Joanna Rutkowska, senior security researcher for COSEINC, a Singapore-based IT security company, is to demonstrate new kernel attacks against the latest Windows Vista x64 builds, including ways to defeat Trusted Platform Module/BitLocker protection.

Several states are looking to move over to some kind of open document format and use more opensource software such as OpenOffice for their productivity purposes and possibly Linux as their desktop OS. Perhaps Linux has a place in the office but in my opinion it still does not have a place in homes. Microsoft does not want any of this to happen, imagine what would happen if the world started using OpenOffice as for me, I like the glitz and glamour of Office 2007.

Time and again we were told by Microsoft that Vista is the most secure operating system the company has ever produced. But just recently, Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich is lowering the security expectations built into Vista. So, what’s the truth about Vista security?

There are those who believe, really believe in completely open source software, nothing proprietary and it’s a dream, it’s here but for most users it’s just a dream or not a concern at all. It’s Ubuntu versus Vista in everything from installing the operating system to configuring devices and installing drivers and which one comes out on top.

Vista’s security code is much better than the Mac’s, according to the winner of the $10K hack challenge.

ReadyBoost is a technology present within Vista that uses flash drives like USB Memory sticks to boost performance on systems with low amounts of memory (512MB to 1GB). Using ReadyBoost on systems with 1.5GB to 2GB will see marginal improvements but it’s nothing ground breaking. This is NOT the same as buying more memory for the system; it’s more of a stop-gap measure.

Despite the fact we were told that Windows Vista would be much more secure than Windows XP, Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich is lowering the security expectations built into Vista, particularly User Account Control (UAC).

Windows users have become quite envious of the visual effects that can be accomplished on Linux in various distros through the use of something called Beryl, which rivals even the effects found in Vista. One of Beryl’s effects is a 3D virtual desktop cube which gives you access to four different “desktops” where each can have their own programs running without showing on the other. This can also be accomplished in Vista or XP.

Microsoft announced that its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 65%, helped by stronger than expected sales of Windows Vista and Office 2007, and by upgrade coupons for the operating system issued over the holidays.

We’ve all heard the stories and even called them rumors at some points but it’s not just stories and rumors, these situations are real, very real, almost too real. Many have complained about the new Vista licensing scheme, I’m not going to defend it but until today my thoughts were “how bad could it be?” It’s bad, it’s real bad.

Microsoft has released the April 2007 Cumulative Update for Windows Vista Media Center, which resolves several issues and contains several improvements, for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.

Vista is a pretty secure operating system, perhaps not as secure as Linux or OSX simply because those operating systems have almost no exploits. But as far Windows goes, Vista is as secure as it gets and I mean that in a good way. You may remember the ANI flaw that affected all versions of Windows including Vista, well; the ANI flaw didn’t do exactly what it was supposed to do because of Vista’s security features though it did cause problems. Vista is safe for now says Computer World.

Microsoft today published guidelines on how people testing beta and release candidate (RC) versions of Windows Vista can shift to the final code. Likewise, the company warned that after May 31, customers who continue to use pre-release versions of Windows Vista will only be able to log in for 2-hour sessions to retrieve data until August 28 only. After which, users will not be able to log in at all.

After many reports were floating around that Microsoft only sold 244 copies of Vista in China, it is saying “not so fast.” It is now being reported by the propaganda machine in Redmond that Vista has sold many more than 244 copies and the sales figures for Vista in China and the globe are “pleasing.” As reported by MacNN.

Nvidia, maker of graphics card, may be facing a class-action lawsuit over the “Designed for Windows Vista” claim on its 8800 graphics card series which was release before Windows Vista was officially released.