WinInsider

Makers of PCs and portable devices are listening in on Microsoft's audio efforts, as they work to improve sound quality and audio playback. The software giant announced on Thursday a list of companies that support its Universal Audio Architecture initiative, aimed at improved audio playback and audio device driver support for Windows. Microsoft also announced the availability of a high definition audio driver based on a specification developed by Intel.

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, originally planned to ship in the first half of the year, will now at best be released in July. The major, security-focused operating system update doesn't yet meet Microsoft's standards, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

Microsoft as recently as last week said Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP was on schedule for release in the first half of the year. The company has now decided to delay the update to "some time in the third quarter" because testing has not been completed and Microsoft continues to make changes to the software based on input from testers, the spokesman said.

"Ultimately the final release will ship when SP2 meets the quality standards customers demand," he said. Internally, Microsoft is aiming for release in July, according to a source familiar with the company's plans.

How sad is this?  No one wants to have anything to do with Real, not even Apple.  Real is like a plague with its shady software.

RealNetworks, which is suing rival Microsoft for $1 billion, said it wants to use Microsoft's software to help it sell music over the Internet for play on portable devices. RealNetworks wants to make its music files playable on devices that use the Windows Media Audio format, created by Microsoft, RealNetworks Chief Executive Rob Glaser, 53, said in an interview yesterday. Glaser earlier this month sent an e-mail to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs seeking a similar relationship, which Jobs rebuffed.

The open-source development community is looking to head off Microsoft Longhorn before it escapes the Redmond corral.

According to the minutes posted to the Web from an April 21 meeting involving members of the Gnome Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation teams, Longhorn's Avalon and XAML technologies appear to be the most potentially worrisome for the open-source community.

Avalon and XAML will be formidable competitors, acknowledged Miguel de Icaza, one of the founders of Ximian and now chief technology officer for the Novell Ximian Services business unit.

But Avalon isn't the open-source movement's only challenge. The other key pillars of Longhorn-the Indigo communications subsystem and the WinFS file system-also are looming. And the open-source community is working through some strategies with how best to deal with those elements, from a competitive standpoint, as well.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday sent a letter to customers that trumpets the company's Dynamic Systems Initiative and management software lineup, including the planned Systems Center 2005, and points out its work with ISV partners to enable management of mixed systems and applications in the data center.

Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), which is similar to Hewlett-Packard's Adaptive Infrastructure and IBM's On-Demand strategies, aims to bring enhanced management and flexibility to the data center.

Microsoft is feting its 'best-selling version of Windows server ever.' So, what's Redmond going to do for an encore?

On April 24, Windows Server 2003 turned 1 year old. Microsoft officials say the product has sold like hotcakes. And last week's third-quarter financials, driven by strong Windows Server licensing sales, underscored that message.

Microsoft won't release specifics as to how many Windows Server 2003 licenses it has sold since the product launched, other than to say that Windows Server 2003 now constitutes 75 percent of its Windows server sales mix.

Microsoft's stand-alone version of Active Directory has gained some modest traction in its eight-month lifespan. Called Active Directory Application Mode, or AD/AM, the stand-alone directory was first offered in August. It unties Active Directory from the server operating system and the domain structure, eliminating one of the big criticisms of Active Directory in the Windows 2000 generation. AD/AM was not finished in time for the general release of Windows Server 2003. Instead Microsoft made it available as a freely downloadable "feature pack" for Windows Server 2003 customers.

Windows Server 2003 was in many ways a minor release -- that is up until the Trustworthy Computing security review that contributed to delaying the project by about a year. But even before Trustworthy Computing, the Active Directory enhancements from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003 were one area where the upgrade was a major release.

For example, the Active Directory in Windows 2000 had major flexibility problems, especially when it came to merger and acquisition scenarios that are so common in enterprises. Much of that was repaired with the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory.

Microsoft has filed lawsuits against 12 resellers in six states for allegedly selling counterfeit and pirated software. Microsoft has announced similar sweeps in the past and this week sounded the warning bell that it will step up litigation this year to preserve the playing field for law-abiding resellers. This is the first major legal sweep of the year, Microsoft attorneys said.

Margo Day, vice president of U.S. partners at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, said the cases were filed only after the company sent warning letters and cease and desist letters to the alleged offenders. She noted that the system builder community was instrumental in proving leads and information to Microsoft about the offenses.

Microsoft on Monday said it acquired privately-held ActiveViews to improve its business intelligence offerings. ActiveViews, a small Provo, Utah, company, developed a query and reporting system that Microsoft plans to add to its SQL Server Reporting Services. The technology allows end-users to get access to business data stored in databases and create and modify reports, a feature much requested by users, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.

Last month, Microsoft delayed the release of SQL Server 2005, also known by its Yukon codename, until the first half of 2005, rather than late 2004, to allow additional testing.