BEIJING–The IT systems supporting the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, will not be using Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest operating system.

Instead, the computing hardware will run on Windows XP, according to Xie Long, director of Olympic sponsorship for Lenovo’s Olympic Business Department. Lenovo will sponsor computer equipment including desktops, notebooks and servers for the megasporting event, which will be held in August next year.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing held here Tuesday, Xie explained that the list of computing equipment for the Beijing Olympics was finalized almost three years ago, when “Vista was not even born”.

Xie added that Lenovo began providing the hardware to the BOCOG ( Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad ) two and a half years ago–”even before the Turino Games”. Lenovo was the computer hardware sponsor for the 2006 Winter Olympics held in the Italian city of Turin.

According to Xie, computer equipment used for the megasporting event have to be mature and reliable technology, and a list of equipment would typically be drawn up and fixed first, afterwhich the equipment would undergo repeated tests.

Before the computer equipment are actually used at the Olympic Games in 2008, the systems have to undergo about three years of simulation tests at the Olympics Integration Test Lab, as well as tests at actual sports competitions, according to Xie.

Lenovo’s participation in the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics is part of the company’s efforts to build its brand worldwide.

Also behind the technology scene is IT services provider Atos Origin, which will design, build and operate the IT infrastructure for the Beijing Olympics . In January this year, the company launched a facility dedicated to testing the IT infrastructure, including IT security systems and software applications for the games

Title: No Vista for 2008 Beijing Olympics
Author: Lynn Tan
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: ZDNet Asia

IRVINE, Calif., May 29 /PRNewswire/ — Early adopters of Vista no longer have to stock up on CDs or external hard drives to transfer data to their new PCs thanks to IOGEAR’s Smartlink Transfer Cable for Windows Vista.

Designed to work with Windows Easy Transfer, a new feature on the Vista Operating System, the product sends files, music, pictures as well as settings from Windows XP computers to another PC running Windows Vista through a USB connection. An ideal solution for Windows users that don’t want to lose documents or spend a large amount of time copying them to intermediary storage devices, the Smartlink Cable supports transfer rates up to 480 Mbps.

“Upgrading to Vista is practically inevitable as laptops and PCs continue to enter the market with the operating system already installed. IOGEAR is aiming to relieve the stress associated with this transition with our Smartlink Transfer Cable,” said Miranda Su, vice president of sales and marketing at IOGEAR. “By simply transferring user accounts, documents and program settings via a USB port, our solution satisfies the file-sharing needs of those who continue to add Vista machines to their households or small offices.”

IOGEAR’s Smartlink Transfer Cable for Windows Vista is fully compliant with USB 2.0 and backwards compatible with USB 1.1, and supports two-way data transfer for Windows XP and Vista computers. It does not require the installation of additional drivers or software.

The product is priced at $29.95 (MSRP) and is available immediately from all major catalogue resellers, online resellers and selected retail outlets. It comes with IOGEAR’s standard three-year warranty.

For further information on the company and its connectivity solutions, please visit http://www.iogear.com/ . About IOGEAR

IOGEAR, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, CA, offers fun, stylish and innovative technology products to home users, office workers and road warriors. A leading connectivity manufacturer, the company provides a range of KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) and KVMP (Peripheral), Connectivity and Sharing, Networking, AV Digital Home, Mobility and Desktop solutions.

IOGEAR’s products decrease office clutter, create true connected home and small-office environments and enhance mobile lifestyles. As one of the only true manufacturers in the industry, IOGEAR offers high-quality products backed by the service and support that consumers demand. Regardless of time and location, customers can reach the Customer Advocacy Team for support at 1-866- 946-4327.

Title: IOGEAR Simplifies Vista File-Sharing with Smartlink Transfer Cable
Author: IOGEAR
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: Earthtimes.org

Microsoft delivers Windows Vista in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. While a system configuration with a x64 processor certainly recommends one of the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, these versions of the operating system do come with downsides that customers need to be aware of. Being essentially identical to 32-bit Windows Vista, the 64-bit editions will deliver support for 32-bit applications without any problems.

This aspect is one of the pillars of the transition to 64-bit. Users are encouraged to adopt the next wave in computing technology while still being able to enjoy the same programs they used to on their 32-bit system. However, 64-bit Vista does not offer support for 16-bit applications or components. Old solutions designed for platforms that preceded 32-bit will not function on x64 Vista.

