Intel Unveils Next Gen Itanium Processor

This week, at ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) Intel unveiled its next-generation Itanium processor, codenamed Poulson. This new octal-core processor is easily the most significant update to Itanium Intel has ever built and could upset the current balance of power at the highest-end of the server / mainframe market. It may also be the Itanium that fully redeems the brand name and sheds the last vestiges of negativity that have dogged the chip since it launched ten years ago.

From Merced to Tukwila

Intel began work on what would become Itanium back in 1994 in a joint venture with HP. The two companies chose to pursue a design philosophy they termed EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing). As an EPIC processor, Itanium pursued a very different design philosophy compared to the Pentium Pro and the other out-of-order execution processors that followed it.

Instead of using specific CPU hardware to re-arrange and optimally schedule instructions for execution (defined as Out of Order Execution, or OoOE), Itanium relies on the compiler to optimize code at run-time. This allowed the designers of Merced (the first generation Itanium) to devote more die space to execution hardware, thus boosting theoretical performance. The weak link in the chain was the compiler itself. If it failed to detect and exploit thread-level parallelism at runtime only a fraction of the CPU's execution units were in use at any given time.

 

Read more from the source of this article: Intel Previews 32nm Itanium "Poulson" Processor

Analysis: Nokia and Microsoft Embrace in Smartphone Alliance

The smart money was right. Nokia has jumped into bed with Microsoft and will produce phones running Windows Phone 7.

The cynics would say that, here, we have two lumbering dinosaurs of the technology world clinging to each other hoping that the other gives them a future. Optimists would point to two global super-giants that need each other, both bringing vital components to the alliance.

The big winner is Microsoft. Windows Phone 7, while reasonably well received by commentators, has not set the world on fire. An alliance with Nokia gives it access to the world’s largest phone maker and its huge mindshare—in many developing nations a mobile phone is known as a Nokia. Microsoft’s mobile strategy has been lackluster and tardy. The news that smartphones have outsold PCs for the first time last quarter, has put Microsoft’s core business—selling software for PCs—under threat. It desperately needs a stake in the future.

Microsoft’s “embrace and extend” strategy appears to be alive an well. In an open letter published on Nokia’s website, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote “Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia.” It is clear who is wearing the trousers in this partnership.

Google must be smarting a bit today. Not only did Nokia spurn the Android operating system - a recent survey suggests each phone delivers $9.85 a year to Google - but Nokia phones will have Bing as their default search engine. An Android tie-up for Nokia made little sense; the last place Nokia wanted to be was slugging it out with the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola, trying to differentiate themselves by cutting content deals and making better user interface tweaks.

But the biggest loser is MeeGo, the ugly, unloved step child of operating systems. The press release says: “MeeGo becomes an open-source, mobile operating system project. MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year.”

So MeeGo to No Go. Will that device ever see the light of day? Perhaps, but it will be hard to persuade developers and manufacturers to get behind an OS that clearly has been put on the shelf. WP7 will be at the centre of the company. MeeGo may yet end up in other devices; it is after all yet another flavor of Linux, the very popular open-source operating system. MeeGo’s road map always talked about it being embedded in other devices.

That may yet happen, but the omens don’t look good. Alberto Torres, who until today was Executive Vice President, MeeGo Computers, Mobile Solutions, has carried the can. According to the press release he is to “pursue other interests outside the company.”

Along with the eye-grabbing headline, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop also announced the much expected re-organization. Inauspiciously commencing on April Fool’s Day (were the PR team asleep during that bit of the planning?) the company will have two business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. The former will be the new Windows Phone 7 branch. The Mobile Phones unit will continue to develop phones for Nokia’s mass market.

Neither of these two units can expect an easy time. Nokia’s core business - mass feature phones for the mass market - is under severe threat from cheap, mass produced Chinese phones. As Mr. Elop said in his famous “burning platform” memo:

“At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, “the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation.” They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.”

And life is going to be no easier down the line. Smart Devices have to go into battle against the massed ranks of Android backers, BlackBerry and of course Apple and the iOS, armed with only Windows Phone 7. A giant killer it isn’t.

What is worrying is the time frame. Mr. Elop said “Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years”. Two years is an eternity in the mobile phone world. Moore’s Law, which roughly translates to the power of chips doubling every 18 months, means phones will be more than twice as powerful. If Nokia is going to be worrying about who gets what office for the next two years, the company is going to emerge into an unrecognisable world.

The market reaction to Mr. Elop’s announcement was as swift as it was brutal. Nokia immediately fell 11 per cent. The markets are going to take some convincing that the company can pull itself out of a hole. But it is the general public who are the real judges in this final dance of the dinosaurs. The deal with Microsoft gives both Nokia and Microsoft a route to the future.

It is a very dark road ahead, and they are starting their uncertain journey right at the back of the pack. At least now they appear to have bought a map.

Source : http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/02/11/nokia-and-microsoft/

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate in 40 languages. You can download version 9.0.8080.16412 now for: Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit.

