Contacting the M$ Support about Autopatcher

After commenting at the web site about the Immediate Shutdown of Autopatcher. I tried to contact Microsoft regarding this issue. Below is the exact letter I got. Its as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for contacting us about AutoPatcher.

I would like provide you with more information on our position. 

It is our policy that the distribution of supplemental code such as hotfixes, security updates, and service packs is discouraged. This policy is in place due to concern for the safety and security of our customers, as we can only guarantee the download’s contents when it comes from a Microsoft web site. Distribution of these materials without permission is also an infringement of our copyright. 

We try and contact anyone who is in violation of our policy as soon as we can, once we are aware of what they are doing. AutoPatcher is not the only company we have contacted. 

We recommend that our customers sign up for Microsoft Update (MU) and enable Automatic Update functionality to receive all updates directly from us. In addition, we have enterprise services such as Windows Server Updates Services (WSUS) that we recommend our enterprise customers to use.

We provide this guidance as it is common to see email scams encouraging people to download our latest patches, but the URL takes them to sites where they are actually exposed to malware. In order to ensure that customers are getting actual Microsoft updates and not malware, we recommend customers get their updates directly from us.

I hope this information has answered your query, but if you have any more questions please give us a call on 0870 60 10 100. The lines are open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. If you still have any more questions, please reply to this email.

Many thanks for contacting us.

Warm regards, 

JACOB RAJ

Customer Service Professional

Microsoft Customer Services

Protect Your PC: Microsoft recommends that you protect your PC from Viruses and Security threats. Please visit our website http://www.microsoft.com/uk/security/protect/alert.mspx and follow the steps to stay secure.

First of all. The main reason Autopatcher must have been shutdown is because that they suspected them  of spreading malicious coding (eg. Malware) in there distribution (This is Crap...). But initially saying that its was also because of copyright infringement saying that "Hey you can't distribute that patch without asking US."

Are the people people nuts? They should put up a poll in their M$ Technet Site and see what the public thinks about Autopatcher.

I for all Love Autopatcher. Its a time saver and is less complicated than a WSUS server that they ask me to try. What's the point of having SUS server for a PC that is totally offline? Like a Distributor PC (Totally remote and offline, except for a 56k Modem). They cannot be updating there Windows Updates from Scratch (Like takes about 8 Hours or more + Telephone Bills). Lame excuse by M$, more or less it seems that they are jealous that a 3rd Party is providing a free service that they didn't provide

Still Praying that Autopatcher will make a Victorious Comeback.

Good Luck..

Autopatcher Shutdown by M$

On the  29th August, 2007, Antonis Kaladis informed that Microsoft have sent then an email to immediately take down their download page for Autopatcher.

Sad day

Posted by Antonis Kaladis on August 29th, 2007 |

Today we received an e-mail from Microsoft, requesting the immediate take-down of the download page, which of course means that AutoPatcher is probably history. As much as we disagree, we can do very little, and although the download page is merely a collection of mirrors, we took the download page down.

We would like to thank you for your support. For the past 4 years, it has been a blast. Unfortunately, it seems like it's the end of AutoPatcher as we know it.

Comments are welcome...

Antonis Kaladis

----
Some people have been asking for the E-mail to be published. Heres a copy:
http://www.autopatcher.com/takedown-notice
Lyndon Brown (Blaze)

I was very disappointed to know that M$ after 4 years of their existences sent them a email to stop. Why all of a sudden? As a user of Autopatcher I can safely say there is not problems with Autopatcher whatsoever. Just Hoping that Autopatcher Team Can make a comeback.

Regards.

Microsoft Strikes Linux Patent Deal With LG Electronics

Under a deal with LG Electronics, Microsoft will forego any Linux-related patent claims and in return gain access to certain intellectual property produced by LGE.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
Jun 7, 2007 10:00 AM

In its second such agreement this week, Microsoft has struck a deal under which it will extend amnesty to a company that's using what the software maker claims is patented Microsoft intellectual property embedded in the open-source Linux computer operating system.

