Earlier this year, we at 3Sharp performed competitive testing of the Microsoft Phishing Filter in IE7 against several other offerings. Today, we released a report on our findings, entitled Gone Phishing: Evaluating Anti-Phishing Tools for Windows.

My background is in both Windows and UNIX systems administration, and I can remember working for a website company back in the days of the original Browser Wars. Having to support IE2, IE3, two or three versions of Netscape, plus Lynx on our developer workstations — ah, those were the days. As a result, I’ve tended to avoid IE when I could. I’d embraced Firefox early on — back in the 0.4 timeframe — and used it religiously. On my work blog, I’ve talked about how working on this testing helped change my mind and why.

The Microsoft press release says that the Zune will be available on Nov. 14 for $249.99. They priced the 30GB device the same as Apple’s 30GB iPod. The release highlights its unique features including…

I’ve been using every build of Vista I can get my hands on for quite some time. But I’m staying away from 5728 — I’ve heard it’s got troubles. What have other people found?

One criticism of my last Vista installation time blog was that I performed an upgrade over an existing Vista beta. Fair enough comment though I think a lot of people are going to upgrade existing XP boxes instead of performing a clean installation. In any case, I decided to perform a clean installation with Build 5728 (the previous build was 5600) on the same Pentium 4 2.8GHz PC with 512MB RAM (performance rating = 1). Here’s what I saw.

Here’s the weekly summary of mostly Windows Mobile related items from my personal blog

PlanMaker 2006 for Pocket PC Beta
SoftMaker has a public beta of its PlanMaker spreadsheet for Windows Mobile based Pocket PCs available at its website.SoftMaker PlanMaker 2006 for Pocket PC Beta

The updated Excel Mobile in Windows Mobile 5 has a number of enhancements over previous versions including simple graphs. However, if you need even more functions and feature than Excel Mobile provides, you might want to take a look at PlanMaker 2006 in its Beta release form. .

Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2 BUT You Might Not Want to Install It
Microsoft made its…

ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2

…for Windows Mobiled devices available as a public download. However, you may want to think twice about installing it if you are using an older Windows Mobile device (pre-Windows Mobile 5). Some features are lost if you upgrade from ActiveSync 3.8.

• LAN/WiFi synchronization is disabled
  
• Access database conversion is lost
  
• Support for Microsoft Outlook 2000 is lost
  
• Support for devices prior to Pocket PC/Smartphone 2002 is gone
  

Syncing Outlook, Google Calendar/Mail, iPod, & Phone
An anonymous blogger posted his/her(?) solution to sync a multitude of software, services, and devices that don’t normally speak to each other (e.g., Outlook and iPod) in a post titled:

The Holy Grail of Synchronization: How to synchronize Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone with Funambol / ScheduleWorld

Ilium InScribe: Free Text-Entry Software for UMPC
Ilium Software released a free application for Microsoft UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers) devices. Ilium Software InScribe is a text entry utility that works with the UMPC’s virtual on-screen keyboard to quickly enter text. I don’t know anyone who owns a UMPC. But, if you do, head to Ilium’s website to download their free offering.

You can learn more about the UMPC at Intel and Microsoft’s sites for it found at:

Intel: UMPC.com

Microsoft Ultra Mobile PC

Avocent SonicAdmin QR and SonicAdmin Pro: Manage Windows Servers from a PDA
Avocent, probably best known for their KVMs announced two products that allows managing a Windows Server remotely from a Blackberry or Windows Mobile based device.
Avocent Corporation Unveils New Products to Enable Management of Servers from Smartphones

Using SonicAdmin QR software, system administrators can access any server allowed by their Active Directory profile to view server statistics, shutdown and reboot servers, view event logs, view and manage processes, manage Active Directory user accounts, and run Quick Commands such as ping, ipconfig and traceroute.

