Windows 2000, Microsoft's five year-old operating system for servers and business desktops, will switch into the "extended support" phase of the product lifecycle after June 30.
Launched in February 2000, Windows 2000 Professional and the Windows 2000 Server products are in the mainstream support phase until the end of the month. The extended support phase, which lasts for another five years, begins July 1.
Under extended support, Microsoft will still develop and provide security hotfixes for free. Support through paid support channels continues and Software Assurance customers can still request new non-security bug fixes on Windows 2000.
A low-cost smart phone from Microsoft code-named Peabody is nearing completion and will run on the recently released Windows Mobile 5 operating system, an executive from the software giant said Tuesday.
When the phone platform was first discussed in February, Microsoft planned to aim it at emerging markets such as India and China. But the company has since decided to offer it in all parts of the world, since "everyone is interested in low costs," said Ya-Qin Zhang, corporate vice president at Microsoft's mobile and embedded devices division, during an interview in Taipei.
In this year's parade of personal finance software upgrades, Microsoft's package is first to appear: Money 2006 should be in stores in a week or two. I looked at a shipping copy of Money 2006 Premium, and found little about it to excite people who already own a recent version of Money--especially those who are being forced to upgrade in order to continue getting automatic downloads of bank and brokerage transaction information.
Microsoft on Tuesday posted a blocker tool to help organizations prevent Automatic Updates from automatically downloading and installing Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 on their systems.
Windows Server 2003 SP1 was posted to the Web in March and will be automatically distributed through Automatic Updates at the end of July.
"For those enterprise customers that require additional time to prepare for the download and deployment of SP1, Microsoft will provide a 'Blocker' tool kit," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail to reporters. The tool will block the download of SP1 while allowing Automatic Updates to download all other security updates.
Companies using Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 will be able to provide Web access to the enterprise instant messaging system with a component the Redmond, Washington, software maker is currently developing.
The component that will open up LCS 2005 to browser users will go into a private beta, or test, period in mid-July and will become generally available around the end of 2005, a Microsoft official said Tuesday.
Microsoft hasn't settled yet on pricing or licensing details for this server-side component, called Office Communicator Web Access, said Ed Simnett, group product manager at Microsoft's Real Time Collaboration group.
The new head of Microsoft's international business says one of his biggest priorities will be tapping into opportunities in emerging markets such as China, India and Russia.
Jean-Philippe Courtois has this week been promoted to president of Microsoft International, in the process handing over responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa to former Microsoft U.K. chief Neil Holloway.
Courtois will be responsible for leading 15,000 staff in all of Microsoft's sales, marketing and services business outside of North America.
Even at the time the trial began, Jackson had become unusually vocal in his public and private criticisms of Microsoft, which had been sued by the U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general on antitrust charges. Jackson likened Microsoft executives to gangland killers and stubborn mules who should be walloped with a 2-by-4.
But what alarmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit most was Jackson's habit of inviting favored reporters into his chambers for private conversations that involved trash-talking about the world's most famous antitrust defendant while court proceedings were under way. "The system would be a sham if all judges went around doing this," Chief Judge Harry Edwards warned at the time.
Microsoft on Tuesday completed its acquisition of Sybari Software, an enterprise security provider. As a wholly owned subisidary of the Redmond company, Sybari will continue to produce enterprise security software for the Windows platform. Microsoft had announced formal plans to purchase Sybari in February.
"Customers have told us they want powerful security solutions for the enterprise to help protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms and spam," Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business & Technology Unit at Microsoft said in a statement.
Microsoft has begun soliciting testers for OneCare Live, the company's subscription antivirus and anti-spyware service.
In an online posting seeking people to try out the service, Microsoft said that it plans to start testing this summer.
"This new service will be entering its beta testing phase in a few weeks," the company said on its OneCare Web site. A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to offer further details on the testing or say when the final service will be ready.
OneCare is set to combine the anti-spyware software that Microsoft has already been publicly testing along with antivirus and firewall software. Microsoft has not announced pricing for OneCare.
After two decades of successfully steering clear of Microsoft, Adobe Systems is edging closer to the software giant's crosshairs.
Since its launch in 1982, when Microsoft was 7 years old, Adobe has built up a commanding lead in the markets for digital document and image editing software, among the few areas in PC software Microsoft has failed to dominate.
Microsoft's test release last week of the Acrylic graphic design tool and the demonstration of its Metro digital document format indicate that the company may be growing less tolerant of Adobe as it encroaches on Microsoft's turf with the proposed acquisition of Macromedia and its Flash and Flex framework for building Web-based applications.