WinInsider

Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Anders Hejlsberg is chief architect of the Visual C# language and has been a key developer of the company's .Net application development technology. Previously, Hejlsberg wrote TurboPascal when he was with Borland Software. He also was chief architect of Borland's Delphi technology. InfoWorld editor-at-large Paul Krill talked with Hejlsberg at the Microsoft TechEd 2005 conference in Orlando, Fla., this week about a range of application development topics.

We're starting to see some interesting Linux trends this year, and for the first time they aren't positive. In the past, I've lampooned all the "this is the year of desktop Linux" reports, which showed up like clockwork every 12 months. January 2005 was a little different. For the first time, few analysts touted the year of Linux on the desktop. And now I think we're seeing why: Linux, everyone's favorite open-source poster child, isn't exactly doing well on the desktop ... or the server, for that matter. In fact, Linux is starting to look a bit like that killer bees invasion that was going to strike North America but never really happened. The proof? For the first time, Linux adoption in corporations has fallen year over year. Mind you, Linux adoption hasn't just slowed. It's fallen by half. There will always be a market for free products, but the notion that Linux will magically replace Windows on the desktop is suddenly looking a bit silly.

Microsoft has released a test version of a new professional graphics tool code-named Acrylic. The software is based on Expression, the graphics application Microsoft acquired with its 2003 purchase of Hong Kong company Creature House, the software giant said on its Web site.

Microsoft describes the software--currently available as a 77MB free download--as bringing together pixel-based painting and vector graphics features. These capabilities will put the product squarely in the market currently dominated by software maker Adobe Systems with its pixel-focused Photoshop and vector-driven Illustrator products.

Peter Cullen is concerned about privacy, not just for his own sake but that of his customers, too. As Microsoft's chief privacy strategist, Cullen is a proponent of trust playing a big role in helping customers realize the potential of technology.

For a high-profile company like Microsoft, that means ensuring confidential user information is well-protected, and giving customers the ability to control the data they provide.

In an interview with CNETAsia, Cullen discussed how the software giant is helping to block more than 3 billion spam messages a day and explains why the company chopped its 13-page privacy notice to a single page.

Hollywood does not like it when outsiders play certain games. That was the message sent this week to Microsoft and its agents at the Creative Artists Agency. Movie studio executives were outraged at the aggressive proposal being shopped for the movie version of the popular Xbox video game "Halo."

Even studio executives, known for their lavish spending, winced at Microsoft's demands, including a $10 million upfront fee for rights, approval over the cast and director -- and 60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft representatives and their guests to the movie's premiere.

Even studio executives, known for their lavish spending, winced at Microsoft's demands, including a $10 million upfront fee for rights, approval over the cast and director -- and 60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft representatives and their guests to the movie's premiere.

Yet another piece of technology originally expected to surface in Longhorn looks as if it won't make it into the product. The latest element to get the ax is "Monad," aka the Microsoft Shell (MSH) that Microsoft has touted as its alternative to the scripting shells that Unix and Linux programmers know and love.

Rumors that Microsoft officially had cut Monad from Longhorn began circulating last week. When asked last week if Monad was still slated to be part of Longhorn, the Windows client team declined to comment. A representative with the Windows Server team said that Microsoft had not committed to a ship vehicle for Monad.

Computer users, beware. The head of the world's largest software company worries consumers who make Internet purchases have become too complacent about the risks of financial fraud and stolen identity.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said a calm period without significant Internet attacks has lulled computer users, even older Web surfers who traditionally have been more anxious than teenagers about their online safety.

"I don't want trepidation high, but on the other hand, I want people aware of what's going on and taking appropriate precautions," Ballmer said yesterday. "I'm afraid that may have declined, a little too much."

With Apple Computer's dominance over the digital music business growing, Microsoft is planning to bolster its own online song store with a new subscription service later this year, sources familiar with the plans say.

The software giant launched its song download store, similar to Apple's iTunes store, last September. The Microsoft MSN-branded service did not include a subscription plan at that time, focusing instead on selling individual songs online and through Windows Media Player.

Microsoft's Tech Ed conference next week will be a showcase for a raft of new server products from the Redmond software giant that aren't quite soup yet.

While Microsoft is set to reveal its specific RTM (release-to-manufacturing) target dates for Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 at the conference, neither product is ready to roll yet. The dates won't be "Dec. 32," as one source close to Microsoft quipped. Instead, they will be sometime this fall, much earlier than the "end of year 2005" targets most company watchers have been projecting.

Microsoft this week followed IBM and Oracle in publicly committing to delivering infrastructure software to support radio frequency identification scenarios.

Senior vice president of server applications Paul Flessner gave a preview of Microsoft's .NET-based implementation of RFID infrastructure software during a keynote at the Microsoft TechEd 2005 show here. "I think you should expect it in the 2006 timeframe," he said.

RFID uses transponder tags to send data to a remote receiver/decoder, allowing tagged items to be tracked from a distance. Customers who see the most value in the technology tend to be in industries that move a lot of physical items through warehouses, factories and retail stores.