Microsoft News Tracker

In today’s Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft issued two security updates, one of which was deemed “critical.” That one, MS05-054, is a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer which provides four fixes, including one for a bug that permitted drive-by malicious downloads. Microsoft did not, however, fix the cross site scripting flaw that had briefly exposed Google Desktop until Google did a workaround.

Available as usual via Microsoft Update or Windows Update or the enterprise equivalents.

That’s the title of Steve Hamm’s analysis at BusinessWeek Online:

Peter Yared, CEO of software maker ActiveGrid, spent a critical chapter of his career steeped in Java, the programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. In the late 1990s, Yared was chief technology officer of NetDynamics, which pioneered an application server designed to boost the performance of Web sites. It was based squarely on then wildly popular Java. He went on to spend five years as an executive at Sun. So it’s especially surprising that Yared holds this view: “Java is a dinosaur.”

But Yared has good reason for thinking that way. His two-year-old company sells what he calls a “next generation” application server, used to build Web sites and corporate applications, that doesn’t rely on Java. Instead, it’s tied to open-source software packages, including the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database, and a collection of so-called scripting languages that all start with the letter P — Perl, Python, and PHP. Hence the acronym LAMP.

Yared says developers far and wide are creating a new generation of Internet-based applications with LAMP and related technologies rather than with Java. Can it possibly be that Java — once the hippest of hip software — has become a legacy technology, as old and out of style as IBM’s (IBM) mainframe computers and SAP’s corporate applications? Mounting evidence points to yes.

Hit the link for more, but there are a variety of indications that LAMP and .NET are gaining share while Java is declining. Not everyone agrees, of course.

On the heels of the deal just announced to expand MSN Mobile offerings in China, Microsoft announced an expansion of MSN services for cellphone users in India. Press release:

MSN, a leading online destination featuring more than 360 million users worldwide, and Mobile 365, the global leader in mobile messaging and data services, today extend their relationship in Asia by forging strategic mobile alliances with five mobile operators in India.

These five mobile operators include Reliance Infocomm entities — Reliance IndiaMobile (RIM) and Reliance GSM, with a total of over 15 million CDMA and GSM subscribers; Tata Teleservices, one of India’s premier mobile and fixed service providers present in over 1,400 towns across 20 circles of the country, with over 7 million CDMA subscribers; and Spice Punjab and Spice Karnataka, both entities of Spice Telecom, which combined have more than 1.5 million GSM subscribers.

Under the agreements, users of MSN Hotmail will have the option to receive email sent to their MSN Hotmail accounts via SMS on their mobile phones — anytime and anywhere they are. They will also be able to reply to those email messages directly to the sender’s inbox using SMS, as well as perform other common tasks directly from their phone.

A year ago, MSN inked an agreement in India with the providers Airtel and BPL.

I did an update on the Blu-ray/HD DVD format wrangle yesterday, but the good news just keeps coming for Blu-ray and correspondingly, the bad news for Microsoft’s favorite, HD DVD.

Toshiba to Delay HD DVD Player Launch:

Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday copy protection issues would delay the Japan launch of the first players supporting its HD DVD format, the latest development in the high-stakes battle for the next generation of video discs.

Players will not hit the Japanese market until details of a copy protection system for the players are worked out, Toshiba said in a statement, reversing its earlier intention to roll out the first players in Japan by the end of the year. Toshiba did not give a specific release date.

But the company said it would continue to push for a U.S. launch early next year.

The delay brings the launch of the HD DVD, jointly developed by Toshiba and NEC Corp., closer to the expected debut of its main competitor, the Blu-ray disc, which is backed by Sony Corp.

And that disspates one of the advantages of the HD DVD format. There’s more at BetaNews.

Meanwhile in the Blu-ray camp - TDK Readies Blu-ray Disc Production:

TDK has begun producing samples of recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Disc bare media for consumer use, the company says.

Until now, commercial Blu-ray Disc media has come in a protective cartridge but the Blu-ray Disc Association is finalizing a specification for bare discs. In anticipation of this, TDK has begun test manufacturing such discs on a line at its plant in Chikumagawa in Japan’s Nagano prefecture.

The discs make use of a TDK-developed hard protective coating. This coating minimizes scratches to their surface and allows the use of discs without cartridges.

They don’t expect the final bare disc specification until next year.

Press release:

Dec. 13, 2005 — MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, Inc., and Microsoft Corp. today announced that they have collaborated on the design and development of MTV Networks’ forthcoming digital music service called URGE. Set to debut in 2006, URGE will provide an immersive music experience and will be integrated into a forthcoming version of the Microsoft® Windows Media® Player. The collaboration unites MTV Networks’ music DNA, marketing strengths and powerful MTV, VH1 and CMT brands with the technology leadership and consumer reach of Microsoft.

URGE will offer rich entertainment programming and innovative tools designed to guide musical discovery and connect fans to the artists and music they love. Offering more than 2 million songs from the major labels and thousands of independents, URGE will encompass all musical genres, from alt-country to zydeco. In addition to a broad catalogue of music choices, URGE will deliver a deep well of exclusive MTV Networks programming and original, hand-crafted content.

The rest of the press release is filled with some truly remarkable PR-speak, but details are few and far between. The punchline seems to be:

Upon its debut next year, URGE will be promoted through multiple venues, including the MTV, VH1 and CMT channels, which on average collectively reach more than 165 million U.S. viewers, as well as through the respective brands’ Web sites and URGE.com. Additional details of the new service will be unveiled in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

CES is Jan. 5-8 in Las Vegas.