Microsoft recently launched the beta version of the new Microsoft Download Center website that intends to be more convenient and easier to navigate than the current version. The new website is powered by SilverLight technology which is Microsoft's anti-creation of Adobe Flash. You must have the SilverLight plugin for Firefox or Internet Explorer in order to view this new beta site. From now on when you enter the Download Center you'll be asked to try the new SilverLight Beta Center.

It appears Microsoft has contracted the Saratoga, California firm, Gyration to develop a motion-sensitive add-on for the existing Xbox 360 controller. It is no accident that Gyration is the company responsible for the prototype designs of the Nintendo Wii-mote, which we all know has become a huge success. Most recently, the company was in the spotlight for creating a motion-sensing remote for Microsoft's Media Center. There're no details on when exactly the new motion-sensing Xbox 360 controller will see light. The company denied the rumour saying that "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation" and that there's "nothing further to share." at least for now.

Microsoft Corp. will change how users activate Windows XP when Service Pack 3 launches in the first half of 2008, a company white paper said. New installations of Windows XP SP3 will give users the same 30-day grace period currently offered to Windows Vista customers before they're required to enter a product activation key, the 25-character code that proves the copy is legitimate. "As in Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Vista, users can now complete operating system installation without providing a product key during a full, integrated installation of Windows XP SP3," the Microsoft paper stated. "The operating system will prompt the user for a product key later as part of Genuine Advantage." With earlier editions of Windows XP, users must enter the activation key during the installation process itself; failing to do so, or using an invalid key, would result in the installation being blocked. The white paper, however, noted that the change does not apply to existing Windows XP installations upgraded to SP3. Those copies, which have presumably passed the activation stage previously, will not request the key again, Microsoft said.

Microsoft has warned Windows Home Server users not to edit files stored on their backup systems with several of its programs, including Vista Photo Gallery and Office's OneNote and Outlook, as well as files generated by popular finance software such as Quicken and QuickBooks. "When you use certain programs to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted when you save them to the home server," Microsoft said in a support document posted last week. The document went on to list the software, which includes Windows Vista Photo Gallery, Windows Live Photo Gallery, OneNote 2003, OneNote 2007, Outlook 2007, Microsoft Money 2007 and SyncToy 2.0 Beta. Others programs, however, may also corrupt files stored on a home server powered by Microsoft's operating system. "Additionally, there have been customer reports of issues with Torrent applications, with Intuit Quicken and with QuickBooks program files," the document said. "Until an update for Windows Home Server is available, we recommend that [you] do not use the programs that are listed to save or to edit program-specific files that are stored on a Windows Home Server-based system."

Just in time for Christmas, Microsoft has unveiled the option for Xbox Live users to gift Microsoft Points, the currency used to purchase downloadable games and in-game content from the Xbox Live Marketplace as well as music from the Zune Marketplace. Currently in a beta state, the program, which also allows users to buy points for themselves, is accessible from this website. At present, the initiative is limited to people in the United States and gift-givers must know the Windows Live ID of the intended recipient, though Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb noted that the team is looking to add the option to gift by Gamertag in the future.

In time for the holidays, Microsoft is giving shoppers even more value by reducing the price of its incredibly popular Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel by $30 to just $99 (U.S. ERP). The newly priced Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel now comes bundled with a driver disc and a demo of the acclaimed "Forza Motorsport 2" including full force feedback support. The Wireless Racing Wheel is compatible with all of the most popular racing games on Xbox 360, including: Forza Motorsport 2, Project Gotham Racing 3/4, Test Drive Unlimited, Need for Speed Carbon, DiRT and Nascar 08.

Microsoft has revealed that it is planning to release the initial beta of Internet Explorer 8 in the first half of next year. According to the developers, the new browser has passed the Acid2 Browser Test from the Web Standards Project, a test which both IE 7 and Firefox fail (although Opera passes). Microsoft is also focusing on making sure that IE 8 displays all current web pages correctly, an issue which plagued IE 7 during the first few months after its release. In his IE blog, one of Microsoft's general managers, Dean Hachamovitch, said the following:

The key goal is interoperability. As a developer, I'd prefer to not have to write the same site multiple times for different browsers. Standards are a (critical!) means to this end, and we focus on the standards that will help actual, real-world interoperability the most. As a consumer and a developer, I expect stuff to just work, and I also expect backwards compatibility. When I get a new version of my current browser, I expect all the sites that worked before will still work.

Microsoft has given no indication of when it expects to release the final version of IE 8, instead commenting that its launch date will depend upon the feedback received during the beta process.