Under a deal with LG Electronics, disclosed late Wednesday, Microsoft will forego any Linux-related patent claims against the South Korean electronics manufacturer. In return, Microsoft will gain access to certain intellectual property produced by LGE.

Microsoft insists that the Linux kernel infringes on 42 Microsoft patents, and that other open-source software programs violate an additional 193. LGE uses Linux in a number of its consumer-electronics products, including smart phones.

In a statement, Jeong Hwan Lee, executive VP for intellectual property at LGE, said the intellectual property that his company is licensing to Microsoft concerns "patents directed to computer architecture utilized in game consoles and other products."

The deal also gives Microsoft access to technology used by LGE that's patented by MicroConnect Group.

Specific financial terms of the cross-licensing pact weren't disclosed, but Microsoft said the arrangement calls for it to make "net balancing" payments to LGE. That implies that the two companies have agreed that the technology to which Microsoft gains access is more valuable than the Microsoft technology claimed to be part of Linux.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced a cross-licensing agreement with Linux distributor Xandros. That pact also includes a provision under which Microsoft pledges not to pursue patent claims against Xandros arising from its distribution of Linux.

Last November, Microsoft reached a similar accord with Novell.

The deals are controversial. The Free Software Foundation, which governs open-source software licensing, denies Microsoft's contention that Linux and other open-source programs contain Microsoft intellectual property.

The FSF is in the midst of updating its open-source license in ways intended to make it more difficult for Microsoft to strike patent-protection deals with Linux distributors and users.

Among other things, the forthcoming third version of the General Public License, expected to be released this summer, is backdated to forbid Linux distributors from entering patent protection deals with commercial software developers as of March 28.

It would also force participants in prior agreements to extend patent protection to all Linux users. The FSF is hoping the latter provision will convince Microsoft to exit the Novell deal.

Ironically, LG Electronics is a member of a group called the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum. The group comprises a number of electronics manufacturers that embed Linux into their products. On its Web site, CELF says part of its mission is "to operate completely within the letter and the spirit of the open-source community."

The FSF and other open-source advocates are likely to question whether LGE's tie up with Microsoft is part of that mission.

Source: www.informationweek.com

Microsoft Windows ousted at California school district

By Jack Loftus, News Writer
28 Feb 2007 | SearchOpenSource.com

By all appearances, the migration from Microsoft Windows to Novell SUSE Linux on the server and the desktop at the Windsor Unified School District in Northern California has been almost as pain-free as any IT professional could hope for.

By this summer, all 5,000 students and 250 teachers will be working off of a Linux-based thin client running OpenOffice.org, and the majority of the district's servers will be running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Closing Windows

Heather Carver, brought on as the director of technology and information services at Windsor in August 2006, said her hiring was a result of the district's desire to vet alternatives to a Windows upgrade for its network of seven schools.

When Carver arrived, Windsor had an aging Microsoft Windows environment running on 70 Hewlett-Packard and Dell servers spread across seven schools. Upgrades would have meant purchasing more powerful hardware and additional licensing costs totaling $100,000 – far too expensive for their limited IT budget, she said.

That said, Carver still investigated ways to remain on Windows, but an upgrade proved impossible. "We looked at keeping the physical environment, and how we could accomplish that. But in that scenario, if we could afford the software upgrades, then we could not afford the new hardware required to run it and vice versa," she said.

With Windows ruled out, Carver decided to standardize on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with thin-client desktops running SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Novell won out because of what Carver perceived as better support for the thin client desktops she planned to use in the classrooms and faculty areas.

Using Wyse terminals, the district also planned to offer students and staff thin-client desktops running OpenOffice.org. Ericom software – a Citrix alternative -- enabled the terminals to run the district's existing and irreplaceable Microsoft Windows educational applications, including Type to Learn, Reading Counts and Kid Pix.

The migration officially began in January at the Brooks school building, one of seven schools in the district that would serve as the testing environment for the project. ZENworks, Novell's systems management product, was also installed to serve as a central management and monitoring hub for the other six sites when they go online this summer.

Identity hiccup

Windsor did go over a few speed bumps in the migration to Linux involving managing user identities and authentication. For Carver, the ID issues were not debilitating enough to deter her from making the switch from Windows to SUSE, but the issue was still noticeable.