64-bit Windows Vista also features an additional line of defense against buffer overflow attacks. Vista’s Data Execution Prevention (DEP) will work in conjunction with the 64-bit processor to prevent exploits, but one major shortcoming is the fact that legitimate applications and processes will be stopped if the operating system detects a buffer overflow condition.

Another problem that users will face on 64-bit Vista is the generalized lack of driver support. Drivers in x64 Vista are a completely different deal than on 32-bit Windows platforms. And although 64-bit Vista supports 32-bit applications it does not do the same with 32-bit drivers. The products have to be prepared for 64-bit Vista, as the operating system brings to the table a feature called Signed Kernel Mode Drivers. 64-bit kernel-mode drivers will not be installed in Windows Vista without digital signatures. Also automatic registry and system file redirection specific to the 32-bit operating systems have not made it into 64-bit Vista.

And last but not least, the x64 version of Windows Vista introduces Kernel Patch Protection. PatchGuard is a technology designed to prevent access to the core of the operating system. All applications – including legitimate programs such as security solutions – that needed to access the operating system’s kernel in order to function will fail under 64-bit Vista.

Title: The Downsides of 64-bit Windows Vista - Driver and application support
Author: Marius Oiaga
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: Softpedia

Scriptovia.com, a Seattle-area startup, today announced it is launching the beta version of its Web 2.0 site. The networking site allows students from all over the country to collaborate and share resources to help each other excel academically.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) May 29, 2007 — Scriptovia.com, a Seattle-area startup, today announced it is launching the beta version of its Web 2.0 site. The networking site allows students from all over the country to collaborate and share resources to help each other excel academically.

“The site is very similar technology to YouTube or Flickr, but for academic documents,” stated Aseem Badshah, founder and president of Scriptovia.com. “In the Scriptovia community, students can post their schoolwork - essays, class notes, lab reports, presentations, and more - so that others can view them, discuss them, learn from them, as well as critique them.”

In the Scriptovia community, students can post their schoolwork - essays, class notes, lab reports, presentations, and more - so that others can view them, discuss them, learn from them, as well as critique them.

Scriptovia.com’s features can be used at every stage of the learning process, from the initial discussion of ideas and gathering information, through writing up notes and redrafting, to sharing the finished project and getting comments. Scriptovia.com also provides similar features to other social networking sites. Scriptovia.com members can create profiles, can tag each other as friends, send messages, and provide comments.

Scriptovia.com is based on a working proof of concept, ThinkEssay.com, in which Badshah created two years ago while he was a junior in high school. “I was working on a Civil War essay wishing I had an example to see how the essay could be structured and what resources could be used and decided to create ThinkEssay.com to help others facing the same problem,” stated Badshah. “When ThinkEssay.com took off, I saw I could make it bigger and take it from a hobby to a business, such as Scriptovia.com.”

About Scriptovia.com and Aseem Badshah

Scriptovia.com is a Web 2.0 networking site providing students with a collaborative learning environment to help them excel academically. It enables students post their schoolwork — such as essays, term papers, class notes, lab reports, and presentations - to provide inspiration and resources for other students.

Aseem Badshah, 18, is founder and president of Scriptovia.com, is a freshman at the University of Washington studying business administration. At 16 years old, he founded ThinkEssay.com, the proof of concept for Scriptovia.com. In addition, Badshah worked as a high school intern and consultant with Microsoft Corporation for more than a year as a program manager developing internal tools, as well as for a project called Scenario Voting - a tool that allowed the Windows Vista test team to collect satisfaction data from the millions of beta testers. At age 11, Badshah earned the Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) certification, making him the youngest person on record to earn this certification, an achievement typically reserved for grown-ups.

Title: Scriptovia.com, the ‘YouTube’ for Academic Documents, Allows Students to Collaborate on School Assignments
Author: PRWEB
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: eMedia Wire

A ditty called ‘More of Me’ by Brooke Singer has won Rise and Shine , a competition to promote local music talent (and, just quietly, Windows Vista and Media Player 11). The winning song was selected from more than 400 entries, as judged by Adi Dick of of the achingly hip Fly My Pretties. Microsoft has released the track, as performed by Raggamuffin, as a free download from its local online music partner Digirama. Grab it here (you will need to register).

Incidentally, for a head-to-head comparison of all NZ’s various download services and their matrix of format and player compatibility, plus a group test of digital music players, check out June NZ PC World, out now at all leading stores.

