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Microsoft is due to launch Office System 2003 later today in New York and across the world. Bill Gates will be making his usual KeyNote speech along with lots of interviews with customers/OEMs etc.

Neowin will be covering the event from London at the press launch of Office System 2003. We aim to keep you up to date with everything and to provide you with a full review of the Office 2003 System at a later date. Stay tuned and don't forget to watch Bill :D

Video: Video Bill Gates KeyNote Speech 56K | 100K | 300K 11:00 EST/16:00 GMT/17:00 CET
Download: Download Producer For PowerPoint 2003
Download: Download Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Evaluation
View: Order Microsoft Office System Trial Software
View: View Office 2003 Box Shots
View: View Microsoft Office System Overview

A pilot project for London boroughs, London Connections Warp (LCWarp) will be rolled out to local authorities nationwide in April. The scheme could then extend to the private sector through chambers of commerce, according to government adviser Jeremy Ward of security firm Symantec. The government is to fund the local authority Warps, but any private sector scheme would be financed through corporate sponsorship.

Mark Brett, LCWarp programme manager, said the Warp scheme meant alerts were likely to be taken more seriously. He added that early tests showed managers often responded to Warp advisories even though they had ignored previous warnings on the same matters from their own staff.

Linked to international warning bodies, including Cert, the Warp units will provide threat assessments and statistical data, and will identify trends and new vulnerabilities in an effort to stop attacks spreading.

Each unit's staff will be familiar with the needs of the community it serves, to ensure only relevant warnings are passed on to members. Warps could serve large individual organisations with many branches and customers, or focus on geographical areas, trade groups, or specific sectors, such as online banking customers.

Current government efforts rely on the Unified Incident Reporting and Alert Scheme (Uniras) run by the government's computer emergency response team.

But at present this system only offers threat data to government departments, agencies and - in some cases - suppliers, and critical national infrastructure organisations, such as emergency services and firms in the financial sector.

The London pilot team is working with Microsoft to develop an online reporting system, which is due to launch by Christmas.