Symantec warns of new zero-day Word attack ... Oracle sneaks out E-Business Suite 12

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Symantec warns of new zero-day Word attack
News: Oracle sneaks out E-Business Suite 12
News: Microsoft net income falls by 28 percent in Q2
News: Fox subpeonas YouTube over pirated shows
Interview: The Geek Gap
Opinion: Business Innovation Defined
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update


NEWS UPDATES

Symantec warns of new zero-day Word attack
Hackers are exploiting a new, unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Word, Symantec Corp. has warned. The zero-day vulnerability is the fourth in Microsoft's widely-used Word 2000 software that has not yet been patched.

Oracle sneaks out E-Business Suite 12
Oracle Corp. has quietly released E-Business Suite Release 12 to customers a few days in advance of a big launch event planned for next week in New York City. The update to its suite of business applications is available for download now in all supported languages.

Microsoft net income falls by 28 percent in Q2
Microsoft Corp.'s net income fell 28 percent year over year for its 2007 second fiscal quarter as it spent ahead of its mass market launch of Windows Vista this month.

News Corp. subpeonas YouTube over pirated shows
News Corp.'s Fox television division has subpoenaed YouTube Inc. regarding programs posted on the video-sharing Web site. The subpoena asks YouTube to provide information that could help Fox to identify the person who posted the videos, which include recent episodes of "24" and "The Simpsons," according to a report in Friday's Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft to push new anti-phishing technology
At next month's RSA Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft plans to announce that a number of Web sites have gone through a new certification process designed to make it harder for phishers to spoof them. The process gives third-party certification authorities like VeriSign Inc. and Entrust Inc. a more stringent set of guidelines to follow when they are authenticating Web sites.

Half of pirated Vista is malware
About half of the downloads claiming to be free versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Vista operating system are actually malicious Trojan horse software, security vendor DriveSentry Inc. warned Thursday.

Free software group attacks educational software patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is going to review the patent held by e-learning software maker Blackboard Inc., in the wake of a challenge by a group advocating open source software.


INTERVIEW

The Geek Gap: Why business and technology professionals don't understand each other
Lack of respect and trust, poor communication and a culture clash are often at fault for the clash between "geeks" and "suits", according to Bill Pfleging and Minda Zetlin, authors of The Geek Gap. A geek's primary strength is problem solving or creating and maintaining technology, while a suit's talent is influencing people. Here's an interview with the authors, and some tips for closing the divide.


OPINION

Business Innovation Defined
By James Gaskin

Last time I mentioned that businesspeople define IT's value to the company by how much you and your coworkers enabled business innovation. What do they mean by that? Innovation to them means shifting their work load to someone else, usually IT. The more of their work you do, the more innovative they are. Those with older siblings will recognize this: you are the sucker.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft to promote anti-phishing technology ... Oracle releases E-Business Suite 12 ... Zero-day Word flaw being exploited ... Mobile shipments top 1 billion in 2006