Title: A free song from Microsoft
Author: Chris Keall
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: New Zealand PC World

DETROIT - The best things in life may be free, but you might be surprised to discover that the adage applies to software for your computer.

Everything from tiny utility programs to games to entire operating systems are available free online, either as freeware - free forever - or shareware, which is free to try and costs a small fee if you want to keep it.

Shareware and freeware have come a long way since their start as home-labeled floppy disks handed out in plastic bags. Today, some of the world’s biggest software companies distribute their products that way - Microsoft alone accounts for dozens of programs - and the variety of what you can get is absolutely staggering.

“I have been using shareware for decades,” says Warner Mach, 67, a retired programmer. “You are free to use the programs on more than one computer. The programs do not spy on you to see that you are legal. You can use functions that are not available in commercial products - and there is less expense.”

Mach uses a shareware screen snapshot program; Mozilla Firefox, a Web browser alternative to Internet Explorer; Spybot, which detects spyware and other malicious programs; and “Second Life,” a virtual world game.

The Association of Shareware Professionals is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and President Ed Pulliam says shareware has finally gotten so successful that the organization is considering broadening its focus.

“We’re having quite a discussion right now,” Pulliam said, saying that the group thinks the shareware message has been heard loud and clear - so its job is done. “We’ve won that battle. Microsoft now distributes a lot of its products with a trial version. So does Symantec. They may not call it shareware, but it certainly is.”

Brad Wardell is the 35-year-old president and chief executive of Stardock Corp. He sees the industry from both sides: He’s a user of shareware programs at home, and his company produces dozens of popular products offered as shareware.

“When I was in college, I kept wishing that someone would make the kinds of programs I wanted to use,” he says. “So I learned how to program and started working on software myself.”

The company’s most popular program is WindowBlinds, which allows you to change the way Windows screens look. Other programs let you control multiple PCs from one keyboard and mouse and offer animated wallpaper for Windows Vista.

At home, Wardell uses an Internet Relay Chat program, a file-zipping program, a file transfer program and a program that automates filling out forms and passwords on the Web, all developed by other people.

“The basic model is that if you offer a good product for free, a small percentage of users will upgrade to the registered version or buy some other product you make,” he says. “For example, WindowBlinds gets around 50,000 downloads a week. If even 5 percent of those users buy it each week at $20, you can make a lot of money that way.”

Carl Massie Jr. is a consultant with a company that helps set up Lotus and IBM software. He’s also a shareware junkie. He can rattle off a dozen shareware products he’s using for everything from system cleanup to searching the Internet. He says they’re only a small sampling of what he has downloaded and installed.

“Sometimes I don’t use the freeware/shareware alternatives because the commercial products are better for my purposes,” he says. “(But) freeware/shareware is certainly improving and is sometimes the equal or superior to commercial products. It can save you time, money and make you more productive.”

Title: Boost fun, productivity with computer freeware and shareware
Author: Heather Newman
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: The Journal News

From audio recording to anti-virus, Windows isn’t perfect but these 10 freeware tools get it that much closer.

Every version of Windows Microsoft has released has always left its users wanting more – either more features, more control or simply more value. And that’s left a huge hole for the many computer programmers out there to fill. In the end, we think they’ve done an admirable job providing solutions for Windows gaps that Microsoft itself would have trouble improving on.

So if you’re sick of the way a particular feature works (or doesn’t work) in Windows, don’t put up with it – replace it with one of these ten freeware tools that should help to make Windows do what you want it to.

1) Xplorer2 Lite ( http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm )

It’s only in the latest Windows Vista operating system that Microsoft has made any sizeable changes to Windows Explorer and in our opinion, those changes made haven’t been for the better. So here’s a freeware alternative we recommend - Xplorer2 Lite. This Lite version doesn’t have all the features of the full payware version but still, it’s a damn site better than Windows Explorer. Xplorer2 Lite gives you dual-pane view, export folder information for printing, split/merge/shred files, folder comparison and synchronisation and tabbed interface.

It’s free for private use and really does leave Windows Explorer behind.

2) Mozilla Firefox/Thunderbird ( http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ )

Microsoft has tried hard in the last little while to get Internet Explorer up to scratch but even IE7 has failed to excite Microsoft enthusiasts. The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client have become increasingly popular options for those looking for smaller, lightweight but still powerful alternatives.

