Microsoft has flipped the switch to start automatically upgrading copies of Windows Vista to Service Pack 1 via Windows Update. Not everyone will be offered the update immediately, however, as the company is distributing it in phases to “ensure a seamless download experience� – or in other words avoid a situation where thousands of users find themselves stuck in an endless reboot cycle.

Vista SP1 was made available for download to customers last month, though, so users can still obtain SP1 by downloading a much larger standalone installer from Microsoft’s site if the service pack is not visible in their Windows Update.

Red Hat changed its mind and announced that due to the dominance of only one vendor on the desktop market, producing Linux desktops wouldn’t be a practical alternative. Gartner analysts found that Linux commands as little as 1.2% of the U.S. market. Despite that, the company announced that it will continue to develop its Red Hat Enterprise Linux desktops, as this still remains a practical alternative for companies.

In a statement issued by Red Hat, it motivated its choice as follows: “as a public, for-profit company, Red Hat must create products and technologies with an eye on the bottom line, and with desktops is much harder to do than with servers […] Nevertheless, building a sustainable business around the Linux desktop is tough, and history is littered with example efforts that have either failed outright, are stalled or are run as charities.”

However, Red Hat unveiled among its 2008-2009 goals the Red Hat Global Desktop (RHDG), which was originally announced at the 2007 Summit Conference but has been delayed for almost a year due to business issues. RHDG is designed for low cost PCs and targets emerging markets (especially the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China). “As mentioned earlier, the desktop business model is tough, so we want to be prepared before delivering a product to the emerging markets.”

“Looking to the future, Red Hat customers and partners appreciate that the world is moving to thin/virtualized/appliance-based clients so we are working with them to deliver open source technologies that make these systems possible,” the company.

Last month, Red Hat announced the acquisition of Amentra, a provider of systems integration services for SOA, business process management, systems development and enterprise data solutions. Amentra has over 140 employees in locations including Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Charlotte, Tampa and Richmond.

The One Laptop Per Child project could switch from Linux to Microsoft’s Windows XP, OLPC Founder and President Nicholas Negroponte told the Associated Press, one day after the resignation of his No.2 Walter Bender was made public. And one of the reasons for that could be that many governments are reluctant to any PC that doesn’t run Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft has been working for almost a year now on a version of Windows to run on XO laptops, and according to Negroponte, the XO might soon have a “dual-boot” option, allowing users to run either Windows or Linux

Negroponte also added that there is a difference between being an open-source supporter and an open-source fundamentalist, giving as an example Sugar (XO’s own software that relies on graphical features and addresses children that haven’t had the chance to work with a PC), which “grew amorphously” and “didn’t have a software architect who did it in a crisp way,” and the laptop’s lack of support for Flash animation, which is widely used on the web at the moment.

“There are several examples like that, that we have to address without worrying about the fundamentalism in some of the open-source community,” he said. “One can be an open-source advocate without being an open-source fundamentalist.”

The OLPC founder said they need more efficiency in order to reach as many children as possible, adding that there is a possibility to eventually use Microsoft Windows XP as the only operating system, together with Sugar, with open-source educational apps for children.

That however is an idea that many reject, saying the idea of the OLPC should have gone against Microsoft’s dominance on the market, instead of embracing it.

So far, the OLPC program has managed to sell over 500,000 laptops over the past two years, reaching children in countries like Afghanistan, Mongolia or Peru. So far, Negroponte hasn’t managed to accomplish one of the main objectives of the program, and that is to reach the $100 price tag (the XO laptops have been sold for less than $200).

Microsoft issued an update to MS-08-024 last night, modifying the Critical bulletin to include systems running Internet explorer 7 on Windows XP with Service Pack 3. In other Microsoft news, TechNet and MSDN subscribers are spitting fire over the recent announcement about XP SP3’s release date.

 

You can see this as a negative, but adding SP3 to the security bulletins is actually positive. The addition to the affected software list means that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (32 or 64-bit) has its first security fix. It also means that Microsoft is paying attention, and being proactive. MS08-024 addresses a remote code execution flaw that exists in Internet Explorer 6 and 7. “The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer,” according to Microsoft. Systems with Internet Explorer 6 running windows XP SP3 (32 or 64-bit) are not affected according to the update.

Also updated was MS07-040, issued in 2007. MS07-040 addresses three issues. Two of these issues could allow remote code execution on client systems with .NET Framework installed, and one could allow information disclosure on Web servers running ASP.NET. Windows XP SP3 is not vulnerable if you run .NET version 3.0 with or without .NET SP1.

If you have already installed these updates, and upgrade to SP3 on XP, you are protected.

The release this week of SP3 to OEM’s is catching heat because TechNet and MSDN subscribers were left out of the release cycle. They will have to wait until general release to test the update. The news that the SP3 timetable for TechNet and MSDN was pushed up until May 2 enraged some users.

