Remember Windows XP SP3? You don't? Well, basically there's nothing to remember, but I guess we all heard someone talking about "Windows XP SP3" but, in most cases, they had some illegal Windows version patched with the latest updates(see the screenshot below), and simply entitled "SP3". Today, the time has finally come to talk about the real thing!


According to unofficial reports, Microsoft should release Windows XP SP3 in the second half of April, so this should be considered just a rumor, but the interesting part is that TechARP.com, the Malaysian website that managed to predict Vista's SP1 RTM date last month, is the news source once again, so chances to see this happening are pretty solid.

As TechARP says, Windows XP SP3 should arrive first in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, while versions in the remaining supported languages should become available about 3 weeks later.

For now, Microsoft didn't confirm these dates, their only answer being "We are targeting 1H [first half] 2008 for the release of XP SP3 RTM, though our timing will always be based on customer feedback as a first priority," so we should wait for the official confirmation.

Anyway, the 3rd service pack of Windows XP should be the last one before the system's demise, scheduled for June 30, when Windows XP will disappear from resellers and the retail list, while on the 31st of January, 2009, our goold, old OS will be pulled back from all distribution channels, including system builders.

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Security... yes, indeed, security, that's the keyword of the day. It's not the fact that I've been fighting a Trojan horse for a few hours today, just to finish - as a winner, fortunately - a battle I started yesterday, but that Microsoft announced everyone to be very careful when working with Word documents, because nasty things may happen...


In this security advisory, Microsoft wrote they are currently "investigating new public reports of very limited, targeted attacks using a vulnerability in the Microsoft Jet Database Engine that can be exploited through Microsoft Word", but the worst part of the deal is that, if successfull, the attacker "could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less affected than users who operate with administrative user rights".

Most Windows versions are vulnerable, and while currently Microsoft is investigating an exploit for Word, other documents could also be used to carry on attacks, so if you're not running Vista or Windows Server 2003 SP2, your Word 2007, 2003, 2002, or 2000 may be the path for malicious code to enter your computer.

These being said, until Microsoft releases a patch to the problem, be sure only to work with documents from reliable sources, so check and double check every document you're using, because the time you may think to lose now won't be wasted on trying to get your PC back on its feet, later...

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Without having any doubt, I can say that Microsoft Office is the ruler of the office software market, but anything can change, and it seems its time is near. Why? Well, OpenOffice has been around for a while, and despite the fact it can be used with a pretty high degree of success to replace Microsoft Office, it still falls behind the Redmond-based software package. With each version, OpenOffice got better and faster, and according to latest reports, OpenOffice 3.0 will finally surpass Microsoft Office!


<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->In most cases, for me, "seeing is believeing", so I will be sure of the fact that OpenOffice is better than Microsoft Office when I'll have it up & running on my computer. Just as a confession, I am currently using OpenOffice and I am very happy with it, but I must admit that Microsoft Office is still the king, but only for those that need more than just basic office tasks, and let's not forget about document compatibility issues! Well...

...for now, the OpenOffice team is working on the 2.4 release, but details on the next bullet point release started to pop up on various developers' blogs, and I was very pleased to find out that the new start screen is going to be easier to understand, while the Writer application will be overhauled to better compete with Microsoft Word.

While Writer will be able to display pages side by side, allowing notes to be added in the margins, just like in Word, the Calc spreadsheet application will feature a lot of small tweaks to improve usability (I really hope they are going to work hard on using the same shortcuts as in Excel, because I've been helping someone to move from Excel to Calc...and it wasn't a smooth ride for either sides!).

The most interesting part is that OpenOffice won't use the interface solution that Microsoft chosen for the last Office suite, and I am very happy to hear that. I will be even more happy when I'll see it, but for now, I must tell you that I am one of those that really hate what Microsoft did with the interface of their latest Office version, but I must also confess that I don't like how OpenOffice looks now, as we speak.

Just as usual, time will tell, and we'll be there to tell you all there is to know when more details about this topic emerge, hopefully some early Alpha version, if not even a first Beta...

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Are you afraid of attacks coming from the Internet? Well, you should be, as long as you're not taking the required security measures, but we'll talk about them a bit later. Now, let's see why is everyone talking about attacks these days, because when there is smoke, there should also be some fire somewhere, don't you agree?


Earlier this month, McAfee's AVERT labs claimed 10,000 pages using Microsoft's Active Server Pages(ASP) were infected by using SQL injection. Only a few days later, Neil Carpenter, an employee at Microsoft, detected an additional 14,000 maliciously-modified Web pages!

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop here - following the previous attacks, McAfee reported more than 200,000 Web pages infected by an automated attack against phpBB-based sites! The problem is not that some page will have a message like "hacked by dArK", but that some attacks are leading to data loss - an that includes personal information, password, even credit card info in some cases.

Now, let's finish by talking a little about those security measures I was talking earlier. First of all, if you are a system administrator, I am sure you know what to do; if you don't, then quit that job and go wash some cars for a living. The big problem is that most regular users think their passwords are secure, and their computer is absolutely safe. Well, they are not. Here are my advices...

1. Never use passwords that you can remember!
2. Never keep your passwords in plain text files on your hard drive - use some USB stick or other portable memory to keep all your passwords on, and be sure to keep that as close to you as possible!
3. Use a firewall, an antivirus and an antispyware solution.
4. If you're not sure about a site's reliability, don't store any password or personal data on it!
5. At last, never use the same password twice!

I hope the above will help you stay safe, because Websites won't suddenly cease being vulnerable, and those attacking them won't grow tired anytime soon of finding new exploits and using them!

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Tech centers seem to pop up like mushrooms after the rain everywhere, but I am sure no country in the world has so many high-tech plants as Taiwan has, and the numbers keep growing... For example, one of the very hot news today is saying that Microsoft and HP have plans of developing a brand new tech centre in - where else? - Taiwan!


For now, Microsoft has 16 technology centers in the world, including in Dubai, France or Bangalore, and the new center built together with HP in Taiwan will be the 17th one. Both Microsoft and HP expect the new centre to generate $83 million worth of sales in the next 5 years.

"Microsoft and HP solution centers will help advance the technology of our Taiwanese business partners and corporate clients," said John Knutsen, Director of Global Microsoft Technology Center.

Despite the global economic slowdown, especially in the US, Microsoft said its business wasn't affected, especially because its position in emerging markets such as China, India or Russia is helping a lot.

At last, HP is also looking forward with hope, expecting quarterly revenues to beat forecasts, and keeping their eyes on the emerging markets, too...

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