Microsoft News Tracker

The seriousness of the drive-by security flaw in animated cursor handling in all recent Windows versions that was revealed last week prompted Microsoft to today release an “out-of-band” patch instead of waiting until the regular Patch Tuesday next week. The patch also fixes some other security vulnerabilities as well. Download the appropriate version by following the link or just running Windows Update.

You may recall the furor ([1], [2]) over Microsoft’s decision not to make the new Expression family of design tools available to members of the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) based on the not always obvious distinction between “designers” and “developers.” Today, S. Somasegar (Microsoft Developer Division Corporate VP) revealed that Microsoft has taken the adverse reaction to heart and that some of the Expression tools will now be made available to some MSDN subscribers:

Based on this feedback, I am pleased to say that we will be making Expression Web available starting today to all MSDN Premium subscribers. We will also make Expression Blend available to MSDN Premium subscribers shortly after the Expression Studio release later in Q2 2007. Expression Blend and Expression Web are intended to help creative professionals collaborate with developers to create rich user experiences for the Web, Windows Vista applications and beyond, which means we need to make sure both tools are readily available to our developer community.

The decision extends to all MSDN Premium subscribers, including those with Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Team Edition’s. For customers that have premium subscriptions to Visual Studio Team Suite, we will be making the entire Expression Studio available to them.

You may be asking, what about Expression Design and Expression Media? Expression Blend and Expression Web are both designed to help creative professionals and developers work together to create rich user experiences for the Web, Windows Vista applications and beyond. As Expression Design and Expression Media are not directly intended for application development, we feel they fall outside the current scope of MSDN Subscriptions. We will be watching usage and collecting feedback of these expression products to help make further decisions in the future.

If it’s not entirely clear which level of MSDN subscription gets what, Joe Wilcox provides a nice chart.

A year ago I observed that Microsoft’s “Vista Capable” logo program for PC’s could be a problem for unwary consumers, but now it has turned into a legal problem for Microsoft as Todd Bishop reports at the Seattle PI:

A lawsuit alleges that Microsoft Corp. engaged in deceptive practices by letting PC makers promote computers as “Windows Vista Capable” even if they couldn’t run the new operating system’s “signature” features.

The proposed class action, which Microsoft disputes, was filed on behalf of personal-computer buyer Dianne Kelley of Camano Island. It focuses on efforts by Microsoft and computer makers to avoid a lull in PC sales by assuring consumers that the machines they were buying last year could run the delayed operating system upon its January release.

Machines carrying “Windows Vista Capable” stickers included those that only met the requirements for Windows Vista Home Basic — which lacks the “Aero” on-screen appearance, Media Center PC interface, Flip 3D window-switching and other features available in advanced Windows Vista versions.

“All the ‘wow’ stuff that Microsoft is selling and marketing is present in (Windows Vista Home) Premium, but it’s not present in Basic,” said Michael Rosenberger, one of the lawyers representing Kelley in the case.

Microsoft said Monday that the suit wrongly overlooks its efforts to make clear the differences between the different versions.

At the time I was also worried about whether the required Vista device drivers would ever show up for “Vista Capable” machines, but presumably that’s not actionable or too hard to explain to a jury. Anyhow, it should prove amusing to hear the contending attorneys parse the meaning of “Vista Capable.” Bishop has more details and a link to a copy of the complaint at his blog.