It's not just the first beta of Windows client that is going to testers today. Microsoft also is delivering on Wednesday the first beta bits of its Longhorn Server product, due to ship in 2007.
While Vista Beta 1 is stealing most of the headlines this week, Microsoft also is delivering simultaneously on Wednesday to a select group of private testers the first beta of its Longhorn Server product.
Microsoft has not yet decided on a final name for the next version of its Windows Server operating system (other than the fact that it won't be Vista), according to company officials.
Since first discussing Longhorn in 2001, Microsoft has changed the features of the release and pushed out its launch date several times. But there is little room for error now, as Microsoft is trying to have a final version ready by next year's holiday buying season.
Microsoft's Jim Allchin, the group vice president managing all Windows development work, spoke to CNET News.com this week about the beta release of Vista, its features and limitations, and hurdles remaining before the software's eventual launch.
Kai-Fu Lee, Google's newly hired executive at the heart of a dispute with Microsoft, made more than $1 million last year at the Redmond, Wash., software giant, according to a court filing.
Google appears to be taking advantage of a California rule that frowns on noncompete contract clauses, and a war over courtroom jurisdiction could loom.
Except in narrow circumstances, California code renders noncompete agreements meaningless. In addition, California courts have at times struck down employment contracts signed outside the state, said Martin Foley, attorney with the firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal.
Microsoft expects to ship its next operating system, Windows Vista, in time for holiday shopping in 2006. Will consumers care?
Not if Microsoft focuses solely on characteristics like security, search and reliability. Instead, the software maker must make sure that consumers feel as if Vista was built just for them, to handle their personal needs: communications, music, photos, home video, television, games or life management. Microsoft must also help hardware makers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, and providers like Kodak, Sony and Yahoo, customize Vista and incorporate it into their own end-to-end experiences.
Windows Vista--the next version of Windows, formerly code-named Longhorn--hits a major milestone today with the release of Beta 1 code, Microsoft announced. Microsoft also released the first beta of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP.
The preproduction code being released today--several days before the August 3 deadline Microsoft gave itself when it announced the name of the OS last week--will be made available immediately as a download to 10,000 technical beta testers, most of them from the enterprise information technology and developer community.
Along with the release of Beta 1 of Windows Vista, Microsoft quietly released the first beta of Internet Explorer 7 for Vista and Windows XP SP2. According to Microsoft, IE 7 will be made "available to IT administrators, developers and enthusiasts for testing and evaluation through the Technical Beta Program and MSDN."Microsoft created a stir in February when it announced that IE7 would only be made available to XP SP2 users, but it had acknowledged that its browser had become a security risk.
Microsoft Wednesday announced the release of the first beta release of its Windows Vista client operating system, and with it the company also announced official names for the operating system's presentation and communication subsystems, formerly known by the code names "Avalon" and "Indigo," respectively.
According to sources, Microsoft will officially name Avalon the Windows Presentation Foundation and Indigo the Windows Communication Foundation.
Microsoft officials said Windows Vista, formerly known as Longhorn, offers substantial benefits to developers, particularly around WinFX, the managed code programming model that builds on the .Net Framework.
Microsoft's Japanese unit is preparing for a potentially long battle with the Japan Fair Trade Commission in a case that will likely see three of Japan's top electronics companies testify against the software giant, the company's top lawyer in Japan said Wednesday.
The dispute, which is bogged down right now, could heat up in early 2006 when Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will probably be called by the JFTC, Japan's competition regulator, to try to prove that Microsoft Co. Ltd. broke Japan's Antimonopoly Act, said Takashi Hirano, Microsoft's senior attorney.
Microsoft Tuesday unveiled a partnership with a rewards software and services company to support its incentive program for subscribers of its Live Meeting Web conferencing offering.
Incentive Logic, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company that offers what it calls an "online e-loyalty platform," is providing the software engine for certain aspects of the Rewards Program for Microsoft Office Live Meeting, according to the companies, which did not disclose the terms of the agreement.
The Microsoft Live Meeting rewards program is leveraging Incentive Logics platform to reward subscribers for holding qualified Microsoft Office Live Meeting sessions, participating in surveys and sharing testimonials, according to the companies.
Microsoft plans to release a test version of the next version of Windows on Wednesday morning, according to a source familiar with the company's plans.
The Beta 1 version of Windows Vista isn't expected to have the look and feel of the final operating system. However, it is expected to reflect key changes that Microsoft is making under the hood of its flagship operating system. The test version is expected to be limited, at least initially, to developers and technical audiences.