Mandrakesoft would like to alert all users and the software community at large about a recent clandestine attack by proprietary interests through covert adoption of EU Software Patent Legislation.

The new text, if adopted, will extend Software Patents to every piece of software, including computer programs, data structures, and process descriptions. This will directly harm most software firms and all Open Source projects unable to pay patent licensing tribute, and amounts to an appropriation of the public domain by proprietary interests. A direct beneficiary will be a new class of pure patent companies without any real business or contribution to employment, which will use the threat of litigation to extort payments. Of note is that a sponsor of the Irish Presidency is Microsoft, currently building a large patent portfolio. If the Software Patent text is adopted, Microsoft may use this patent portfolio against Linux and other Open Source projects.

Mandrakesoft would like to forewarn and mobilize its users and the software community about the very real threat of such a law. Please contact the media, your political representatives, and your government, and urge them to vote against unlimited Software Patents and to revert to the previous European Parliament position.

Microsoft's increasing concern over information security has translated into its decision to bite the bullet and make its upcoming SP2 (Service Pack 2) security patch available to all users - including those using pirated copies of its Windows XP software.

"It was a tough choice, but we finally decided that even if someone has pirated copy of Windows, it is more important to keep him safe than it is to be concerned about the revenue issue," he added.

The most visible changes SP2 will introduce to XP is the new Windows Firewall, a renamed, upgraded version of the ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) firewall system that shipped with the original Windows XP, and the new aggressive attitude towards security updates and controls.

Besides these two changes, there are many other under-the-hood security features aimed at "stopping malicious code like worms, phishing attacks like websites that hijack web browsers to trick users into giving out personal information, and improving security against the buffer overrun attacks favoured by virus-writers," said Mr Goffe.

Security experts are getting increasingly cross that Microsoft is not patching up holes in its software quick enough.

A spokesVole rushed to defend its patchy patch operation. He said that it was due to the large number of versions of software, the number of languages involved and the number of applications which had to remain unaffected by the patching.

But the Herald quoted Bulgarian security researcher Georgi Guninski as saying that excuse was 'very lame' and claimed that showed Microsoft is not really up to the job.

Other security researchers pointed out those languages sit on top of the GUI and have little to do with how Windows works at the 'patched' level of the operating system.

It was like a car manufacturer saying it cannot fix a problem with the tyres because the vehicle comes in lots of different colours, said one expert.

TURBOLINUX HAS created a media player which incorporates Microsoft code, according to a report in today's Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The newspaper reports that the media player will be released with a consumer version of Linux in Japan, the USA and China for just under ¥16,000.

The Japanese company will pay royalties to Microsoft for the ability to use the media player code, based on the number of copies of Linux sold, says the paper.

The move could be seen as an attempt by Microsoft to ensure it doesn't get into hot water with further regulatory bodies after its recent skirmish with the European Union.

According to Cnet, the company wants to carry on with its law suit against SCO and get a declaration from the beak that it isn't violating SCOs copyrights or trade secrets.

SCO is on the ropes at the moment after losing a large chunk of its legal fighting funds when its VC Baystar backed out of the company.

SCO sued Big Blue last March claiming that IBMs move to Linux had broken a contract between the pair. In February this year SCO added an allegation that IBM had infringed its copyright by using Linux, which it believes features code it owns.

However Red Hat's lawyers argued that the SCO and IBM case is all about a contractual relationship between IBM and SCO. Red Hat's action, it says, concerns the damage SCO has done and is continuing to do to Red Hat.

Its lawyers claim that Red Hat is suffering injustice as a result of the hold, because it leaves SCO open to pursue its campaign against Linux and force Red Hat customers "to sign licences to use open-source code that SCO did not even develop."

One of the biggest batches yet of software bugs in Microsoft's Windows software was revealed on Tuesday, prompting users to scramble to install patches to secure home and office computers against potential attack.

A total of 20 individual vulnerabilities were announced by Microsoft in four security bulletins. Three of the bulletins, containing all but one of the bugs, were classified as "critical", the most severe category. Software downloads to rectify all of the problems were released along with details of the flaws.

The 14 bugs described in the first of bulletins affect all Windows operating systems to some degree. The bugs reside in the peripheral programs that Windows calls upon to perform certain tasks, and many of these are switched on by default when Windows is installed.

NEW YORK — A storm has erupted in the embedded community, with real-time operating systems house Green Hills charging that Linux is fundamentally insecure and wide open to security breaches by "foreign intelligence agencies and terrorists."

"If Linux is compromised, our defenses could be disabled, spied upon or commandeered," O'Dowd continued. "Everyday new code is added to Linux in Russia, China and elsewhere throughout the world. Everyday that code is incorporated into our command, control, communications and weapons systems. This must stop."

Several programmers on the Linux street are also giving O'Dowd some pushback. In a reader's forum on the LinuxDevices.com Web site, a developer who identified himself only as "Concerned citizen" posted a lengthy rebuttal. "[Linux] has features, security, and strengths that are not easily compromised by a foreign agency," he wrote. "Let's not forget that the terrorists that Mr. O'Dowd refers to used proprietary software for attacks on the USA. They have Windows machines and Flight Simulator, you might recall."

"Mr. O'Dowd makes the common mistake of confusing obscurity with security," said Ready. "Open Source is actually more secure than closed source proprietary software because the oversight of technology content is broader and deeper. Instead of just one company monitoring its own contributions — or potentially hiding security holes and exploits — a worldwide community of interested parties actually oversees Linux to make it strong and secure. That's why the NSA — the most security-conscious organization in the world — chose to standardize on Linux, and even supplies its own version of secure Linux."

Apparently the controversy AOL generated when they added Wild Tangent to their AOL Instant Messenger client wasn't enough. Users in our Security Forum point out the company is now bundling Weather Bug as well. Both Weatherbug and Wild Tangent are now installed by default unless you specify otherwise. Wild Tangent got under the skin of many users because the uninstallation process is a twenty four step nightmare that requires a blow-torch, some fishing line, and a team of highly trained archaeologists. One would think that software makers would learn a lesson from Real's popularity plunge, and try to keep the bloat to a minimum.

PlayFair is an integrated utility that removes the DRM from AAC music files protected by Apple's FairPlay encryption. Information is limited, but the source code is on SourceForge.net and it appears to actually remove the encryption itself and not simply hijack the QuickTime audio stream as earlier methods did. The cracking operation can only be done on songs the user has already has valid licenses for and requires either an iPod or a windows computer for key recovery.

A senior figure at the Department of Justice and the leader of the Senate have damned Mario Monti's judgement on Microsoft.

Hewitt Pate, head of antitrust at the Department of Justice, described the decision as "unfortunate" and said the restrictions put on Microsoft may have "unintended consequences".

Senate majority leader Bill Frist was no happier, described the decision as "preposterous", according to CNN. "I now fear that the US and the EU are heading toward a new trade war - and that the commission's ruling against Microsoft is the first shot," he said.