As a longtime Palm aficionado it pains me to admit this, but it must be said: Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system is gaining serious ground in the handheld wars, especially the skirmishes involving PDA/phone hybrids.
I found this conclusion inescapable as I surveyed my desk recently: Stacked up awaiting inspection were two Windows Mobile-based devices from T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel's Windows Mobile-based PPC-6700, a PDA/phone hybrid that was reviewed a few months back by our editor-in-chief, Harry McCracken. And those were just the ones on hand: In the same time frame a company called i-Mate stopped by just to show me preproduction versions of three Windows Mobile-based handhelds.
Microsoft plans to spend about $1 billion over the next three years on an expansion that will add enough offices at its headquarters to house about 12,000 workers. The plan, which calls for increasing Microsoft's sprawling suburban campus by about one-third, will accommodate both new and existing workers.
The Redmond-based software behemoth plans to add another 4,000 to 5,000 workers worldwide, most of them in the Seattle area, during the current fiscal year ending in June.
The company employed about 30,000 workers in the Puget Sound region out of more than 63,000 globally when it released its latest employment figures Sept. 30.
Microsoft Thursday said it was buying Web filtering software called DynaComm i:filter from FutureSoft. The company also released a generally available beta of the next version of its firewall and VPN product, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006, and launched limited customer beta programs for both its Microsoft Client Protection and Microsoft Antigen for Exchange, according to Ted Kummert, corporate vice president for the Security, Access and Solutions Division at Microsoft.
As the mobile and embedded industry continues to face various intellectual property and patent challenges, Microsoft is upping the indemnification
ante it offers its partners.
Microsoft Embedded and Windows Mobile OEM partners and distributors will now enjoy the same level of protection that other Microsoft platform partners have benefited from.
Microsoft claims that the new protection is not being driven as a direct result of recent alleged patent-infringement suits that have been filed against Microsoft.
The sales of Windows Media Center Edition notebook computers in the U.S. retail market had their biggest surge yet between the end of December and the end of January, as prices for the laptops dropped drastically, according to new research by Current Analysis Inc.
The primary reason for the rise in sales is the drop in price, from an average retail price of US$1,735 in December 2005 to $1,251 in January, she said.
While a spike in Windows Media Center sales is good news for Microsoft, one of the reasons for the drop in price is the removal of the TV tuner from the system, D'Onofrio said. This means that consumers still are hesitant to embrace Microsoft's ultimate goal for Windows Media Center, which is to be the console that drives the digital home, she said.
Microsoft's Windows Vista launch date contest for developers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa indicates that the next-generation operating system could be set for release Dec. 1.
The contest, which requires registration to play, lets people choose dates and then follows up the choice with a short video before the user has to confirm the selection.
Choosing Nov. 30 gets a comic response from a character in the video that the date is too soon. Dec. 1, however, gets the response that the date is too late.
Three years into its Next Generation Partner Program, Microsoft is claiming success in bolstering its partner ranks but still is seeking ways to raise partner profitability.
Allison Watson, vice president of Microsoft's worldwide partner and small-business group, said the Redmond, Wash., company continues to study ways to help partners wring more profit out of implementations and is coming up with a blueprint to aid in that battle.
Partners who invest in and achieve one of Microsoft's 13 competencies tend to be more profitable than those who don't, Watson told CRN in an interview Tuesday. Components of profitability range from deal size, margins, length of sales cycles and partner capacity, she said.
Two smart phones coming from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications in the second quarter will support an array of push e-mail systems including Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync and Research in Motion's BlackBerry Connect.
Users will be able to synchronize both the P990 and the M600 handsets with Exchange Server 2003 to view e-mail, contacts, and calendar entries, Microsoft said today. Enterprises using Service Pack 2 of the server software will be able to deliver the latest e-mail to employees via Microsoft's Direct Push technology.
Enterprise content management specialists Hummingbird announced a new partnership with Microsoft under which the two companies will work to integrate their current and future technologies.
Under the strategic relationship, specific terms of which were not released, Hummingbird will offer out-of-the-box links into Microsoft Office XP and Outlook 2003 applications, as well as the firm's SharePoint collaboration server software.
Hummingbird said it would also work with Microsoft to develop new ECM tools, specifically for the software maker's next-generation Office 12 package, and provide joint field service support for customers using both companies' products.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced its pricing structure for Windows OneCare Live, its upcoming subscription-based safety and security software service for Windows XP users. Additionally, the company revealed its expected timetable for delivering the service to consumers.
Microsoft describes Windows OneCare Live as a PC health service that is continually running in the background on a PC, providing round-the-clock protection and maintenance capabilities. The product includes a virus scanner, a two-way firewall, performs various system tune-ups, and provides data backup facilities. Later this year, Microsoft will also integrate OneCare Live with Windows Defender, the company's anti-spyware solution.