Microsoft Sees Strong Demand for WP8, More leaks of VMware’s source code

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Corp CEO Steve Ballmer has said Windows Phone 8 would create a strong third player in the smartphone market.

"With the work we have done with Nokia, HTC, Samsung and others ... there is now an opportunity to create really a strong third participant in the smartphone market," Ballmer said at the launch event of the Windows 8 operating system in Israel. Google's Android and Apple's iOS are the other 2 players. "We're still relatively small ... I expect the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly."

He went on to say that Microsoft will work much more on the marketing and advertising of Windows 8, the company’s Surface tablet and Windows Phone than they had ever done before.

Meanwhile, VMware, Inc.(NYSE:VMW) has warned that some more of its ESX hypervisor technology source code could become public after the release of one more batch of code by a hacker.

According to director of platform security Iain Mulholland, the 2004 code is related to the code released in April. He however made no mention of the likely risk this poses to customers.

"It is possible that more related files will be posted in the future," he said and added that customers should not only apply the latest product updates and patches, but also review their guidelines for hardening security.

The ESX hypervisor is virtualization software that sits on top of the hardware of a server, enabling multiple guest operating systems to run.

A hacker with the nickname "Stun" posted a link on Twitter and elsewhere to a torrent leading to the file.

The leak in April was followed by internal VMware emails on Pastebin from a hacker "Hardcore Charlie" who claimed that the leaked material originated from China National Electronics Import and Export (CEIEC), a company that works with China's military among others. It's not known if the same hacker is also responsible for the recent leak.