Microsoft offers much-needed fix for Windows OSS development

Although Microsoft is beginning to acknowledge that the rich ecosystem of open source software can bring a lot of value to Windows users, the most popular open source software projects are largely developed on other platforms, which means that they aren't always easy to deploy on Windows. A relatively complex open source server stack can be rolled out on Linux with a few clicks, but it might take hours to get the same software installed and properly configured on Windows.

Microsoft developer Garrett Serack has identified a compelling solution to this problem. He is launching a new project to build a package management system for Windows with the aim of radically simplifying installation of popular open source software on Microsoft's platform. He calls it the Common Open Source Application Publishing Platform (CoApp).

Much like the package management systems that are a standard part of popular Linux distributions, the CoApp project will provide a delivery platform for packaged open source software libraries and applications, with support for dependency resolution and automatic updates. It could be a powerful tool for system administrators who want a WAMP stack or developers who want to port Linux applications to Windows.

Serack wants to use Microsoft's MSI format for the packages and intends to take advantage of WinSxS in order to deliver parallel binaries so that users will have access to multiple builds of the same library generated by different compilers. The project will also seek to establish some basic standards for filesystem layout so that files are put in consistent places.

He is coordinating the project with Microsoft's blessing, but the actual development effort will be community-driven—an approach that will hopefully enable CoApp to evolve in a way that best serves its users rather than being directed by Microsoft.

"The folks here at Microsoft have recognized the value in this project—and have kindly offered to let me work on it full-time. I'm running the project; Microsoft is supporting my efforts in this 100%," he wrote in a blog entry about the project on Wednesday. "The design is entirely the work of myself and the CoApp community, I don't have to vet it with anyone inside the company."

Making open source development on Windows suck less

Having ported several of my own Linux applications to Windows, I know from personal experience how insanely difficult it can be to set up a proper environment for developing open source software on Microsoft's operating system. For the last Qt application that I ported, the process of getting all of the dependencies installed took hours. I had to install CMake, find just the right version of Automoc, and compile OpenSSL from source.

My current Windows VM has a half a dozen different build systems and three separate sets of version control tools, all of which had to be installed individually. I also have two completely separate installations of MinGW and a rather heavy Cygwin setup. I need all of this crap in order to port my software to Windows, but it's a nightmare to maintain. I have to meticulously document every step of the setup process if I ever want to be able to do it again on a different Windows installation.

These headaches are enough to deter many open source software developers who would otherwise be releasing Windows versions of their applications. Spending a few hours developing on Windows often serves as a painful reminder of how much I depend on my distro's super cow powers. That is why I'm convinced that CoApp is a very good idea.

Cygwin arguably constitutes a package management system by itself, but it tends to be somewhat insular and isn't very native. Serack believes that CoApp offers an opportunity to do it the right way and close the gaps that isolate ported open source software components from the rest of the Windows ecosystem. If it's done properly, that could be very significant.

Although Linux enthusiasts tend to disdain Windows, porting Linux applications to Microsoft's operating system can open up a lot of opportunities. A Windows port can expose your application to a whole new audience, making it possible to attract new contributors. We have seen a number of prominent open source software projects benefit in that manner from Windows compatibility in the past.

A positive side effect of that phenomenon is that it introduces Windows application developers to open source frameworks and technologies. Broader adoption of cross-platform Linux-friendly software and toolkits on Windows would obviously help boost the availability of software for Linux.

Although I'm really impressed with Serack's vision, I'm a bit skeptical that a task of such magnitude and complexity can be fulfilled to an extent that would truly deliver on its potential. Such an undertaking will require considerable manpower. Ars readers who want to participate in the project or learn more can check out the CoApp page on Launchpad.

Source: Arstechnica.com

90 percent of Windows 7 flaws fixed by removing admin rights

After tabulating all the vulnerabilities published in Microsoft's 2009 Security Bulletins, it turns out 90 percent of the vulnerabilities can be mitigated by configuring users to operate without administrator rights, according to a report by BeyondTrust. As for the published Windows 7 vulnerabilities through March 2010, 57 percent are no longer applicable after removing administrator rights. By comparison, Windows 2000 is at 53 percent, Windows XP is at 62 percent, Windows Server 2003 is at 55 percent, Windows Vista is at 54 percent, and Windows Server 2008 is at 53 percent. The two biggest exploited Microsoft applications also fare well: 100 percent of Microsoft Office flaws and 94 percent of Internet Explorer flaws (and 100 percent of IE8 flaws) no longer work.