“Why is this even happening? Can they not see that after Vista SP1 there would be an outcry about their serious lack of respect for their subscribers? I can’t understand why no-one has even attempted to clarify this and why it is the case. If the code was finished on the 13th and you clearly have RTM builds why cant they be added to the subscriber downloads? Why is it some time in ‘the next month’,” reads one post to the TechNet forums.

In February, Microsoft refused to let MSDN and TechNet subscribers download the Service Pack for Vista, remaining a sore spot for many IT shops who pay to get such early releases.

“This is utter stupidity. Hold back SP3 from those of us who have to support deployments. Have the MSDN/TechNet folks lost their minds or are they drinking the same “Vista is great” Kool-Aid as other MS employees. Release SP3 to MSDN/TechNet PRIOR to the public release or be ready for not XP to Vista migrations in 2009 but us to push for more Mac OS X deployments. I’ve had it with paying for access to YOUR products to support YOUR customers only to be slapped in the face like this. How did the ones who help support MS products now become the enemy?,” another post read.

Microsoft is remaining silent on the issue.

As usual, The NPD Group has released its sales report about the video games industry. Nintendo’s little wonder, Wii, continues to lead the sales, with 721,000 units sold and the Japanese company has one more reason to celebrate, as its Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the best title in software sales with 2,700,000 copies sold.

Despite some predictions, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 outsold its main rival, PlayStation 3 and the company had an important lead in the software department, with four games in Top 10:

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 with 752,300 units, Army of Two with 606,100 units, MLB 2K8 with 237,100 units and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with 237,000 units.

As for Sony, its PlayStation 3 sold only 257,000 units. It seems like Sony’s weak portfolio of games keeps on hurting the hardware sales, with only one title, Army of Two, succeeding to make it into Top 10, with 224,900 units.

However, what can we expect in April? It’s obvious that a good game title can boost the sales, so let’s see what will be in the stores for each gaming platform.

For Xbox 360 and PS3 the main title in April will be Rockstar’s GTA IV, this year’s biggest launch in the gaming world. Nevertheless, my guess is that GTA IV, which is scheduled to be released on April 29, will rather boost the sales of Xbox 360, instead of those of PS3. Microsoft has already promised some exclusive GTA IV content for Xbox Live and the company is already working on some awareness campaigns.

But Sony has also another great title, its exclusive Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which made its debut in the United States on April 17. The game is sold as a Blu Ray disc or as 2.2 GB download from PlayStation Network and is priced at $39,99.

GranTurismo, a franchise developed by the Japanese gaming company Polyphony Digital, is a real station in the PlayStation world. The initial game was the best-selling title for PlayStation and all the other games have had a tremendous success among the racing fans and not only.

So far, Gran Turismo franchise has sold 47 million units worldwide and it is considered that it helped PlayStation2 to sell 100 million units. It will be interesting to see how and if Gran Turismo boosts PS3 sales.

Nintendo is heading for another strong month, as the company is ready to unleash

Mario Kart Wii on April 27, a game that will be delivered together with a new accessory that will delight the gamers: Wii Wheel.

With a broadband hookup to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, players will be able to compete with up to 11 other drivers from around the world for racing dominance.

Mario Kart Wii is bringing 16 new courses, in addition to the 16 classic courses from previous Mario Kart games and it promises a lot of fun as the players will have the option to race with karts or motorbikes.

Anyway, Nintendo said that the Wii Wheel would be sold also as a separate accessory, so that everyone in the household could race with their own wheel.

As you can see every console has its own arguments to hope for better sales in April compared to March. But in fact, even with the GTA IV release, I find it hard to believe that the Xbox 360 will manage to match Wii sales, even though it will easily outsell PS3. In the software department, GTV IV on Xbox 360 will be surely the winner.

But, as nothing is official until the next month when we have another NPD report, let’s wait and see the GTA IV launch.

Apple posted a minor update to Safari this afternoon for Leopard, Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users. Safari 3.1.1 is, as always, recommended for all users and “includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security,” according to AppleThe security fixes are the only parts that Apple has spelled out, but they address issues on both the Mac and Windows. Two of the issues only affect Windows XP and Windows Vista machines—one of which fixes a memory corruption issue in Safari’s downloader that could allow a hacker to perform arbitrary code execution or terminate an application remotely. The second addresses a bug that can be used for phishing and identity theft by changing the contents of the address bar without loading the contents of the page. As it turns out, Apple fixed this issue in the Safari 3.0.2 beta, but accidentally reintroduced it with Safari 3.1. 

The other two security bugs affect Mac users of the Tiger and Leopard variety in addition to Windows XP and Vista. One addresses a URL handling issue related to colons in hostnames that could have been used to launch a cross-site scripting attack, and the other patches a heap overflow buffer in WebKit’s handling of regular expressions in JavaScript (pretend like I inserted a hilarious regular expressions joke here. I’m tired). Again, the problem eventually leads to arbitrary code execution or termination. This issue is the one that researcher Charlie Miller used to exploit the MacBook Air at CanSecWest, which netted him a prize of $10,000, and Apple credits him for this find.

The 39MB update is available through Software Update or Apple’s website, so get to updatin’ (and for some of us, rebootin’)!