From Help Net Security: “There exists a possibility for an attacker to embed special modelines into a text file which when opened with vim could compromise the account of the user.”

ZDNET.co.uk: “Intel is to cut the prices of its chips this week to pave the way for the
launch of its 1.7GHz Pentium 4 processor on 23 April, but experts
warn that the flagship Pentium 4 chips will not offer significant
performance benefits for some time.”

url “Outlook 2002 will have settings to automatically block 39 types of file
attachment, meaning that under default settings, users will not be able
to receive files such as images and screensavers. However, it also
means that attachments that have a legitimate business use — such
as Java, HTML application files and executable program files — will
also be blocked.”

ZDNET.co.uk: “The Dell cuts apply across most of its PowerEdge server and
PowerVault storage ranges. Although Dell described the cuts as
passing on cost savings, it is clearly prepared to sacrifice profit margin
to take market share from server rivals Compaq, IBM and
Hewlett-Packard. Dell has already made deep price cuts to its
desktop and mobile PC s, leading Compaq chief executive Michael
Capellas to accuse it of selling loss-leader products.”

A ZDNet column on Yahoo!: “Sometimes I think that if Microsoft didn’t exist, Linux fans
would have had to invent it. It’s the company everyone in Linux land loves to
hate–very often with good reason, sometimes without reason, and
occasionally just because it feels good. Recently, Redmond seems to be
returning the compliment in kind.”

CNET: “IBM announced Thursday a semiconductor it said is designed for consumer-electronics
devices connected to the Internet, continuing its push into what it and other high-tech
players are calling “pervasive computing.”

ZDNET.co.uk: “Microsoft’s Web site recommends a minimum 300MHz Pentium II
processor and 128MB of RAM to run the Windows XP beta, up from a
133MHz processor and 64MB of memory for Windows 2000.
Although many PCs come with 128MB now, machines sold a year
ago, especially budget PCs, typically came with much less memory.”

CNET: “NEC will announce on Monday two new Versa notebook PCs based on Transmeta’s Crusoe
TM 5600 processors, according to sources close to the company.”

The Register: “The head of Microsoft’s security response team
argued here Thursday that closed source software is
more secure than open source projects, in part
because nobody’s reviewing open source code for security flaws.

“Review is boring and time consuming, and it’s hard,” said Steve Lipner, manager
of Microsoft’s security response center. “Simply putting the source code out there
and telling folks ‘here it is’ doesn’t provide any assurance or degree of likelihood
that the review will occur.”

LinuxSecurity: “This week, advisories were released for xntp3, ntpd, vim, mailx, kernel, pine, netscape, and mc. The vendors include
Conectiva, Caldera, Debian, EnGarde, Immunix, Mandrake, NetBSD, Progeny, Red Hat, Slackware, SuSE, and Trustix.”