This is good news for IT departments because it means they can significantly reduce the risk of a security breach by configuring the operating system for standard users rather than administrator. Despite unpredictable and evolving attacks, companies can very easily protect themselves or at least reduce the effects of a newly discovered threat, as long as they're ok with their users not installing software or using many applications that require elevated privileges.

In total, 64 percent of all Microsoft vulnerabilities reported last year are mitigated by removing administrator rights. That number increases to 81 percent if you only consider security issues marked Critical, the highest rating Redmond gives out, and goes even higher to 87 percent if you look at just Remote Code Execution flaws. Microsoft published 74 Security Bulletins in 2009, spanning around 160 vulnerabilities (133 of those were for Microsoft operating systems). The report, linked below, has a list of all of them, which software they affect, and which ones are mitigated by removing admin rights.

Source: Arstechnica.com

AVG Rescue CD Cleans Your Infected Windows PC

There's any number of great antivirus tools that help protect your PC from viruses, but what about when you encounter an already-infected PC? Your best bet is a boot CD, and the free AVG Rescue CD cleans viruses easily.

The AVG Rescue CD comes in two flavors: an ISO image that can be easily burned to an optical disc, or a compressed version that can be installed to a bootable flash drive. Once you've done so, you can simply boot from the drive of choice directly to the AVG menu, where you can scan for viruses, edit files, test your drive, or even edit the registry. Since the bootable CD is based on a version of Linux, you can also access a number of common Linux tools to make changes to your system and hopefully make it bootable again.

The AVG Rescue CD is a free download for anybody, cleans viruses from Windows or even Linux PCs, and is a great addition to your PC repair toolkit. If you need some help setting up the bootable USB flash version, check out the Guiding Tech tutorial for the full walk-through.

AVG Rescue CD [AVG via Guiding Tech]

Source: Lifehacker.com

ZeuApp Downloads 82 Awesome Open Source Apps

Windows: If you're setting up a new system or helping a friend to see how much great free and open source software exists, ZeuAPP is a portable installation tool for nearly a hundred applications.

ZeuAPP is essentially an installation dashboard for 82 applications. You can navigate to application types like CD Burners, P2P apps, Office apps, and more. Under each tab are applications for that category with a "Download" and "Visit Website" button which allow you to download the application and automatically launch the installer or visit the web site for more info.

ZeuAPP is freeware, portable, and Windows only. Looking for something that'll also quickly grab and install your favorite non-open source apps? Check out previously mentioned Ninite.

ZeuAPP [via Addictive Tips]

Source: Lifehacker.com

Windows Phone 7 Series in the Enterprise: not all good news

Microsoft has been quite explicit on the matter: Windows Phone 7 Series is being designed first and foremost for the consumer market. The result is the emphasis on a strong, consistent, effective user interface, possibly at the expense of functionality; Microsoft wants to have this thing out in time for the "holiday season" this year, so there's a limited window for further development, at least for the initial release.

That said, the phone does have features aimed at the enterprise market. Obviously, there's Exchange support, with ActiveSync, providing push mail, address book sync, and all those features that we know and love. In common with Outlook 2010, Windows Phone 7 Series also seems to support multiple Exchange servers concurrently. I say "seems" because it didn't quite work when we tried, but that seemed to be due to a bad password rather than any fundamental flaw—the phone was happy to accept the configuration and created two distinct Outlook Tiles on the Start page, so it looked like it was doing the right thing.

The other big enterprise feature is Mobile Office. Microsoft showed off Mobile Excel, using it to edit and save a spreadsheet, and the new Mobile apps, in their Office hub, seem to be much more functional than the current offerings for Windows Mobile. If nothing else, the high resolution of the demo devices (800x480) made Excel much more useful.

What there won't be is much beyond that. When I asked if the devices would support, for example, policy enforcement to disable cameras (as many workplaces prohibit the use of camera phones, and with 5 MP cameras a mandatory part of Windows Phone 7 Series devices, policy-based lockouts are the only option), full device encryption, or remote wipe, the answer was nonspecific but broadly negative.

