Briefs: July 25, 2005

VISTA IS THE NEW WINDOWS

Last Thursday at the company&'s annual sales conference in Atlanta, Brian Valentine, senior vice president of the Windows Core Operating System Division, was flanked on stage by Microsoft&'s top salesman, Kevin Johnson, group vice president of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services, as they announced the Windows Vista name and showed a brief video. The clip extolled some of the planned end-user improvements, including better search and organizing capabilities and support for auxiliary devices that display instant-on updates of Outlook data and more. Microsoft is not expected to ship Windows Vista until at least late 2006.

SYMBOL LOWERS SCANNING BARRIER
Symbol Technologies last week lowered the barrier of entry to its line of mobile computing and scanning systems with the release of the MC1000. At $695, the MC1000 is half the price of its closest kin, the MC3000, but still offers features that enable efficient scanning and numeric entry for enterprise-level inventory management, stock checking, delivery confirmation and other scan-intensive applications, according to Mark Chellis, director of Go To Market at Symbol. Touting the MC1000&'s ergonomic design and rugged, water-resistant casing, Chellis said the new device offers easily upgradable memory, wireless capabilities, and the advantages of running a Windows-based operating system, Windows CE. Symbol introduced the MC1000 to address channel partners looking for less expensive ways for their customers to either deploy or grow their mobile computing networks, said Chellis.

FIRM SAYS ORACLE FAILS TO FIX FLAWS
Oracle has failed to fix security flaws in its products despite knowing about the vulnerabilities for as long as two years, a German security firm said.

Red-Database-Security GmbH reported the flaws in advisories published in “Oracle Reports” and “Oracle Forms” July 19. The security firm, which specializes in Oracle products, said it first notified the company about the flaws during a period ranging from 718 to 663 days ago. The company claimed it told Oracle three months ago that it would publish bug details after the company released its critical patch update in July. Red-Database-Security expert Alexander Kornbrust posted the security advisories after it was determined the flaws weren&'t fixed in the update.