Reports that Office 2007 will sport an anti-piracy "kill switch" that can disable the upcoming application suite after it's activated are incorrect, a Microsoft executive said Monday.
As with previous versions of the productivity bundle, Office 2007 does include an activation scheme that requires users to authenticate the product key either online or by telephone, said Ashim Jaidka, the director of Office Genuine Advantage. OGA is the umbrella program for Office product activation and validation.
Two weeks before the official November 30 launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft has posted the final code for MSDN and TechNet subscriber download, and is saying it will give away a copy of the operating system to any beta tester on the Microsoft Connect system who had reported at least one bug.
Multiple Windows bloggers and enthusiasts reported on Thursday that both the 32- and 64-bit versions of most Windows Vista's editions had been deployed for download. Valid product keys were also provided to MSDN (Microsoft Software Developers Network) subscribers.
The software giant is testing a new home page, and do I detect some AJAX? The new Microsoft.com also introduces visual concepts, like thumbnails, similar to those used in Windows Vista.
The shared Windows Vista design heritage is one of approach. It's quite brilliant, if intentional, and lucky, if accidental. One way for Microsoft to take back the Web--rather than Google and Web 2.0 companies taking the desktop--is to unify the user experience across its desktop software, Websites and Web services. Office 2007 and Windows Vista offer an unprecedented number of visual cues, at least compared to their forebears.
This week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that his company's recent deal with Linux distribution maker Novell came about after Microsoft discovered that Linux infringed on various Microsoft patents. Microsoft "wanted to get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation," Ballmer said, noting that part of the deal includes Novell paying Microsoft $40 million to cover those patents. "Novell pays us some money for the right to tell customers that anybody who uses SuSE Linux is appropriately covered," Ballmer said. "This is important to us, because we believe every [other] Linux customer basically has an undisclosed balance-sheet liability." Yikes. If that doesn't send a chill down the spine of every Red Hat and Ubuntu customer, it should. Expect Microsoft to turn its attention to other Linux makers soon.
Search engine rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are teaming up to make it easier for Web site owners to make sure their sites get included in the Web indexes, the companies are expected to announce Thursday.
The companies are adopting Google's Sitemaps protocol, available since June 2005, which enables Web site owners to manually feed their pages to Google and to check whether their sites have been crawled. Web site owners have had to follow similar processes at each of the other major search engines separately.
Tired of waiting for Windows Vista? Got an MSDN Premium subscription? Well, there you go. Microsoft has already posted the final bits for Office 2007 on its MSDN downloads site, and said it plans to post the golden code for Vista on Friday.
The downloads include Office Professional 2007 in English, German and Japanese, as well as individual programs such as Professional releases of Project 2007 and Visio 2007, Groove 2007 and InfoPath in English and Japanese. They also include Office InterConnect 2007 in Japanese and OneNote 2007 in all three languages.
Though Microsoft had never publicly confirmed its shipping plans for Halo 3, an expected blockbuster title that will run only on the Xbox 360, I'm told that this week's announcements around the title confirm rumors that the Halo 3 release has been delayed significantly. Microsoft on Wednesday said that Halo 3 would ship in late 2007 but that the company would release other Halo-related content for Xbox 360 users earlier in the year. The announcement, auspiciously, came on "Halo Day," the five-year anniversary of the release of the original Halo game.
Also, Halo fans will be able to purchase a PC version of Halo 2 beginning in early 2007. This version of Halo 2 requires Windows Vista and will provide much higher resolution graphics than the original Xbox version as well as a custom map editor.
In a wide-ranging stream of announcements this week, Microsoft has added substance to its plans for the future of Windows Server and formally launched a new scripting engine, PowerShell.
The announcements were made by Microsoft's vice president for servers and tools, Bob Muglia, in front of nearly 7,500 delegates at Microsoft's TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Leading the way was Windows PowerShell 1.0, Microsoft's new command-line shell and scripting tool, which IT managers can use to control their Windows systems. PowerShell will help IT professionals "achieve greater productivity, more easily control system administration and accelerate automation," the company said.
Microsoft plans to ship Windows Server "Longhorn" and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 at the same time, expected to be in the second half of next year.
The Redmond, Wash., software maker plans to release another Longhorn CTP later this year, followed by another CTP in early 2007 and then Longhorn Beta 3 by the middle of the year.
"The current plan is to ship Longhorn and Vista SP1 simultaneously, as it is one source code base. So, if you follow that model, you have to ship them both at roughly the same time," Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for server and tools, told eWeek at the company's TechEd IT Forum here.
Is Microsoft secretly hoping that you can do without Al Roker?
A whole-bean coffeemaker developed by MSN Direct and Melitta gives you a morning weather report without having to turn on a TV or computer.
The Melitta Smart Mill Brew Programmable Coffee Maker, which hit stores Thursday, has an FM receiver that works with MSN Direct's data service. The latest gadget using Microsoft's Smart Personal Objects Technology, the coffeemaker displays regional information on the current weather, daily forecast, chance of rain, and sunrise and sunset times.