As usual we try to bring you the round-up of the week as seen by Paul Thurrott who this week focuses on the Anti-Trust settlements and wheeling and dealings of Microsoft in the past week. Later than usual on our part, but worth a read all the same. Here are 2 to get you started off:
Microsoft Interactive TV Pilot Program Goes Haywire
Microsoft has delayed its first Interactive TV pilot program, scheduled to go online this week in Portugal, because of technical problems. Adding to the program"s problems is the lack of subscribers--Microsoft expected about 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year; the actual number is only 2500 subscribers. The service (if it ever gets off the ground) will let users read email, bank, shop, play games, and place bets through a set-top box running Microsoft software. The box will also provide Ultimate TV-style features, such as pausing live TV.
Only Microsoft ...
... could make a Media Player application that poses a security risk. The company is recommending that users of Windows Media Player (WMP) 6.4, 7.x, and Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) download a security patch that plugs a vulnerability in the way these players interact with Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) files. MPXP users can automatically download the patch through the latest Critical Update download on Windows Update; other users need to manually download a patch from the Microsoft Web site.