Microsoft's Dr. Watson error-reporting tool will undergo a significant makeover in Longhorn, but changes in the way program crash data is collected and transmitted have raised eyebrows among privacy rights advocates.
The Dr. Watson program error debugger, aka Windows error reporting, will be revamped to collect more than just the dump of the memory image when an application crashes.
Although Microsoft will set up a strict "opt-in" process to determine how data will be collected, security experts believe end users will find it difficult to sort through the sheer volume of information.
Microsoft on Wednesday said it has completed development of its next generation instant messaging and real-time collaboration client, Office Communicator 2005, and plans to ship the software before the end of June.
Office Communicator 2005 is a major overhaul of the client software for Microsofts real-time platform. Microsoft said Office Communicator has been released to manufacturing, which means CDs are being pressed and it should be generally available shortly.
In addition to the instant messaging capabilities, Communicator provides users with voice, video, Web conferencing and telephony in a single desktop interface.
European Union regulators today started analyzing Microsoft's proposal to comply with an antitrust ruling involving its Windows platform and will seek advice from the software maker's rivals before deciding whether to impose additional fines against the company.
If the European Union deems the proposal insufficient, it might slap heavy sanctions on the company of up to 5 percent of its daily global sales.
"It will probably take us a few weeks to carry out this analysis," said EU spokesman Jonathan Todd. "We will have to cross-check it with the market participants and look at everything in depth."
The path to the top at Microsoft is not for the timid. Anyone hoping to make the ascent must be able to match wits and arguments with two of the most formidable and combative intellects in corporate America: Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, and Steven Ballmer, its chief executive.
Eric Rudder, a senior vice president, demonstrated that skill not long after he arrived at Microsoft. In 1992, Rudder, then 25, had a confrontation with Gates, recalled Brad Silverberg, a former senior Microsoft executive. The dispute centered on some now-forgotten technical matter in a version of the Windows desktop operating system.
Microsoft's original plans for Windows Media Player (WMP) 11-- formerly code-named Aurora--were fairly low-key, with just a few minor new features. That's all changed: Microsoft has canceled Aurora, and the company is moving the Longhorn media player to XP. Now code-named Polaris, WMP 11 will be a major release. There's just one problem: Instead of shipping in November, as per the original plan, WMP 11 will now ship in a public beta during that month, coinciding with Longhorn Beta 2. The final release is roughly scheduled for early 2006.
Developers say there's a dirty little secret about Longhorn that few Softies are discussing publicly: Longhorn won't be based on the .Net Framework. We're still expecting that the .Net Framework will ship with Longhorn - on the CD and/or "in the box" in some way. But the .Net Framework won't be at Longhorn's core, we hear.
Instead, the .Net Framework will be the core for a small subset of Longhorn, specifically the Windows API Platform (WAP), which consists primarily of the "Avalon" Windows presentation system and the "Indigo" Windows communications system, our tipsters say.
Microsoft has unveiled a new set of MSN Hotmail-based services aimed at helping the email industry combat junk mail. The two new services are called MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services (see the URLs below). MSN Postmaster is an informative Web site; Smart Network Data Services lets ISPs and other bulk email senders interact with Hotmail's antispam tools.
"MSN Postmaster and Smart Data Network Services represent a move by Microsoft toward broader, more comprehensive and transparent information-sharing with ISPs and email senders to help protect email and ensure that it continues to be an essential and valuable communications tool," said Kevin Doerr, an MSN Hotmail product unit manager at Microsoft.
Microsoft is making several changes to its upcoming Visual Studio 2005 development tools platform based on early user feedback. Changes include improvements pertaining to Visual C#, Web Forms, and icons.
"It's a bit surprising how popular this one was," Keller said. The icons feature will be of particular benefit to ISVs.
Adding Edit and Continue support for Visual C#, meanwhile, means developers can make changes to code during debugging without having to run a full compile against code, Keller said.
Microsoft has severed its partnership with conservative consultant Ralph Reed, the company confirmed yesterday, ending for now a relationship that joined Microsoft with a powerful Republican dealmaker but also helped fuel a controversy over gay rights legislation.
Microsoft spokeswoman Ginny Terzano said the decision to end Reed's $20,000-a-month retainer was made in the past few weeks, portraying it as a routine reshuffling of consultants who regularly assist the far-flung company.
Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft on Friday rolled out a platform to help governments establish national identity systems.
The HP National Identity System is based on Microsoft's .Net platform. According to a release from the companies, it goes beyond simple secure identification and authentication, giving government ID systems the ability to be used to access e-government services and to conduct secure transactions on behalf of citizens.
It's not surprising that big vendors are rushing to address governments' hunger for beefed-up tracking of citizens and travelers. According to recent figures from Morgan Keegan, as quoted in the companies' statement, the identity management market is now worth about $4.8 billion and is estimated to increase to about $10.7 billion by 2007.