Operating systems

Microsoft warned today of a Windows vulnerability that could allow an attacker to take control of a computer if the user is logged on with administrative rights.

To be successful, an attacker would have to send an e-mail with an attached Microsoft Word or PowerPoint file containing a specially crafted thumbnail image and convince the recipient to open it, Microsoft said in its advisory, which also contains information on workarounds.

An attacker also could place the malicious image file on a network share and potential victims would have to browse to the location in Windows Explorer.

The flaw, which is … Read more

Google unleashed the Chrome OS on the world today, shipping it in a limited-edition prototype laptop outfitted with the kind of hardware and specs that it expects manufacturers to use with the browser-based operating system. Chrome OS represents a major step forward for cloud computing, with single-serving Web sites getting rebranded as easy-access apps and the nascent HTML5 underpinning the whole show.

It's far from perfect, though. Not all of Chrome-the-browser's extensions run on Chrome-the-OS, and although it boots and wakes fast, it lags in other areas. At the end of the day, it's a souped-up Netbook, … Read more

Although you can download beta, unbranded versions of Google's nascent operating system now, Chrome OS won't be ready for mainstream use until the middle of 2011. That doesn't mean we can't show you some of what to expect. Check out this gallery for an early look at the cloud-based operating system.

The Google Chrome Web Store, which went live today, is a big gift to Web developers: it's a marketplace, like Apple's iOS App Store and Google's Android Market, that lets developers put their apps in a place where users and buyers are likely to be looking for them. It also collects money on developers' behalves.

Unlike most of the apps for iOS or Android, developers don't really have to program a new app for the Google Web Store to get it into the market. Especially in this early stage of the store, many of the "… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The Chrome OS hardware Google promised in July of last year is still not ready for prime time. But if you're a developer or an eager early adopter, you're in luck.

At an event today here in the city's Dogpatch neighborhood Google showed us the not-yet-finished hardware that will run Chrome OS. It's called Cr-48, and it's not much to look at: a plain, black, unbranded notebook that companies and individual users who are accepted into Google's pilot program can use.

The actual Chrome OS notebooks that normal people can buy, from Samsung … Read more

Google could finally be ready to shed a little more light on the progress of its Chrome OS project.

The company sent out invitations to an event next Tuesday, December 7, in San Francisco "where we plan to share some exciting news about Chrome," according to a copy of the invitation. No further details were provided.

Chrome OS Netbooks were once expected to arrive before the end of the year, but that timing appears to have slipped over the last several weeks, as Google is now expected to merely have a beta software version ready by the end … Read more

Music Hack Day is a recurring event in which developers take 24 hours to write music applications based on various open APIs. This weekend, Music Hack Day took place London, and a few of the results have been made available online for the general public. Most offer a minute or two of interesting musical distraction, like 7x7, a Web page that lets you create chords from notes in a matrix, and Soundwheel (warning: audio will begin playing as soon as the page loads), which warbles bass tones as you drag points around a color wheel.

But one hack seemed truly … Read more

This week, at Microsoft's annual conference for the partners who sell most of the company's products, Microsoft once again showed off its upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform and made a couple of interesting announcements that got me thinking. Microsoft has all the pieces in place to create the ultimate cloud-based music service for Windows Phone 7. All it has to do is stitch them together.

First, Microsoft confirmed that Windows Phone 7 devices, like the last couple generations of Zune players, will be able to sync music, video, and large images with a user's PC over a … Read more

Microsoft's Windows business faces a real threat from Apple's iPad and the impending crop of similar touch-screen devices running Android, Web OS, and other lightweight mobile operating systems. Windows will remain relevant for years to come, but if even 10 percent of potential laptop or Netbook buyers choose an iPad or other competitor instead, that cuts more than a billion dollars out of Microsoft's largest and most profitable business.

That's right: Microsoft now earns more than $10 billion in profit--not revenue, profit--from the Windows desktop operating system every year.

What's Microsoft's answer? At a … Read more