Early users of Microsoft's new Xbox Live online TV and movie service have been reporting widespread technical problems, including unusually long download times, undelivered content and repeat charges.
Microsoft acknowledged the difficulties Friday, promised refunds to people experiencing trouble and said it was on track to resolving the situation.
The company said usage of the service over the holiday exceeded its projections and weighed down its infrastructure.
The Xbox Live Video Marketplace debuted Wednesday.
Birmingham pulled the plug on its open-source desktop project after it found that an upgrade to Windows XP was cheaper. Birmingham City Council had planned to roll out 1,500 Linux PCs across its libraries, but in the end converted just 200 PCs.
Industry experts have suggested that Microsoft offered Birmingham special discounts to sway the balance in favor of XP. But Microsoft firmly denied these allegations. Asked whether Microsoft had offered special discounts to Birmingham, Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy told ZDNet UK, "No, not all. We are in discussions with every single local authority. There is a common buying framework."
With the launch of Vista coming over the next few months, Microsoft has had little opportunity to talk about anything else. But the software giant is developing new products in a range of other areas, from Exchange 2007 to virtualization to managed services.
One man with a grasp of Microsoft's overall product direction is the vice president for servers and tools, Bob Muglia.
CNET News.com's sister site ZDNet UK grabbed some time with Muglia at November's TechEd IT Forum here, to hear why Microsoft has begun announcing 64-bit only versions of its software and about its plans for managed services, virtualization and other matters.
Today, Microsoft submitted revised technical information to the European Union. The submission opens the documents to scrutiny by potential licensees and Microsoft competitors.
Microsoft edited 100 documents, totaling 8,500 pages, the company said in a statement. The revisions are to documents previously submitted in July. The next process is outside review and comment.
"Potential licensees can now review the technical documentation...to evaluate whether it contains the necessary information to allow the development of interoperable work group server operating system products," the European Union's Competition Commission said in a statement. Those comments, in tandem with recommendations from the Commission's monitoring trustee, would impact decision on "whether or not Microsoft is in compliance."
One year after its initial launch, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is serving up more entertainment to users.
Microsoft announced on Nov. 22 that users in the United States can now download select TV shows and movies using the company's video game and entertainment system.
Broadcast and movie companies that have offered their media content to the Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live Marketplace include CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures and TBS.
The Xbox360, which was the fastest game console to reach 5 million sold, according to Microsoft, includes a family settings feature, which will allow users to select the video content that they want to play, as well as the ability to block or set controls based on movie, TV and video ratings.
Microsoft's competition to find the best student software designers around the world is now open, with $170,000 in prize money up for grabs.
The call has gone out for any student programmers who think they have a shot at winning one of a number of prizes in the fifth annual Imagine Cup, which has a fund of $170,000. But be warned: your only chance of stepping off with a top prize is through cooperation and teamwork, as the Imagine Cup is strictly for team players.
A Microsoft competition, the Imagine Cup is sponsored in the United Kingdom by Capgemini, BT and Hewlett-Packard. It is an international student competition for, in Microsoft's words, "young technologists around the globe to explore their creativity by using technology to solve real-world problems."
Microsoft has initiated 97 lawsuits throughout Europe and the Middle East during an eight-month investigation into fraudulent Web pages, with another 32 criminal complaints filed in cooperation with local authorities, the company said today.
Thwarting ID Theft
All of the cases are against individuals who attempted to capture the log-in and password details of users by building fraudulent Hotmail and MSN.com sign-in pages, said Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, a Microsoft attorney. A total of 253 sites were investigated, he said.
Microsoft is shipping the first release candidate or RC of Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003, with final availability scheduled for the first quarter of 2007.
Besides providing a cumulative update to Windows Server 2003, the update also provides many refinements to the system, according to Microsoft statements posted online.
SP2 includes Microsoft Management Console 3.0, which provides new and improved command line management tools. It also provides support for improved security, including Wireless Protected Access 2.
Intellectual property licensing gives me a real headache. I've got a whopper now. Microsoft is licensing elements of the Office 2007 user interface on a royalty-free basis.
Microsoft released a bunch documentation on the UI licensing, so it will be heavy reading for the Thanksgiving holiday. Gist of the news: Third parties can use portions of the Office 2007 user interface, the "ribbon," in their own products.
Microsoft has lots to gain from the licensing program. The more software that looks and feels like Office 2007, the better for Microsoft and its customers. The company and its development partners have invested loads of money and resources around the familiarity of the Office interface. Office 2007 sports a new interface, and it's an ugly duckling. The new UI is sure to be a swan some day, when people get used to the changes and see the benefits of the task-oriented approach.
Even though Windows Vista's code has been locked down, work will continue on the new operating until it ships, the Microsoft executive in charge of the product said.
While boasting that the installation DVD of Vista will contain nearly 20,000 device drivers -- nearly twice as many as Windows XP offered when it debuted in 2001 -- Windows co-president Jim Allchin also said that Microsoft's revamped Windows Update and Automatic Updates services will let the company keep crafting new drivers, then release them to customers once they have the OS on a PC.