Though I would be quite surprised if, at the very least, encryption and wiping were not a part of the official release (many Exchange servers are configured to refuse to allow ActiveSync with devices that don't support these features), things extensive policy support and application management won't be a part of the initial release, with a result that the new platform may well represent a regression relative to the current Windows Mobile 6.x/System Center Configuration Manager platform, and move Windows even further from the full range of remote device management capabilities offered by BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Coupled with the continued refusal to clarify how enterprise applications might be deployed (though the company says that it will provide an answer within the next few months), this leaves Windows Phone 7 Series looking quite anaemic for enterprise users at the onset.

Microsoft believes that Exchange support plus Mobile Office will be enough to make the platform compelling to corporate customers. I'm not convinced. And while I believe that targeting consumers is the right thing from the perspective of building a phone that isn't miserable to use (unlike the current Windows Mobile platform), I don't think it needed to come at the expense of these enterprise features.

Source: Arstechnica.com

CodePlex refresh, FOSS projects more compatible with Windows

The CodePlex Foundation has announced the arrival of several new board members, including Jim Jagielski, the Chief Open Source Officer of SpringSource. Jagielski, who was one of the original cofounders of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), brings a lot of credibility and leadership experience to the CodePlex Foundation.

When the CodePlex Foundation was established by Microsoft last year, an interim board of directors was assembled to help get the organization off the ground while permanent board members were being chosen. A number of the interim board members, including Novell's Mono project leader Miguel de Icaza, will be turning their seats over to new representatives. Former Microsoft open source evangelist Sam Ramji, currently VP of strategy at Sonoa, will be remaining on the board, along with Microsoft .NET Framework program manager Davies Boesch.

The function of the organization is to encourage more commercial software vendors to get involved with open source software development. Microsoft's role in forming the CodePlex foundation reflects the company's growing acceptance of the open source development model and willingness to collaborate with other commercial vendors on open source technology.

During a roundtable discussion at the Linux Collaboration Summit last year, Ramji made a case for Microsoft's open source efforts and argued that it is possible for Microsoft to embrace open source software while still competing with Linux. He talked about the potential for collaboration and the value that Microsoft can bring to the open source ecosystem. The foundation seems like a vehicle that Microsoft has established for precisely that purpose, but the company's past criticism of open source development and ongoing confrontational posture towards the Linux community have created a lot of skepticism.

Jagielski's arrival on the board will give the CodePlex Foundation a big boost in credibility. He is presently the chairman of the ASF board of directors, which means that he has a lot of insight into the management and operations of a successful open source software foundation. As the former CTO of Zend and current Chief Open Source Officer at SpringSource, he also has a long history of championing open source software in the enterprise.

"CodePlex has a unique opportunity to further increase the importance and acceptance of open source, especially within environments which have, up to now, been resistant to it," he said in a statement. "As the CodePlex Foundation continues to mature and evolve, being in the position to be able to help guide and foster the Foundation as a director is a huge honor."

Although some critics of Microsoft might question the relevance of the CodePlex Foundation, there is no question that open source software projects are increasingly embracing the Windows operating system. Geeknet, the company behind the SourceForge project hosting website, issued a statement today saying that "Microsoft has increased its engagement with the OSS community," leading to open source software projects' "dramatically increas[ing] compatibility" with Microsoft's operating system.

According to Geeknet, the amount of Windows-compatible open source software has grown from 72 percent in 2005 to 82 percent in 2009. Of the top 25 projects on SourceForge, 23 of them are compatible with Windows. Of course, these statistics, though intriguing, aren't necessarily authoritative evidence of closer ties between Microsoft and open source. The increase could partly be driven by the growing ubiquity of cross-platform development toolkits or a number of other factors. SourceForge's hosted projects are also not necessarily representative of the broader open source software ecosystem.

Anecdotally, we have seen some very compelling evidence that bringing open source software projects to Windows and Mac OS X can help attract new contributors. We looked at this phenomenon in 2008 when the popular Tomboy and Banshee applications gained cross-platform compatibility. The KDE project has also benefited from broader cross-platform support.

It seems clear that both the open source software community and Microsoft can benefit from the availability of open source software on the Windows platform. With that in mind, it seems like the CodePlex Foundation can be a useful instrument for enabling the requisite collaboration.

