a convenient truth

A summary of Microsoft’s move into the latest round of software innovation from techcrunch: Here Comes Microsoft 2.0: Embracing Lightweight, Open Source Apps Online.

So how many of these things are the innovations that Microsoft is constantly claiming that it does. Well, looking through the list it is once again: none.

Some interesting information about Vista’s new security over at [Gadgetell](http://www.gadgetell.com/2006/10/windows-vista-security-how-it-will-be/). I’m not surprised Microsoft are tightening up on security — their understanding of their exposure to this is now pretty good (even if they are still more concerned with PR than real security).

The really interesting bits are:

• Requiring files to be signed before they can be installed
• Only being able to use ‘approved’ anti-virus software

This is the sort of security Microsoft have always liked — top-down, authoritarian security. These files may still be malware of course, it’s just microsoft-approved malware. And the vast majority of perfectly good Windows software will generate all sorts of dire warnings when you try to install it, much as a lot of drivers do now.

Once people are habituated to clicking the “ignore” button on all these warnings, they become pretty pointless — but it does provide Microsoft a nice little earner in certifying software and signing it.