Windows

Users of that hoary old web mail service Hotmail have a new reason to regret their devotion: Over the weekend, thousands of user names and passwords from the service were posted on a data-sharing service called Pastebin, with potentially hundreds of thousands of additional users at risk.

Over 10,000 accounts on Hotmail (still the largest web-based email service in the world) are immediately known to be affected.

That's the essence of the message from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer this week, who made some remarkably candid comments (for Microsoft, anyway) about the failures of Windows Vista and his hopes for the future.

In new comments, Ballmer referred to the Vista debacle as having been an issue of "some uneven reception" because "we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility."

It seems that Microsoft is on its way to launch the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system as soon as May 11. The Redmond giant’s TechEd 2009 conference in Los Angeles kicks off on that day, and Stephanie Ferguson, GM (general manager) of Business Experiences at Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business will open the launch presentation of Windows Mobile 6.5, as stated on the Windows Mobile Team blog. “This TechEd 2009 session focuses on one of the biggest launches in the history of Windows Mobile – Windows Mobile 6.5. It is targeted at both IT Professionals and Developers, with a cool demo and an outline of great stuff to come.