Specifically, custom scripts had to be developed to perform tasks such as granting faculty access privileges to student grade information, for example. These tasks had to be completed locally on a server-by-server basis. "We had to add all the system's users one-by-one," Carver said. "That's a pain when you have 500 users."

This problem was especially apparent on the thin clients she had set up in classrooms and teacher workstations. "At our Brooks facility, the OS wasn't that easy to manipulate for our thin clients," Carver said. "I love the OS, but it is not built for the thin client."

Carver said Novell promised more identity support during the summer in the form of a software update.

Linux thrives

Ultimately, though, the migration from Windows to Linux progressed quite smoothly.

"Each site has a server room with 10 servers," Carver said, for a total of 70 servers running applications like file and print, plus Novell's ZENworks and GroupWise for collaboration.

In particular, implementing ZENworks as a help desk for teachers and staff has resulted in a 90% reduction in the amount of time it takes IT staff to resolve problems. "We basically had no help desk before, but in the new system, each user has a distinct name and log-in credentials. Most places have that already, I know," she said.

The new setup also allows for better remote management. "[With Windows] we had spent half our time driving around; we had to touch every machine," Carver said. In a school system like Windsor, all that driving was costing an already strapped IT department too many resources.

Carver said it cost the district about $2,500 per school to migrate to Linux, compared with the estimated $100,000 it would have cost to upgrade their Windows infrastructure. In addition, buying more Microsoft Office licenses would have cost the district $100 per license, she said, whereas OpenOffice was free.

Linux as a learning tool

Ultimately, moving to Linux has enabled the Windsor School District to build out technology capabilities that wouldn't have been possible with Windows.

"[The students] are able to do more because Linux cost less," Carver said. "Our new computer lab [at Brooks] was set to cost $35,000 and ended up costing us $16,000 with Linux [on thin clients]."

And the kids love it too. "The kids think Linux is cool because it's new, but what they're really doing is stepping into the 21st century," Carver said.

Fear and anger erupt over $3 Microsoft Suite

Blogger: George Ou

By now, most people have heard that Microsoft will be selling a $3 version of Windows XP Starters Edition along with Office and some other educational software to students in the third world, but fear and anger have erupted in some circles in the Internet community. The two primary concerns I'm hearing across the forums are:

• Isn't this illegal dumping and unfair to open source solutions?
• Why aren't (insert first-world country here) students getting these prices?

To address the first question, we must look at the definition of dumping. It is generally accepted that dumping is taking place when a product is being sold below the cost of production as a means to undercut a competitor's price to put them out of business. Some may view the mere act of selling a product at lower prices in the recipient country than in the country of origin as an act of dumping, but the recipient country wouldn't usually file a complaint unless its local industry is being undercut in prices. In this case, the competitor in question is open source software, which isn't really owned by anyone, and Microsoft obviously isn't undercutting the price since $3 > $0.

Educational discounts are also nothing new, and companies are free to donate software to the schools. I've even seen programs where Microsoft actually gives away entire suites of software, including Windows, Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server, and more to computer science departments in American universities for the mere cost of the media and shipping.

But why is there so much fear of a $3 software suite comprising a crippled version of Windows XP along with Office and a few other educational titles? Surely this is a great opportunity for Linux and OpenOffice.org to compete in a market where people have no attachment or habit on any platform, since the open source solution is 100% free. These are countries where $3 might be a few weeks' food supply, and it's still a serious challenge for those nations to pay Microsoft millions of dollars in licensing fees. Surely in a situation where we're starting with a clean slate and the potential untapped market is bigger than the entire present computing user base, free has to be more attractive than not free. For the Microsoft suite to stand any chance of winning, it would have to be head and shoulders above a much cheaper competitor.

