<IT WORLD>
Microsoft 'fixes' bring more pain
By Martin J Young

HUA HIN, Thailand - The release by Microsoft this month of its bug-fixing Windows XP Service Pack 3 had its expected aftermath - a plethora of complaints as customers tried to install the software. Unlike its predecessor of four years ago, SP2, which included big changes to the Windows Security Center, SP3 contains mostly bug fixes ... and there were a lot to fix.

Tech websites and blogs are awash with complaints about SP3, ranging from complete failure to boot, to non-starting third-party applications, to the dreaded "blue screen of death". Another issue is that SP3 will not downgrade to Internet Explorer 6 after installation; you are stuck with Internet Explorer 7 - unless you uninstall SP3.

The trouble with a standard service pack is that not all computers are standard, to the extent that it is rare to find two with an identical configuration. This is why there will be a range of different problems experienced by different users.

To give it credit, Microsoft has published a list of known issues on its Knowledgebase website. Conspiracy theorists might like to put claim Microsoft purposely sabotaged SP3 to force users to dump the company's aging XP operating system and take up much-disliked Vista, even if that brings a bag new problems! But we know this is not the case, as all versions of Windows have Service Pack-related problems.

If you still want to go ahead and install SP3, back up all important files beforehand, fasten your seat belts, and make sure your seats and trays are in the upright position ... there could be technical turbulence ahead!

Microsoft has been busy this week patching other software with six critically labeled security patches released on "Patch Tuesday". Security holes in Windows and Office were filled to prevent exploits in Microsoft's Jet Database Engine, an integral component of Windows that can be attacked if users open maliciously infected database files with the .mdb extension as used in Access. Also released were patches for Microsoft Word and Outlook, again vulnerable if infected documents are opened. The bottom line is watch what you open with regards to email attachments if you want to keep your machine free of nasties.

Microsoft is claiming success with Windows Vista, with more than 140 million licenses sold since its release in January last year. Chairman Bill Gates may be elated and claiming "very rapid sales rates", but critics have countered the celebrations by stating that all new computers come with Vista pre-installed so the figures do not really reflect actual consumer demand.

Even those customers that downgrade back to XP have still purchased a license for Vista and are included in these figures. There is no doubting that Vista is still a hard sell and people are clinging to XP despite the recent glitches with its latest service pack.

Industry
The Microsoft and Yahoo saga continued this week as billionaire investor Carl Icahn entered the fray and bought an estimated 50 million shares in Yahoo in an effort to wage a proxy fight for seats on the board.

If the move goes ahead, its intentions are to unite Yahoo shareholders in forcing the company to resume talks with Microsoft, which walked away from the table last week following Yahoo's rejection of a US$47.5 billion bid. The veteran investor made the stake to coincide with the deadline for board nominees which had to be made by Thursday to qualify for the July 3 annual meeting. Following the collapse of negotiations last week, Microsoft stated it was moving on, so it remains to be seen whether this effort will entice the software giant back into the arena.

Internet
Space may be the final frontier, but Microsoft has made an announcement that it wants to bring it into your living rooms this week. A free software application called WorldWide Telescope was launched on Monday by the Redmond, Washington-based software giant that will allow the exploration of distant galaxies, stars, planets and space phenomenon by everyone from students to professionals.

The system uses over 12 terabytes of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center and the Spitzer Space Telescope, all connected into one giant virtual universe. Users can zoom in and out of Galaxies thousands of light years away and explore distant planets.

The system is similar to Google's offering launched last year called Google Sky, an add-on to Google Earth which has since been offered on a browser platform. Microsoft is putting education before profit with this venture though claiming that it will offer a generation of kids more knowledge about space and what lies beyond our own planet. The software can be downloaded from WorldWide Telescope.

Google introduced a number of tools this week that assist online social interaction. Friend Connect allows users to move their profiles between different social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook.

The service revolves around Google's Open Social platform, which standardizes social networking applications across different websites. The system allows users to add a couple of lines of code to their own websites and have social gadgets up and running instantly without any programming or databases. Naturally there will be a huge chunk of revenue in it for Google somewhere, as providing a system that helps users link up millions of social profiles and accounts on thousands of different websites has massive potential for targeted advertising.

Latest reports indicate that Facebook will not be adopting Friend Connect at the moment, arguing it distributes information from Facebook to other developers without user knowledge and is contravening its privacy policies.

Gaming
Microsoft claimed this week that its Xbox 360 has beaten Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii to selling 10 million units in the US market. A senior vice president for the company's Interactive Entertainment division stated that history dictates that the first company to reach 10 million console sales wins the generation battle.

The console has reached 19 million sales internationally; these figures will no doubt be boosted by the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Wii is closing in with a reported 8.8 million units sold and the PS3 brings up the rear with 4.1 million. Analysts predict that 2008 will be the biggest year to date for the interactive entertainment and gaming industry.

Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.

I have this upgrade. Yea, the latest upgrade is buggy. Whenever I start my PC, it keep saying hardware drivers not installed. The hardware is my sound card! wtf? it sounds completely fine but still ask for installed drivers. I click cancel and everything is fine and sound card sounds fine too. Weird..