If it didn't happen to you yet, then you can consider yourself lucky, but here's what I had to keep facing these last months - some of my "noobish" Yahoo contacts sent a mass message saying that "Yahoo had reached its user limit, and if you don't send the message to all your contacts, it will cost you $10.00 to re-activate your account." Yeah, sure, how could one be so mindless to believe such a think? There are also localized versions of the hoax, saying something about "Yahoo's president" and naming a person having no link with Yahoo, and so on, but that's not the reason that pushed me to write this, because Yahoo seems to have a user limit, after all...

Currently, I have about 250 contacts in my list, but I don't worry too much about the number, because there's a constant "natural selection" taking place. You can also take it as an advice, because purging your contacts list is very healthy, believe me! OK, here's what to do - when somebody sends you a stupid hoax/mass message like the ones I mentioned above, explain everything to him nicely, proving that only a monkey could believe such a thing(oh, yeah, I love those "James is a sick kid, if you send this message to all your contacts, his bank account will get a cent for each message sent" mass spams!), ignore him(her) when such a thing happens for the second time, but issue a fair warning, while third time it's block/delete!
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No, about the Yahoo Messenger user limit... After searching the Web, trying to find some official confirmation, I didn't manage to find anything clear, but some of my friends who are into marketing and have huge lists managed to enlighten me(thanks, buddies!), so now I am able to give you the right answer:

As we speak, the Yahoo Messenger user limit is 1,000 contacts, so don't forget to PURGE on a regular basis!

That's it, I hope today's piece of IT knowledge will help you in the future, or at least will manage to clear some things out for your general knowledge, right now.

Oh, no, Microsoft started to advertise for Linux! Well, it's not quite there just yet, but what else can you imagine when hearing that software can save you money? What kind of software can save you money, other than free software? I know, this is not the naked truth, but it's not that far from it, either. After all, doing a new series of ads entitled "It's Everybody's Business," but targeted at the corporate market isn't that brilliant...

...and that's exactly what Microsoft is doing now, with interviews with executives of huge companies like Coca-Cola and clothing retailer Quicksilver, talking on how good software keeps them competitive for the new Microsoft ads everybody is going to ignore after the first view.

According to Gayle Troberman, general manager of Microsoft's advertising and customer engagement team, "We think software can provide one of the biggest competitive advantages, and that’s especially critical now when a lot of companies are struggling just to keep the lights on. Investing in the right solutions can help organizations cut costs, improve productivity, fuel innovation, and stay ahead of the competition. Those differentiators become even more important when a company’s customers begin scrutinizing their purchases." Purchases...or maybe - even better - free software picks?
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Wait, there's one more cherry on top of Microsoft's cake! "Microsoft provides a range of technologies for our business customers that allow people to do more — to collaborate more, to innovate faster, to be more efficient. Our first business campaign worked well in getting people to understand what they can do with software, but with this campaign we’re taking that a step further and getting more specific about how the products empower people to make an impact."

"First business campaign???" Who still remembers that one? To be honest, Microsoft's advertising efforts in the last years have been absolutely pathetic, so there's nothing to remember. What they should do is concentrate on the next Windows version so they get it right. If they manage to release a "new Vista," it may be their last one...

One more for the show, ladies and gents! It seems that Microsoft will issue only one Security Bulletin next Tuesday, but this will be followed by a webcast trying to address customer questions on the bulletin the following day (January 13 at 11:00 AM PST). I say "trying" because I am sure you can't make everyone happy, especially when you're the almighty Microsoft talking about a security issue rated as "Critical" to your customers...


This vulnerability got its "Critical" label because allows a remote code execution impact, so a hacker could potentially gain control of an infected machine as a result. The patch will require a restart, as usual, and the list of affected operating configurations includes Windows 2000, Windows XP (x86 and x64), Windows Server 2003 (x86 and x64), Windows Vista (x86 and x64), and Windows Server 2008 (x86 and x64).
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The good part is that Office, Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player won't get any update this time, so no new problems have been discovered... or the old ones are still being fixed, it doesn't really matter. After all, if you want ultimate security, nothing stops you from switching, don't you think?

According to the above, the new Microsoft security bulletin will only include the "Bulletin 1: Critical (Remote Code Execution), Windows" item, although some minor patches are expected to drop by, as you can see on the Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for January 2009 page.