Firefox comes with a growing number of extensions or add-ons and allows for tabbed browsing (add in Tab Mix Plus add-on for extra functionality) while Thunderbird has better controls for junk mail and phishing scams than Outlook Express.

3) AVG Free ( http://tinyurl.com/fky54 )

Up until recently, Windows didn’t come with any anti-virus and certainly Windows Defender hasn’t come up well in some reports in terms of viruses it can catch. However, that’s no problem – just use AVG Free. This free anti-virus tool is the perfect option for those looking for good protection without overly looking down your computer. AVG Free 7.5 works with Windows Vista and also offers daily updates so your PC is always protected. Grisoft has also come out with a free anti-spyware tool as well. While we don’t think it’s quite as good as AVG Free in its user-friendliness, AVG Anti-Spyware comes pretty close and for the price, it certainly helps Windows lift its security game.

4) Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ )

Let’s face it – the sound recorder Microsoft has been trundling out since Windows 3.1 has been a real kludge job. But if you need to record some audio, there’s a great open-source freeware tool called Audacity that is not only well featured but pretty simple to use too.

It works with any sound card and can capture audio up to 32-bit in depth. It supports WAV, OGG and MP3 (LAME) and the latest version supports multi-channel WAV output. The latest 1.3.3 beta now supports FLAC and it can even be used to import professional BWF (broadcast wave file) formats.

This is definitely a must-have and just leaves Windows sound recorder for dead.

5) Zone Alarm ( http://tinyurl.com/296pwe )

If your computing network is a little on the unsecure side and you need a software firewall to protect your files, Zone Alarm Free is a great choice that will help keep your PC or notebook safe. Easy to install, Zone Alarm asks you about the applications you use and then basically takes care of itself. There are regular updates to keep things nice and fresh. It can also alert you whenever someone or something tries to access your computer plus it can keep track of any software trying to contact the outside world without you knowing about it.

Definitely a great inclusion for any Windows computer.

6) Media Player Classic ( http://tinyurl.com/jiir )

7) FFDshow ( http://tinyurl.com/mnf1 )

Windows Media Player has some useful features but it’s more of an iTunes-wannabe than a really great audio-video player. So a group of dedicated enthusiasts have taken the old version 6.4 of WMP and turned it into Media Player Classic, a small (about 400KB) player that plays just about any video and audio file you care to throw at it from AVIs to VOB files to MP4. The real secret though is to throw in the FFDshow codec package. FFDshow is a collection of codecs (encoders-decoders) that are fast and lean, faster than many of the originals it replaces but combined with Media Player Classic, it comes close to the ultimate audio-video player.

8) IrfanView ( http://www.irfanview.com/ )

It’s not until Windows Vista that Microsoft has really taken photos seriously and although it will give you somewhat of a slideshow effect in Windows Explorer, it’s hardly adequate. That’s why IrfanView has become the hottest slideshow and image view there is.

But the real beauty of IrfanView is its ability to view RAW images. RAW images are basically uncompressed image files usually taken with digital SLR cameras but the problem is that every camera vendor implements their own version of RAW. IrfanView comes closest to any image viewer on the internet at being able to open up all the various RAW formats and with its plug-ins, there’s hardly an image format it can’t open.

9) FileZilla ( http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ )

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was never a strong suit of Windows’. While you can transfer files using FTP with Windows Explorer, it’s about the most clunky way you can do it. A far more elegant solution is FileZilla. With its ability to remember websites, password and logins, even change the CHMOD settings on FTP sites you have access to, FileZilla is one of the ultimate webmaster’s tools. What’s more, it works on every version of Windows, including Vista.

There are a few free FTP clients but few have the features or power of FileZilla.

10) CDBurner XP Pro ( http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ )

There’s hardly be a PC these days that doesn’t have an optical disc burner of some kind and while most burners come with burning software, these days, it’s typically a feature-limited version of Nero that just handles the basics and little more. One thing it doesn’t handle well is creating bootable discs.

There are plenty of applications for bootable discs from creating your own self-playing movie discs to creating BIOS update discs for your PC’s motherboard. CDBurner XP Pro can create those bootable CDs and DVDs to Windows’ El Torito format and works with virtually any CD or DVD burner.

And of course, the price can’t be beaten.

