WinInsider

The problem is the new product's name. In a clear bid to meet the letter of the EU sanctions but not their spirit, Microsoft decided to name the WMP-less Windows version Windows XP Reduced Media Edition. Seriously. Predictably, the EU wasn't amused. Noting that consumers would be less inclined to choose such a product because of its name, the EU said last week that Microsoft was essentially sidestepping its complaint: By providing a version of Windows that sounds less desirable, Microsoft wasn't meeting the EU requirements because the sanctions require that Microsoft not do anything to make the new product more difficult for consumers to purchase.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is due to announce an extension of the company's security initiatives for governments at a meeting with public sector leaders in Prague Wednesday, sources close to the company said.

The announcement will come at Microsoft's Government Leaders Forum - Europe, which kicked off Tuesday with remarks by chief executive officer for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Jean-Philippe Courtois, that the software company is increasing its participation with governments based on feedback it has received from public sector leaders.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the world's two richest men, are partners in business, bridge and travel. Now both are predicting the dollar will weaken.

Gates, chairman of Microsoft in Redmond, said he expects the dollar to extend its three-year drop because of widening U.S. trade and budget deficits.

"I'm short the dollar," Gates told television interviewer Charlie Rose this weekend at the World Economic Forum. "The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down." Buffett, whose personal fortune of more than $42.9 billion is topped only by Gates' $46.6 billion, has been buying foreign currencies since 2002, citing the impact of the U.S. deficits. Their concerns were echoed in Davos by policy-makers such as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and investors such as George Soros.

Microsoft's competition with Google moved from the practice field to the big leagues yesterday as the Redmond company released a finished version of its internally developed MSN Search engine.

The homegrown technology, under development for two years, is the centerpiece of an effort by Microsoft to catch up in an area in which the company acknowledges it has fallen dangerously behind. The release will test once again Microsoft's ability to recover effectively from a late start -- something the company has been able to do throughout its history.

Linux gets a good share of the headlines, but Windows server software is grabbing a good share of the dough.

In reporting its second-quarter financial results Thursday, Microsoft said revenue at its Server and Tools division, which caters to business customers, grew 18 percent year over year. Licenses sales of Windows server, which competes head-to-head with open-source software Linux and other server operating systems, grew 17 percent year over year.

Despite the threat posed by open-source products, Microsoft server software sales have been growing at double-digit rates for several quarters.

While Microsoft will not actually deliver any new bits at the VSLive Conference in San Francisco next week, the company will share the status of some of its key tools and discuss release targets.

Sources said Microsoft plans to announce that Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2005; Beta 3 of SQL Server 2005; and the much-anticipated first CTP of Indigo, the new communications subsystem for the upcoming version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, all will be released on March 31.

The European Commission is battling to ensure that a new, "reduced" version of Microsoft's Windows operating system will appear palatable to customers, but its efforts may be in vain: Most of Europe's biggest PC makers say they don't plan to offer the software anyway.

Dell and Fujitsu Siemens both cite the additional effort it would take for them to offer a new operating system and say that, in any case, they do not think customers will be interested in buying it.

Some IT distributors, meanwhile, say they will stock the software but expect little demand for it from customers.

Microsoft said it is is investigating a report from Alexander Anisimov of the Russian security firm Positive Technologies that details how to bypass Windows XP SP2 heap protection to create an attack vector for a buffer overflow attack.

According to Positive Technologies' security scanning product MaxPatrol, it initially notified Microsoft of the bypass on Dec. 21, 2004, and sent proof of concept code to the company on Dec. 22nd. MaxPatrol also indicated that Microsoft provided an initial response on the same day, though at this point it does not appear as though a fix or patch has been issued.

At next week's VSLive conference in San Francisco, Microsoft will be announcing the status of such tools as Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2, SQL Server 2005 Beta 3 and the first Community Technology Preview of Indigo. S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, who is one of the show's keynote speakers, sat down with eWEEK Senior Editor Darryl K. Taft to discuss the company's plans for these tool releases, as well as the developer ecosystem, dealing with open source and more. Prior to his current role overseeing the developer division, Soma served as corporate vice president of the Windows Engineering Services and Solutions group within the Windows Division. Prashant Sridharan, senior product manager for Visual Studio Team System, joined Somasegar in the interview.

Functionality holes and a slow product-upgrade cycle have created headaches and opportunities for Microsoft's CRM partners. Those partners are looking to the long-awaited Version 2 of Microsoft's customer relationship management suitescheduled to be released to manufacturing in Marchto plug the gaps in the product and make it easier to sell to their customers.

Microsoft, which has relied on partners and resellers to fill functionality gaps in its CRM offering since the product debuted in early 2003, will also rely on partners to build integrations with its back-office applicationsintegration that Microsoft had planned to deliver itself by this quarter. A Microsoft spokesperson said the reason for the shift is that most customers are buying Microsoft CRM as a stand-alone solution and don't require integration with ERP systems.