Back in the fall of 2006, McAfee, Symantec, and Check Point fumed as Microsoft Vista’s Security Center hid their products where only sophisticated and dedicated customers could dig them out. Not only that, Microsoft in effect hid its x64 kernel as well, putting it beyond the reach of advanced security products.

The issue was twofold: First, security vendors contended, there wasn’t good communication between Vista interfaces and their existing security products, and second, security products couldn’t effectively interface with the Vista kernel. Microsoft listened.

The same day as Microsoft announced Vista Service Pack 1 timing, Windows Server 2008 RTM was delayed.

Microsoft has now pushed back Windows Server 2008 release to manufacturing to the first quarter. Release to manufacturing had been expected by the end of this year. The change foreshadows that the new server software will not likely be broadly available for its scheduled Feb. 27, 2008 launch.

Security pros are warning that distributors of the Storm Trojan are now using a YouTube video to lure users.

Contained in emails with subject lines such as "sheesh man what are you thinking," the malicious link claims to go to YouTube.com, but actually goes to a URL harboring exploit code.

In the seven weeks since Microsoft announced that it intended to open a software development center in Vancouver, British Columbia, which it hoped would "be home to software developers from around the world," it may have gotten more than it bargained for.

In short, wrote Jenna Adorno, technical recruiter for MSN, on Microsoft’s JobsBlog on Aug. 22, "Vancouver has worn me out."

Since Adorno first announced the facility July 9, she wrote, she has been "swallowed up by the endless offers and questions around employment at the Microsoft Vancouver Development Centre," which was built to address international workers affected by an inability to obtain a U.S. H-1B visa that would have enabled them to work out of the company’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

United Online announced the launch of Video Mail, allowing NetZero and Juno users to add a personal video to an email that recipients can view without having to download the video.

Unlike some existing video email services, including instant messaging services, NetZero and Juno Video Mail is email agnostic. Members can easily send video emails to any email address in the world.

In this critical article, we provide our final analysis of our investigation into White House email. We make a series of six important recommendations. This is the article you need to read if you want this problem to be fixed.

Read this OutlookPower article.

Microsoft Office Accounting, financial management software for small businesses, and Microsoft Office Live, a Web-based service for small businesses, are teaming up with the City of Miami to provide free Office Accounting Express software and Web site training for small businesses, college professionals and budding entrepreneurs during the Economic Business Seminar as part of the ACCESS MIAMI initiative.

According to a study by Bizjournals, Miami is one of the country’s five best markets for small businesses. However, small businesses often lack easy and affordable software to help them manage their finances and build an online presence.

Microsoft Office Accounting and Office Live are teaming with the City of Miami to help empower business success by equipping students and entrepreneurs with tools and training.

Microsoft is working with state officials in Louisiana to offer Windows and Office software free for a year to small businesses still feeling the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Microsoft on Monday unveiled a new program, called the Software License Relief Program, in conjunction with the 2007 Hope & Recovery Summit, which is commemorating the second anniversary of both storms. Microsoft is working with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center to offer the program, which will launch next month and gives eligible small businesses access to software from Microsoft, including Windows and Office, free of charge for a year.

In the interest of making it easier for its people to reach each other even when they’re not online, Yahoo added the ability for users to send text or instant messages from a computer to a cell phone via Yahoo’s Web mail software.

Users of Yahoo Mail can now send free text messages to mobile phone numbers in the U.S., Canada, India, and the Philippines, and send IMs to users of Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

Saturday’s bizarre widespread WindowsGenuine "validation" failure is just another Microsoft penalty against legitimate customers. The failure meant that people activating/validating Windows Vista received notifications that their software is counterfeit.