Microsoft wants Windows domain

A Dutch computer enthusiast who runs a popular Windows XP gossip Web site has been summoned by Microsoft to hand over the WindowsXP.nu domain name. Steven Bink registered WindowsXP.nu two years ago. The site has become an important spot for Microsoft beta testers and hobbyists looking for news and gossip about Microsoft products, logging up to 20 000 page views a day, says Bink.

Yesterday Bink received a letter from Microsoft`s Dutch counsel accusing him of trademark infringement and giving him until 19 December to sign over the domain, or face possible legal action. Microsoft has registered Windows as a trademark in the Netherlands and other countries.

"[Bink] may of course write about Windows XP, but not on a Web site with a domain name that is identical to Microsoft`s brand," said Alfred Meijboom, a partner at Kennedy van der Laan, the law firm hired by Microsoft.

Bink, a 32-year-old owner of an IT services company, is baffled that Microsoft has come knocking two years after he started the site, but says he won`t fight the software maker. "It`s strange that Microsoft comes calling now. I want to see if there is room to negotiate, but I don`t have any illusions about going to court." [Computer World]

Fink, the program that allows Mac OS X users to use Linux software, has been updated for Jaguar. TheRegister reports that Fink is a native Darwin version of the Debian GNU/Linux package manager which includes three specific tools: dpkg, dselect and apt-get. Fink opens up a new world for OS X users by bringing everything from small utilities to complete desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME to the Mac.

The update Fink software fixes some problems introduced by Apple when it included changes to Jaguar version 10.2. The new version is numbered 0.5.0a and it`s 10.2-only. 10.1 users can use 0.4.1. [TheRegister]

VeriSign has released a road map of its Web services plans and has also released two new Web services product offerings. At the same time, company officials have cautioned that quantifiable and positive results of Web services deployments will be out of reach until necessary integration and trusted security measures are put in place.

VeriSign chairman, president and CEO Stratton Scavlos highlighted a number of problems with Web services, saying they have not delivered on their interoperability promise. "We`re compliant with standards but nothing works together."

To address that problem and tackle lingering security questions, VeriSign released its Open Source WS-Security Implementation and Integration Toolkit. Designed for assisting developers to incorporate encryption and digital signatures for Web services, the toolkit marks an accelerated push by VeriSign to re-invent its full range of services to be Web services front-ended and delivered in a nonhuman-intervened fashion.

That initiative will be driven by a new platform being developed by VeriSign called a "Trust Gateway." The product will be integrated and configuration-ready with all major application server platforms and match compliance with multiple Web services standards efforts.

In addition to its Open Source Toolkit, VeriSign also announced the availability of its Online Consumer Authentication Service. The service aims to provide customers with automated and managed access to authentication data through an application using pre-defined XML standards and encryption that cross-references and risk-ranks consumers` identity. [InfoWorld]

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) kicked off this week`s Bluetooth Developers Conference in San Francisco by announcing an initiative to make it easier for consumers to set up products that use the short-range wireless technology.

The "5Minute Ready" program announced yesterday will include implementation guides for vendors, reference testing platforms, and an interoperability testing facility sponsored by the Bluetooth SIG. For consumers, it includes a redesigned Web site with a feature for helping buyers find Bluetooth products.

All the initial parts of the initiative will be in place by the end of the first quarter of 2003, and other elements may be added later, according to Mike McCamon, executive director of the SIG.

The industry consortium has faced some criticism in the past for not ensuring that developers implement Bluetooth in the same way, which some observers say has frustrated users and slowed adoption of the technology. The new steps should help ensure consistency among products, says McCamon. [PCWorld]

Paving the way for end-user adoption of an XML-based approach to secure XML in document form, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) yesterday offered its recommendation and stamp of approval of XML Encryption Syntax and Processing and Decryption Transform for XML Signature.

When used in conjunction with XML Signature, XML Encryption and Decryption Transform provides a starting point to secure Web services transactions and applications by permitting users to selectively sign and encrypt portions of XML data.

Although it is an XML Signature which is capable of determining if a document has been tampered with, the Decryption Transform specification allows the receiver of the document to know which portions of the transmission may have been inadvertently changed for encryption purposes. It offers a guide for pinpointing areas of the document to be decrypted and enables restoration of the message`s original state before a signature verification attempt is applied.

W3C officials say multiple applications and specifications are taking advantage of XML Encryption, as documented in the Implementation and Interoperability Report filed by the W3C XML Encryption Working Group. [InfoWorld]

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