News.com on Thursday sat down with Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's platform products and services division, and we brought some readers with us. Well, their questions, at least.
As the man in charge of getting the next version of the Windows operating system, called Vista, out the door, Allchin's schedule is understandably tight. But he agreed to field questions that were submitted by CNET News.com readers.
Interestingly, even though XP will be 5 years old by the time Vista ships the questions posted by many readers indicated that they need to be convinced that Vista will be a necessary upgrade.
Microsoft's well-received second-quarter earnings report illustrates a blessing and a curse for the technology company: While it may get attention for things like its Xbox 360 videogame console and MSN Internet search engine, when it comes to making money, it depends on less flashy standbys such as Windows, Office and server software.
"They're kind of a victim of their own success," said James Ragan, an analyst with Crowell, Weedon and Co.
A positive quarterly earnings report spurred by those cash cows, combined with a relatively rosy outlook for the coming months, appeared to offset any concerns about production snafus with the much-hyped Xbox 360 and ho-hum predictions for its MSN Internet unit.
Microsoft has tweaked its testing schedule for Windows Vista as it tries to get the operating system update out by the end of 2006.
Rather than have a formal test version labeled "Beta 2," the company is now aiming for a series of test releases this year. Each will be aimed at getting feedback from a specific audience, Windows chief Jim Allchin said in an interview this week with CNET News.com.
An update to the current Community Technology Preview program, set for release sometime this quarter, will serve as the version that Microsoft wants corporations to test. The software maker said in December that it was targeting February for the next CTP release.
Redmond is planning to rely more on Community Technology Previews for Windows input, and has two new Vista test builds planned for the next two calendar quarters.
Customers and partners who've been holding their breath waiting for Beta 2 of Windows Vista before getting serious about testing Microsoft's next-generation
operating system can exhale.
There will be no single, catch-all Beta 2 of Vista, according to Jim Allchin, copresident of Microsoft's Platform Products & Services Division in Redmond, Wa. Instead, Microsoft is planning to rely increasingly on Community Technology Preview builds to get its feedback from Windows testers.
A Microsoft-branded version of the IronPython programming language is moving full-speed ahead toward final delivery.
IronPython, an implementation of the of the open-source Python language, which targets Microsoft's CLR, has just reached its second full beta release in less than a month.
Microsoft posted the bits for beta 2 of IronPython 1.0 to its Download Center site on Jan. 25. The software giant had just released beta 1 of IronPython 1.0 on December 30.
In a blog post following the release of beta 1, Jim Hugunin, the creator of IronPython, said the code was all but complete and that another release would be forthcoming quickly.
Microsoft is spending $120 million this year on an advertising campaign that's designed to soften its image as a "huge American company." The huge American company will use print, television, and Internet advertising in a bid to turn public opinion.
"We are often perceived as a huge American company," Microsoft Group Advertising Manager Mike Lucero said in an interview late last week, noting that the software giant would be highlighting its worldwide education and economic development projects in the advertising campaign. "We wanted to be very specific about what we are doing in each country in education, innovation, economic opportunity, and security."
Microsoft on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings in line with Wall Street estimates, but revenue came in slightly less than expected amid component shortages for the Xbox 360.
The software maker said it earned $3.65 billion, or 34 cents per share, on revenue of $11.83 billion, for the three months ended Dec. 31. Earnings were boosted by a tax benefit that amounted to about a penny per share. That compares with earnings of $3.46 billion, or 32 cents per share, on revenue of $10.82 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
Microsoft reported Thursday a 5 percent boost in profits for the financial quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to its second quarter a year ago. The company credited strong performance by its server and tools and Windows client products.
Earnings for the quarter hit $3.65 billion, compared to $3.46 billion for the same period last year. Revenues hit $11.84 billion, up 9 percent over the year-ago quarter.
Earnings per share were 34 cents, a penny above analysts' expectations as reported by the Thomson Financial poll.
Microsoft says it is creating more than 130 new positions to start a research unit focused on Internet technologies -- trying to speed up its product release cycles as it takes on Google and other rivals in the increasingly competitive online world.
The unit, Microsoft Live Labs, will work on prototypes and other online projects that the company expects to bring to market more quickly and update more regularly than normal, based on user response.
Led by Gary William Flake, the former Yahoo! Research director who joined Microsoft last year, it's a joint effort of Microsoft Research and the company's MSN division.
To lead its charge into the design-tool space, Microsoft has built a tight-knit team of graphics and design experts from inside and outside the company.
During the past four years, Microsoft maintained secrecy around not only the details of its planned foray into the design-tool space, but also about the team behind that effort.
On Tuesday, however, the Redmond software maker went public with the first test bits of its Expression Interactive Designer tool (code-named "Sparkle"), as well as about the group that has been developing and testing that tool.