News (362)

Vista shunned in business survey

A new survey shows Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is still playing second fiddle to XP with business users, with more enterprises confessing to checking out the unreleased Windows 7 OS than its predecessor. Read more »

Microsoft's Ballmer to come down under

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has revealed plans to visit Sydney later this year, speaking at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on innovation and the digital Economy. Read more »

Microsoft fixes eight critical flaws with four patches

Microsoft on Tuesday released its September 2008 security bulletin summary.The four bulletins concern Windows GDI+, Windows Media Player, and Microsoft Office OneNote. All are rated critical by Microsoft. There is no cumulative patch for Internet Explorer this month. Read more »

Microsoft Patch Tuesday brings six critical updates

Microsoft has released six critical patches for August's 'Patch Tuesday', including a fix for six vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Read more »

IBM chides security researchers

Technology giant IBM has taken independent security researchers to task for their role in making information about unpublished computer attacks available in an undisciplined manner. Read more »

No tax support for Mac or Linux yet

The Australian Taxation Office has advised Australians using Apple or Linux operating systems that they will be unable to lodge tax returns electronically using the ATO's e-tax software unless they use a Windows emulator or a kiosk in one of the agency's shop fronts. Read more »

Microsoft fixes DNS flaw but warns of Word attacks

Microsoft is warning that a Word flaw is being used for targeted attacks, and has also issued four 'important' patches, including one for a potentially serious DNS flaw in the latest Patch Tuesday bulletin. Read more »

Microsoft probing ActiveX attacks targeting Access feature

Microsoft has issued a security advisory warning about targeted attacks being launched that exploit a hole in the ActiveX control for the Snapshot Viewer in the Microsoft Access database management system. Read more »

Gates is gone but the fight goes on: Stallman

To pay so much attention to Bill Gates' retirement is missing the point. What really matters is not Gates, nor Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that Microsoft, like many other software companies, imposes on its customers. Read more »

Australian finds vulnerability in his coffee maker

An Australian man has discovered security holes in his internet-connected coffee maker that could allow a remote attacker to not only take over his Windows XP-based PC but also make his coffee too weak. Read more »

Features (355)

50 significant moments from internet history

We take you through 50 defining moments of the internet. Read more »

Audit data using SQL Server 2005's COLUMNS_UPDATED function

This article looks at how the SQL Server 2005 COLUMNS_UPDATED function works and then discusses how to parse out the field names. Read more »

10 surprising things about Windows Server 2008

When you take a look at Windows Server 2008, you'll discover big changes -- including some legitimate improvements. This article outlines a few of the unexpected aspects of the new OS, both good and bad. Read more »

Unit testing options for JavaScript

Unit testing is different from traditional testing because it is performed by the developer and not a tester. This article provides an overview of several options for unit testing client-side JavaScript code. Read more »

How to create a Blue Screen of Death

Feeling nostalgic about the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death, which used to plague desktops in the bad old days of Windows? No need to keep those feelings locked away. This handy guide will show you how to force your PC to recreate the infamous error. Read more »

Scripting out DHCP reservations in Windows Server 2008 with Netsh

Scripting out DHCP reservations can save a lot of time for large pools of reservations. See how the Windows Server 2008 Netsh tool can help out in this regard. Read more »

Are you going to upgrade to Windows Server 2008?

There is a lot of hype in the IT industry when it comes to new releases of products. Look at the iPhone, Windows Vista, WiMax, OS X Leopard. This article digs through the hype to help you make a decision for yourself whether migrating to Windows Server 2008 will be worth it in the next 18-24 months. Read more »

RIFE with possibilities

Developing a web-based application is never a small undertaking. At the very best it's a lot of work just to develop the code that does whatever it is your application is supposed to do but before you even get to the point of writing your application's code, you have to decide what you going to write it in. Read more »

Try IRC with Irssi to communicate via chat

Many IRC networks, particularly the Freenode network, cater to a lot of open source and Linux-based groups. There are many IRC clients available, but one of the most extensible and powerful is the command-line based Irssi. Read more »

Generate dynamic SQL statements in SQL Server

When you need to solve a tricky database problem, the ability to generate SQL statements is a powerful tool -- although you must be careful when using it. This article explores how you can use this functionality to generate SQL statements on the fly. Read more »

Video (2)

Charney: 9/11 attacks made security an asset

Until 9/11 security was simply a cost, says the VP of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group – the stock exchange being knocked out suddenly changed this. Read more »

Torvalds surprised by resilience of 2.6 kernel

  Read more »

Blog (138)

Blog against poverty

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Worldwide Blog Action Day is 15 October, in 2008 the goal is to raise awareness and conversation around the worldwide topic of poverty and in the process raise money for the cause. Who's in? Read more »

Going the extra step but not the extra mile

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- I've always been a big fan of going the extra mile with error messages, it's a good way to show that you actually care about the product to take the time to customise it even when things are amiss -- and yes, things will go wrong, you will not create the perfect application. Read more »

Share a keyboard and mouse with Synergy

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Even in the era of virtualization, many IT pros (including myself) have a small army of computers sitting on, under, and around their desks. Read more »

China poised for 3G

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- A major overhaul of the telecommunications industry in China will clear the way for 3G services to possibly over half a billion mobile phones. Read more »

SEO is voodoo

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Anyone who claims to know everything about search engine optimisation is either a fool or a liar. Read more »

Daylight saving changes are standard procedure

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Timezone data changes all the time, it's what governments do -- probably to keep the populace on their toes -- and yet we still survive. This time will be no different. Read more »

Is public domain software open-source?

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- When writing earlier this week about Adobe's sponsoring of the SQLite project, I ran into a complicated issue: is software released into the public domain also open-source software? Read more »

Do Vista users come from XP?

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- The theory is that people on XP will skip over to Windows 7 when it appears and Vista users will come from Windows 2000. A silly idea that can be disproved by a simple graph -- or can it? Read more »

Hope you are seated

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- With projects winding down for the year, have you accidently found yourself fulfilling promises you never thought you'd keep in 2007? Funnily enough, this week has been full of news of projects we thought had retired to the beach house for the summer. Read more »

Wireless theft -- what's the harm?

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Hand up if you have logged in to use some poor schmuck's unprotected wireless connection to overcome a bandwidth drought? Read more »

Others (1)

Sneak peek at Tech.Ed 06

In this picture gallery we take a look behind the scenes at Tech.Ed 06. Read more »

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  • Staff Microsoft prescribes more REST

    Details have begun to emerge about the next versions of Visual Studio and Windows Server this week -- and the message from Redmond is to REST up Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Chris Duckett .NET looks to REST

    With news that REST will play a big part in the next version of the .NET Framework, it is timely to take a look at ADO.NET. Read more »

    -- posted by Chris Duckett

  • Renai LeMay Spellr.us needs a new dictionary

    One of the only Australian start-ups to present at the recent round of conferences in the US was Sydney-based spellr.us, which has launched a Web-based tool to check and monitor websites for spelling mistakes. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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