OS/400 Alert: Microsoft Extends the Life of JVM

by Shannon O'Donnell

It really is true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Just when you were getting used to the idea that Microsoft would be suddenly and precipitously dropping its JVM in September, Microsoft announces that it's extending the JVM for another three years. Get out your score cards, folks! Also in this issue, we'll point you to a cool new tool that lets you test multiple operation systems on a single PC.

THE MICROSOFT-SUN YO-YO

Not long ago, Microsoft announced that it would end support of the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine in September. This was, of course, due to the much publicized lawsuit brought down on Microsoft's head by the Department of Justice. We alerted you to this announcement in the March 24 issue of this newsletter. Now, however, Microsoft has worked out a new agreement with Sun Microsystems, whereby Microsoft will continue to support the licensed Sun JVM until December 31, 2007. Stay tuned to this space, because, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, this latest agreement between Microsoft and Sun will surely change again many times between now and December 31, 2007. More information is available on Microsoft's Web site.

TESTING MULTIPLE OPERATING SYSTEMS ON ONE PC

Do you have the responsibility in your organization of testing out new hardware, software, and operating systems? If so, you know what a pain it can be to work with the new stuff while trying to maintain the old. Microsoft has developed a new tool called Virtual PC 2004, which lets you run simultaneous versions of any PC-based operating system on one PC. The tool will let you not only test a new operating system but also facilitate migration to it. You can try Virtual PC 2004 for 45 days, free of charge. If you like it, you can purchase the product directly from Microsoft.

THIS WEEK'S NASTY WINDOWS WORRIES

The following information is from www.mcafee.com.

W32/NetSky.s@MM is a variant of W32/Netsky@MM and has similarities to other members of this family. This worm constructs messages using its own SMTP engine, harvests e-mail addresses from the victim's machine, spoofs the "from" address of messages, opens a port on the victim's machine (TCP 6789), and delivers denial-of-service attacks on certain Web sites upon a specific date condition.

W32/Sober.f@MM is a variant of the W32.Sober.e@mm virus. It contains a large variety of possible subject lines and body messages, and its attachment is either a PIF or a ZIP file.

PTF'S AND FIXES FOR OS/400 AND RELATED PROGRAMS

IBM released the latest cumulative package for V5R2 customers on March 29.

The latest HIPER package was released April 13.

The Database Group PTF was updated March 30.