BlackBerry goes beyond simple e-mail

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) is planning to add support for Web services to the device`s application-development environment, in order to strengthen its grip on the enterprise.

Acceptance of PDAs by large companies is pushing their use beyond e-mail and phone communications, giving mobile employees access to enterprise applications such as customer relationship management software, reports InformationWeek.

RIM said last week that its next-generation development framework, the BlackBerry Mobile Data System v4.1, includes XML Web services among its methods for integrating mobile applications with back-end servers, and supports the Microsoft .Net and Java 2 Enterprise Edition environments.

It also offers a new visual-design tool for easier development and centralised deployment and management of applications.

BlackBerry MDS v4.1 will be provided to some customers for beta testing this month, with general availability coming later this year.

Microsoft will tomorrow release eight patches for Windows, Office, Exchange and MSN Messenger, at least half of which will be marked "critical", the company said last week.

The patches will hit on the same day that Microsoft turns off its automatic blocking of Windows XP Service Pack 2, reports TechWeb.

According to information posted on Microsoft`s Security Bulletin Advance Notification Web site, five of the eight fixes will be for Windows, and one each for Office, Exchange and MSN Messenger.

Microsoft says it will continue the practice of updating its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Tuesday by releasing a new version. Two other high-priority updates for Windows will also be posted to the Windows Update site, although these are not security-related.

A man has been sentenced to nine years in jail by a Virginia judge for sending millions of junk e-mails.

According to the BBC, Jeremy Jaynes is the first person in the US to get a prison term under a spam law. He is said to have been the world`s eighth most prolific spammer.

By selling products and services advertised in his messages, he earned up to $750 000 (R4.6 million) per month.

Jaynes has appealed, and the court has put off the start of his prison term because the new law raises questions.

Jaynes was operating though an America Online server in Loudoun County, where the world`s largest Internet services provider is based, and is believed to have sent 10 million unwanted e-mails a day.

His sentence is the harshest punishment handed down so far for junk e-mailing in the US, and appears to be a strong signal that authorities will not tolerate the spamming business.