Vista & Longhorn Server’s “Improved” Security

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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“Windows Vista is the most secure Windows ever!” — or so Microsoft claims. That’s not much of a boast however, I mean, if an operating system doesn’t get more secure as it progresses and evolves, there is certainly something fishy going on. So we weren’t too impressed by those claims in particular. But that doesn’t mean Vista isn’t actually secure (especially when compared to the competition). In fact, Windows Vista’s end-user security is down-right excellent, as we reviewed it back when RC1 came out.

“So what’s the problem?” Windows “Longhorn” Server is!

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YouTube Today, Digg Tomorrow?

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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So YouTube is gone. Google “snapped it up” as everyone is calling one of Google’s biggest all-stock buy-outs to date. It wouldn’t surprise us if 2006 became known as the “Year of the Mergers” with all of the big corporate buy-outs, merges, and transfers. But as always, yesterday’s today’s news makes people ask “What next?”

If we had to guess, we’d say Digg. All the tell-tale signs of Digg scrambling for the last dollar are there, and just like YouTube, it has a pattern. But in order to talk about Digg, you have to take a look at YouTube first.

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Zune, Microsoft, & DRM: What’s all the Fuss About?

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Someone help us out here. Since when does a bit of news about ‘crippled’ wi-fi activity and slightly-restricted file-sharing on a device make us lose all self-respect and denounce the product as hopeless?

Are we the only ones that how that every single MP3/Audio player to date has been successfully stripped of its firmware, souped-up, then published as a how-to on the web? But all that is besides the point: there is no evidence right now that indicates the need for anything as drastic.

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An Argument for Full Disclosure

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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NeoSmart Technologies is a big proponent of Full Disclosure when dealing with security vulnerabilities. Many coders and general online denizens think that’s not a very nice thing to do – that it creates more harm than it helps; but if you look at the alternatives it becomes obvious that not only is Full Disclosure not an extreme view/course of action but rather the only real middle ground there is for dealing with 0-day flaws.

When a person, group, or company discovers a security flaw in a product or service, they have a range of means to communicate this flaw to the outside world. On one side of the scale, most companies explicitly ask that such discoveries be treated with the utmost confidence and not spoken of until they have released a patch. Then you have Full Disclosure wherein the finders reveal any and all associated information, exploits, fixes, and workarounds. At the the very other end are the self-beneficiaries that attempt to sell or else use the exploits for their own self-aggrandizement.

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IntelliPoint, IntelliType, and DigitalPersona Officially on Windows Vista!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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For the millions out there have viewed and used NeoSmart Technologies guide to getting IntelliPoint and IntelliType on Windows Vista there’s finally hope. And for those that have complained about Microsoft’s DigitalPersona fingerprint reader not working on Vista, it finally does. This week Microsoft released two “mini-betas” for these programs, and they actually work.

NeoSmart Technologies had the opportunity to test both of these driver installer + configuration utilities, and so far, we haven’t run into anything serious with either. It never made sense that Microsoft’s most popular line of hardware shouldn’t be supported this far in, but now it officially is.

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Apple’s Two Choices

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Apple Computer Corp.Ever since Apple Computer Corporation [[AAPL]] decided to switch to the Intel platform, the online world’s been abuzz. Besides the hackers that put OS X on the normal PC, and those that put Windows on the iMac (which NeoSmart Technologies was proudly a leading factor in), it caused quite a stir in the business world. It meant that Apple was once again radically changing its business model to appeal to a bigger number of people.

Not even six months later, Apple had written and released their dual-booting platform to allow users to put Windows on their iMacs and/or MacBooks with much excitement and to general applause. And along the way it raised a very important question: Does Apple primarily sell the hardware or the software?

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Windows Vista and Firewire: The Missing Drivers

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Firewire was first introduced by Apple Computers Corporation back in the (very) late 90s. It was ahead of its time by leaps and bounds, with peak transfer rates of up to 400mbps, something literally unheard of and unimaginable in the world of serial & parallel ports and the occasional “fast” 11mbps USB 1.0 interface.

When Apple introduced it with its DV-camcorders and demanding portable media players with in-built support on Mac OS (before NeXtOS); Windows, Linux, and the rest of the gang were quick to catch on with pre-packaged Firewire driver support. But apparently not Vista.

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Windows Vista Build 5728 Released

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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3 weeks to the day after the Sep. 1st release of Windows Vista RC1, Microsoft has let another build out. Windows Vista Build 5728 is an IDX build (which technically has no meaning at this point – a certain level of stability has been reached) and the first in the RTM-branches. Generally speaking, this means nothing as far as stability, looks, or performance go; since most of these are supposed to be fixed/shut in RC1, but Microsoft has proven many times that it makes many changes to theh external appearance somewhere in between the final public build and RTM.

Windows Vista Build 5728 only indicates one thing: there will be no RC2. This is RTM-branches, and just like build 5536 was indicative of an RC1 down the line, this means we’ve come really close to the end of the line. The 3-week interval is reminiscent of Windows XP and Windows 2000 builds close to RTM: regular releases, tiny changes, and mass deployment.

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The Windows Vista Monster Review

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Windows Vista RC1 (screenshots!) was released this week with great fanfare. Coming after the highly-successful pre-RC1 build 5536, it had quite a lot of high expectations, and it certainly exceeded quite a few of them. In a word, Windows Vista RC1 is too good to be true. If it wasn’t for the pre-RC1 build, we wouldn’t be able to believe it. The last non-RC1 branches build we receive, build 5472, was a mess. It lacked a sense of completion, it crashed, it was buggy, and it was huge. RC1 couldn’t be further from that harsh reality.

Windows Vista Build 5600 is release candidate, and comes close to the meaning of that word. Generally speaking, an RC build is “ready for release” unless major bugs come up. With Vista or any other OS, there are bound to be quite a few major bugs left by RC1, and it’s the way the company handles them that matters more than anything else. And with Vista, we’re really impressed. We can finally present a honest look at what Vista will be. This isn’t just RC1 being reviewed, this is Vista.

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The Real Way to Look at Vista

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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First, no matter what way you look at it, Windows Vista isn’t just an upgrade to Windows XP! Everywhere you look, critics are looking at Windows and saying “Yep, it’s definitely a big improvement over XP. OMG! It has better security than its predecessor, and even a nicer GUI!”

In the history of computers, and “upgrade” has never been termed as a “version released later of a program or platform” but rather “an improved version following the original release of…” and that’s important. Windows Vista is supposed to be better than XP in every single way. That’s not a competition, it’s a given. Microsoft has Windows XP’s source code, and if they can’t figure out how to make it a better OS than the first one, then we’re in deep trouble.

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