Dell today unveiled its new four-way PowerEdge servers, which are powered by the new dual-core, Intel Xeon 7000 (code-named Paxville) MP chips and (hot-off-the-coding board) SQL Server 2005 from Microsoft.
The launch came during a media call staged by longtime partners Dell , Intel and Microsoft to showcase servers running the latest database software and dual-core chips from the world's top software maker and chipmaker.
Neil Hand, vice president of enterprise worldwide marketing for Dell's server line, said the PowerEdge 6800 and 6850 quad-socket servers can offer up to a 51 percent performance increase in computing workloads.
Attending the RSA security conference five years ago in San Jose, Calif., I sat in the audience while a member of the Microsoft "security" team made a presentation amid titters and shakes of the head. I almost felt sorry for him. Microsoft wasn't always known for its software security problems. Windows worked just fineuntil you connected it to the Internet, and then all bets were off. Before the Web, Microsoft developers never had to make their software secure, and once the Internet exploded, they were suddenly swimming upstream in an effort to plug holes while trying to anticipate new ones.
Researchers at Microsoft have created the prototype for new Wi-Fi software that allows a user on a PC with a single network card to connect to LANs concurrently via "virtual mirrors."
"VirtualWiFi is a virtualization architecture for wireless LAN cards," lead researcher Ranveer Chandra said. "It abstracts a single WLAN card to appear as multiple virtual WLAN cards to the user. The user can then configure each virtual card to connect to a different wireless network."
This development would open new options for employees within an enterprise who need to do work outside the company network, Chandra said.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Microsoftin the long-running patent dispute over browser plug-ins brought by Eolas Technologies.
This time, Microsoft could end up paying damages as a result of the high court's decision not to take up its appeal.
"The ruling confirms the pattern of judgments supporting the University's position and the original jury verdict that Microsoft infringed on our patented technology and should provide fair compensation for its use in their products," said Trey Davis, University of California director of special projects and new media. The university owns the intellectual property on which Eolas is based.
Microsoft is widely expected to announce on Tuesday further forays into software and services that can be accessed over the Internet - a growing competitive arena that some say could eventually threaten Microsoft's biggest cash cows.
The Redmond-based software behemoth is facing increasing competition from companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., which offer an array of free consumer services, and Salesforce.com and NetSuite Inc., which have had success with Web-based business offerings.
Microsoft gave Chairman Bill Gates an early gift for his 50th birthday today - quarterly earnings of 29 cents a share, worth $295,691,311 to Gates, the company's largest individual shareholder.
Gates is expected to celebrate with a party tonight at his Medina mansion, but other Microsoft investors are still waiting for the financial blowout. On Thursday, Microsoft reported earnings slightly better than Wall Street expected, but some analysts had hoped for more after personal-computer sales soared during the back-to-school season.
Not to be a name-dropper, but when Bill Gates spotted me recently at a news conference in Ann Arbor, Mich., his face broke into a big grin and he greeted me with something to the effect of "Hey, Mike, my favorite reporter!"
Alas, it wasn't my journalistic skills that brought the compliment. It was the machine I had, a Tablet PC. Gates loves it. He thinks it's one of the most innovative and useful things Microsoft has invented, even though it's been slow in taking off.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Sunday announced $258.3 million in new grants to fund the development of a vaccine and new drugs to combat malaria.
The Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MMV) will get $107.6 million, with which GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and African researchers plan to test and license a malaria vaccine candidate in Africa over five-year period, the foundation said. Another $100 million has been allocated to the Medicines for Malaria Venture to fund the development of new malaria drugs. A third grant, of $50 million, will go to the Innovative Vector Control Consortium for promoting enhanced insecticides and mosquito control methods such as insecticide-treated bed nets.
This week, Microsoft shipped the latest version of Works, its productivity product suite aimed at consumers. Microsoft Works 2006 includes a number of applications, including Word, Digital Image Standard, Money, Streets & Trips Essentials, and Encarta Standard, and is priced to sell at just $99. But what the heck is up with the inclusion of Word 2002 (from Office XP) in the package? Rather than bundle the latest version of Word, Word 2003, in the package, Microsoft has opted to saddle consumers with the previous version of the product, which shipped back in 2001. That's like a little slap in the face, from what I can tell. Did Microsoft think that too many people were slumming it with Works just to get Word?
Microsoft has warned that if South Korean regulators order it to remove code or redesign Windows as part of an ongoing unfair competition investigation, it could pull the operating system from the market or delay the introduction of new versions.
The warning was relayed Thursday in a Microsoft regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it is possible that the Korea Fair Trade Commission -- the country's antitrust body -- could issue a remedial order barring a version of Windows that includes its Media Player or MSN Messenger software.