SonicAdmin Pro software offers additional functionality, adding Windows services management, file explorer, file search, file and folder properties, file editor and a Command line interface. The Exchange Server management extensions include viewing queue properties as well as freeze and unfreeze queues and force connection commands. Active Directory management adds user group management and mailbox properties

Want to check out Microsoft’s new Windows Vista Tips & Tricks site? If you’re a Vista user, don’t bother — the list of top tips is posted in a .pdf Acrobat file, and Acrobat doesn’t ship as part of Vista. What was Microsoft thinking?

Here’s the weekly summary of mostly Windows Mobile related items from my personal blog…

Zune… Hmm…

Microsoft announced (but did not release) their Zune audio/video device that will compete with the Apple iPod in the portable multimedia space. I had written it off as an also-ran prior to seeing Apple’s lackluster iPod refresh announcements on Sept. 12. Now, I’m wondering if Zune might have a chance a device generation or two from now. Zune’s larger screen (3 inches) and WiFi sharing feature certainly makes it interesting to me. On the other hand, why is one of the three colors brown? Brown? And, doesn’t it really look like a 1950s speaker with the grill removed? Very retro.

You can find more information at Microsoft’s Zune Virtual Pressroom. And Zune Thoughts’ Jason Dunn took stock Zune video clips and provided a very informative voiceover narrative for those of you interested in seeing Zune in action: Zune Video Overview: See Zune in Action.

Virtual Earth Mobile Updated to Work with Revised Virtual Earth
Jason Fuller noted that a change in Microsoft Virtual Earth (the engine that powers local.live.com) had a change that broke the find business feature in Virtual Earth Mobile for Windows Mobile devices. Version 1.67 fixes this problem. You can download the CAB installer directly from his blog entry at: Virtual Mobile Earth 1.67

TravelPost’s (US) Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
TravelPost.com has a useful web reference page list WiFi access information for 150 aiports in the US. You can find it linked below.
Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide

Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Ed. Users Get Exchange Server Push from DataViz
Windows Mobile 5 device (Pocket PC/Smartphone) users can get Exchange Server email pushed to them if their firmware includes the Messaging Security and Feature Pack (MSFP). But, if you use a previous generation Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Pocket PC Phone Edition, you are not left in the cold anymore. DataViz’ RoadSync for Windows Mobile […]

The Microsoft Windows Live movement has finally reached the mobile side of the world. Head over to…

http://mobile.live.com/

Windows Live for Mobile

…on your Windows Mobile Smartphone or Pocket PC Phone Edition (and presumably other browser enabled mobile devices) to see what is replacing MSN Mobile.

My only complaint so far is that Windows Live Mail for mobile devices is specifically formatted for narrow width smartphones and does not show enough of the subject line on a Pocket PC Phone Edition (or a smartphone with a screen wider than 180 pixels).

Not in the archives yet, but when it is I will link to it. In the mean time, via a recent post to the IronPython Mailing List, the increasingly OmniPresent Seo Sanghyeon writes,

I am happy to announce IronPython Community Edition (IPCE for short)
1.0 revision 1, based on IronPython 1.0, to the world.

Get it here:
http://sparcs.kaist.ac.kr/~tinuviel/download/IPCE-1.0r1.zip

Binary is built with Mono 1.1.17.1.

Benefits of this edition:

1. You don’t need to fight Mono with non-working line editing or
white-on-white “blind” console on Linux or Mac. A fix for this issue
and fixed binary is already included.

2. You don’t need to edit makefile to build from the source on Mono.

3. Various bugfixes are included: patches are available here:
http://sparcs.kaist.ac.kr/~tinuviel/fepy/patches/1.0/

patch-ironpython-mono-console
patch-ironpython-mono-makefile
Discussed above.

patch-ironpython-co-flags
This patch fixes an issue that co_flags reports **-argument only
function to have *-argument as well.

patch-ironpython-codedom-empty-return
This patch fixes an issue that CodeDom generator doesn’t handle empty
return statements.

patch-ironpython-oldstyle-setattr
This patch fixes an issue that __setattr__ wasn’t called for old-style classes.

patch-ironpython-os-utime
This patch fixes an issue that os.utime didn’t set modified time and
set access time wrong.

patch-ironpython-re-backslash-escape
This patch fixes an issue that backslash escape \\ wasn’t properly
handled in regular expression.

