Gone are the system tray, sidebar, desktop, and task bar.  So, it is not a surprise that those who experienced the black screen of death were in a panic. Their complaints were also read from Microsoft’s support forums. It was not an isolated case.

Advice coming from Microsoft’s support forums sought to resolve the blank screen problems some Windows users are facing. The advice stated was basically to download a tool, particularly explorer.exe. Users should run the .exe file to resolve their problem. Prevyx basically provided the affected users with the same advice, only in different words, the week after. Just recently, Microsoft made a collection of patches available to help resolve 15 vulnerabilities to security updates.

No matter what really happened when blank screens horrified some Windows users, Microsoft continues to recommend its consumers to use security updates. The company believes that what had happened, if it were really Microsoft’s fault, would not happen again. The company is continuously trying to improve its different applications.

Troubleshooting tips

If the patches are not fixing the problems, Windows users should first check whether their computer monitors are set on the correct modes or if there is a problem with the display driver. Prevyx could actually think of ten different scenarios that could all result to blank screens. These scenarios should all be eliminated by investigation before concluding that Microsoft’s security update was the “black screen of death” culprit. However, the incident was not isolated to just one computer breaking down.

Hopefully, future security updates will work according to their names and true functions: to keep PCs safe. It is true, however, that there are things that cannot be avoided as the human mind continues to explore what machines can do.

Microsoft seems bent on exploring and competing in all the areas of computing.  The company must be impressed with Twitter that it suddenly launched something quite similar to this networking site. At the moment, however, the application is still limited to just one country, China.

MSN's Juku

Microsoft made use of its existing application, the Windows Live Messenger, and expanded it into a micro-blogging service. The software giant’s chat messenger is a big hit in China. So, Microsoft decided to take advantage of that. Dubbed MSN Juku, the Twitter-like service is in its beta version already. Juku users get to post 140-character messages that can be scrolled through a timeline. Users can also check out friends’ timelines for their messages, announcements, or status updates.

Though the service looks and functions like Twitter, Microsoft denies that its MSN Juku had been designed after Twitter. The company insists that Juku is MSN China’s own innovation. Juku’s name comes from the Chinese used for the words “cool” and "gathering." However, some critics could only agree to the gathering part of the meaning. This is because an application based on another is thought of as a copycat of sorts. While Americans may think of Juku as a knockoff of Twitter, Chinese locals may think of it as a Plurk bandit. Plurk is another Twitter-like service, which is popular in Asia. Bandit, on the other hand, is just another way to call a knockoff.

MSN Juku, however, does not limit itself to micro-blogging like Twitter. The application also allows users to play simple games where users can win prizes. Users can announce wins through icons they can display over their Juku. Critics should not zero in on Juku when it comes to the supposed Chinese innovation’s similarity to Twitter, which is a micro-blogging network popular worldwide. This is because there are a lot of other applications, with Twitter-like functions, that have come out.

Social networking in China

Social networking, as a whole, has become very popular in China that 124 million people from the country are using at least one social networking site. Authorities actually had to block these services for months because of their fear of what could be passing to and from Chinese citizens, and possibly passing from other countries. It could then be argued that MSN Juku is a great step for the Chinese as they move towards greater communication avenues. Microsoft, however, may not be thinking about that when it made to move towards creating MSN Juku. The company just likes to cover all grounds, hoping to reach further in the world of social networking. Juku is also a promotion of the Windows Live messenger. After all, a lot of people today prefer to use Facebook and Twitter to get their point across. Social networks also have their own chat service. So, a chat service could also move towards social networking.

There were earlier rumors that the Google Chrome is readily available in the market. This time, Google itself speaks about its Chrome plans. Finally, the executives from the topnotch search engine company have decided to take away all the mystery from the supposedly upcoming operating system. Well, Google does try its hand on other projects but will always be thought of as the reason behind the search engine boom.

More details about Google Chrome

Product Management vice president Sundhar Pichai talked about what people should expect from the Chrome. The assembly took place in Mountain View HQ last November 2009. Pichai showed sample screenshots of the Google Chrome, declaring that the operating system was designed with netbook users in mind. So, Google Chrome is recommended for light, easy computing.  Though the Chrome’s code is open sourced, netbook users still have about a year to wait it out.

