As Microsoft approaches a major milestone in the development of Longhorn, company executives are talking more about the features of the Windows XP successor, which they say will be easier to use, more secure, and less costly to manage than earlier versions of Windows.
Microsoft unveiled the Longhorn operating system in late 2003 at a conference for developers but then reigned in its ambitions for the operating system last year, aiming to make possible a release in late 2006.
To meet that shipment date, Microsoft clipped some of Longhorn's key features, most notably the unified storage system called WinFS that Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates had called the "Holy Grail."
Now, after several months of relative silence on the Longhorn front, Microsoft executives have once again started to talk up the operating system's features.
Say what you want about Longhorn, just don't call it Windows XP Service Pack 3. Windows chief Jim Allchin, who earlier bristled at suggestions that Longhorn had turned into "Shorthorn," said Microsoft has plenty of new stuff in store for the next version of Windows. Longhorn may be arriving more slowly than expected and it might not have everything that was once planned, but Allchin maintains "It's a big deal."
Among the features in the OS are security improvements, some snazzy new graphics, and a new means of searching and organizing information. Rather than having to remember the single folder where something is stored, users will be able to put documents in any number of virtual folders. They can also establish folders that will automatically update, such as "files edited in the last week" or "documents from Jane."
Sun reported a net loss of $61 million or $0.02 per share, when calculated on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes a $45 million restructuring charge, income of $54 million relating to the company's legal settlement with Microsoft, and $41 million in tax benefits.
The earnings results were an improvement from its year-ago quarter, when the company lost $0.08 per share, but revenues were down slightly from the year-ago total of $2.651 billion.
Analysts had been expecting revenues of $2.736 billion and break-even earnings, according to a survey of financial analysts conducted by Thomson First Call.
Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that it had formally answered a request from the European Commission on the powers an independent trustee would have to monitor the company's compliance with conditions laid down in the antitrust ruling against the firm.
The Commission, which is the E.U.'s antitrust regulator, told Microsoft on April 2 that its proposal on the "monitoring trustee" amounted to a veto over which issues the trustee could examine. The monitoring trustee is an independent person whose appointment must be agreed to by both sides.
Microsoft's worm-cleansing tool has been updated to detect and remove Hacker Defender, a notorious rootkit program used by malicious virus writers.
It is the first time Redmond has added rootkit detection capabilities to the free Malicious Software Removal Tool, a move that underscores the increased prevalence of stealth rootkits on Windows machines.
Stephen Toulouse, program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center, told eWEEK.com that the decision to add Hacker Defender to the worm zapper was the result of feedback from users.
Microsoft later this month plans to release a second beta version of Windows Server 2003 R2, an update to Windows Server that the vendor plans to ship in the fourth quarter of this year.
This second beta test release follows a first release in December that was limited to about 1,500 selected testers. Microsoft expanded that pool of testers to 2,800 early this year, but the first beta was still considered a "private" beta. The software maker is now recruiting testers for a broader second beta, which will start in April and run until the fourth quarter of 2005, according to an e-mail Microsoft sent to potential testers this week.
Microsoft is planning a major revamp of its North American sales force, with the company looking to add staffers with knowledge about particular industry segments.
Microsoft plans to overlay its current sales structure, which divides the continent into regions, with a second group that is focused on five specific industries--financial services, health care and life sciences, manufacturing, professional services and retail. Microsoft's existing public sector and communications units will also be folded into this effort.
A small San Jose, Calif., company said it has been granted a preliminary injunction preventing Microsoft from incorporating a patented networking method into future versions of Windows.
Alacritech said Wednesday that the injunction blocks Microsoft from using its Chimney architecture, which Alacritech said Microsoft plans to include in both a "scalable networking pack" for Windows Server 2003 and in Longhorn, the next version of Windows.
Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake reiterated the company's position that its Chimney technology was "independently developed."
Microsoft has released a beta of new disk-data protection software that provides near continuous data protection.
The Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager is designed to help corporations trim operational costs associated with the manual recovery of lost data, chores that can be onerous for IT workers.
The software, which runs on top of a Windows Server 2003, is being released with a software development kit and a Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Pack, said Ben Matheson, group product manager of DPM for Microsoft.
Microsoft will give the public its first glimpse of the next Xbox during a global MTV broadcast next month. MTV outlets in North America, Europe and Asia will air a 30-minute program titled "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed" on May 12 and May 13, the software giant announced Monday.
The successor to the current Xbox has been the subject of much anticipation and rumor over the past few years. Microsoft has filled in many technical details, such as the processor and development tools the next Xbox will utilize, but key information such as the name, price and on-sale date for the console have remained secret. Other hotly debated topics about the next Xbox include whether it will run games for the current Xbox and if it will include a hard drive.