14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft announced the prices for both Windows Vista retail versions and Windows XP updates to Vista.
So, prices for retail versions of the operating system will be Windows Vista Ultimate - $399; Windows Vista Home Premium - $239; Windows Vista Business - $299 and Windows Vista Home Basic - $199. The upgrades from the previous operating system, Windows XP, are valued at: Windows Vista Ultimate - $259; Windows Vista Home Premium - $159; Windows Vista Business - $199 and Windows Vista Home Basic - $99.
"If you want all of the best business features, all of the best mobility features, and all of the best home entertainment features, Windows Vista Ultimate is the solution for you. With Windows Vista Ultimate, you don't have to compromise," it is mentioned on the giant's website. After the prices were published last week on Amazon.com, the company advised its customers to buy the most expensive version for Windows Vista.
Is there anybody that thinks all of Vista's Ultimate features are a must have? There are so many versions for this operating system that you can choose the one perfect for your needs. Ok, but why is the most expensive version the one with a lot of praises? You answer?
On Tuesday, security researcher Secunia, published an advisory to alert an extremely critical flaw in Microsoft Word 2000. "A vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Word 2000, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. The vulnerability is caused due to a memory corruption error in WINWORD.EXE when processing Word documents. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a malicious document is opened. NOTE: The vulnerability is being actively exploited. The vulnerability is confirmed in a fully patched Microsoft Word 2000 and has currently not been confirmed in other versions. However, they may be affected," it is written in the notification.
"Microsoft is investigating new public reports of limited "zero-day" attacks using a vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2000. In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious Word file attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker," Microsoft replied in a security advisory published on its website next day.
Solution? "Do not open untrusted Office documents," as Secunia says or, according to Microsoft "As a best practice, users should always exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources. Microsoft has added detection to the Windows Live OneCare safety scanner today for up-to-date removal of malicious software that attempts to exploit this vulnerability."
Same day, Microsoft released Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1, an utility that "gives you all the tools you'll need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites the way you want them."
"Expression Web is a new product for professional Web designers that combines the best of both FrontPage and Visual Studio technologies in a professional designer user interface for creating XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, and ASP.NET 2.0. Where appropriate, the user interface and features of Expression Web and Visual Studio are identical (such as for ASP.NET control properties)," it as added on the product's webpage.
On Wednesday, Microsoft said that it is possible to delay the release of its new Vista in Europe, depending on the European Commission's requirements over the antitrust case. "Once we receive the Commission's response, we will know whether the Commission is seeking additional product design changes that would result in delay in Europe," the giant said in a statement.
According to Reuters, a European Commission representative sustained: "It is not up to the Commission to give Microsoft a green light before Vista is put on the market; it is up to Microsoft to accept and implement its responsibilities as a near-monopolist to ensure full compliance with EU competition rules."
Wow, another delay for Vista? Actually, is Vista going to be released some day? It seems like Microsoft is preparing the market for the releasing of the operating system by creating many speculations around its launch date.
On Thursday, Microsoft decided to make Vista RC1 Available to testers as part of the Vista Customer Preview Program (CPP). "The final major pre-release of Windows Vista-Release Candidate 1 (RC1)-is now available for priority access by Customer Preview Program (CPP) participants only. If you've registered for this program in June, please look for a recent e-mail message from Microsoft (sent in early September) with information regarding RC1. If you are not registered but would like to receive Windows Vista RC1, the CPP will open to new participants in the coming weeks. Please check this site periodically for updates.
Customer participation and feedback are integral parts of our development process. Thank you for deciding to install and test RC1 and for being a critical part of the Windows Vista team!" it is mentioned on the giant's website.
On Friday, Microsoft released a security advisory to announce the patches distributed as part of its monthly patch cycle. "On 12 September 2006 Microsoft is planning to release: Two Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Important. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. Some of these updates will require a restart. One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Office. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. These updates may require a restart."
Week's Conclusion: Vista's week. For sure. Vista, Vista, Vista everywhere. Everybody talks "when is Vista going to be released? I don't know, Microsoft changed its launch date again!" I really hope Windows Vista will not disappoint our expectations?
