WinInsider

Internal Microsoft documentation states that the software giant is about to make a surprising addition to the Windows Vista code tree on February 22, about a week after the company is expected to ship a complete version of the OS to testers. On that day, the company will apparently add Blu-ray DVD support to the OS, according to the documentation I've seen.

There's just one problem: The software giant denies it will support Blu-ray.

In a little-noticed move that promises to change the landscape for project portfolio management software vendors and consultants, Microsoft announced Thursday it has completed its acquisition of New York-based UMT.

Microsoft expects to combine UMT?s technology and expertise with its own Office Enterprise Project Management solution, which is built on Office Project Professional 2003 and Office Project Server 2003.

UMT is a project and portfolio management software and consulting firm that helps companies create, manage and optimize project, application, product and process portfolios.

Microsoft announced yesterday that three manufacturers -- Casio, DigiPoS Systems Group and HP -- will sell point-of-sale terminals pre-loaded with Microsoft Point of Sale software.

The partner announcement coincides with shipment of version 1.3 of Microsoft Retail Management System. The new version brings improved integration between the package's Headquarters module and Microsoft Dynamics GP financial management software.

This includes more capabilities for tracking inventory throughout the supply chain, and improved visibility into sales transactions at the individual store level, according to the company's statement. The Store Operations module also provides improved compliance with "Payment Application Best Practices of the Visa Cardholder Information Security Program."

Microsoft on Wednesday released an update to its software for call centers that adds new functionality for customers to interact with customer-care agents, according to the company.

Previously, Microsoft's software for call centers was Contact Center Framework, and when it was released in May 2005 it mainly enabled customer care agents to unify the way they access their applications on their desktop, said Vish Thirumurthy, a group manager for Microsoft's communications group.

The new release, which has been renamed Customer Care Framework 2005, now allows customers to communicate with call-center agents in a variety of ways through the software, he said. CCF does not require companies to rip out any existing applications they use in their call centers, but provides an interface for aggregating and accessing the applications they already have, Thirumurthy said.

Cingular today introduced a new smartphone, the first such gadget to be powered by the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

Equipped with Bluetooth wireless support, quad-band international roaming and support for the EDGE wireless data network, the Cingular 2125 Smartphone is being marketed as a business-to-business communications device for mobile employees on the go.

But it will also suit consumers nicely by providing the usual features, including e-mail, game playing, photos and Web browsing.

Microsoft is significantly boosting its presence in the Seattle region with an agreement to pay $209.5 million for most of Safeco's campus in Redmond.

Safeco disclosed the purchase-and-sale agreement in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday morning. Microsoft had been widely considered a likely buyer of the property since Safeco decided last year to consolidate its operations at its headquarters in Seattle's University District.

Microsoft on Wednesday released to developers a previously promised community technology preview -- or CTP -- for a set of key technologies coming in Windows Vista.

WinFX is the moniker for what Ari Bixhorn, Microsoft director of Web services strategy, described in a statement as "an evolution of the .NET framework." It includes the Windows Communication Foundation, a programming model for building connected systems, as well as the Windows Presentation Foundation, a model for building user interfaces in Vista. It also includes Microsoft?s Windows Workflow Foundation.

Microsoft recently had King Crimson co-founder Robert Fripp over to Microsoft Studios a few blocks from the company's Redmond, Wash. campus, to record some sounds that may well end up being the startup music when you boot Windows Vista.

Known in recent years for the evocative, highly-textured musical soundscapes that he creates using his guitar in conjunction with various delays, echo units and other audio processors, Fripp recently spent several hours at the studios, as shown in a video posted by Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble on Microsoft's online developer site, Channel 9, last week.

Microsoft today waged a new assault on long-time rival IBM, offering a suite of free tools to help businesses move data from their Lotus Notes/Domino software to Microsoft's SharePoint platform.

Microsoft's move is designed to lure customers from Lotus to its SharePoint suite, both of which are popular products in a multi-billion-dollar collaboration software market with high stakes.

Collaboration software includes productivity tools, such as e-mail, instant messaging, calendaring, and Web meetings, to help workers complete tasks together.

Microsoft has begun to take a serious look at how its software-as-a-service strategy can be applied to its developer business.

Somasegar said there are two things he is thinking about in this regard: "A set of services that we want to provide which will make it easy for developers to develop applications and services using VS [Visual Studio]" and "Support for features in Visual Studio that makes it a great set of development tools for developers to be able to build and consume services."