MS-Watch
Both the U.S. and Asian Microsoft Research teams are tackling a variety of search-related projects. It is not just the product teams at Microsoft that are focusing heavily on search. The Microsoft Research unit is doing so, as well. To wit, Microsoft Research (MSR) recently reorganized its Redmond labs by creating four new research teams. A text mining, search and navigation team is prominent among the newly minted groups.
Just days after the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) shot down Microsoft's proposed SenderID scheme for eliminating spam email, America Online (AOL) has given the plan the boot as well. Previously, AOL had aligned itself with Microsoft to promote SenderID, but AOL now says that it is backing out because of the reluctance of the IETF, which cited patent concerns. AOL will likely adopt a similar, but competing, scheme to SenderID that's offered by Yahoo, company officials said. I haven't seen this many people shoot down a proposed standard since Netscape introduced the "Blink" HTML tag.
Cisco Systems and Microsoft are headed for a collision over network security, with customers caught in the middle. The two companies have each proposed competing "end to end" security architectures, marking the latest evolution in network defense--an approach concerned not only with scanning for viruses but also with policing networks to deny connections to machines that don't conform with security policies. But for now at least the twin offerings are not interoperable. That means customers might be forced to choose between using technology from one company or the other, unless the two tech giants can strike a deal to guarantee compatibility.
As Web logs gain in popularity, critics warn that they are increasingly becoming the Internet's new bandwidth hog. The issue has been in the spotlight for much of this month, following a decision by Microsoft to abbreviate developer blogs both on its Web site and in syndication, citing a bandwidth crunch. The Redmond, Wash., software giant stopped delivering the full text of postings on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) to blog subscribers, requiring them instead to follow a link to read the postings in their entirety. Facing a clamor of criticism from its own developers, Microsoft on Tuesday backtracked on that decision.
Microsoft is refining its "Get the Facts" Linux attack, taking specific aim at Red Hat, Novell and IBM rather than the broader movement around the open-source operating system.
The new phase tactic is based on the fact that the vast majority of Linux users buy their software from a company rather than downloading and assembling freely available products on their own, Martin Taylor, general manager of Microsoft's platform strategy, said in an interview Wednesday. For the effort, Microsoft will compare its own products with those of its competitors--for example, Red Hat's application server software for running Java software.
Microsoft posted the first service pack for Systems Management Server 2003. While the company characterizes the service pack as a "relatively small update" to SMS 2003, which came out in November, SP1 is important to Microsoft's larger management roadmap.
Systems Management Server is an important part of Microsoft's System Center Suite, which Microsoft plans to deliver in the first half of next year. The suite will include SMS, the recently released Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and a new product called the System Center Reporting Server.
Microsoft planned to release a kit on Wednesday to help systems integrators build hooks from SAP implementations into Microsoft's Office Project Server 2003. Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 is one of the company's lesser known server products and one of a handful of servers in the relatively new Office System. It is for managing projects at an enterprise level.
Microsoft has appointed a new executive to persuade business customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to choose its software over open-source alternatives.
Ashim Pal on Monday became Microsoft's senior director of EMEA platform strategy, having previously worked as vice president of technology research services at the Meta Group.
In his first interview since starting his new role, Pal indicated that he thought Microsoft had been too understated and low-key in its marketing approach.
Microsoft plans to introduce several new consumer products on Oct. 12 at an event in Los Angeles. The announcements are expected to include an update to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 and the first devices using Media Center Extender technology. The Redmond, Washington, software maker has hosted events in September or October for the past two years to introduce new Media Center products for the December shopping season. In 2002, Microsoft announced the first version of Windows XP Media Center Edition, followed by an update, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, last year.
Microsoft this week released a 180-day evaluation edition of Virtual Server 2005, its first-generation product for running several virtualized server environments on one physical machine. General availability of Virtual Server 2005 is set for mid-October.
Virtual Server 2005 was released to manufacturing in early August. Along with the announcement of the evaluation edition and the general availability dates, Microsoft disclosed its much anticipated pricing structure for the product.