The first 'Origami' ultra-mobile PC systems are due to start shipping in April. Will customers take to the Samsung, Founder and ASUS machines based on the Tablet PC version of Windows XP?
Microsoft and its partners believe there is room for another PC form factor: One that is bigger than a handheld, but smaller than a laptop.
Microsoft is betting these devices, dubbed ultra-mobile PCs -- or "Origami" systems -- "will eventually become indispensable and ubiquitous as mobile phones are today," according to officials with the Redmond software maker.
Microsoft has spent enough time going after software counterfeiters in court, so the company is taking a more proactive stance.
The software giant, whose products are among the most pirated in the world, created the Genuine Software Initiative to protect its consumers and resellers from bogus software.
Microsoft said in a statement that GSI will include investments in education, engineering and enforcement, but was not specific about how much money it will pump into these areas to fight pirates.
Microsoft plans to make a Technical Refresh of its Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 1 program available to testers the week of March 13. A company spokesperson told eWEEK that the refreshed code would include an updated build of the new user interface and fixes for the bugs most commonly reported by testers, resulting in a more stable, reliable experience overall.
"The code refresh is another step toward offering a high-quality testing experience for the public Beta 2, which is on track for sometime this spring. The best way to get ready for the 2007 release is to sign up for updates," she said.
Microsoft on Thursday updated the preview version of its OneCare security software with anti-spyware technology, a slight name change and bug fixes.
OneCare marks Microsoft's long-anticipated entry into the consumer antivirus market. The product combines antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall software with backup features and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs. The product will be sold online and in stores, starting in June, Microsoft has said.
As it hits the homestretch, Microsoft is putting the final touches on the product. The "beta refresh" released Thursday adds anti-spyware functionality to the software, the one main feature that wasn't yet part of the beta product. The anti-spyware features come from Windows Defender, Microsoft's anti-spyware application that's also in beta.
Microsoft has promoted Scotsman Bill Laing to lead its Windows Server division after having moved the last executive to hold the post, Bob Muglia, up to be senior vice president of the Server and Tools business.
Laing, a seven-year Microsoft veteran, will be in charge of making sure that the upcoming "Longhorn" version of Windows Server makes it all the way from inception to release on schedule. His new title is general manager.
Laing reports to Muglia. Under the reorganization begun last year, Muglia's Server and Tools business falls under the Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division. That division is one of three that the company created when it began the reorg last summer. The division is run by co-presidents Jim Allchin and Kevin Johnson. Allchin is slated to retire at the end of the calendar year after the release of Windows Vista.
Microsoft is on track to release its Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server this month, adding the highly anticipated final component to the new Visual Studio 2005 Team System development platform it shipped in November. In advance of that milestone, Microsoft executives S. "Soma" Somasegar, vice president of the developer division, and Rick LaPlante, general manager of Visual Studio Team System, sat down to talk with CRN about Microsoft's overhauled developer-tools philosophy and about forthcoming projects like Atlas, Microsoft's AJAX tools framework. Below are edited highlights from the discussion.
Microsoft is releasing an overhauled Internet search engine, under a new name, still looking for traction in a market where rivals Google and Yahoo! have continued to pull ahead.
The Redmond company today plans to issue a preliminary version of Windows Live Search, with a new look and additional features that Microsoft says should make it easier to find information on the Web. The company's share of the Web search market has slipped since introducing its internally developed MSN Search engine last year.
While testers have been all over the newest Windows Vista Community Technology Preview build, the new Longhorn Server test build, which Microsoft also delivered at the end of February, has gotten far less attention.
What's new in the latest Longhorn Server test build? According to the Longhorn Server 5308 release notes, a copy of which is posted on activewin. com, the latest server code has some rough spots.
Microsoft officials have said Longhorn Server will be customizable for specific workloads via role management and a role management tool. Longhorn Server will be role-based, allowing administrators to choose from among 20 "levels of functionality" when configuring and deploying Windows Server systems for specific tasks, the officials said.
Microsoft plans to announce on Tuesday that it has been granted its 5,000th U.S. patent. The patent milestone represents a key marker for the software maker in its recent push to boost its patent filings and then license its technology to other companies. The milestone patent covers technology used to provide a distinct "spectator experience" for video games, a technique used extensively in the Xbox 360.
The company increasingly has used its patent holdings as leverage in licensing to companies small and large. Microsoft has also banked on its intellectual property portfolio to protect its customers in intellectual property disputes, a move the company has heavily touted in its pitch against Linux.
Microsoft's chief technologist Ray Ozzie on March 7 showed off his next great big idea: a virtual clipboard to "wire-the-Web." What he proposes he calls a "Live Clipboard" for copying all the information from a Web site, then pasting it onto another site, or feeding all that data to a software program for processing.
This is all significant to Microsoft, and moreover the technology industry, because Ozzie is the brains behind a new Microsoft strategy for selling software.
So what he's thinking provides great insight into how Microsoft intends to carry out its "Live" strategy.