£8 million a year to Microsoft, with no public bidding. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, say open source activists
Linux vendor Red Hat, and 17 other vendors, have protested a Swiss government contract given to Microsoft without any public bidding. The move exposes a wider Microsoft monopoly that European governments accept, despite their lip service for open source, according to commentators.
The Red Hat group has asked a Swiss federal court to overturn a three-year contract issued to Microsoft by the Swiss Federal Bureau for Building and Logistics, to …

Industry experts advise partners, companies and developers to preview Microsoft’s next operating system.
Today Microsoft Corp. has reached a significant milestone with the Release Candidate (RC) of the highly anticipated Windows 7 operating system, now available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Broader public availability will begin May 5 on the Microsoft Windows 7 site. The RC milestone is a result of feedback from millions of customers and partners around the world. It indicates the operating system is entering the final phases of development and is ready for partners to …

*this is an experiment.
Linux : Why Do You Use Linux?
linuxloop.com — At some point, nearly everyone who uses Linux has someone ask them “what’s that?” This question almost invariably leads to “why is it better than ?” What do you say when someone asks you this?
25 Reasons to Convert to Linux
linfo.org —  “Businesses, educational institutions, governmental agencies and other organizations around the world are converting their computer operating systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux at an increasing pace. They are likewise converting their application programs from commercial software to free …

Microsoft’s first wireless gaming mouse brings BlueTrack Technology to gamers

The Microsoft SideWinder X8 Mouse, available on store shelves this week, offers a best-in-class tracking engine with Microsoft BlueTrack Technology and wireless freedom built for lag-free play. The newest mouse to join the SideWinder line, the SideWinder X8 offers the best frame rate, speed and acceleration on the market and a tracking range from 250 dots per inch (dpi) to 4,000 dpi, giving gamers ultimate control and precision.
“Many gamers have long desired a wireless gaming mouse that doesn’t compromise on performance, …

There have been so many dates flying around concerning the upcoming Release Candidate for Windows 7, and it’s beginning to become a daily subject in the blogosphere. Just when you thought that we were going to see a Windows 7 RC by the end of February, a trusted source within Microsoft has informed Neowin that the RC will not be ready by the end of February.
At this time, Windows 7 RC is internally being tested and the official release date is set for April 10, 2009. The Windows team is …

Hyper-V RC1 has hit the market a few days ago. Microsoft is working on making the biggest fuzz out of their newest product as usual. Although Hyper-V RC1 is in its final stages before being released as RTM, I believe Microsoft have to spend more time on the development of Hyper-V before releasing it. Hyper-V is still lagging behind the competitors on many fronts below are only few examples of it:
* Hyper-V still does not support Live Migration, and quick migration is not a downtime free Operation. VMware & Citrix …

Decision to join AMQP Working Group based on commitment to openness, interoperability and providing customer choice.
REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 24, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it is joining the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) Working Group, an organization focused on the development of the AMQP specification. Microsoft is joining the AMQP Working Group at the request of its members, including several of Microsoft’s customers in the financial services industry, in order to support the development of an open industry standard for ubiquitous messaging.
AMQP is a specification for platform-neutral, …

Update builds on momentum behind software-powered unified communications and voice.
Today, Microsoft Corp. debuted Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2), an update to the award-winning Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Microsoft representatives demonstrated the new release for the first time before an audience of telecom and IT professionals at the VoiceCon tradeshow in Amsterdam. Customers will be able to purchase the release, currently in private beta testing, beginning in February 2009.
Office Communications Server 2007 R2 delivers important new functionality that extends software-powered voice, particularly for remote and mobile workers; …

Microsoft announces new rich Internet applications development and streaming media features; company outlines plans for supporting Windows, Mac and Linux tools for developing Silverlight applications.
Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, one of the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful solutions for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tools that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable and more secure user experiences.
Microsoft also announced further support …

Multiple DNS implementations vulnerable to cache poisoning

Overview
Deficiencies in the DNS protocol and common DNS implementations facilitate DNS cache poisoning attacks.
I. Description
The Domain Name System (DNS) is responsible for translating host names to IP addresses (and vice versa) and is critical for the normal operation of internet-connected systems. DNS cache poisoning (sometimes referred to as cache pollution) is an attack technique that allows an attacker to introduce forged DNS information into the cache of a caching nameserver. DNS cache poisoning is not a new concept; in fact, there are published …