Based from the introduction, the Google Chrome will make everything faster and more improved. So, the operating system is working on features that already exist today. If it is an improvement of all operating systems today, will Google Chrome become the best OS when it is finally ready?

Pichai was actually asked about whether Google is heading for a head-on collision with Microsoft. Microsoft is also working its way to having its operating system widely accepted and used by netbooks. Pichai did not respond to the question directly but just laughed it off saying that the industry is experiencing “tremendous innovation in personal computing once again.”

Reactions to Google's announcement

Though the Google Chrome is still a year away from being sold, future competitors are already reacting to the announcement. For example, Microsoft believes that the Chrome frame will just expose computers to more malware. The company stated last September 2009 that Internet users are better off with Internet Explorer’s latest version. The Google Chrome frame is a plug in for web browsers and just a portion of what should be expected from the Chrome operating system. Still, the reaction coming from Microsoft may be a sign of future disputes. Even Mozilla’s maker, Firefox, joined Microsoft in criticizing the Google Chrome frame. Consumers should be wondering by now how the reactions will be like when the Google Chrome OS is out in the market. Will Google’s OS be a success or a target of constant criticism?

In 2010, Google Chrome will be released. It will be installed into some netbooks ready for selling. Google does have to rival Microsoft’s 96% claim on netbooks. Though Microsoft’s web browser, the Internet Explorer, is losing some shares, it is still the leader by a mile over Google’s Chrome browser. Right now, consumers can only speculate as to what will happen to Google Chrome operating system’s opening day. Will it ever put a dent on Windows?

IBM recently launched a new software that could be used in the office environment. The Tivoli Monitoring is offered for the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). This is after previous moves by IBM to make deals with Amazon’s EC2 through lobbing a good portion of its middleware and its database software.

Just recently, Amazon announced that IBM’s Tivoli Monitoring is already available on EC2 as the online giant's machine image. The Tivoli Marketing software is not the only IBM business kit on EC2. Several others have preceded the Tivoli. Some of these software kits include the Informix Dynamic Server relational databases and the DB2, both from IBM. Other business kits include the Lotus Web Content Management program and WebSphere Portal. As with these previous software kits, an onsite software license can be used to run on the EC2.

What Tivoli Monitoring can offer

So what can the Tivoli Monitoring software offer companies that run their applications on the Amazon cloud or the Amazon Web Services? These companies can monitor their environments through the Tivoli. A particular company can check databases, applications, and systems through the Tivoli. A good thing about the Amazon cloud is that the users only pay for what they actually use and for the time they spent using the web services. Another good thing about the web service itself is that it is easy to use. Amazon cloud is also a great tool for developers.

So where can companies look for the Tivoli monitoring software from IBM? They could visit the AWS console and use the software from there. IBM offers helpful scripts to would-be users.

More about Tivoli Monitoring

The Tivoli Monitoring Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a 32-bit software that runs on Linux. The Tivoli AMI can come as a bundle with either agent-based or agent-less monitoring for the said operating system. It also comes in a bundle for Windows OS environments. Agents from IBM’s Tivoli will monitor the AMIs being developed or used in production in the EC2.

IBM’s move to share Tivoli is believed by experts as far from the company’s last contribution to the Amazon cloud. IBM’s constant offering of its software applications to the EC2 is part of a strategy. IBM aims to respond to all its consumers' varying needs. It is also able to distribute its software efficiently through the cloud. Strategic manager of IBM, Dave Mitchell recognizes the move towards hybrid environments. He and the rest of the IBM family want to be part of that hybrid future. Collaborating with other companies is one way that IBM can experience various environments. At the same time, IBM is able to introduce its new tools. This is what happened when IBM contributed its Tivoli Monitoring software to the Amazon cloud.

Even when Windows 7 has yet to take on a more massive world market, there are already talks about Microsoft Windows 8. As rumors would have it, the major OS upgrade is set to come out tentatively by 2012. This is according to hints and comments from Microsoft insiders. And it seems that, this early, a lot of people are already looking forward to Microsoft’s latest OS  upgrade.

