Playing on Apple’s past "Switch" ad campaign, which was aimed at getting Windows users to migrate to Apple’s Mac OS X-based computers, a few longtime Mac and open-source gurus are vocally publicizing their switch away from Apple’s platform to more open-source solutions. Though the practical impact is impossible to gauge, their arguments have been making waves.

A weakness in how Office applications handle Macromedia Flash files exposes Microsoft customers to cyberattacks, experts have warned. Flash files embedded in Office documents could run and execute code without any warning, Symantec said in an alert sent to customers on Thursday. The security issue is the third problem reported within a week that affects Microsoft Office users.

It was only a few years ago that parents were cautioning their children not to set off into technology careers; the recession after the boom years shattered the sheen on the field, which no longer seemed a safe place to invest one’s future. While these fears have been far from assuaged, tales of America’s IT demise now seem more greatly exaggerated. IT execs are raking in more than ever, smaller tech markets are blooming across the country, and the field boasts growth despite a slowing market.

A private security company has found a way to nuke the controversial callback component in Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool. Firewall Leak Tester, a company that provides tools to test the quality of personal firewall software, has released a utility called RemoveWGA that blocks Microsoft from "phoning home" from Windows PCs on a daily basis. "Once the WGA Notification tool has checked your OS and has confirmed you had a legit copy, there is no decent point or reason to check it again and again every boot," the company said in a note explaining its motive for releasing the tool.

Microsoft and CareerBuilder.com have joined forces to help people find work in the Web and application development areas. The two companies are collaborating to help job seekers who are looking to get jobs in Web and application development or change careers by providing tools and resources to learn programming skills. Microsoft will provide visitors to CareerBuilder.com with access to the software maker’s Visual Studio Express and SQL Server Express editions, in addition to other career development resources from Microsoft Learning. For its part, CareerBuilder.com will offer service discounts to Visual Studio Express users.

sqlSentry, a leading developer of management solutions for Microsoft SQL Server, announced the release of sqlSentry Standard Edition. This new product includes core functionality from sqlSentry Enterprise Edition for the small- to medium- size business. It enables DBAs in those organizations to better manage and optimize their SQL Server environments, and at a lower price point. Building on sqlSentry’s success in the enterprise marketplace, this new product extends its core functionality to a dynamically growing segment of the overall SQL Server marketplace.

Genie-Soft announced the release of Genie Backup Manager Pro 7.0, the newest version of its backup software. The first and only product to seamlessly combine offsite, disk-based and tape-based backup and recovery, creating a complete and fully automated data protection system.

DataViz announced that RoadSync, its Exchange ActiveSync client, is now available for S60 3rd Edition devices, including Nokia’s new E-Series and N-Series smartphones. Based on the Exchange ActiveSync protocol licensed from Microsoft, RoadSync provides secure, wireless and direct push synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 for a variety of mobile devices. With the addition of this newly supported platform, DataViz’ RoadSync is now available for five of the most popular mobile platforms: S60 3rd Edition, UIQ, Series 80, Palm OS and Java MIDP 2.0. Support for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition is also planned for later this year.

In the past week, the count of high-profile Microsoft veterans who are either leaving the Redmond software coop (or being pushed involuntarily) has been mounting. The latest addition to the departure list is Ted Hase, one of the four original Xbox team members and co-creator of the Microsoft Media Center PC concept.

Last week’s Email Etiquette article, "10 bonehead mistakes PR people make when they send email" apparently awakened deep feelings among certain reader. In this installment of our Letters to the Editor column, we publish two letters from readers who found the material helpful and one really fun letter who found the article "deeply offensive". Seriously. You gotta stick around and read this one!

Read this OutlookPower article.