–
Seo Sanghyeon
_______________________________________________
users mailing list
users@lists.ironpython.com
http://lists.ironpython.com/listinfo.cgi/users-ironpython.com

NICE! Thanks, Seo!

The Vista RC1 build is solid and speedy, although there are still plenty of issues with it. But no matter what, it will ship on time — Paul Thurrott points out a clever way for Microsoft to ship Vista, even if it’s not ready for prime time.

The timeline for Vista ship is this: Code finalizes on October 27, and Windows Vista Enterprise edition ships as a volume-license version by the end of November. Then at the end of January, 2007, Vista ships on new PCs, and is available via retail.

What about all the driver issues, hardware glitches, software incompatibilities, and related problems most likely to still be around on October 27?

No problem. Because Vista isn’t due until January, Microsoft can work on fixes for several more months. Then when someone fires up Vista in January, those fixes will auto-update directly into the OS.

In Thurrott’s words, “This is the software equivalent of pulling a plane away from the gate at an airport and then claiming an on-time departure: It feels deceptive, but it gets the job done.”

Don’t be surprised if this is exactly what happens.

Couple of non-Windows Mobile news items are in this round-up of mobile news summary items from the blog on my personal site.

Blackberry Pearl’s Trackball
I’m not a Blackberry user. So, I was quickly reading through MSNBC’s Gary Krakow’s review of the new Blackberry Pearl from T-Mobile until I hit this sentence in his review: Aside from its size, Pearl’s best new feature is its revolutionary pointing device — a tiny, full-function trackball. A trackball makes so much sense. Every smartphone needs one for navigation. And, every phone peripheral maker should add one to their Bluetooth or Infrared wireless keyboard.

Windows Mobile 2003 Support Lifecycle
Microsoft’s Jason Langridge has a brief blog item about the support life cycle for Windows Mobile 2003 devices(Windows Mobile Support Lifecycle). He says that official mainstream support for Windows Mobile 2003 ends in mid-2009. Of course, as Jason points out in his blog, everything really depends on the hardware manufacturer. Case in point: HP released the […]

Sprint Treo 700wx Pocket PC Phone Edition
Palm’s announcement for the Windows Mobile 5 based Treo 700wx Pocket PC Phone Edition for use on the Sprint PCS network includes a couple of interesting offers such as a free 1GB memory card, free shipping, and a $125 trade-in for Treo 650 owners. The Treo 700wx sells for $499.

Nintendo DS MP3 Player
Gizmodo reports on the sighting of a Nintendo DS MP3 player option that will be in available in Europe soon (The Mysterious Nintendo DS MP3 Player). MP3 audio files are stored on a SD card (up to 2GB). Using Apple’s estimate of 1,000 songs on their 4GB iPod nano, the Nintendo DS option could store up […]

I’ve installed Vista RC1 and am putting it through its paces, and after hours of review, it’s clear: RC1 is a winner. Up until now I’ve been a skeptic, but this version of Vista is fast, clean, well-organized, and with plenty of driver support. Microsoft may well meet its shipping date.

I’m very proud to announce the relase of my first Short Cut: Getting Started With .NET 3 available for $9.99 here.

The goal of this Short Cut is to get you up and running with the future of Microsoft programming: .NET 3.

It is a preview of what is to come, to be fleshed out in a full Programming Book to be released as quickly as our tiny little fingers can type. But this is no white-paper; with this Short Cut you will create a real, meaningful application (Me!Trade) and get a good look at what the Windows Presentation Foundation and the Windows Communication Foundation have to offer (QuoteWrong Web Service), as well as a quick-peek both at Windows Workflow and at CardSpaces (Passport on steroids)

I downloaded RC-1 this morning and decided to note how long it took to install and how many reboots are involved. Why? I’ve installed Vista many many times over the past 18 months or so. It seems to have gotten much smoother and a little bit faster. But, it also seems like there are more and more reboots involved. So, here’s what I noted this morning.