Microsoft has a schedule to keep

According to talks, the software giant wants to speed up its major upgrade pace. Historically, the company has been releasing its Windows upgrades every six years. Case in point is the upgrade from Windows XP  to Windows Vista. Windows XP was released in 2001. Its follow-up, Windows Vista, came out in 2007, amidst lukewarm reception and bad reviews. Vista was originally slated for release in 2006.

It was this poor reception that pushed Microsoft to release Microsoft 7 only after two years, in 2009. Even so, the Microsoft product roadmap positioned Windows 7 as the much needed update to Vista, hence, the early release. Talks have it that Windows 8 is a major upgrade from Windows 7. Thus, there are many who doubt if Microsoft can push through with such a project in just a short period of time.

Windows 8: rumors and plans

This early, Windows 8 is already being touted as the end of 32-bit operating systems. With its planned 128-bit architecture, expectations are high and forecasts remain positive.

Word on the professional networking site LinkedIn even has it that Microsoft is now looking for program managers who can work with such 128-bit architecture, as planned for Windows 8 and Windows 9.

Forecasts on Windows 8

The early spotlight on Windows 8 has gotten the tech media practitioners talking. They’ve come out with expectations and the inevitable wish list.

Randall Kennedy of Infoworld is the one to first speak of Windows 8 overshadowing 32-bit operating systems. He also posits the integration of Live Mesh into Windows 8. As Microsoft’s cloud-based multi-computer document synchronization service, Live Mesh will be a significant improvement to Window 7’s document sync services. Windows 8 may soon allow online and multiple computer file sharing. In a way, this will also see how much influence Google’s Chrome OS  will have on the Microsoft OS, pending more popular acceptance of its web-only operating system.

Another tech commentator Preston Galla of Computerworld wants to see a simpler way to integrate between the operating systems of Mac, Linux, and Windows. Current status quo still has users jumping hoops when it comes to networking between different operating systems. Likewise, he wants a better and easier version of the Windows Media Center.

Because of what Windows 8 can offer to consumers and professionals, many are looking forward to Microsoft's latest version of its operating system.

Only a few days ago, Microsoft announced plans to integrate IT into its cloud technology platform. The company wants to do this by connecting the current corporate networks with cloud services. This integration will ascertain the more efficient functions and processes of a single infrastructure.

This idea came to fruition during the company’s recent Professional Developers Conference. The goal is to move above and beyond the current trends in cloud computing. At present, cloud computing is defined by raw resources from Microsoft, Google, and other providers. Microsoft wants the next phase to be about running applications across local and cloud networks, particularly those on the Azure cloud OS of Microsoft.

Aloft with Azure

The Azure cloud operating system can open up several possibilities in cloud computing. According to Gartner analyst Ray Valdez, Azure is definitely looking at the 2nd wave, which happens after the raw infrastructure. This happens when companies move real systems into the cloud. These hybrid systems then have to connect back to legacy environments. Microsoft sees this as both a big challenge and opportunity.

Microsoft is taking the first steps in making the most of these possibilities. The company has moved forward with developments in the projects, such as the System Center Cloud, ApFabric, and the Next Generation Active Directory. Likewise, it is seeing updates that can expand functions and processes within the .Net Framework. All these projects are slated for beta release.

The goal behind all this is to push an infrastructure that blends software and services. This makes for a more satisfying and less costly user experience. But then, the underlying issue remains on how a giant like Microsoft can eventually release and maintain such an integrated infrastructure that spans several online networks.

Apparently, before releasing this concept to the rest of the world, Microsoft is already trying it out internally. According to a company insider, Microsoft is already testing Azure, looking at how it blends with the corporate network. However, this part of the development process is still early and developers still have unanswered questions. Microsoft will be able to look at and test these tools once they are available.

This early, feedback – positive and otherwise – has gotten around. According to Amitabh Srivastava, a senior vice president at Microsoft, not all will move their IT into the cloud. Due to privacy and competitive issues, and sensitive data sets, some people will store information in the data center. Plenty of applications may have to be divided into cloud and IT, so Microsoft is also planning to offer tools and services for application partition. In this way, the various needs of different users will be met, whether they store their information in a data center or through a cloud.

As the race between web browsers heat up, Microsoft makes public its plan to use the computer’s graphic processor to make image and text rendering faster on its to-be-released browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). But then again, the company is really not the only one to think of this next step. Its closest competitors Firefox and Opera are also in the process of integrating the PC’s graphic processor unit in the functions of their browsers.

