Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates talks about security during a keynote address at Comdex.
(Steve Marcus - Las Vegas Sun via Reuters)
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The Seattle Times also reported on Microsoft's seamless computing push. "The phrase is yet another variation on an idea Microsoft has talked about for years: Software and devices should match the way people work and live. The theme seems nearly identical to the company's oft-stated goal of empowering people through software any time, any place and on any device," the newspaper said. "Seamless computing is already evident in the Media Center PC, a personal computer
focused on playing music and watching movies and television, Gates said. The idea also is key to Microsoft's Smartphones, [Gates] said, which combine a personal digital assistant with a cellphone; and the upcoming Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), which constantly updates news, calendars and traffic reports to watches and other devices."
In a Q&A with Newsweek, Gates was asked if ongoing security problems mean the company's trustworthy program isn't working. Gates replied: "No. These things are cases where we had fixes. If people had done one of two things, if they'd either had the firewalls applied uniformly or if they'd been keeping systems up to date with security patches, those people, of which there were many, would not have had these problems. Now, that doesn't shift the burden. We have to make it easier to get a very high percentage of people to scan to make sure they've got their firewall set up right, and that is both consumers and businesses, and to connect up so that the critical updates are getting onto those systems in a very broad way. Getting that message out there about the firewalls and the updating services, we need to do more on that." Gates added that for its security work, the company has its "smartest people who are doing it as our top priority, and that's everything we can do. We'll be measured over the next several years with how we address the issue."
• Newsweek: He's Still Having Fun
See below for the other big news out of Microsoft today -- the company's plans to jump into the e-music business.
Comdex: Still a Hot Ticket
While the number of attendees and exhibitors at Comdex remains well off the marks set during the Internet boom, this year's gathering is still expected to attract around 50,000 people, according to various reports. The Las Vegas Review-Journal explained why this year's show is off to a good start: "When Comdex finished its annual run at the Las Vegas Convention Center last year, its future looked murky. The annual information technology show had shrunk in square footage, participants and attendees for the third straight year. Key3Media, the company staging the show, had just filed for bankruptcy. Key3Media promised Comdex would return, but some tech-industry watchers wondered if it would," the newspaper said. "But Comdex is back for its 24th year, staged by a company with new financial strength and promising a newly tightened focus. Key3Media, which shed bankruptcy, went private and became MediaLive
International, said it's ready to remake Comdex to strengthen its future to withstand the challenge from the upstart Computer Digital Expo."
• The Las Vegas Review-Journal: Comdex 2003: Trade Show Down, But Not Out
A View From Sun
Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems, is slated to deliver a speech today at Comdex. According to The Los Angeles Times, McNealy "will give concrete examples of how his company, long known for making server and workstation computers, is shifting away from such hardware and toward software. He is expected to announce a deal with Japanese partner Fujitsu Ltd. that would ease the costs of both companies in making server hardware based on competing chips. McNealy also will trumpet a deal with the Chinese government to supply at least 500,000 copies of Sun's new Linux-based desktop software, the Java Desktop System, to government employees, Sun spokesman Michael Hakkert said."
• The Los Angeles Times: Gates Opens Comdex Show (Registration required)
The E-Music Frenzy
The Wall Street Journal's lead says it all: "In a move likely to send waves through the growing online music market, Microsoft Corp. plans to introduce a song-downloading service next year that will compete with similar offerings from Apple Computer Inc., Roxio Inc.'s Napster and others." That's right, Microsoft has moved from hinting that it's looking at the e-music biz to jumping right into the pool with all the other big players, and it ain't gonna be pretty as this market shakes out. More from the Journal: "Microsoft ... could roil the online music business like no other. Its financial might could allow it to undercut the per-song price of competitors should it choose. Its dominant Windows operating system gives the company a powerful position from which to expand into new markets. It has swiftly become one of the top providers of software for playing music and video files on personal computers by distributing its Windows Media Player software with its operating systems."
• The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Plans To Sell Music Over the Web (Subscription required)
Meanwhile, CNET Networks Inc., the San Francisco-based tech news and product-review site, has acquired the assets of MP3.com from Vivendi Universal as part of its plans for a music downloading service. CNET "plans to shut down MP3.com on Dec. 2 and unveil it sometime next year in a new form that it calls 'the place you go to know about music.' Martha Papalia, Cnet vice president for public relations, said the new MP3.com will not try to compete with online music services such as Apple's iTunes Music Store and Roxio's Napster 2.0. She would not divulge any further details," The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"However, to the dismay of musicians and MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, the deal also will mean the collection of tapes, CDs and other songs submitted by 250,000 artists who used MP3.com as an online distribution vehicle will be deleted or destroyed once the site goes offline, according to a note posted on the MP3.com site." MP3.com posted news of the deal on its Web site on Thursday. "Please remember to update or remove all links and references to the URL www.mp3.com. Additionally if you would like a historical record of your page, we recommend that you capture screen shots of the page as well as your artist statistics pages since they will no longer be available once the site goes offline," the site said.
• The San Francisco Chronicle: Cnet To Buy MP3.com
CNET's own News.com ran an article on the deal, reporting that CNET "representatives said the company aims to augment its position as a provider of interactive content through the acquisition, with plans to enter the online music market through MP3.com. ... CNET Networks believes MP3.com can attract an audience similar to visitors of its GameSpot Web site, which features video game reviews and downloads. The company did not announce a timeframe for its planned relaunch of MP3.com but said it is interested in connecting with artists and record companies that have previously distributed their music via the site."
• CNET's News.com: CNET To Buy, Retune MP3.com
Spam Fight Across the Pond
The International Herald Tribune writes today that the European Union's new anti-spam law is no cure-all for the pesky junk e-mail: "As noble as the EU was in aggressively attacking the scourge of spam, a number of factors will keep the move from doing any good. The first reason, perhaps a bit of a technicality as well as temporary, is that EU member countries haven't adopted laws to support the directive. So far, only Britain and Italy have anything that comes close to what the EU asked for, which is to take the 'opt-in' approach: People who receive mass-marketed e-mail have to agree to be on such a mailing list. ... The second reason is that even when the requisite opt-in laws are passed by all 15 EU countries, enforcement is necessary to catch the bad guys. And in none of the EU countries do law enforcement agencies have the cybercrime skills or resources to take on the spammers." The last reason? Spam is a crime without borders, the article argues, making it that much harder to enforce.
• The International Herald Tribune: The End User: EU Leads Spam Fight
And the problem of spam is not just affecting e-mail inboxes. Spam is clogging cell phones and online Web logs. It has become akin to the telemarketer who won't go away, despite screening of calls and do-not-call lists. "Spammers are flocking to new communications tools like moths to light, threatening to cripple these tools just as they are beginning to take off. Howard Rheingold, a futurist who predicts always-on communication will revolutionize public discourse, is worried that all these new forms of spam could freeze the revolution in its tracks," The Associated Press wrote recently. "There will be no great social transformation if cell phones are turned off, instant messenger programs shut down or blog comments disabled to halt the flow of offers for online porn or cheap drugs. 'It forces you to either
turn off the comments and lose some of the value of the medium, or spend your time deleting spam,' said Rheingold."
• The Associated Press via South Bend Tribune: Spammers Branching Out To New Frontiers
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