Source: Arstechnica.com

Microsoft rivals push to send browser ballot on world tour

The lobbying group European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) today called on antitrust regulators worldwide to follow the European Commission and pressure Redmond into offering a browser ballot, similar to what the company began serving yesterday to European customers via Windows Update, everywhere. The ballot is offered to consumers on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

ECIS members include Adobe Systems, Corel, IBM, Nokia, Opera, Oracle, RealNetworks, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. It was Norwegian browser maker Opera that first filed a complaint with the European Union in December 2007, accusing Microsoft of violating EU antitrust law by bundling IE with Windows. And the company isn't satisfied yet. "Opera is a member of ECIS, which supported the complaint to the European Commission because it promoted the ECIS core values of competition, interoperability and consumer choice," reads a statement in an ECIS press release today. "Microsoft agreed to change its business practices in the face of formal charges from the Commission. Consumers deserve the same unbiased browser choice on all the world's more than 1 billion personal computers." Of course, Opera doesn't rule the ECIS alone, but given that the lobbying group is mainly composed of Microsoft rivals, we doubt any of them would object to Opera's proposition.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has dismissed the ECIS' call to arms. "The issues in the Internet Explorer case have already been the subject of extensive legal action in several other countries around the world, including the United States, which have each developed their own legal solutions which are different than the browser choice screen pursued by the European Commission after years of litigation," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars.

Microsoft is not obligated to take the ballot screen outside the boundaries of the EU, but the push from ECIS could spur other consumer groups, competition agencies, and antitrust regulators to band together against the software giant. It worked in Europe, but will it work in the rest of the world?

Source: Arstechnica.com

Profile Relocator Moves Windows Profiles to a New Location

Windows: If you want to store your Windows profiles independent from your system drive and standard Windows directories to protect against loss and corruption, Profile Relocator makes short work of moving your profiles directory.

The best time to use Profile Relocator is after a fresh install of Windows when moving empty profiles poses minimal risk and the least chance of conflicts. If you're set on moving your profiles in an existing installation it is possible and Profile Relocator won't delete the old profiles in the old location so if the move causes any complications you can just switch things back.

Like with all tinkering under the hood in Windows it sounds simple enough to just move your profile directory but any number of complications can arise when it's done on an established installation. Set a system restore point before making the move and read the included documentation carefully.

Profile Relocator is freeware, Windows only, and requires Microsoft .NET 2.0+. Have an application that's handy for remodeling the guts of your Windows installation? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Profile Relocator [via Addictive Tips]

Source: Lifehacker.com

Windows 7 eclipses Vista on Steam, 64-bit dominating 32-bit

We already know that Windows 7 is growing faster than Vista was when it was released, but how fast are gamers adopting it? Pretty darn quickly, according to January 2010 data from Steam, the leader of the digital distribution market. Last month, the percentage of users on Windows 7 eclipsed the number of users on Windows Vista. Windows XP is still leading the pack, but it is under the 50 percent mark:

It's also worth noting that Windows 7 is the first version of Windows where gamers are adopting 64-bit faster than 32-bit. In fact, there are more users on Windows 7 64-bit than any other flavor of Windows, except for Windows XP 32-bit. Overall, XP dropped 2.63 percent from the previous month, Vista dropped 2.8 percent, and Windows 7 gained 5.47 percent. At this rate, we would expect Windows 7 to take the crown before the end of the year.

Each month, Steam collects and compiles data about the hardware and software its customers are using so that game developers can ensure they are making good decisions about what technology should take priority in their support plans. If you're wondering, Intel is still beating AMD and NVIDIA is still beating ATI. To check out more details and the rest of the statistics, which are primarily hardware-based, head over to the link below.

Grab Windows Monitoring Tool WinPatrol Plus for 99 Cents

Windows: WinPatrol Plus is a powerful Windows monitoring tool which regularly retails for $40. It's available, today only, for 99 cents.

WinPatrol Plus continually monitors your system and takes system snapshots to record system changes, critical spikes in resource usage, and other events you want to be alerted of. If you want to monitor your system and keep tight control over aspects of it like what programs launch at startup or run in the background—no matter how deeply buried in the system they are—WinPatrol is a great tool for doing so. You can visit the author's site for more information or jump directly to the Yahoo! store that processes the orders—in case the offer today tanks the author's site.

WinPatrol Plus is Windows only and on sale, today only, for 99 cents. Have a favorite Windows monitoring tool? Let's hear about it in the comments.

WinPatrol Plus [via Download Squad]

Source: Lifehacker.Com

Five Best Email Clients

Email as a technology has been around for decades, and thanks to wide spread adoption and popularity, it isn't in danger of disappearing. Check out the five most popular email clients to help you wrangle your email.