The new RC build includes a Tracking Protection feature, which gives users the option to control what third-party site content can track them when they’re online, as well as a new ActiveX filtering option, which allows users to turn on/off ActiveX plug-ins. Best of all, Microsoft has addressed what was arguably the biggest complaint with the new version (the company has gone through over 17,000 pieces of feedback): if you want your tabs on a separate line from the address box, there's now an option to turn that on from the right click menu at the top of the browser.

At the same time, IE9 RC is significantly faster than the beta version. Furthermore, many site rendering issues have been fixed, although we can't say that it's working perfectly. Last but not least, the new build includes hundreds of bug fixes.

Microsoft released the IE9 beta five months ago. The software giant also took the opportunity to announce that the beta surpassed 25 million downloads, making it the most downloaded beta release of Internet Explorer ever. Redmond is likely to release the final version of IE9 at its Mix11 event (April 12 to April 14, 2011).

"IE9 RC supports additional emerging Web standards including CSS3 2D Transforms, HTML5 Geolocation and a set of HTML5 semantic elements," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "We've added support for the HTML5 canvas global­Composite­Operation property and improved the performance of canvas’s Canvas­Pixel­Array. We've updated IE9 RC to reflect changes to the DOM events and added accessibility to the HTML5 audio and video controls. These additions reflect our pattern of implementing site ready HTML5 while ensuring developers can experiment with new and emerging specifications through our HTML5 Labs. As these specifications become stable, you can expect we will implement them in IE as we have throughout the development of IE9."

By Emil Protalinski

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/42358-microsoft-releases-internet-explorer-9-release-candidate.html

Microsoft makes Chrome play H.264 video

Users of the Chrome browser will be able to play H.264 video - thanks to Microsoft.

Google ditched HTML5 support for H.264 video last month, citing the codec's licensing requirements. Instead, Google said the HTML video tag should favour the freely available WebM.

Today, Microsoft revealed the Windows Media Player HTML5 Extension for Chrome, which will let users of the Google browser play H.264 video.

"At Microsoft we respect that Windows customers want the best experience of the web including the ability to enjoy the widest range of content available on the internet in H.264 format," said Claudio Caldato, interoperability program manager, in a Microsoft blog post.

He noted that Internet Explorer 9 will support H.264 as well as Google-sponsored WebM video - as long as users have installed the codec - and that Microsoft had already created a Firefox extension. "We also recently provided an add-on for Windows 7 customers who choose Firefox to play H.264 video so as to enable interoperability across IE, Firefox and Chrome using HTML5 video on Windows."

The move hasn't convinced everyone. One comment on the post read: "H.264 isn't an open standard and isn't supported by Firefox or Opera, so in what way is this in support of interoperability? Commercial interests absolutely, but interoperability certainly not."

source: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/364948/microsoft-makes-chrome-play-h-264-video

Windows MHTML Vulnerability Warning From Microsoft

An HTML scripting bug impacting all supported versions of Windows is receiving Microsoft’s attention

Microsoft issued an advisory on a Windows security vulnerability today after exploit code for the bug went public.

The bug, which lies in the MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML (MHTML) protocol handler, can be exploited to cause data leakage. Though proof-of-concept code for the vulnerability has already gone public, the company said it is unaware of any attempts to exploit the bug.

Fault Lies In MHTML Execution

“The impact of an attack on the vulnerability would be similar to that of server-side cross-site-scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities,” blogged Angela Gunn, security response communications manager for Microsoft Trustworthy Computing. “For instance, an attacker could construct an HTML link designed to trigger a malicious script and somehow convince the targeted user to click it.”

If a user clicked that link, the malicious script would run on the user’s computer for the rest of the current Internet Explorer session, and could be used to collect user information, spoof content displayed in the browser or for other acts, Gunn added.

According to the advisory, the vulnerability affects all supported editions of Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability exists due to the way MHTML interprets MIME-formatted requests for content blocks within a document. Even though proof-of-concept code is available, the bug is difficult for attackers to exploit in a successful and useful way, opined Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle.

“To create a successful attack with this bug the attacker needs to entice a user to click on a specific URL and he also needs control over the user’s Web,” he said. “These factors, together with the fact that the mitigation is easy to install, make successful exploits less likely.

“The risk with this bug is not huge, especially since Microsoft has already provided easy and fairly safe mitigation techniques,” he added.

Microsoft offered a few workarounds to protect users. For example, users can follow instructions in the advisory to lock down the MHTML protocol and set Internet and local intranet security zone settings to high to block ActiveX controls and active scripting.

“This bug looks like a strong candidate for the regular patch process,” he added. “So far, there are no active exploitations. You also have to consider that the bug is in the Windows OS and it affects all versions of Windows, so testing is going to take some time. Microsoft is not going to rush out a patch just yet.”

source: http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/windows-mhtml-vulnerability-warning-from-microsoft-19514

Open-source challenge to Microsoft Exchange gains steam

An open-source, cloud-based e-mail alternative to Microsoft Exchange called Open-Xchange has signed up two new service providers and predicts it will have 40 million users by the end of 2011.