So there are the 10 utilities and tools we’ve used to make Windows do that bit extra. One day, Microsoft may choose to incorporate all of the functionality in this group into its operating system but in the meantime, these tools do just great and definitely at the right price.

By the way, www.tinyurl.com is simply a webpage URL compressor – you’ll be directed to the homepage of each tool but using TinyURL means we don’t have huge webpage addresses.

Title: Top 10 must-have tools to improve Windows
Author: Darren Yates
Date: 29 May 2007
Source: Techlogg.com

I was surprised to learn that some executives working for Microsoft in New Zealand have unlisted telephone numbers.

The reason is that whenever Microsoft issues a statement with any bearing on interoperability or data formats, a pathetic rump of hardcore saddos will ring up in the middle of the night to rant about open source software.

The crank callers are, apparently, Linux and open source enthusiasts incensed that Microsoft might not be sharing its intellectual property with the world at large and, by extension, that Microsoft is a wicked giant of a corporation.

Perhaps it was sometimes, back in the 1980s. But times change, and these days Microsoft knows how to play nicely with the other kids in the software sandbox.

Proof: Office 2007, which has switched from proprietary file formats for the data it saves to XML-based file formats, which are perhaps paradoxically both more open and more secure.

Microsoft is so pleased with its work on standards and security that it invited me and an assortment of other journalists, mostly from Europe and Latin America, up to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington, last week for a briefing on the company’s current thinking about interoperability and security.

And though I may be as much of a sucker as the next guy, Microsoft’s arguments in favour of what it’s done seem hard to dispute.

The most disputable part is probably the complexity of its implementation of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) within the Office suite. For some years XML has been the most powerful way of storing data in a form that makes it available for re-use and re-purposing.

The idea of XML and its derivatives is to include data within documents that describes what each part of the document is for, by embedding named tags that set off parts of the document and can be read both by computers and humans.

Because it’s extensible, document creators are free to make up tags as they need them.

For instance, this paragraph could be tagged as both a paragraph (information that would be useful to a program that would control its appearance on a page, in a website or as a TXT message) and as background (information that would be useful to a table-of-contents generator or a data storage system).

Programs are supposed to ignore tags they don’t recognise in XML documents. You may already be familiar with HTML, the markup language used by the worldwide web, which is similar but less generalised than XML, which in turn is a subset of Standard Generalised Markup Language, or SGML.

Tools exist for converting some XML documents directly to HTML for publishing material on the internet.

XML is such a good idea that software that doesn’t recognise it in some way - at a minimum by offering an option for saving files with at least some XML data attached - is somewhat out-of-date.

What will probably have the crank callers dialling up at midnight is Microsoft’s implementation of XML, Office Open XML (OOXML).

It’s pretty complex. The specification that has been accepted by Ecma, the international standard-setting body for such matters, runs to more than 6000 pages, mainly because it has to support everything that the old proprietary file formats for Office applications could handle.

This is a not inconsiderable task considering the complex macro languages that all the applications support, or the host of specialised functions that Excel, for example, can interpret.

Open source cranks (as distinct from people who consider open source software to be a good idea, which is most people these days) will also object to Microsoft stealing their clothes. For some years the open software community has been working on OpenOffice, a non-commercial competitor to Office that runs on just about all common operating systems, not just the Windows and Mac OS X platforms supported by Office.

Unfortunately, although the OpenDocument format OpenOffice uses is also based on XML, it isn’t the same as OOXML - so we now have two competing open document formats.

But for Microsoft manager of interoperability standards Tom Robertson, Microsoft’s implementation of XML standards is the right way to go.

“This has been a dialogue we’ve had with our customers and the broader IT community,” he said.

“They wanted us to document our specifications - we did that. They asked us to make sure that any patents we had that were necessary to implement the specification were available to the widest possible audience without charge. We did that. And now it’s been adopted as a standard.

Open source: Tom Robertson (left) tells Stephen Ballantyne why Microsoft’s implementation of XML standards is the right way to go.

“People have the information, the intellectual property and even the ability to control the future of the specification. There’s not a step that Microsoft could take that it hasn’t taken to make this as broadly available as possible.

“And now people are using it - Palm is implementing it on its handhelds, and Novell [which has co-operated keenly with Microsoft in improving compatibility between Windows and Linux] is including OOXML support in its version of Open Office.

“This is a great technology and we’re going to see a lot of uptake.”

