marypcbuk

Whenever I write about Microsoft, there are always reader questions about whether a technology is being used to achieve unfair competitive advantage (because it's usually acceptable to use technology for a fair competitive advantage; that is after all what capitalism thrives on). I've recently looked at the changes in CSS and security for the Developer section of The Register (Getting your site sorted for IE 7 The Register and Getting on the right side of IE 7 security)and I had one reader question in particular.
"I just read your piece on IE 7 security. One statement that I found interesting was:
'the filter will also look for sites incorporating content or scripts from another domain'
Since most ad placement systems use scripts that point to another site, like Googles AdSense does this mean Microsoft will effectively be able to block ads from all their competitors... "

Short answer: no. But they might be able to spot redirect ad fraud scripts…

For one thing they're not actually that stupid ;-) At MIX 06, I think the two things I heard most from the IE team were 'sorry' and 'balance'. Sorry we didn't work on the browser as a new release for five years and we want to get the balance between features and security, between ease of development and security - or between just about anything and security - right. And while some search providers don't think supporting OpenSearch and highlighting every OpenSearch compatible site you visit to add as a search provider is enough (question: should the Google toolbar let me add other search sites to the drop-down so I could repeat the image search on Flickr?), the browser team are talking to too many of the ecosystem of Web sites and services to do something so obviously, cluelessly stupid.

Cue the usual distinctions between restricting the dangerous use of a legitimate thing without stopping the everyday use. What you're looking for here is scripts, content and links that divert you from what looks like a real site to the fake one – cross-site scripting attacks, scraping real images from paypal to make your phishing site look legitimate, replacing legitimate HTTP content on a mixed HTTP/HTTPS site (why that's so deprecated) so the instructions tell you to type into the insecure box rather than click the secure button.

The opening keynote at Convergence (the Microsoft Business Solutions show in Dallas, for those confused by our road trip
from state to state) was - once the drumming stopped - all about how Office is the place where people live at work and how the Dynamics products will increasingly live there too. The Dynamics CRM toolbar in Outlook 2007 isn't a click away the way it might be if Office 2007 had the ribbon interface; I wonder if the ribbon interface makes sense for finding features you expect to have in a product (charts in Excel, animations in PowerPoint) and less sense for features you wouldn't expect (opportunity management and sales reports in with your email).

Outlook is where I live when I'm at my desk (on the move it's OneNote) and the more I can get to from Outlook the better. One of the disappointing moments for me at MIX 06 was when Tim O'Reilly suggested using Outlook at the basis of social networking and Bill Gates looked completely blank; Outlook houses the pieces of my social network and tools like SNARF are starting to expose the interconnections between them. When I look at a new networking site I don't want to recreate that network one contact at a time by hand. I want Outlook and the service I choose to collaborate, finding my connections, looking first for the people I'm most in contact with and pulling the most useful information from Outlook and the service from one to the other. And if it could use InfoCard to both prove who I am and who you are and to pull across my reputation from LiveJournal or Amazon or eBay or the FT so you know I'm *that* Mary on all those services...

Service plus software: another theme from the keynote, although I haven't yet seen a Microsoft Live service that's had be jumping up and down. Perhaps the demo I'm getting here at Convergence will fire me up ;)

Charge early, charge often. The Lenovo tablet still isn't giving me good battery life so I'm keeping the screen dim, setting processor speeds low and plugging in where I can.
Use a discreet recorder. When casino security fusses about photography and recordings, a tablet PC or a memory stick recorder that looks like a phone is less likely to attract attention.
Water. You need more than you think.
Locate the restrooms. Due to Water and the coffee you need to stay attentive from 9am to 9pm.
Wear comfortable shoes. The Venetian was too pricey so we're at the Imperial Palace - only two casinos away but add in the size of the casinos and the fact that the conference space is behind the casino floor and it's a half hour walk from the room.
Put your camera, business cards and the other things you want to grab often in a pocket. Put them in the same pocket each time.
If the schedule is available in advance try to prepick sessions but expect them to change. Add the sessions you're interested in to your calendar and synch that to your phone. My Vario has the conference sessions in because I used the iCal links on the MIX site to put them in Outlook. I had to update the times by hand - RSS simple list updates now please! - but I have the descriptions to hand, and I get alarms for sessions.
Go party. I grab people at the end of sessions when I can but I also look for them at the party and in the labs and chat slots. And now - I shall go party