Technology giants Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! have agree to pay $31.5 million to settle claims that they promoted illegal gambling. However, none of the companies contested or admitted that they were guilty of such an offence, which accused them of running adverts for illegal gambling websites between 1997 and June this year. The $31.5m breaks down into $21m from Microsoft, $3m from Google and $7.5m from Yahoo!. Some of the money from the three companies will be used towards funding for the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, public service advertising and adverts warning young people about illegal gambling. Google gave the following announcement:

While we did not admit any wrongdoing, the Department of Justice has advised that online gambling is illegal in the United States and ads to promote it are improper. Google voluntarily discontinued running such ads, which were a very small part of our AdWords business, in April 2004.

Microsoft is to implement a random number generator in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 which has a known flaw, described by security researchers as a 'back door'. The weakness could, at worst, allow an unknown attacker to decrypt EFS-protected data and SSL sessions such as used for internet banking and World of Warcraft logons. It's not all doom and gloom, however: the flawed RNG will be bundled with a second, more reliable version which will be selected by default. It does make you wonder why Microsoft have bothered implementing the flawed version, known as Dual_EC_DRBG, at all. The algorithm, approved by the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (which, for you paranoiacs out there, works closely with the No Such Agency), is based on elliptic-curve mathematics and uses a set of constants to 'seed' the generation. It has been determined by security researchers Dan Shumow and Niels Ferguson that these constants have a special relationship to a second, secret set of numbers. In theory, anyone who has the second set can determine what 'random' number the algorithm will pop out at any given time. Which has cryptologists such as Bruce Schneier suitably worried. By default Vista SP1 will use the CTR_DBG algorithm (based on the Advanced Encryption Standard) which is thought to be more secure than the possibly-backdoored Dual_EC_DRBG. As a result, a developer would actually have to make a concious effort to use the possibly-insecure algorithm and thus put the security of encrypted data at risk. Still, it's a disquieting thought that the heart of any system designed to offer users privacy could have such a major flaw and still get shipped to end-users.

A few years ago, one of the biggest weapons in a Mac user's arsenal for any Windows vs OS X debate was that Apple's operating system was more secure than Microsoft's. However, the statistics compiled by ZDNet (which are shown in the table below) tell a very different story for this year. Combined, Windows XP and Vista saw a total of 44 flaws, whilst Max OS X experienced 243 - over five times more. Overall, Macs had 234 highly critical vulnerabilities compared to just 23 for Windows, although admittedly Mac OS X had no extremely critical flaws, whilst Windows had four. This would seem to suggest that the tables have turned a little, which could well be linked to the fact that Macs have become more popular over the last couple of years and as a result there is a greater incentive to hack them.

Viacom Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced a broad-based, strategic alliance under which major divisions of both companies will collaborate on advertising, content distribution, event promotions and games over the next several years.

Microsoft Corp. recently delivered a surprise for customers and partners, unveiling a public beta for its hypervisor-based server virtualization technology called Hyper-V, a feature with some versions of Windows Server 2008. Customers and partners today can download Windows Server 2008 RC1 Enterprise with the beta version of Hyper-V to evaluate the new technology, test applications and plan future consolidation, business continuity and high-availability projects.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator, enabling film studios and disc authoring companies to model the behavior of HD DVD disc content, including encoded video and HDi interactivity, in a virtual environment before committing to burning a single HD DVD disc. This comprehensive tool is among the first commercially available, software-based solutions of its kind, eliminating the need for expensive hardware or time-consuming and costly trial-and-error processes for testing HD DVD titles, helping to ensure that titles ship error-free.

Microsoft has taken an extra step in its fight against software piracy by filing lawsuits against 52 alleged resellers of counterfeit software, and has referred 22 piracy cases to law enforcement agencies in 20 different countries. According to the company, 15 of the lawsuits involve software which has been traced back to what is believed to be the largest ever counterfeit software syndicate, which was broken up by Microsoft and law enforcement officials from the US and China earlier this year. Microsoft is also working with eBay to produce the "Microsoft Buying Guide" to inform consumers of how to safely buy software from sites such as eBay.

A recent stratified random sample poll of 100 independent retailers, commissioned by the trade paper MCV, brought back surprising results. 49% of those surveyed believed that the Xbox360 would eventually trounce the competition, despite the fact that the same retailers are having trouble keeping enough Nintendo Wiis on shelves to meet demand. 35% felt that the PS3 had a fair chance of nabbing the best console award, and a paltry 16% felt that the Wii had a chance. Of course, these figures are mostly based one current retail performance. If Microsoft did not have such blockbuster titles as BioShock and Halo 3, and if Nintendo had ample stock of the Wii, chances are we'd be looking at much different figures.

People hoping to jump on the Windows Vista bandwagon without paying a cent of hard-earned cash jumped for joy when Microsoft offered free software in exchange for the occasional survey and three months of observation. As of December 11th, anyone who was signing up for the program got a nasty surprise: no more free software. Microsoft is of course welcoming more test subjects to be monitored. However, Microsoft will not be giving these subjects anything in return for their time and privacy, except a marginally better product in a few years.

