Software

Hackers have published code that could let an attacker disable the Windows Firewall on certain Windows XP machines.

Microsoft Corp. has turned its accounting suite for small businesses into two separate offerings, one of which users can download for free starting today.

Microsoft Corp. originally targeted Wednesday for Vista's RTM (release to manufacturing), but a last-minute bug that "took most of the Vista team by surprise," caused an unexpected delay. The team is now targeting Wednesday, Nov. 8, for Vista's RTM.

In its second service-oriented architecture blitz of the year, IBM has detailed a range of products and services aimed at helping companies extend their service-oriented architecture deployments.

Sun isn

Microsoft attempted to clear up confusion over licensing of Windows Vista for power users who rebuild their PCs on a regular basis. But the answer from the software vendor did little to placate some users, who are still upset about Microsoft's one-machine transfer policy for Vista.

Confirming what might have been this year's worst kept secret, Microsoft Tuesday said users who buy PCs this holiday season loaded with Windows XP will get coupons for free or discounted upgrades to Vista when it ships next year.

The browser wars are back. Just two weeks after Microsoft Corp. delivered its highly anticipated Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Corp. has shipped a major update to its Firefox browser. Firefox 2.0 was officially released Tuesday.