A visit to Microsoft's Center for Information Work shows David Coursey that the company's vision of the future forgets one key element: people. I have seen Microsoft's vision of tomorrow, and it both frightens and amazes me. Not long ago, I was in Redmond and had occasion to visit Microsoft's Center for Information Work, a demonstration facility that's part of the company's executive briefing center. CIW is not open to the public.
CIW demonstrates a collection of forward-looking technology-mostly from Microsoft Research, but also from a number of (mostly hardware) partners. Most of what I saw there was just for show-nothing at CIW was a "real" product, though some certainly have the potential to be.
Amplifying one of the myriad themes coloring his keynote earlier Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he has charged his executive team with thinking about how to better segment customers.
That could mean more products akin to Microsoft's successful Small Business Server (SBS) line. At the same time, Ballmer downplayed the notion that Microsoft is studying changes to its licensing policies, during an interview with CRN at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto.
With the release of Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 on Tuesday, Microsoft aims to quell many security concerns while opening new markets.
From the outset, Microsoft designed ISA Server 2004 to meet the needs of two distinct markets: integrated security appliances and software firewalls. Though that may be an unusual approach, the fact is that all firewalls run some type of software, either embedded in firmware or running through a custom operating system. Vendors such as Cisco Systems and SonicWall have embedded their own customized operating systems and software to create their firewalls. Microsoft has taken a similar route to move ISA Server 2004 into the appliance market and has partnered with vendors such as Celestix, Hewlett-Packard and Network Engines to deliver ISA Server 2004 appliances.
Jeff Raikes wants you to get with the program.
Microsoft's group vice president for Productivity and Business Services challenged solution providers and ISVs during his keynote at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to invest in at least one solution area underlying the company's Information Worker competency during fiscal year 2005.
Steve Ballmer says there is a simple way to turn around Microsoft's money-losing enterprise applications business--make the whole world like Denmark. There, Microsoft's enterprise resource planning software has a commanding share of the midmarket and a thriving collection of partners that are reaching a much broader range of small and midsize customers than the company is elsewhere.
The battle for now is visible only on the fringes, where experts are carefully weighing the pros and cons of two new candidates for delivering emerging applications such as Internet movies on demand, video over cell phones and high-definition TV (HDTV) programming.
One candidate, known alternately as MPEG-4 AVC or H.264, is the latest successor to the standard video format currently used by virtually all cable and broadcast TV stations. The other is Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media VC-9 format.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) said Tuesday that certain provisions in license agreements between Microsoft Corp. and Japanese PC vendors violate Japan's antimonopoly code.
In a 13-page recommendation, it detailed the basis for its finding and issued a recommendation that the provisions be terminated in both current and previous agreements. Apart from its recommendations, the JFTC did not spell out any potential fines that may be imposed on Microsoft for violating JFTC rules.
In August, Microsoft will dramatically expand the reach of its Windows XP Media Center Edition software by providing it to custom PC system builders for use in so-called white box PCs. To date, customers could only get XP Media Center Edition from select tier one PC makers, such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Gateway, and only on special Media Center PCs, which have historically been higher-end, multimedia-capable boxes.
Microsoft aims to rally the industry around its new network access protection (NAP) architecture and related set of APIs for the next Windows Server, even as it prepares two enhanced security frameworks for future Windows releases.
At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Microsoft said it plans to establish NAP as an industry standard. The technology, previously described by some executives as Active Defense technology, is designed to give end users secure access to the corporate network and IT administrators a way to set policies and detect the "health" and security configurations of incoming PCs, laptops and handhelds.
Companies expecting a new patch management tool from Microsoft this summer will have to wait a little longer. Microsoft said Tuesday that Windows Update Services, a new tool designed to let system administrators keep PCs and servers up to date with the latest patches and bug fixes, won't ship until sometime in the first half of next year. The tool, which entered testing in March, was supposed to debut this year.