Opera, Chrome Not Officially Supported by Office Web Apps

By Elizabeth Montalbano


Microsoft has left the Opera and Google Chrome browsers off of the list of those officially supported by its Web-based Office applications, which will be available worldwide in technical preview sometime this month.

In a blog posting on the Office Web Apps blog, Microsoft listed its Internet Explorer 7 and 8 browser as well as Mozilla Firefox 3.5 on Windows, Mac and Linux, and Safari 4 on Mac, as the official browsers supported by applications. Office Web Apps are Web-based versions of Microsoft's Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote desktop applications.

Absent from that list are the Opera and Chrome browsers, which have significantly less market share than either Internet Explorer or Firefox but are still competitors in the global browser market.

Opera is the European-based browser company that was instrumental in the European Commission bringing an antitrust suit against Microsoft over the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows. The suit has caused Microsoft to pull Internet Explorer 8 out of Windows 7 in Europe and offer a choice of browsers in the OS.

Google, which makes Chrome, is one of Microsoft's main competitors, and recently unveiled a plan to build a desktop OS of the same name to compete with Windows. In fact, Microsoft's decision to put its Office productivity apps online is due to competition from Google Docs -- Google's Web-based office suite -- in the low end of the market for productivity applications.

Microsoft did say in the post, attributed to Gareth Howell, program manager for Office Web Apps, that people should try using the applications in other browsers besides the officially supported ones, and provide feedback to the company about how they work.

"If you prefer to use another browser you should still give the Web Apps a try," he wrote in the post. "While we cannot officially support all browsers, customers will not be blocked from using them. It is a goal of the Web Apps to have broad compatibility and reach."

In comments about the blog post, one Opera user playfully chided Microsoft for not supporting Opera with the applications.

"Not MY browser then...**sniff**," posted a user called "Massif." "That's fine, I'll be alright. Opera users need a little love too occasionally though, we can't live on acid tests alone."

Howell responded to Massif's post by apologizing and adding that Microsoft may consider officially supporting other browsers after the release of the applications.

"Sorry that we didn't get your favorite browser into the officially supported list this time," Howell posted. "Once the Web Apps release we'll investigate expanding our supported browser matrix. Give it a try in Opera and let us know if you see issues."

Through its public relations firm, Microsoft said the company optimized Office Web Apps for the most commonly used browsers first and plans to add others over time.

Opera and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.


Source : PCWORLD

Windows 7 Activation Already Hacked

Pirates have cracked Windows 7's product activation just a week after the operating system made RTM and a week before it's slated to reach users, Microsoft confirmed today.

The product key posted on the Web purportedly comes from Lenovo, one of Microsoft's major OEM partners, and allows users to activate downloaded copies of Windows 7 Ultimate RTM (release to manufacturing), which leaked to the Internet last week, shortly after Microsoft announced it had finished the operating system.

According to Windows enthusiast site Neowin, one of the first to report the crack, a Lenovo disk image of Windows 7 leaked to a Chinese Web site, then moved to English-language domains. Pirates proceeded to retrieve the master OEM key and the OEM activation certificate from the .iso file. Microsoft lets major computer makers like Lenovo, Dell and Hewlett-Packard pre-activate new PCs at the factory to save customers the hassle, and provides OEM master keys for that purpose.

Windows 7 uses an updated activation scheme, dubbed OEM Activation 2.1, which is an updated version of the activation software that first appeared in Windows Vista. The technology, ironically, has been the focus of a Microsoft lawsuit filed last January against a former employee charged with stealing company documents related to the anti-piracy software that computer makers use to lock Windows to their PCs.

The crack is not for the faint of heart, as it also requires a hack of the PC's BIOS; Activation 2.1 demands a BIOS that supports the new technology. In fact, forums on sites such as My Digital Life were full of questions from users unfamiliar with hacking a BIOS.

But scores of users on My Digital Life's forum have reported that the leaked key -- and the process that others laid out to use it -- activated their pirated copies of Windows 7 Ultimate. "Activated 3 computers with SLIC 2.1 (DELL) modified BIOS + DELL certificate for Vista + this key," said a user identified only as "thavmym."

This isn't the first time that Microsoft's copy protection technology has been cracked. Vista's activation has been hacked several times, and in volume sufficient to prompt Microsoft to issue updates that busted the most popular cracks. When it delivered Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), for example, it cracked down on a pair of cracks that pirates had been using to activate downloaded copies of the OS.

Microsoft acknowledged the crack today, but its reaction was in line with past takes on the topic. "We are aware of reports of activation exploits that attempt to circumvent activation and validation in Windows 7," said a company spokeswoman in an e-mail. "[But] Microsoft strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources," she added, then reminded users that "peer-to-peer Web sites exposes users to increased risks, such as viruses, Trojans, and other malware and malicious code."

In May, a leaked copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) posted on file-sharing sites turned out to be infected with a Trojan horse.

Windows 7 is slated for public release Oct. 22, but subscribers to the for-pay TechNet and MSDN services will be able to download the final code, along with legitimate product activation keys, starting next Thursday.

By Gregg Keizer


Source : PCWORLD