Mind you, all this open standard goodness was only a warm-up for a day and a half of briefing about what Microsoft is doing to tighten security on its operating systems and application software

Microsoft has pursued this task so vigorously that some operating system experts have declared Windows Vista to be the most secure operating system available - for now. More on this next week.

Title: Microsoft opens up its data format
Author: Stephen Ballantyne
Date: 28 May 2007
Source: The National Business Review

Find out what Microsoft has changed and added in its newest web server, and how you can capitalize on the new features and architecture.

Microsoft recently rolled out its next-generation operating system (OS), Windows Vista. One of the core Vista components is a new version of Microsoft’s web server—Internet Information Services version 7.0 (IIS 7.0). IIS 7.0 will also be part of Windows Server “Longhorn”, which is expected to ship in mid 2007. This article provides a developer-centric look at IIS 7.0.

IIS in Recent Times

If you think back a few years to IIS 5.0, the future for Microsoft’s web server looked rather bleak, because network-savvy worms such as Nimda, Code Red, Code Red II, and their variants were affecting thousands of computers worldwide, and rapidly damaging IIS’s reputation. Microsoft introduced the IIS lockdown tool to combat these exploits and, with the release of IIS 6.0, made “locked down” mode settings the default at installation, which helped minimize such security problems, and helped IIS 6.0 recapture a major part of trust that IIS 5.0 lost. No major security disasters have been reported since the release of IIS 6.0.

A recent market survey (Netcraft Web Server Survey—April 2007 ) indicated that Microsoft’s IIS has a 31.13 percent market share, which places it in second position behind the open source Apache Web Server. Another survey by Port80 Software that takes Fortune 1000 companies into consideration reports that IIS has overtaken Apache among Fortune 1000 sites.

Now, Microsoft is looking to consolidate IIS 7.0’s position as a secure and robust web server.

To learn more please read the entire article at its source: Introducing Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0

Title: Introducing Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0
Author: DABCC
Date: 28 May 2007
Source: DABCC

NEW YORK - T-Mobile USA has launched the first cell phone in the United States to come with Microsoft’s latest version of Windows Mobile, with improved handling of e-mail and tougher security.

The T-Mobile Wing costs $299 with a two-year contract and runs Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft Corp.’s latest operating system for “smart” phones, which handle e-mail, documents and Web browsing in addition to phone calls.

It’s a competitive space: Microsoft is trying to translate its dominance in PC software into an advantage versus Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, Palm Inc.’s Treo and Apple Inc.’s soon-to-launch iPhone.

The advances in the new Windows Mobile version are incremental rather than revolutionary. It lets users read e-mail with embedded images and graphics, and can be set up to receive e-mail instantly from Windows Live Hotmail. It also supports Live’s instant messaging program and Web search. Synchronization of data with Windows Vista computers via Bluetooth wireless connections has been simplified.

Security features have been beefed up to appeal to corporate users: If used in conjunction with Microsoft’s latest software for corporate e-mail servers, the memory of a lost or stolen device can be wiped remotely by the owner through an Outlook account, with no need to call the IT department.

Files stored on removable memory cards can be encrypted, and the device can send and receive e-mail whose readership is controlled by Information Rights Management, useful for sensitive data.

Windows Mobile 6 also allows the user to search remotely stored e-mail and corporate address books.

The Wing features a 40-key keyboard that slides out from underneath the 2.8-inch touchscreen. The phone is similar to the discontinued T-Mobile MDA, but smaller, and like the MDA is made by High Tech Computer Corp. of Taiwan.

T-Mobile lacks a third-generation broadband cellular network in the United States, lagging behind the larger cellular carriers. The Wing makes up for this in part by including the capability to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots.

Microsoft released Windows Mobile 6 in February. HTC-made phones sporting the software have gone on sale in Europe in the last few months.

Windows Mobile 6 has been available for a few weeks as a download for T-Mobile’s Dash smart phone, but the upgrade wipes the handset’s memory of all user data. Dash phones with the new software pre-installed will be available in June, T-Mobile said.

The carrier said the Dash and the BlackBerry Pearl, which launched last year, have widened the customer base for smart phones beyond corporate road warriors. It says most of the buyers are getting them to replace regular consumer-level camera phones.

T-Mobile USA is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany.

Title: New phone’s software bolsters e-mail security
Author: Peter Svensson
Date: 28 May 2007
Source: The Beacon Journal