Windows XP users who just upgraded to the new service pack will not be able to downgrade back to Internet Explorer 6 after that option would be impossible. This also applies to those who are running the beta version of IE8.

Jane Maliouta, deployment manager for IE8, has written on MSDN that the decision to prevent downgrading was "by design".

Those who have the Beta 1 version of IE8, you will not get SP3 in your Windows Update to dissuade users from finding themselves not able to downgrade.

Microsoft and the European Union have not had a best relationship, especially on Microsoft’s business policies. After alleging that the giant engaged in price fixing, the European Commission handed down massive fines.

The first was handed down in 2004 after losing their case with the Commission and was handed down a USD$690M. The second was handed down after an appeal and not paying the first fine and handed down a record USD$1.4 billion.

Now it looks like the Commission want more money, as it has currently two investigations against the giant.

But Microsoft is fighting back, after announcing that it will be fighting the latest fine; appealing to the European Court of First Instance (How many courts do they have?), hoping it could be reduced or dropped.

A spokesperson of the Commission, Jonathan Todd, has defended the decisions, saying that the courts upheld that Microsoft refused to comply with the ruling for 3 years.

But if that does not work, Microsoft is trying to get on the good side; with trying to create an “open” standard to help defend itself against one investigation launched, which is about Microsoft engaging in anticompetitive behaviour in the word processing market with Microsoft Office.

Microsoft now has some explaining to do after a document standards specialist has said that the latest version of Office does not conform to the latest OOXML (Office Open XML) standard.

Alex Brown, the leader of the ISO group in charge of heading the OOXML standard, has said in a blog post that the Office 2007 does not meet the latest specifications of the draft standard after being handed over to the ISO.

"Word documents generated by today’s version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to ISO/IEC 29500," he wrote, recounting the process of testing a document against the "strict" and "transitional" schema defined in the new standard.

The revelations come after Microsoft’s file format, an XML-based format, was narrowly accepted to become a new standard. Since then, ISO has now control over the format and specification.

The OOXML being rendered in Office 2007 is now deemed incompatible due to changes made at a ballot resolution meeting.

In a best case scenario, Microsoft would have to release a patch to all Office 2007 products in its line using the new OOXML formats to match it. It would then need to release more patches if more changes are introduced.

But in the meantime, TECHGEEK suggests you save it in .doc format, the format used in Office 97, XP and 2003.

The ISO also hopes to make OOXML cross-compatible with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) standard, meaning that you would be able to use it on both Office and OpenOffice.

Microsoft has now officially said the SP3 version of XP will come out of the “first half of 2008″, but some RTM (Release to Manufacturing) builds are expected to come out on the second half of April.

As well, released by Neowin, its release schedule sees April 14 as the day when support is available for the release version.

April 21 will see only OEM, Volume License, Connect and MSDN and TechNet Subscribers getting the update. Other users can receive it at April 29, where it will be up on Microsoft/Windows Update and the Download Center. However, it won’t make Automatic Update status until June 10.

SP3 contains all the previously-released XP features; meaning that you can install SP3 without installing SP1 or SP2. It will also add NAP (Network Access Protection), which allows it to take advantage of the new features on Server 2008.

It is unclear if there will be a SP4, since Microsoft said it will stop selling XP to most manufacturers and system builders on June 30, but it has extended the life of XP Home until June 2010 for budget laptops.

After Microsoft was given the green light for its OOXML standard to become an official standard, it will now see the ISO taking control over the format, and has put it in the same group responsible for running the OpenDocument Format, its rival.

The next six months, according to Ars Technica, will see an ad hoc group drafting and deciding a new plan to maintain the format; while a second group will stay with the OpeDocument Format and a third group working on an OOXML-ODF interoperable.

Microsoft is expected to change the OOXML format after the ISO made recommendations, thus meaning more and more updates. The voting has even caused some share of controversy, with the European Commission is looking into if Microsoft made any influences in the vote.

After the collapse of margin lender Opes Prime, more than 25 percent, or 50 companies, of the 180-listed major technology firms have been revealed to be in the books since it went into administration last week.

Exposure, according to The Australian, does not appear to be large but it’s creditors, ANZ and Merrill Lynch, have seized the stocks attacked to those who are well known in the tech and communications sector.

The group includes Destra, internet media start-up; ERG, the supplier of the NSW canned Tcard project; internet service providers iiNet and Chariot and pay television operator Austar.

It is expected that the lower end of the sector will be the hardest hit with the collapse. iiNet and Austar have said that they did not expect Opes to have a material effect on their stocks.

Yesterday, ANZ released a number of companies names that it has now have stocks, or substantial ownership, over 5 percent; and many have struggled with the publicity.

Mooter Media has said that it was not able to trace an owner who holds of about 3.1 million shares that was included in the list.

