Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Release Candidate (RC) Available for MSDN Subscribers

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Release Candidate (RC) builds are available for MSDN subscribers ,Public Release on February 10th.

 The public release of the same would happen on February 10th.  you can download it on February 10th from Microsoft Downloads Center.

Visual Studio 2010 will come with lots of new features . You can read more information about this new version at

following link:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 First Look

Download Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 RC (Only MSDN Subscribers)

Microsoft set to fix 17 year old Windows vulnerability coming week

Microsoft has confirmed it is on course to issue a patch next Tuesday for a recently discovered 17 year old Windows vulnerability.

the recent discovery of a Windows vulnerability that has existed since the release of Windows NT 3.1 in 1993. The vulnerability has only recently been published but it appears 32-bit Windows operating systems have inherited the flaw since NT 3.1.

Microsoft issued a Security Advisory on the vulnerability. The software giant described the flaw as an "Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerability in the Windows kernel, affecting all currently supported versions of 32-bit Windows." 64-bit versions of Windows, including Windows Server 2008 R2, are not affected. The problem exists due to a flaw in the Virtual DOS Machine (or VDM), which was used to support 16-bit applications. The flaw allows for a 16-bit program to manipulate the kernel stack of processes.

In a company blog posting on Thursday, Jerry Bryant, Sr. Security Communications Manager at Microsoft confirmed "we are on track to release an update for this issue next Tuesday (February 9)." Microsoft will also be releasing 13 bulletins - five rated Critical, seven rated Important, and one rated Moderate - addressing 26 vulnerabilities.

Microsoft looks Windows 7 battery warning issues

Microsoft has confirmed it is investigating a problem causing some Windows 7 users to receive incorrect battery warnings on their laptops.

 

The warning is triggered when a laptops BIOS detects a battery replacement is required. Windows 7 provides the following alert: "Consider replacing your battery. There is a problem with your battery, so your computer might shut down suddenly." One user who spoke to The Register claimed their laptop battery life had decreased from two hours to half hour and others posted their experiences in a TechNet forums thread.

Microsoft officials said on Tuesday the company is looking into the issue, "we are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners, which appears to be related to system firmware," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed.

Some commenter's in the TechNet thread are hinting at a class action lawsuit with one stating "If my battery has been permanently damaged or a fix not issued quickly, I will be forced to seek a class action lawsuit. Thank you."

Microsoft said it's working with PC manufacturers to determine the issue, "We are working with our partners to determine the root cause and will update the forum with information and guidance as it becomes available."

Microsoft confirms Office 2010 Release Candidate

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed : "Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This is one of Microsoft's planned milestones in the engineering process; however they do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly."

In January Microsoft announced Office 2010 pricing. The professional edition will retail for $499 boxed.  Office 2010 will be released in at least five different flavours, including a free version that includes Microsoft Word and Excel, but comes with limited functionality and includes advertisements. The editions of Office 2010 will include Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Professional and Professional Academic.

Microsoft is expected to hit the RTM milestone in the coming months with a general availability date of June.

Google dropping support for Internet Explorer 6

The problem with Internet Explorer 6 is that it fails at running some of the standard features of today's web development technologies, meaning that it gives web developers a rather hard time when they put websites together. If the market share were small, this wouldn't matter so much, but Internet Explorer 6 still holds a decent-sized portion compared to other browsers, due to companies and other organizations refusing to switch from it. Despite the fact that there are many faster, more secure, and generally better browsers, such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 8, Safari and Firefox, a lot of companies have yet to make the upgrade.

The announcement earlier, made on the Google Enterprise Blog, states that beginning March 1, Google Docs and Google Sites will no longer work correctly when viewed in Internet Explorer 6. These two services have a lot of users, so hopefully, this will help make a difference when it comes to what browsers are being used. Keep in mind that the company is only starting with those two; support for Internet Explorer 6 will be phased out as time progresses, giving users some time to switch. The announcement closed with,

"2010 is going to be a great year for Google Apps and we want to ensure that everyone can make the most of what we are developing.Please take the time to switch your organization to the most up-to-date browsers available."