I got a flurry of e-mails today from colleagues, newsletters, etc. giving away some interesting information about the latest Microsoft-related news.  Among the latest rumors are the following:

  • Another IE flaw was discovered: this one discovered by US-CERT, which warned users that the security breach could allow hackers to take charge of a computer via a Web page or HTML email message. Thus far, IE version 6.0 exposes users running Windows XP with SP1. Users that instealled SP2 are apparently not vulnerable. There has not been any patch as of yet. Bottom line: download and install SP2!
  • MS Office 12 is expected to hit the market in July 2006: this release will probably hit beta2 sometime in the end of 2005, with beta1 expected late next summer.  New content for this version will include features such as an Excel calculation server, an updated SharePoint portal server, and a new content management server.  MicrosoftWatch claims that the Office 12 charting application will potentially use Avalon, the Windows presentation subsystem that Microsoft is building as part of Longhorn.
  • Microsoft keeps the Linux debate with Novell: check out Novell's response to Steve Ballmer's comments, posted to Linux Electrons.
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