IE9 details

Plans for the new IE9 were revealed just recently by Steven Sinofsky, Windows and Windows Live president. According to Sinofsky, IE9 work has made significant progress so far. Further details were given by Dean Hachamovitch, IE’s general manager.

According to Hachamovitch, IE9 will switch from using Window’s Graphic Device Interface to making the most of Direct2D and DirectWrite APIs. This way, images and text are rendered faster and without compromising as much RAM. According to him, one good reason why consumers get so much from their PC hardware is because of the machine's graphics. This is why IE9 is placed on top of the graphics engine of Windows, which is DirectX.

The Direct2D and DirectWrite APIs will move the burden of processing to the GPU, instead of the CPU. Hachamovitch also stated that the acceleration of the graphics hardware will result in faster rendering for graphically rich sites without slowing down the CPU.

Early results of IE9 development show a promising 40 to 60 frames per second using Direct2D. This is akin to gaming graphic quality, a great improvement from the 5 to 10 frames per second using GDI. On the other hand, DirectWrite APIs have resulted in sharper text rendering.

Hachamovitch claims that there’s nothing more that website developers can do to make their pages run faster on IE9. He claims that because of this development, web creators can maximize the changes in the hardware ecosystem's graphics without having to redo the whole site.

Microsoft and others

Clearly, the immediate issues for IE9 seem to not be about the details of the new browser. These have more to do with competitors that are on the same page and are developing similar technologies. Both Mozilla (Firefox) and Opera are working on the same browser acceleration through improved graphics and text rendering.

Mozilla’s efforts are focused on the OpenGL for open platforms and the different APIs for Windows. This is an expansion of the Windows IE9 project since it seeks to develop faster browsers even for those not using the Windows platform. The same efforts are being made by Opera.

Both companies are also exploring the possibilities of extending the benefits of graphics-based browsers from the web to mobile devices like smartphones. These will be under Firefox’s Fennec and Opera’s mobile version.

As if its decided lead in spiders, searches, and engines is not enough, Google launches its new Chrome OS, the company’s browser-based operating system. The new OS offers marked differences in data handling, such as cloud data storage, adding more user security and ease of use. It is also a very light operating system and does not eat up a lot of RAM. This is ideal for netbooks and systems that rely on cloud computing.  Being a by-product of the Chrome browser, the Chrome OS also boasts of similar security features that the browser has been known for.

How it works

Security is one of the key components in the Chrome OS. The system fuses typical system-level security systems with exploit mitigation techniques. Thus, it successfully decreases the venues for attack and the system codes that can be attacked by malicious programs. And because all applications run through the browser, the operating system is more compact and easier to control and protect.

Sandboxing has been crucial in how Chrome functions. Through sandboxing, processes and applications have minimal interactions with each other and the operating system kernel. This partitioning of processes and applications makes it difficult for any malicious attacks to affect the whole system. Crashes become seldom, if these occur at all.

Security

Security is also one of the trademarks of the Chrome OS. Contrary to current trends in operating systems, Chrome limits the ability of applications to download and run any binary. This minimizes any application compromises that open up the whole system to attacks.

Likewise, the Chrome OS boasts of a verified boot process. This boot process allows the system to start up and boot without possible harm to the system’s memory, the Linux kernel, and the partition tables. This is done through cryptography.

Since the whole Chrome OS  is secured by Google, it is close to impossible for any malicious program to penetrate and run. And even when some freak malicious programs do manage to get through the doubly secured kernel hardening and processing infrastructure, this will be immediately detected upon reboot. This sends a prompt to the user. It also initiates  self-cleaning program within the system.

The cleaning process has less hassle too than the others. Since the system data is set apart from the user data, the system can fix itself without causing the user any setting changes and lost data. Cached data is also kept intact, within the “cloud” of Google servers. Adding to user specification security, the user data within the browser, OS , and plug-ins are encrypted. Devices cannot share user data.

For any bugs found upon installation, the Chrome OS has set up an auto system update and patch. All this is done in the background, even while the user keeps on working online.
Now, that makes for a lot of exciting new stuff from a technology company that’s been very reliable and attentive to its users.