Powerlan, an IT services and outsourcing company, is the most vulnerable with about 21 percent of its stock owned by ANZ. It has not made any statement yet.

However; one of Jumbuck, an instant messaging specialist, directors have launched a legal bid to stop the shares of the company from ANZ. Paul Choiselat’s private investment bank, Beconwood Securities, have on an injunction to stop the sell of what remains of the 3.5 million shares to Opes for a $1.3 million loan.

The matter will be heard in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Thursday.

The new Microsoft file formats, Open Office XML (OOXML), have succeeded to be an international standard, with the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) scheduled to release an official announcement today.

Once that is final, the development of the file formats will be handed over to the members of the ISO, which has 100 countries being represented, including Australia. It’s official name is now known as Draft International Standard (DIS) 29500.

On a technical level, this means that any changes proposed during the process will need to be incorporated into the OOXML by Microsoft, Novell and other companies and are expected to conform to the changes in the near future.

There are still distrust, however, by Microsoft’s attempts to promote interoperability between its products and others - including open source. But the ISO ratification is a significant step to support the standards.

During the vote, it is believed that a number of national standard bodies voted “no” or abstained from voting even after the BRM (Ballot Resolution Meeting” in February, which was supposed to resolve the technical issues.

The tally shows that 75% approved the new standard while 14% voted against it. Australia chose to abstain from voting.

Before the vote, IBM executives lobbied against the vote; saying that OOXML was redundant with the OpenDocument Format (ODF), technically flawed and was not exactly open.

The OOXML is now the default file formats in the latest version of Microsoft Office, replacing the original file formats that started in Office 97.

Sony BMG, like other media companies, movie studios or record companies, is not a stranger to piracy as they tend to protect their ‘assets’ and punishing those who don’t pay for the products.

But it has been revealed by a French news site [translation], and ZeroPaid and Ars Technica, that Sony BMG may have been a hypocrite.

PointDev, a French software company that makes Windows admin tools, is said that it received a call from a employee for support and found out that the licence code for one of their products, Ideal Migration, was pirated.

The subsequent raid also found that the same software was installed on four of Sony BMG’s servers, with the Business Software Alliance saying that up to 47% of their computers may have the pirated software.

These claims are pretty serious; given that Sony BMG, and other companies, have been trying to stop piracy using drastic tactics.

PointDev is claiming €300,000 in damages (over US$475,000) from its lawsuit against Sony BMG.

Agustoni Paul-Henry, the CEO of PointDev, said - according to a translation by Zeropaid, “I think piracy is linked to the policy of a company. If the employee has the necessary funding to buy the software they need, it will. If this is not the case, he will find alternative ways, as the work must be done in one way or another.”

An additional report from La Province also says that Paul-Henry wants to make this an example.

As well, apparently Sony told La Province [translation] that it should not report on the ongoing investigation.

Sony BMG is 50% owned by Sony Corporation in Japan and 50% owned by Bertelsmann AG in Germany.

Now that Vista SP1 is out of the way (but creating more havoc), all eyes have now moved on to the new service pack for Windows XP, SP3. This will be, according to Neowin, the last package of updates for the popular operating system.

One source inside Microsoft is saying that it will roll out the service pack next Monday.

However, the BitTorrent search engine Mininova has listed a 568.73 MB file that is supposed to be a “Windows XP Professional SP3 5503″ file. It has 112 seeds and 417 leeches, at time of writing, and has been downloaded by 2083 users since it’s listing on Tuesday.

In the description notes, Microsoft will release it on March 24; but according to Neowin, the 5503 passed all WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) checks and was able to download updates that previous SP3 builds could not.

A Microsoft spokesperson has decline to comment

Just days after it was released, Vista SP1 has created more problems for more users of the successor of Windows XP, which came out in 2001.

Users are finding that it is suffering from speed and compatibility issues, even Microsoft executives are complaining about it after emails were made public during a US court case about it’s “Vista Capable” guide.

The service pack was to improve the performance and security of the expensive and plagued operating system, but eventually did the opposite, creating more headaches - to the already added headaches of Vista.

Technology websites are showing users hatred of the latest service pack, with some could not install the update at all.

The SP1 website has said that it would not work if the computer uses some devices by Intel, Symantec or RealTek AC. It also tells them
they have to resolve these issues before they upgrade.

It is also not compatible with certain applications, mostly security applications like ZoneAlarm Security Suite and BitDefender Antivirus.

But those who installed the update noticed only minor improvements in speed; with the Extreme Tech website testing it on the graphic-intensive game Crysis, and ntoing that it was slightly faster than XP but fell behind XP if it was on a high-resoultion setup.

Team member Brandon LeBlanc has issued an apology on the Windows Vista Team Blog.

“I apologize to all who are experiencing issues with Windows Vista SP1,” he wrote.