Microsoft's List of Verified Vista Applications

Microsoft has verified 800 applications to run bug-free on Windows Vista.

Eric Lai, Computerworld

Microsoft on Wednesday released a list of 800 applications it has officially verified so far to run bug-free on Windows Vista.

The list is notable for both its brevity and the absence of many applications popular on Windows XP, although Microsoft and analysts said that the majority of XP software can run, albeit with hiccups, on Vista.

Note: After this article posted, a PC World editor verified that vital drivers are still not available for the operating system. Read "Vista Drivers MIA" for details. --Editor

Popular Windows software that is conspicuously missing from Microsoft's list includes Adobe Systems's entire line of graphics and multimedia software, Symantec Corp.'s security products, as well as the Mozilla Foundation's open-source Firefox Web browser, Skype's free voice-over-IP software, and the OpenOffice.org alternative to Microsoft Office.

Software that has been tested as part of Microsoft's Vista certification program to run on all 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista include CorelDraw and WordPerfect from Corel, PowerDVD from Cyberlink, Nero 7 Premium, Trend Micro AntiVirus and PC-Cillin, AutoCad 2008, QuickBooks 2007 from Intuit, Microsoft Office 2007 and many other Microsoft applications.

In addition, Google's Desktop Search and its Toolbar for Internet Explorer have earned Microsoft's approval.

Missing From the List

Windows' extensive software ecosystem has long been one of the operating system's chief attractions. But Vista's long beta program last year allowed users to start compiling their own lists of applications that they claimed were broken or problematic on Vista.

Many of those were graphics-intensive games, which was the result of a new rendering engine, DirectX 10, introduced for Vista. But there are also a number of business and utility applications that have not been updated to ensure Vista compatibility. For instance, the latest version of Skype doesn't work on Vista. Firefox does work, though Mozilla has documented known issues.

Most of Adobe's multimedia software won't be officially supported for Vista until the middle of this year, though many applications can run today with minor problems (download Adobe's explanatory PDF).

Adobe, which will face competition from Microsoft this year when Microsoft releases its suite of graphics and multimedia design tools, did not immediately return a request to comment.

Symantec is already facing similar competition from Microsoft, which released its OneCare security suite last year.

In statements on its Web site aimed at business and home users, Symantec said some of its software, such as Norton AntiVirus 2007, already works with Vista. Other Symantec software, such as Ghost 12, won't be ready until mid-April.

Microsoft's Vista testing program, which vendors must pay to be a part of, has two levels: software that is "certified for Windows Vista" and software that "works with Windows Vista." At the moment, 108 applications have been certified, while 683 have been awarded the "works with" distinction.

ArcSoft got six of its more-popular multimedia applications certified because of demand from its hardware partners, according to Michael Downs, vice president of marketing and business development at the Fremont, Calif.-based company. Most of ArcSoft's software is bundled with DVD-ROM drives and other accessories from third-party resellers.

They "were requesting certification from us" so they could "slap that sticker on the [retail] box," said Downs. Downs said the certification process was fairly rigorous and involved filling out a lengthy application that was double-checked by a third-party service, VeriTest, on behalf of Microsoft.

The cost for testing ArcSoft's six applications was less than $10,000 each, Downs said. ArcSoft plans to have most of its applications tested. For others, ArcSoft plans to wait until the next update of the software before releasing and testing a Vista version.

Benefits of Certification

Microsoft said that getting certified will bring marketing benefits to software, such as a listing on Microsoft's Windows Marketplace site and the ability to use the logo on packaging and publicity materials.

How much would that boost sales for a company like ArcSoft? "It's hard to tell," Downs said.

Michael Silver, a Gartner analyst, said that because of the cost and time involved, "a lot of vendors don't participate" in Microsoft's program.

For companies that tend to run both off-the-shelf software as well as custom applications written in-house, Silver said that the percentage of applications with problems on Vista runs as high as 50 percent in some companies but is less than 10 percent in others. While many of those problematic applications won't need to be replaced, he said, "there's a good chance for disappointment for people that aren't careful."

T-Mobile to Offer Consumer Push E-Mail

T-Mobile International also will launch a number of new "community" services.

John Blau, IDG News Service

After rolling out push e-mail service to its enterprise customers, T-Mobile International AG & Co. KG now plans to extend the offering to the consumer market, in addition to launching a number of new "community" services.

The consumer push e-mail service was one of several announcements T-Mobile International CEO Hamid Akhavan made Tuesday during a news conference at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

"We plan a new service that will push e-mail to consumers; this could become a very huge market," Akhavan said.

As T-Mobile rolls out new social networking services such as myFaves in the U.S., the operator also plans new "community" pricing plans. With myFaves, for instance, customers can establish a community of up to five people who receive a discounted rate for voice calls, text message and more.

User-generated content, such as photos and videos, is another social networking service already generating lots of buzz, according to Akhavan.

"It's still early days for social networking services over mobile networks but they will drive growth," he said. "I believe the mobile Internet will have a bigger impact than the Internet itself."

The company is looking at the new Windows Mobile 6.0. "I don't know yet if our Windows Mobile 5.0 handsets can support 6.0," he said. "If so and if we can use our Web site to allow customers to download the new operating system, then maybe this will be a possibility. I guess the answer is if we can upgrade easily, then yes."

T-Mobile meanwhile lowered international roaming fees by 20 percent last year, with further reductions in the pipeline. Because roaming isn't a unilateral business, partner operators will also need to agree to changes, Akhavan said.

Enterprises have been lobbying the European Commission for years to pressure European mobile operators into lowering roaming fees.

T-Mobile is moving ahead on its 3G (third-generation) rollout in the U.S., according to Akhavan. He handed the microphone to Ray Nevelle, in charge of the U.S. deployment, who said U.S. customers can expect 3G service this year.