From my test results last year, Desktop Linux required significantly more hardware power than Windows XP, and it lagged behind in performance. While Desktop Linux has lower hardware requirements than Windows Vista, it is definitely more memory hungry than Windows XP, especially when you factor in the bloat and sluggishness from OpenOffice.org (OpenOffice.org wiki on performance). Since third-world nations will be getting a lot of old and refurbished computers, a modern GUI-based Linux plus OpenOffice.org will definitely present some challenges. From a novice user and administrator standpoint, Linux is still going to be more challenging than Windows. Now I am perfectly willing to accept the possibility that my assessment of the performance and usability situation is in some way, shape, or form wrong or misguided. But if that's the case, Microsoft will surely fail, and there is no need for open source advocates to fear a $3 suite from Microsoft.

The other big question among Americans and people in other first-world countries is why they aren't getting these kinds of breaks in pricing. The perception here is that the first-world nations are subsidizing the third-world nations in software, but is that really what's happening? Earlier this week, I read the news that Vista sold only 244 copies in China (that would be 243 more copies than I expected). All joking aside, I'm not surprised by these numbers in China or in any other developing nation where people make less than 1/10th the income of first-world nations. You cannot expect someone who's making $200 a month to fork out $200 in OEM software licensing costs. They'll save up for the hardware, since that can't be copied and you would actually have to deprive someone else of their goods in order to steal it. But they're not going to pay hundreds of dollars for software when they can just copy it. What this means is that first-world nations are subsidizing what is essentially free software to the third-world countries under the current system.

Full subsidization isn't the only problem; we're all under constant attack from the hordes of zombie armies born from software piracy. The vast majority of pirated black-market software being sold in the back alleys from Moscow to Bangladesh are laced with backdoors and rootkits. Not selling them software at prices proportional to their income levels simply means the bad guys get rich selling the software and they get a zombie army to boot. Software companies like Microsoft have the opportunity to undercut the pirates by selling low-cost legitimate software, since people would rather not break the law and they would rather not have infected computers. We would all benefit with fewer zombie botnet armies roaming the Internet.

Microsoft releases patch for Windows ANI flaw

By Bill Brenner, Senior News Writer
02 Apr 2007 | SearchSecurity.com

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday released the anticipated out-of-band patch for the critical Windows ANI cursor-handling flaw. The company originally had planned to release the patch next Tuesday with its normal set of monthly fixes, but officials decided to publish it early because of ongoing attacks against the vulnerability.

This fix marks just the third time that Microsoft has released a security patch outside of the monthly cycle, a clear indicator of the severity of the vulnerability and the company's concern about the attacks. Microsoft officials said the attacks at this point are limited, but they're continuing to monitor the situation. The vulnerability is in how Windows handles animated cursor (.ani) files. Microsoft confirmed last week that attackers could exploit it to run malicious commands on a victim's machine. The flaw can be exploited when users visit a malicious Web site or open a tainted email attachment. Users are at risk even if they are browsing with Internet Explorer 7 on a system running Windows Vista. Most versions of Windows are vulnerable.

Indeed, attackers have wasted no time in exploiting the flaw, according to a variety of security vendors. The Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) took the rare step of raising its alert system to yellow over the weekend because of the number of sites hosting malware that could exploit the flaw.

"We continue to receive reports of sites hosting the malware, possibly to get ready for the Monday work day in Europe and the US," ISC handler Kevin Liston wrote on the organization's Web site.

The Chinese Internet Security Response Team (C.I.S.R.T) has detected a worm-like payload that exploits the ANI flaw. According to the organization's report, "It has the same behavior as Worm.Win32.Fujacks [and] can infect .html .aspx .htm .php .jsp .asp and .exe files." The exploit inserts malicious links into such files and can also be used to send out spam, the organization said.

McAfee Inc. is also reporting a spam campaign that exploits the flaw, saying it has detected "many Web sites linking to other sites that attempt to exploit this vulnerability."

Late last week, third-party security organizations started releasing their own fixes for the flaw, including Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based eEye Digital Security and the Zero-Day Emergency Response Team (ZERT).

"This is a very serious vulnerability that is almost certain to be exploited on a wide-scale basis," ZERT member Randy Abrams said in an emailed statement. "If the vulnerability were limited to animated cursors alone it would not be as serious, but there are reports of .jpg files, which are very commonly used in Web pages, being exploited as well."