MJT Net Ltd announced that it has released Macro Scheduler version 9.0, which "works with" Windows Vista. Macro Scheduler is a powerful application for automating repetitive Windows tasks and eliminating processing bottlenecks. Before Macro Scheduler, computer users had to spend endless hours working through mundane manual software procedures. With Macro Scheduler, non-programmers can use the application’s intuitive interface to develop powerful routines that provide automated computer solutions, in hours rather than months. Business users can solve their own computer-related problems, without depending upon their overworked IT departments.

The popular online hangout MySpace said Monday it will experiment with a video-filtering system designed to block clips containing copyright materials. MySpace is licensing technology from Audible Magic, which late last year obtained rights to a system for scanning video clips and looking for signature vectors–such as a unique digital fingerprint–to compare with vectors stored in a database.

A group of major media companies has accused Google of benefiting from the sale of pirated movies and providing business support to two Web sites suspected of offering access to illegal film downloads, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday. The media companies, which the paper said include News Corp., Viacom Inc., Sony Corp., General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co., allege that Google deliberately directed traffic to Web sites that were engaged in fostering piracy, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. Google told the studios on Friday it would implement new procedures to prevent recurrences, the Journal said.

To some, Windows Vista is Microsoft’s most secure operating system ever. To others, it’s the most Mac-like. But from a developer standpoint, it’s the first proving ground for Microsoft’s new family of managed programming interfaces that have been under development for the past five years.

The launch of Microsoft Office 2007 is likely to turn malicious hackers’ attention to other desktop applications, experts have warned. They are likely to begin focusing more attention on looking for vulnerabilities in software such as Adobe Systems’ Acrobat Reader, security experts said at the RSA Conference 2007.

Proposion Software has released Proposion Portal Migrator 3.0, a tool for advanced migration of complex Lotus Notes application content into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3. According to the company, Proposion Portal Migrator drastically reduces the cost and effort required for an end-user organization or system integrator to accomplish migration of both standard and customized Notes applications.

lynda.com, the company that has specialized in self-paced training in digital media and design for over a decade, introduced Word 2007 Essential Training, Outlook 2007 Essential Training, Excel 2007 Essential Training, and PowerPoint 2007 Essential Training. These four new Office 2007 training tutorials cover the applications’ attributes in depth, from the newly designed interfaces to advanced timesaving features.

JNetDirect announced a distribution partnership with Sonasoft Corporation. Sonasoft is a provider of automated backup and disaster recovery software solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, JNetDirect will distribute and support Sonasoft’s SonaSafe for SQL Server to JNetDirect’s over 3000 customers. SonaSafe provides automated disk-to-disk backup and recovery via a user-friendly point-and-click interface. Network administrators can manage multiple databases through a single console and apply single-click recovery commands.

Microsoft reported that it will ship a dozen security bulletins, including five updates meant to fix critical Windows flaws, as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday updating process on Feb. 13. The software giant indicated that it will deliver its largest array of security updates in a single month since it addressed 12 individual product flaws in August 2006. Microsoft plans to patch at least five issues in its Windows operating systems that have been ranked critical, its most severe vulnerability rating, and to address an additional pair of critical flaws in its Office productivity suite.

More information is leaking out about the content of the comments, complaints and formal contradictions that 19 countries submitted to the International Standards Organization under the fast-track approval process for Microsoft’s Office Open XML format. Office Open XML was approved as a standard by Ecma International in December 2006, and in early January that standards body began the fast-track process for adoption of the format as an ISO international standard. During the 30-day comment period that followed, the national standards body of 19 ISO member countries commented, complained or issued formal contradictions.