Microsoft today gave developers attending its Mobile & Embedded DevCon conference in Las Vegas a sneak peek at the beta version of Windows CE 6.0.
The tools provided in the latest mobile platform are intended to help developers bring more highly differentiated products to market faster and at a lower cost than before. It will be made available publicly during the second half of 2006.
Jason Stolarczyk, marketing manager for Microsoft's mobile and embedded devices division, explained that CE 6.0 is a response to three specific areas of developer concern: the ability to differentiate their products; development costs; and speed to market.
A beta version of Windows Live Messenger, considered the next generation of the company's popular MSN Messenger instant messaging service, is now broadly available for download, Microsoft said Tuesday.
Until now, the beta was available to a few million invited testers, Microsoft said in a statement. At the top of the feature list for the newly-released beta is expanded PC-to-phone calling service, the company said. Users already can make calls to and between the U.S., the U.K., Spain, France and Germany. Microsoft said that, starting next week, users will also be able to call the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Finland and Italy via the Verizon Web Calling service.
As previously reported, Microsoft had planned to ship a variant of Windows Vista build 5381 as Beta 2, the version that the company will be delivering to millions of consumers late this month. However, problems with build 5381 have changed those plans somewhat, along with the schedule for getting Beta 2 into the hands of users. Last weekend, Microsoft surprisingly issued a variant of build 5381 to testers after previously noting that it would not ship any more interim builds before Bea 2.
Now, Microsoft plans to release Beta 2 on DVD to attendees of the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference on May 23 along with Office 2007 Beta 2. Meanwhile, users who wish to obtain a DVD version of Windows Vista Beta 2 via the public Microsoft Web site will have to wait until May 27.
Microsoft is counting on a blend of old and new to help make the Xbox 360 stand out from its rivals.
The software maker showed off forthcoming exclusive titles such as "Fable 2" at a press conference prior to the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show here, but it also touted new partnerships that will bring classic games like "Ms. Pac Man" and "Paperboy" to the Xbox 360's Live Arcade feature.
Special coverage Game on at E3 2006 Enthusiasts descend on L.A. for massive industry blowout.
In an effort to bolster its place in the SMB market for CRM applications, Microsoft will partner with Neocase Software, an
ISV with 14 years of experience in customer service solutions.
For its part, Neocase, a veteran in the European market, made a strategic decision to align itself with Microsoft as a starting
point to enter the U.S. market.
Rebecca Wetteman, vice president of research at Nucleus Research, called it a great lead generation strategy for a company
just entering the United States. Microsoft uses a channel strategy rather than a direct sales strategy to sell its SaaS model
of CRM 3.0, which Neocase can use to reduce its own marketing costs.
Microsoft on Monday released a near-final version of its Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003--a version of its operating system tailored to allow powerful clusters of Windows-based machines to perform high-performance computing tasks.
The product, which was originally expected last year, is now slated to be finalized by June, with about 30 customers already testing the software..
After years of wrangling, business-to-business software companies are still working it. Their goal: to connect smaller suppliers with their global, often much larger, supply chain partners.
The issue? While most big buyersthink Toyota or Hondahave massive IT departments to facilitate backend integrations to suppliers, smaller "mom and pop" shops are lacking in those facilities.
GXS and Microsoft are out to fix that. The two companies announced May 8 a partnership that will have GXS, which has arguably one of the largest electronic B2B trading hubs in the world, and Microsoft, which has some of the most ubiquitous collaboration technology on the face of the planet (if you consider e-mail) combining forces.
New security features in Windows Vista will largely eliminate the need to run separate antispyware or firewall software, according to a new analyst report.
Due out early next year, the next major release of Microsoft's flagship operating system promises not only to increase security for consumers, it will also dramatically affect the $3.6 billion market for Windows security products, according to a Yankee Group report scheduled to be published Monday.
But Vista won't have any effect on the antivirus software space, which at $2.6 billion is the largest market for Windows desktop security software, according to Yankee Group. Vista does not include antivirus functionality; Microsoft plans to sell its Windows Live OneCare antivirus software separately starting next month.
On the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video gaming conference this week, Microsoft confirmed that it has sold over 3.3 million Xbox 360 consoles so far and is on track to ship 10 million units by the end of 2006. The 3.3 million figure was first reported by Dean Takahashi of "The San Jose Mercury News," who was recently given unprecedented access to Microsoft's Xbox 360 business. Microsoft later confirmed the figure.
According to Takahashi, the 3.3 million figure represents the number of Xbox 360 units sold, not shipped, though Xbox 360s are still "flying off the shelves." Now, Microsoft expects to ship 4.5 million to 5 million Xbox 360 units by the end of June--which is the end of Microsoft's fiscal year--and 10 million by the end of 2006.
Product lifecycle management software has long been thought of as a tool for "tech weenies." But Microsoft and UGS are setting out to change that perception. The two companies, which on May 3 set in motion the development of the first PLM platform built entirely on .Net, aim to bring PLM to the widest possible user setfrom the extended supply chain to marketing and manufacturing to retailas both a digital collaboration tool and a search tool.
They're in a good position to accomplish their goal, as many Microsoft productsthink Outlookare everpresent collaboration tools. UGS, which has nearly 4 million licensed seats and 46,000 customers, announced that it will tighten integration between, among other products, its TeamCenter and Microsoft's ASP.Net 2.0, Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005, which are all based on .NET.