Robert J Turner

By Nate Mook, BetaNews
December 13, 2005, 6:14 PM

The December release of Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool attempts to clean up the mess left behind by Sony BMG’s XCP copy protection software, which entered the spotlight in November after the discovery that it installs a rootkit.

Microsoft previously labeled XCP as malware within Windows AntiSpyware, but the MSRT should reach more customers as it’s delivered through Windows Update. The tool removes the cloaking and a potentially dangerous ActiveX control, but not Sony’s DRM.

“Once again Microsoft has done right by providing a tool for removing the Sony rootkit, but wrong by not removing the entire Sony software package,” Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox commented to BetaNews.

“Considering the number of security holes associated with this software, Microsoft would do better for its customers by removing all the Sony rootkit DRM software.”

Sony has come under intense fire for the XCP DRM utilized on 52 CDs and also SunnComm MediaMax DRM that shipped on another 27 albums. Both copy-protection packages have been found insecure in a number of different ways, and a recent patch to close a security hole in MediaMax also contained a vulnerability.

Although Sony recalled all CDs containing XCP, they can still be found on store shelves, prompting lawsuits from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

But is simply replacing discs and fixing the security holes enough? Wilcox doesn’t think so, and fellow Jupiter Research analyst Ian Fogg questioned what problems use of such DRM may bring in the future.

“The useful life of a CD is much longer than the Windows XP operating system that this DRM software tightly binds itself into,” noted Fogg. “This DRM software must avoid crashing future versions of Windows, which is impossible to guarantee for such unfinished operating systems (especially as it has failed to deliver sufficient reliability for the known quantity that is the current version of Windows).”

Microsoft has remained mum on the larger issue of DRM affecting Windows, but says it will continue to protect its customers as necessary. For now, Microsoft recommends that users “do not install software from CDs that are known to include the rootkit.”

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
December 14, 2005, 11:47 AM

British tycoon Richard Branson’s dream of a space tourism airline came one step closer to reality on Tuesday. Virgin Galactic, the company created for the project, announced it had struck an agreement with the state of New Mexico to build a $200 million “spaceport.”

Virgin Galactic has agreed to locate both its headquarters and Mission Control within the state, which would be built on a 27 square-mile area of state-owned lands in southern New Mexico.

“New Mexico has worked hard to bring us to their exciting new spaceport facility,” stated Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic. “The State has several factors that make it an ideal operations base: climate, free airspace, low population density, high altitude, and stunning scenery.”

According to the company, nearly 38,000 people from 126 countries worldwide have anted up the $20,000 necessary to secure a seat on one of space airliner’s flights. 100 have paid the full $200,000 ticket price upfront, which the company calls its “founders.”

Virgin Galactic hopes to begin service in late 2008 or early 2009. Construction of the spaceport could begin in 2007 pending various approvals, New Mexico authorities said.

Plans for the spaceport show that most of it would be underground, with just the runways and supporting structures above ground.

Opening of the spaceport would occur in late 2009 or early 2010, and until then Virgin Galactic would operate its initial flights from a Mojave Desert location.

Five planes will be built by Burt Rutan, the same man who designed the SpaceShipOne craft that won the $10 million Ansari X Prize earlier this year.

New Mexico is also hoping that the signing of Virgin Galactic will entice other space companies to base themselves in the state, creating thousands of new jobs for the state’s residents and spurring a whole new industry.

Branson will join New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to publicly announce the deal on Wednesday.