Acer is cutting its sales forecast and it is blaming the shortfall on a smaller-than-expected boost from the release of Windows Vista, Taipei Times reported Friday.

Acer Chairman Wang Jeng-tang on Thursday told shareholders that company revenue for the year "will grow 30 percent to 40 percent compared to last year" and that Vista hadn't affected PC sales as positively as expected. Previously, Acer had expected greater than 40 percent growth. (Standard disclaimer: things often get lost in the translation in media reports from Taiwan, so you may want to take the report with a grain of salt, rather than as gospel.)

Vista was released with much fanfare in January, but it's not clear that the availability of the new operating system has helped PC sales. Though some waited to buy a new PC until after Vista was released, the majority of buyers don't buy a PC because of a particular operating system, according to a report released by In-Stat last month.

Source: Cnet News.com

Microsoft has given a go-to-market name for its cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in for delivering the next generation of user experiences and rich Internet applications for the Web. The technology formerly known as WPF/E is now known as Silverlight.
 
Microsoft announced Silverlight at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas on April 16. The NAB announcement highlights Silverlight uses for media users. The software company will announce further details about the technology at its own Mix07 conference, which starts at the end of April and runs through May 2 in Las Vegas.

Forest Key, a director of product management in the Microsoft Server and Tools Division, said Silverlight integrates with existing Web technologies and assets to provide higher quality experiences with lower costs for media delivery. In a briefing with eWEEK, Key demonstrated how Silverlight offers consistent experiences to both Mac and Windows users on a variety of browsers, including Internet Explorer, FireFox and Safari.

Full story: eWeek

In view of the latest Vista Activation Brute Force attack, I decided to take a look at the big numbers involved in this.

We know the key length is 25. Also, there are 24 possible combinations pr slot.

Based on these numbers, there are 3 552 713 678 800 500 929 355 621 337 890 625 (25^24) possible combinations. Let's say there are 5 billion valid keys (Keys Microsoft has printed/planning to sell). 25^24 / 5 Billion = 710 542 735 760 100 185 871 124 chance of hitting a valid key pr key tried. Let's say you can try 480 000 keys pr day. That gives you a one in 1 480 297 366 166 875 387 chance of hitting a valid key in 24 hours.

Using these numbers, we know it will take 4 055 609 222 375 001 years, or 296 029 times longer than the estimated existence of the universe (From the Big Bang, 13,7 Billion years ago),  just to find 1 valid key.

So why do people come up with working keys?
Quite simply, Vista probably checks the key based on mathematical formulas. It probably cant distinguish a generated key from a real one. Microsoft's Activation Servers however will be able to tell a generated key from a real one by crosschecking with the sold-key list.

What does this mean?
It's pretty clear the keys generated by the brute force attacks will almost certainly NOT come up with even one key identical of the keys sold by Microsoft. Considering the fact Microsoft almost certainly has a list of keys it has sold and has the ability to block all others, the party is soon over.

The moment Microsoft starts to check keys up against their list of sold keys, activation of generated keys will be impossible.

Conclusion
Why this is certainly not fun for Microsoft, it has bigger worries, like the recently OEM activation cracks that exist out there, enabling users to activate Vista without calling home to Microsoft.

Source: Win-Vista.net (Thanks to Special Contributor: Calc.exe)

Yesterday, a "hacker" under the nick "Computer User" on KezNews.com announced he was able to produce valid Vista keys by brute force.

The tool, a modified part of Vista, in form of a Visual Basic Script, works by trying out thousands or even millions of generated keys on Vista, until it finds one that is accepted.

We did not try to activate this key.

As stated by "Computer User", the tool will typically test 20,000 keys pr hour, or 480,000 keys pr day.

At the moment, keys discovered by the tool are reported to activate with Microsoft, permanently activating Vista.

UPDATE: "Stof91" of KezNews.com has released a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for the brute force script.

Source: KezNews.com

The release of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system may be impacting Mac sales now, but Apple should rebound and show an increase in growth over the next three quarters, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

"Based on a second round of checks with 50 retail stores, we continue to expect Vista will cause Mac market share to decline from 2.5 percent in December to 2.3 percent in March," he said. "On a year over year basis, we expect Apple will gain share, up from 2.1 percent in March 2006."

Sales of Windows Vista, however, have fallen below expectations, and are continuing to slow.

Over the past two years, Apple shares have dropped 23 percent between January 15 and March 31, and then rebounded in following quarters. Given Apple's normal cycle, and the release of Windows Vista, the Mac and iPod maker's current lower stock price isn't a big concern for Mr. Munster. He expects that Apple will sell more than the predicted 1.45 million Macs for the quarter, and that the next three quarters will be strong for the company, allaying investor concerns.

Source; MacObserver

BitLocker and EFS enhancements

This Windows Ultimate Extra includes two tools that make it easier to use some of the security features that come with Windows Vista Ultimate: Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, and Secure Online Key Backup for your BitLocker recovery key and EFS certificates.

More information:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80936

Hold Em Poker Game

This Windows Ultimate Extra adds a popular poker game to your Windows Vista gaming experience. Hold 'Em Poker Game sets you against the computer for no-limit poker fun. Hold 'Em may cost you time, but your money is safe because the chips are not real.

More information:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=80937

News Source: Bink