Microsoft is one step closer to having its Office Open XML format adopted as an international standard in short order. Ecma, the standards body pushing OOXML on behalf of Microsoft, confirmed to internetnews.com that it made today's deadline for responding to comments on its initial application for fast-track approval to the International Standards Organization.
The matter now rests with the secretariat of the ISO joint technical committee reviewing Microsoft's application, said Jan van den Beld, secretary general of Ecma.
Microsoft announced it is shipping the latest preview of its upcoming Visual FoxPro "Sedna" project. The project, which aims to provide Visual FoxPro 9 interoperability with application components created using Visual Studio 2005, .NET Framework 2.0 and SQL Server 2005, began its fourth community technology preview testing last week.
The project?s codename, Sedna, is derived from a recently discovered and very distant celestial object.
Simultaneously, Microsoft is also making VFP 9 Service Pack 2 February CTP available. In addition to fixes to the core product, SP2 contains enhancements to reporting features, according to Microsoft statements.
Microsoft's UAC in its Vista operating system release was meant to signify that finally, the company has gotten serious about securing Windows by limiting a user's rights during day-to-day computer usage.
It's come to signify something much less than security or trust in the minds of some security experts, though. Security expert Joanna Rutkowska kicked off the dissection of UAC in her blog, and the latest salvo against User Account Control was heaved by Symantec Research Scientist Ollie Whitehouse with a Feb. 20 posting titled An Example of Why UAC Prompts in Vista Can't Always Be Trusted.
Until recently, Microsoft's antipiracy technology was pretty decisive: either your copy of Windows was genuine or it wasn't.
With a software update this week, however, Microsoft has added a new "Yellow state" for times when it just can't tell whether a copy is legitimate. According to Microsoft, the new indeterminate reading can occur, for example, when a local error or network error prevents the validation check from being completed.
The message is part of a controversial add-on to Windows XP, known as Windows Genuine Advantage Notification, which tells users whether Microsoft believes their copy of Windows to be legitimate. Validation is required for most Windows XP downloads, though users can still get automatic security updates. With Windows Vista, some features won't work at all unless a machine is validated as genuine.
Except for a financial analysts event in July, Microsoft's incoming chief software architect has been decidedly quite. His last blog post was April Fool's Day. This morning, Ray Ozzie finally broke his silence.
Ozzie answered questions, many of them leading, at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium.
There's a saying about talking much but saying little. While Ozzie shed some light on Microsoft's servicesor software-as-a-servicestrategy, he offered more vagaries than specifics. Still, by piecing together the little he said with the much we know about Microsoft, the hour-long Q&A illuminates Microsoft's services direction. Unfortunately, there is little apparent change in that direction from when Ozzie spoke to financial analysts last July.
With Windows Vista out the door, Microsoft is reshuffling the leadership of the business side of its Windows unit.
A new Windows Business Group will be headed by Bill Veghte, a 17-year veteran who has been serving as corporate vice president overseeing North American sales. Windows development remains under Steven Sinofsky, with both Sinofsky and Veghte reporting to Kevin Johnson, who leads the unit that oversees both Windows and Windows Live.
The move, along with several other changes in the Windows marketing and product management ranks, is the latest in an ongoing restructuring at Microsoft that began in September 2005, with the company reordering itself from five business units to three and announcing the retirement of Jim Allchin. Allchin retired at the end of January.
Microsoft announced plans to acquire health care search engine Medstory on Feb. 26, positioning the deal as a strategic move
into the consumer health market.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker, best known for its Windows operating system and Office productivity tools, said that
the deal not only immediately widens its footprint in the health care segment, but also reflects a long-term commitment to
development of a "broader consumer health strategy."
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed by either company.
Like many Microsoft employees, Kyle Hopkins and his team bring years of experience to their jobs. Unlike many others, they won't be found debating the finer points of Windows coding or SQL Server database security.
But if the subject is the musical similarities between the Germs and the Blood Brothers, then this is the right group.
Hopkins -- also known as DJ "Kid Hops" on KEXP-FM -- leads a group of music experts, disc jockeys, producers, journalists and musicians responsible for editorial content and programming on Zune Marketplace. The online music service works with the Zune device, Microsoft's bid to take on Apple's dominant iTunes and iPod combination.
Windows Vista Ultimate is Microsoft's operating system with all the whiz and bang for all users. But there is something important missing after all: Extended lifecycle support.
I was poking around Microsoft's support lifecycle page for another blog post and observed some oddities, one being that Windows Ultimate support ends on April 10, 2012. Windows Vista Business and Enterprise both receive Extended Support, which means five more yearsor April 11, 2017.
According to Microsoft's Support Lifecycle Web page, support for consumer products ends after five years. There is no Extended Support option. I had always assumed that Windows Vista Ultimate, which Microsoft pitches as having the most consumer and corporate features, would be supported for more than five years.
The first service pack for Microsoft's messaging server software will go into beta in April. Final release of the update is expected with release of Windows Server "Longhorn" later this year.
Terry Myerson, Microsoft's Exchange Server manager, made the announcement on Friday in a post on the Exchange Server Team Weblog.
Microsoft officially launched Exchange Server 2007 on Nov. 30, but the software hasn't been generally available. Some volume licensing customers have access to the messaging product, and it is available for download trial.