Earlier this week we asked your to share your favorite email client. We didn't restrict the voting to only stand-alone email applications or web-based email clients, but we did specify that if you voted for a web-based tool it had to have distinctly client-like features—such as Gmail's ability to fetch and sort email from other sources. The email Call for Contenders was one of the most popular we've ever had, with over 1,000 votes logged. Here are the five most popular clients used by Lifehacker readers:

Outlook (Windows, $399 for Office Standard Suite)

Outlook has been around since the 1990s, and by virtue of being part of the Microsoft Office suite and having been entrenched in the business environment, it enjoys an enormous popularity. Even if many people use Outlook because it's the email client provided—and often required!—by their place of employment, that doesn't mean it can't stand on its own merits. Integration with Windows Desktop Search gives you the ability to quickly search through your entire Outlook workflow, and Outlook can handle everything from your email to your calendar and easily transfer tasks, contacts, and more between the two.

Apple Mail (Mac, Free)

Apple's Mail application, also known as Mail.app or simpy Mail, unsurprisingly continues the tradition of Apple applications following the "it just works" method of design. Mail allows you to collect all your email from across the web and various email servers in one place, and it actively engages your email as you read it. For example, if you get an email with an invitation to a meeting next Thursday, Mail will detect it and make it simple to kick that appointment right over to iCal. Like the integration between Windows Desktop Search and Outlook, Mail is integrated with Spotlight to make deep massaging your messages easy.

Thunderbird (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)

Thunderbird is an open-source offering from Mozilla—the company behind the beloved open-source browser Firefox. Thunderbird is a solid email application that sports the same extensibility of its code-sibling Firefox. Many readers voted for not just Thunderbird but Thunderbird with the addition of Lightning, a Thunderbird extension that adds scheduling and task management functionality to Thunderbird. If you're interested in using Thunderbird you'll definitely want to check out our guide to making Thunderbird your ultimate online/offline messaging hub, and you may also want to consider packing Thunderbird Portable away on your thumb drive for anywhere-access to your email.

Gmail (Web-based, Free)

Google has had quite a hit on their hands with Gmail, their extremely popular web-based email client. Not only do you get a feature-packed email account when you sign up for Gmail—you also get an email client that's is very adept at pulling in email from other services and organizing it with a robust system of filters and tags. You can check out how to manage multiple inboxes here if you'd like to use Gmail as a central hub for managing all your email. Many of the features in Gmail aren't necessarily revolutionary—like the ability to filter messages, flag, or label them—but the featurs are implemented in such a way that makes them effortless to use. And, surprising as it may seem, its much-loved threaded conversations are still relatively unique to Gmail.

Postbox (Windows/Mac, $39.95)

Postbox is stand-alone email client for Windows and Mac operating systems. Postbox is based on Mozilla-code, so the Postbox team has been able to tweak quite a few Thunderbird extensions, including Lightning, to work with Postbox. In addition to its extensibility, Postbox's default interface is powerful. The app includes features like the ability to search and compose simultaneously. You can look up an email address, search for a previous attachment, and check an old email for information all in the sidebar while working on your current email. Postbox also provides email summaries as you read through and search your email, showing you not just the sender and subject line but the attachments and any important information inside the email like addresses, appointments, and URLs.

Source: Lifehacker.Com

Skype 2.1 Beta 2 Puts Screen Sharing in Linux

Skype 2.1 beta 1 for Linux finally gets an upgrade, version 2.1 beta 2 comes with a bunch of new features to boost the stagnant growth rate in which Skype for Linux finds its self.
The major feature here is certainly the addition of Screen Sharing, a feature long present in the Windows and Mac versions of Skype. Screen sharing means – you can show your desktop to a Skype contact by simply calling that contact and sharing all or part of your desktop.

Other features in Skype 2.1 beta 2 include; Instant Message Quoting and support for User Interface Styling.
Skype for Linux now supports abuse reporting and has implemented support for localized time formats.

What else!!!
Many know issues are still present in this release though several bugs fixes have been added and minor improvements made.
- The ugly PulseAudio bug is still there; “When PulseAudio is enabled in the audio settings, only that specific entry will be available; to change the settings, use the PulseAudio manager tool that is bundled with your distribution.”
- Sometimes Instant Messages are not ordered correctly.

For more on the known issues move to the Release Notes.

Download Skype 2.1 Beta 2 for Linux

Source: Kabatology.com