Microsoft plans to commercialize technology developed at its India lab that allows several computer mice to be used with a
PC simultaneously. The technology, developed last year by Microsoft Research Lab India in Bangalore, enables several mice
to be connected to a PC's USB port, helping to make up for the shortage of computers at schools in
India and other emerging economies.
Two groups at Microsofts headquarters in Redmond, Washington, are working to commercialize the technology, called MultiPoint,
said Kentaro Toyama, assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India, on Thursday. The Emerging Markets Education
Group is interested in using the technology in educational institutions around the world, while the Education Technologies
Group is working on a software development kit for MultiPoint, said Toyama, who heads a research group on technologies
for emerging markets at the India lab.
Microsoft has issued an update to Windows Vista that's intended to stop a piracy monster.
The software maker said Thursday that the update is aimed at thwarting a technique that was letting some people use pirated versions of the operating system without going through the software's built-in product activation. Microsoft has dubbed the approach "frankenbuild" because it works by combining test versions of Vista with the final code to create a hybrid version.
"Windows Vista will use the new Windows Update client to require only the 'frankenbuild' systems to go through a genuine validation check," Microsoft said on its Windows Genuine Advantage program blog. "These systems will fail that check because we have blocked the keys for systems not authorized to use them."
What a difference six months can make. When Microsoft announced its Windows-based, robotic-platform-agnostic Microsoft Robotics Studio (MRS) beta last June, industry reaction ranged from skeptical to almost hostile. With the launch of MRS Version 1.0, some 30 third-party companies (and potentially former skeptics) are, according to Microsoft, embracing the platform.
Offering a visual, services-based platform for programming robots in the real and virtual world, MRS 1.0 is available for free download from Microsoft's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/robotics. Hobbyists, educators, students, and anyone not using the software for commercial purposes can download and use the kit for free. Businesses can, too. However, if they want to license the runtime and use it to drive robots in a commercial endeavor, they'll have to pay $399 per seat.
North American customers who purchase certain Hewlett-Packard Co. PCs can begin signing up Wednesday for free upgrades
to Windows Vista once it is available on Jan. 30.
HP also is offering customers support to help them with the Vista installation process if they qualify for a free upgrade,
the company said. Customers can register for upgrades at this Web site.
Customers eligible for free upgrades beginning Wednesday are those who have purchased or will purchase a new HP Pavilion,
Compaq Presario or HP Digital Entertainment Center PC with the "Microsoft Windows Vista Capable designation between Oct.
A boom in IT hiring may finally be at hand, according to a survey released Monday by Robert Half Technology, an IT employment service and agency. Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report found in its survey of 1,400 CIOs that 16% said they plan to hire staff in the first quarter of 2007, while just 2% plan to cut back staff.
"The net 14% hiring increase -- the highest since the fourth quarter of 2001 -- is up 4% from the previous quarter's forecast," the IT employment company reported.
It was a video gamer's dream: I was in a room with a new 46-inch LCD television, and bookending it were a Microsoft Xbox 360 with all the latest bells and whistles and a Sony PlayStation 3.
The idea was to showcase the similarities and differences between the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Naturally, I walked into the meeting expecting it to be a highly one-sided taste test. And I wasn't disappointed. But give Microsoft some credit: with all the hoopla around the PS3 and Nintendo's Wii, it's easy to forget the company has had its next-generation console in stores for more than a year.
Now why is it some bloggers and news sites are writing Windows Live's epitaph, when the body is still warm? Last week, I followed some blog buzz and, on Saturday, a New York Times story suggesting Windows Live is on the way out and MSN is on the way back in. Last week, I briefly rebutted this absurd position, before the Times story appeared.
The Times story suggests that Microsoft senior vice president Steve Berkowitz hasn't "decided what to do about" the Live brand name, like he has the power to change it. Uh, I don't think so. Microsoft fiercely debated the Live brand for about a year before bringing it to market--and there was a ton of market research done in the process. A change like that requires approval at the highest levels of the organization. Of course, that assumes Berkowitz is even responsible for Live, as the Times story insinuates.
Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are expected to announce a new partnership in enterprise software at a press conference on Wednesday. The deal is to be unveiled by Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, and Ann Livermore, an executive vice president at HP, at an afternoon event. The companies put out a media alert on Tuesday saying that the pair would announce "an enterprise agreement between the companies."
Redmond has made its new enterprise voice communications server available to 2,500 companies under a private beta program.
The product, which will be known as Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, brings with it the ability for companies to integrate voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology into their existing telephony infrastructure, Chris Cullin, director of product management in Microsoft's Unified Communications Group, told me.
This sever is also the successor to Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005, and forms part of Microsoft's unified communications portfolio.
Earlier this year Microsoft announced its unified communications vision and roadmap going forward, where executives talked about introducing voice technologies to its current lineup, developing new products and expanding the unified communications features its current products provide.
Microsoft released free developer tools on Monday that will allow amateurs to make their own video games.
XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 is a framework for creating games with the C# programming language, a content pipeline for incorporating 3D-rich content, and includes libraries of 2D and 3D content that can be applied to games. XNA games can be played on the Xbox 360 itself or a Windows PC. The development tool package is free to download, though a subscription service is required for developers to share the games they create with anyone else.