Based in Germany, Open-Xchange has tripled its user base from 8 million to 24 million paid seats since 2008, with the help of three dozen service providers including 1&1 Internet, among the world's largest Web hosting companies. Open-Xchange has 7 million users in North America today, but says most of its 2011 growth will occur on this continent, in part due to new agreements with service providers Lunarpages of California and Cirrus Tech in Toronto.

An open-source, cloud-based e-mail alternative to Microsoft Exchange called Open-Xchange has signed up two new service providers and predicts it will have 40 million users by the end of 2011.

Based in Germany, Open-Xchange has tripled its user base from 8 million to 24 million paid seats since 2008, with the help of three dozen service providers including 1&1 Internet, among the world's largest Web hosting companies. Open-Xchange has 7 million users in North America today, but says most of its 2011 growth will occur on this continent, in part due to new agreements with service providers Lunarpages of California and Cirrus Tech in Toronto.

"You will see a lot of new partners coming on board using Open-Xchange as their primary e-mail and collaboration solution," CEO Rafael Laguna said this week.

Microsoft Exchange Server, the 800-pound gorilla in the room, had a worldwide install base of 301 million mailboxes in 2010 and expects to reach 470 million by 2014, according to a market analysis by the Radicati Group. On-premises Exchange accounts for 76% of users, but that number will drop to 72% by 2014 because of growing demand for hosted, or "cloud" services.

Although Microsoft Exchange is still growing, Laguna predicts that third-party hosting companies will increasingly become wary of Microsoft because Redmond is offering e-mail and other hosted services through its own cloud platform, rather than relying solely on partner companies.

Open-Xchange's strategy is to make e-mail cheaper for both partners and customers. Open-Xchange mailbox prices vary by service provider, but will typically cost $5 per user per month, about the same as Microsoft's own Exchange Online.

But Laguna says the Open-Xchange price includes more than just basic e-mail, coming with mobile access through support for Exchange ActiveSync, social media features, collaboration and file management. In other words, you don't have to pay extra for SharePoint-like services.

The Open-Xchange software itself is available under the GPL open-source license. The software can integrate with various e-mail clients including Microsoft Outlook. The Outlook user base "is probably the biggest hurdle for us to overcome," Laguna says. "We have to support Outlook the way Outlook supports Exchange."

Open-Xchange was founded in 1996 as Netline Internet Service and changed to its current name in 2005. While its cloud-based software is primarily attracting small businesses, up to 100 seats each, Open-Xchange also has customers running its software on-premises. In-house deployments account for 3 million of the company's 24 million e-mail accounts, and include some installations of more than 10,000 users.

But while Open-Xchange can scale up to enterprise environments, Laguna says "that's not our primary goal."

"We're telling people Internet architecture is the way to go," he says. "The browser is the client of the future."

Gartner profiled Open-Xchange last August in a MarketScope report on e-mail systems, giving it a rating of "caution," one of its lowest ratings, behind "promising," "positive" and "strong positive."

Only Microsoft was rated "strong positive," while systems from Google, IBM, Novell and VMware/Zimbra got the "positive" rating.

Gartner's report notes that Open-Xchange is "a small vendor with 50 employees and revenue of under $4 million in 2009." Despite the "caution" rating, Gartner's MarketScope doesn't say anything overtly negative about the company.

"With its strong push into the ultra-competitive service provider channel, Open-Xchange is less of an option for premises-based deployments, although large companies looking to cut e-mail costs by utilizing an ISP-type approach to service delivery might consider Open-Xchange," Gartner writes.

source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/012811-open-source-challenge-microsoft.html?hpg1=bn

Microsoft Lowers Price of Xbox 360

New round of price wars among the game consoles: The software company Microsoft makes it a competitor to Sony and lowers the price of its flagship model, the Xbox 360 Starting from this coming Friday is the Elite version of the console with a 120-gigabyte hard drive for 250 euros, thus giving about 50 euros cheaper than in the past, the company announced today. The cheapest version of the console, the Xbox 360 Arcade is no hard drive, have continued for 200 euros. During the past Christmas season, the manufacturer had lowered the price of the entry model, however, already at 180 euros. The Xbox 360 Pro with 60-gigabyte hard drive will slowly phase out Microsoft.

Sony announced just last week before the computer game trade fair in Cologne Gamescom a smaller and more fuel-efficient version of the Playstation 3 for $ 300. Also this device contains a 120-gigabyte hard drive. The price of the PS3-old model also falls from 400 to 300 euros, but he will be sold only remnants. Nintendo wants to turn to hold on to the price of the Wii, which has been offered since the initial release in late 2006 for 250 euros.

"We know that the price is a critical factor," said Microsoft manager Chris Lewis. Users respected but also on the utility and entertainment value of the consoles. Microsoft wants the Xbox 360, therefore, continue to expand in the living room entertainment center. From fall through the Console, there will be a direct access to social network Facebook, or short message service for Twitter. In addition, the video-on-demand offerings will expand and movie downloads in full HD with 5.1 audio will be possible.