Ten Myths about Open Source Software

Ten Myths about Open Source Software by Tim O'Reilly, Tim O'Reilly -- Tim O'Reilly recently gave a talk to a group of Fortune 500 executives and dispelled Ten Myths about Open Source Software. If you don't understand the importance of the Open Source movement, please read this.

Living Without Microsoft :: XPloring the alternatives

Check this link for an alternative........

Living Without Microsoft :: XPloring the alternatives

Long live Open Source.........
Long live Linux.........

Attacks on Windows PC's Grew in First Half of 2004

This is the Article posted on the New York Times,

A survey of Internet vulnerabilities to be released Monday shows a sharp jump in attacks on Windows-based personal computers during the first six months of 2004, along with a marked increase in commercially motivated threats.

The Internet Security Threat Report says that from Jan. 1 to June 30 there were at least 1,237 newly discovered software vulnerabilities, or flaws that could compromise security. That translates into an average of 48 new vulnerabilities a week.

The survey, done twice a year, is based on monitoring by Symantec, which publishes software made to protect computers from Internet attacks. Trends in the report mirror findings by recent government-supported research.

The survey warns about a significant increase in the number of "bot," or robot, networks, which are arrays of interconnected personal computers that have been compromised to inject large volumes of viruses, worms, spyware or spam into the Internet. Over the first six months, the number of monitored bot networks rose to more than 30,000, from fewer than 2,000.

This represents the expansion of a black market economy in which the creators of the bot networks sell access to them to commercial spammers and others who wish to send information anonymously, according to the survey.

"The authors are changing their methods," said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering for security response at Symantec. "We saw a dramatic increase in electronic commerce attacks."

Whereas in the past, attackers' motivation has most frequently been ascribed to grandstanding, it now appears that motives are increasingly financial, according to the survey.

Electronic commerce was the industry sought out most often, accounting for nearly 16 percent of all attacks, according to the survey. This was a significant increase from the 4 percent reported during the previous six months and suggests a shift to so-called phishing scams that are designed to steal confidential information and pass it along to attackers, according to the authors of the report.

Another trend seems to be a growing sophistication in malicious software, Mr. Huger said. "We're seeing a professional hand in development that was pretty startling in terms of malicious code."

The networks of bot computers vary greatly in size, he said. The average size was about 2,000 captured machines, known as zombies. But the researchers found one network of more than 400,000 such machines.

Many of the networks consist of home computers connected to broadband cable or DSL networks, but the survey established that 50 percent of the attacks came from captured computers with Internet addresses controlled by Fortune 500 companies.

The survey also documented more than 4,496 new Windows viruses and worms during the most recent period, which is four and a half times the number from the corresponding period of 2003. In January 2001, when the survey first began, it identified only 308 malicious programs. As of June 30, the total number of documented threats to Windows software has exceeded 10,000.

The current report was based on data collected before the recent software update that Microsoft is releasing for Windows XP, known as SP2. The software update should help combat Internet vulnerabilities, according to Mr. Huger.

Microsoft Shares Office Source Code

Facing growing competition from open source software providers, Microsoft has decided to allow governments and international organizations access to source code for its Office 2003 productivity suite.

The Redmond, Washington, company said this week that it would be offering governments access to the Office code under a shared source license as part of its Government Security Program. The U.K. government has already signed up to see the code, Microsoft says.

The move is aimed at shoring up confidence in the security and interoperability of Microsoft software as it faces stiffer competition in the public sector from rivals such as Sun Microsystems, which has been touting growing support among governments for its open source productivity software, dubbed StarOffice.

In addition to responding to open source threats, Microsoft is also hoping that by allowing governments to lift the lid on Office it can diminish the mounting security concerns raised about its software.

Microsoft has long offered governments access to source code for its Windows desktop software but has made gestures recently to disclose even more about its products. Last year the company began allowing governments access to Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas, enabling them to incorporate the schemas into their own software to improve the interoperability with Office documents. Under the new shared source license for Office Microsoft said it would give governments related technical information and allow program participants to discuss existing and future projects related to the software.


Ready to Cooperate
In addition to offering more shared source licenses, the company has also sent signals that it would be willing to cooperate more with rivals. Under a litigation cease fire deal sealed with Sun earlier this year, Microsoft said it would look for more ways to work with developers of the Open Office open source project, although it apparently reserved the right to sue them for patent infringement.

Microsoft's expansive gestures appear to be geared toward keeping a firm grip on the public sector, which often awards the largest software contracts in any country. The software maker says that more than 30 countries have already signed onto its Government Security Program, and that it has already won an adherent to the new Office shared source license in the British government.

A U.K. government spokesperson says in a statement that the Office 2003 shared source license would help it understand the security implications of Office, allowing it to deploy the software more securely in a variety of scenarios.

That Microsoft has signed up the U.K. government as one of the first program participants comes as little surprise, given their historically close relationship. The U.K.'s Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which negotiates volume deals for the public sector, signed a three-year licensing deal with Microsoft in 2002 to provide desktop software for almost 500,000 public servants.

Furthermore, the government is putting final touches on a deal to renew the agreement, which an OGC spokesperson characterizes as "imminent."

Microsoft released news of the Office licensing program from Europe, underscoring the importance it places on winning big government deals in the region. Government bodies in Germany, Hungary, France, and Italy have all recently thrown support behind open source initiatives, putting pressure on Microsoft to work harder at winning public sector contracts in Europe.