Akhavan said he wasn't concerned about the threat of municipality Wi-Fi networks. Users want quality service, "which requires networking expertise -- this is something municipalities don't have," he said. "Governments, you may recall, used to run telecom networks and then decided to get out of that business."

If so, then you, and the millions just like you, need to beware of a batch of spam e-mail messages and viruses that are hitting the wild, looking to take advantage of the traditional romantic holiday.

Spammers are trying to lure users to open their e-mails with subject lines offering up jewelry, chocolate, and lingerie, according to researchers at security software firm Sophos. Engineers at Panda Software are issuing their own warning: The Valentine's Day holiday is bringing out new viruses, such as the Nurech.A worm. Nurech.A appeared in the wild last week and has rated an "orange virus alert," which is one of the higher threat alerts at Panda.

"As Valentine's Day approaches this year, we are already seeing a proliferation of computer threats," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, in a written statement. "All kinds of spam and new viruses are expected to join the viruses currently circulating using this lure. As a general rule, don't open any suspicious e-mail, regardless of what it says it contains."

Holidays and big events, like Valentine's and the Super Bowl, are prime lures for fraudulent spammers, who are always looking for new ways to tease users into opening their mail and infecting their computers or stealing their personal information. The best example, according to PandaLabs, is the now infamous and Valentine's Day-related LoveLetter virus, which caused one of the biggest epidemics in computer history.

Nurech.A is hidden in e-mails with subjects like: "Together You and I" or "Til the End of Time, Heart of Mine." The attached file carrying the malware is always an executable file and has names like flash postcard.exe or greeting postcard.exe.

Other malware currently infecting users includes Nuwar.D, which comes in e-mails with subject lines like "5 reasons I love you" or "A kiss for you."

The good news, according to Sophos, is that while spammers are sending out this new wave of messages, users are smartening up about opening them. A new Sophos poll shows that just 5% of computer users admit to buying products sold via spam. That number is nearly half of what it was at this time last year when 9% admitted to not only opening spam but buying things they read about there.

"The results are in. Spammers are no longer facing such an easy ride when it comes to flogging goods, whether they're personalized Valentine's Day gifts or the latest and greatest in 10-day weight-loss medication," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in a written statement. "The simple fact is that if no one bought goods sold via junk e-mail, the spammers would stop. It's encouraging to see a drop in the number of people who own up to making purchases, but with the number of e-mail users worldwide, 5% is still more than enough to keep the spammers in business."

Sophos analysts also report that many of the Valentine's Day-themed spam campaigns are using graphics embedded in the regular e-mail text. This type of image spam, most often used for promoting stock pump-and-dump scams or medication, is popular with spammers thanks to its ability to bypass anti-spam filters that scan text content only.

Image spam rose by almost 100% during 2006, going from 18.5% in January to 35.1% at the end of December, according to Sophos.

Microsoft Touts Support for Windows Mobile

In an effort to show wide support for its newest Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft Corp. is highlighting several announcements from handset makers on Monday at 3GSM in Barcelona.

Nancy Gohring, IDG News

In an effort to show wide support for its newest Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft Corp. is highlighting several announcements from handset makers on Monday at 3GSM in Barcelona.

Device manufacturers including Toshiba Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. are announcing plans to offer phones based on the new Windows Mobile 6.0. Other device makers committed to supporting Windows Mobile 6.0 include High Tech Computer Corp., iMate LLC, Motorola Inc., Palm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Microsoft said.

Some operators are also allowing customers to upgrade from the previous Windows Mobile software. T-Mobile USA Inc., for example, plans to announce on Monday that it will offer an upgrade to the new operating system to customers who are using the HTC device running Windows Mobile 5.0. Users will be able to download the new operating system for free from T-Mobile's Web site starting in the second quarter, said Leslie Grandy, vice president of product and service development for T-Mobile USA.

Most of the phones running Windows Mobile 6.0 will become available in March or April.

Analysts and competitors have criticized the Windows Mobile platform for being available on a smaller range of phones than other operating systems, specifically Nokia Corp.'s Symbian S60. But Microsoft argues that it is offering the best choice to users.

"We are now promoting 140 different form factors from 48 device makers," said Marianne Roling, director of mobile embedded devices for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Microsoft. "We're seeing lots of traction."

Microsoft also brushed off impending competition with the iPhone, a new combined music player and phone to be introduced by Apple Inc. later this year. "It's a nice product. It's an expensive product," said Pieter Knook, senior vice president of Microsoft's mobile embedded device group, during a press conference at 3GSM. "We're focused on a different model than Apple. We know how to partner with device makers and operators and bring technology to market."

British Telecommunications PLC (BT) said Monday that it is taking advantage of Windows Mobile 6.0's built-in VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) capabilities by selling a Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) device running the software to customers of its converged Fusion service.

The HP iPaq 514 running Windows Mobile 6.0 will be offered to business users of the service, which lets customers make low-cost VOIP-over-Wi-Fi calls as well as standard mobile calls. Users can roam between the two networks without dropping calls.

Windows Mobile 6.0 includes support for wireless VOIP but users need to subscribe to a service like BT's Fusion in order to seamlessly move between the networks, Roling said.

In addition to BT, other operators that have expressed plans to introduce phones running Windows Mobile 6.0 include France Telecom SA's Orange, Softbank Corp., AT&T Inc., Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and Telefonica SA, Microsoft said.

Microsoft also plans to announce on Monday that The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC will offer a hosted mobile e-mail service to small and medium-size businesses based on a hosted server product from Microsoft. End users, who may use Windows Mobile 6.0 phones, will pay a monthly fee for the service.