Congratulations are in order to Jim Hugunin, Dino Viehland, Microsoft, the core IronPython development team, and to all of the community members that have been involved in the development of such a remarkable product which is represented by the final release of IronPython 1.0.

To each of you listed above and to everyone involved with making this happen, a HUGE thank you! Truly an amazing accomplishment.

A copy of Jim Hugunin’s recent announcement to the IronPython mailing list from about 30 minutes ago is copied below,

So I’ve been watching pfisk’s external Vista SmallTalk project like a hawk. As made obvious by my last post (to my Windows DevCenter blog), I’ve been head down for the last while, and just now getting caught up on my list of MUST READ’s. In doing so, I came across this recent post from pfisk,

The Big Idea � Microsoft .Net and the Smalltalk Language

I recently came across an original quote from Alan Kay where he discusses the “big idea” behind Smalltalk:

Smalltalk is not only NOT its syntax or the class library,
it is not even about classes. I’m sorry that I long ago
coined the term “objects” for this topic because it gets
many people to focus on the lesser idea.

The big idea is “messaging” — that is what the kernal of
Smalltalk/Squeak is all about (and it’s something that was
never quite completed in our Xerox PARC phase). The Japanese
have a small word — ma — for “that which is in between”
– perhaps the nearest English equivalent is “interstitial”.

The key in making great and growable systems is much more to
design how its modules communicate rather than what their internal
properties and behaviors should be.

Think of the internet — to live, it
(a) has to allow many different kinds of ideas and realizations
that are beyond any single standard and
(b) to allow varying degrees of safe interoperability between
these ideas.

The full message from Alan Kay is here.

The guiding philosophy of Vista Smalltalk is to be a flexible tool for building applications from both local and remote components - the language syntax is only a part of the story.

Two things:

A little late on this one: I’m an avid reader of Steve Maine’s blog, but the last week has been spent, for the most part, underground readying Viberavetions for the first public beta launch (currently in private beta). For those with interest, the main “world” web feed will provide more detail for you when it’s ready.

In the mean time,

Brain.Save() - RC1

Today is a very, very cool day. Windows Communication Foundation (the API Formerly Known as Indigo) shipped RC1 to the world. You can get the bits right now.

And when we say “release candidate”, we mean it. As Clemens says, there are only a “handful” of active issues in the bug database (and you don’t need very big hands). The time has come for us to ship, and believe me, I can’t wait to get this in the hands of our customers.

So go, play with the bits already :)

SWEET!!! I wish I had more time to play with this (a common heard phrase amongst us hackers, without a doubt), and even though I have my days and nights, for the most part, spoken for — something tells me the temptation to begin playing with this is going to be too strong and I will have to give in.

Live could be worse ;)

Enjoy your day!

Here’s a summary of Windows Mobile (Pocket PC and Smartphone) related items that either got blogged about on my personal site or I tagged for my del.icio.us list in the past week.

i-Mate Provides EDGE Indicator for K-JAM Pocket PC Phone Edition
i-Mate announced the availability of a free utility for their K-JAM Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition that provides an indicator for whether a GPRS or higher speed EDGE network is available. A G is displayed in the status bar if a GPRS network is available and an E is displayed if EDGE is available.

Yahoo! Go now supports Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and Smartphones
Yahoo!’s mobile synchronization service moved beyond its Nokia-only roots and now supports Microsoft Windows Mobile based Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphone devices.

Synchronica Mobile Manager lets Windows Mobile phones scream for help
CNET’s News.com reports on Synchronica’s Mobile Manager that can remotely make a Windows Mobile-based handset emit an “annoying and embarrassing high-pitched wail,” so it can be found after it has been stolen or misplaced.

Phone Test Mode Codes
Popluar Science magazine is mirroring a PDF file from wpsantennas.com that provides phone test mode codes for various popular phones (including some based on Windows Mobile) that provides cellular signal strength information.