Anyone who signed up after the cut-off date date and time under the idea they were getting a free piece of software worth $400USD or more MSRP will be sorely disappointed. There is no word as to whether or not Microsoft plans on honoring the people who signed up before the cut-off.

Opera Software, best known for its free web browser, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against software giant Microsoft for abusing its dominant position by integrating its Internet Explorer web browser into Windows. Opera, which filed the lawsuit in the EU, is asking the European Commission to force Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows or include other browsers as standard. It is also claiming that Microsoft is not following accepted standards for Internet Explorer and is calling for it to adhere to them. Opera's Deputy General Counsel, Jason Hoida, said:

Our complaint is necessary to get Microsoft to amend its practices. The European Court of First Instance confirmed in September that Microsoft has illegally tied Windows Media Player to Windows. We are simply asking the Commission to apply these same, clear principles to the Internet Explorer tie, a tie that has even more profound effects on consumers and innovation. We are confident that the Commission understands the significance of the Internet Explorer tie and will take the necessary actions to restore competition and consumer choice in the browser market.

Some people may remember that Microsoft was forced to sell a modified version of Windows XP which excluded Windows Media Player back in 2004 after complaints about that being integrated into Windows, which was a similar case to this.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, today announced the release of its new 8" Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V, based on technology developed by Microsoft Research, in time for the holiday season. With this innovative addition to their photo frame lineup, customers can enjoy photos wirelessly in their home and display photos from sharing sites such as Windows Live Spaces or from personal collections on their PC.

A day after it released Windows XP SP3 RC1 to the public, Microsoft has done the same with the release candidate of Vista's first service pack. You can now download the standalone package from here, or alternatively you can download an applet which allows you to install the service pack via Windows Update from this site. As with XP SP3, this is not a final version, so it is recommended that you do not install this on your primary operating system.

Microsoft Corp. has acquired Multimap, one of the United Kingdom's top 100 technology companies and one of the leading online mapping services in the world. The acquisition gives Microsoft a powerful new location and mapping technology to complement existing offerings such as Virtual Earth, Live Search, Windows Live services, MSN and the aQuantive advertising platform, with future integration potential for a range of other Microsoft products and platforms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

If you're eager to get your hands on Windows XP's third service pack you'll be pleased to hear that the first release candidate is now available for download from here. As this is not a final version it is recommended that you do not install this on your primary Windows installation, although it should be fairly stable and secure. Microsoft has also released the final version of Office 2007 Service Pack 1, available for download from this page, which includes a number of stability, performance and security updates.

Microsoft has made an interesting offer to PC users - in return for participating in its Windows Feedback Program, you can receive a 'free' copy of software titles including Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, Microsoft Money Plus Premium Edition, Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008 and Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008. However, as you would expect from Microsoft, this so-called free software comes with a price. If you participate Microsoft will ask you to do a survey once a week and will collect data about the following:

We are looking for information that will help us understand problems you encounter with Windows, how you have configured your computer and Windows, what hardware you are using, and general information about how you are using Windows and Microsoft Office products on your computer.

Microsoft will basically be collecting all sorts of information, including hardware details, Control Panel settings, file and folder information and usage statistics for Windows and Office as well any problems you encounter with them. So if you value your privacy less than a copy of Windows Vista, this could be for you. Or perhaps you could just install it on a secondary system and get a free piece of software for that?!

Update: Apparently Microsoft has already had too many people register, so it's reached its limit for free software giveaways. You can still register for the program, but you won't receive anything in return.

IBM made a major announcement today that they will be offering 32nm chips to their partners in the second half of 2009. This would mean that possibly the Xbox 360 could get even smaller chips than the 65nm "Falcon" CPUs. These new chips will up the power savings to 45% and speed boosts up to 30% over IBM's last generation of hardware. This will reduce the overheating issues, and maybe even make way for a smaller console. Consider this as rumour since there's no any official information from Microsoft, or any of the Xbox 360 OEMs.

Microsoft confirmed it has fixed a bug in its online file storage and sharing service Windows Live FolderShare after users reported problems that the service was deleting files without user authorization. Microsoft sent an e-mail to users Friday alerting them that it has fixed a bug that may have "accidentally moved" user files from their original folders into the FolderShare Trash folder, and that users should not delete files in Trash until they ensure they were meant to be deleted. It also advised users how to retrieve deleted files from the Trash folder. A copy of the information sent to users has been posted on the FolderShare Web site.

Microsoft today is beginning roll-out of the public beta of Office Live Workspace, a secure online workspace to which Office users can post Word, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF files directly from Office applications to work on remotely from virtually any web-connected PC and collaborate on with others.