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Follow UsHow else would Microsoft start off the new year but with new security flaws
in its software, down servers, and a lawsuit.
Windows XP has been promoted by Microsoft as its most secure operating system
to date. But several recently discovered security glitches are so severe, the
FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center issued an alert this week to all
Windows XP users asking them to disable the Universal Plug and Play feature
where the flaw exist.
The security glitches in the Plug & Play code can leave computers open to
malicious hackers and also put them at risk of being temporarily shut down by a
denial-of-service attack or having their computers high-jacked for such attacks
on other targets.
Microsoft engineers are working feverishly to develop a fix for the problem.
In the mean time, Microsoft has shut down the servers that let computer users
download Windows XP software updates. More than a million people use the servers
each day to download XP updates.
Also this week, Microsoft was served with a lawsuit filed by entrepreneur Ken
Belanger who claims Microsoft is infringing on the trademark he claims to own
for the term "PocketPC," the same name Microsoft has been using for
its handheld PC platform.
Unlike most companies taking Microsoft to court, Belanger is not suing the
company in a regular court of law to which Microsoft can dispatch a team of
high-powered lawyers that would be tough to beat. Belanger, instead, filed his
case in a Small Claims Court in Redmond, Washington. He paid just $20 for
filing the case in which he can be awarded a maximum of $5,000.- The case is
scheduled to be heard on February 22.before a small claims commissioner in San
Francisco.
Belanger has been selling a gag gift called the "Pocket PC" since
1985. Much like the "Pet Rock" gimmick of the 1970s, Belanger's
product is a spoof on the high-tech industry's hype about small computing
devices. The product is little more than a plastic poker chip bearing a unique
serial number. About 1,200 people have paid about $9.95 for Belanger's Pocket PC
through the years. He thinks he could sell as many as 500,000 more Pocket PCs
online if Microsoft would stop trespassing on his trademark.
If Belanger wins, he will be able to file a claim with the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to gain the rights to the
pockerpc.com domain name, which Microsoft owns.
The latter is really what Belanger is after, as Microsoft would likely pay a
significant sum to retain ownership of pocketpc.com. But Belanger insists he is
not driven by the urge to squeeze Microsoft. "This isn't about holding up
Microsoft. This is about taking back something that is already mine,'' Belanger
said.
Microsoft claims that the phrase PocketPC is a generic industry term that
cannot be trademarked.