Microsoft on Monday officially opened a research center in Aachen, Germany, a move that makes the company eligible to take part in projects funded by the European Commission and by individual European countries.
The European Microsoft Innovation Centre will conduct research into Web services, security and privacy technologies, and wireless technologies, according to the company. It will focus on three areas: enterprise computing, embedded devices and the extended home. Projects will be developed jointly with European academia and industry partners.
Microsoft is pushing sales of its CRM product through a variety of channels, including resellers of rival products and ASPs. The software giant is also working with telephony vendors on joint offerings and support. Most leading phone vendors have stepped up efforts to capture the small-business market, tabling new IP telephony and hybrid systems over the past few months. At present, Microsoft is selling the product through its Large Account Resellers, business partners already selling its ERP technologies and a number of CRM resellers.
After news broke about a possible change in plans for the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, the first person to land an interview with a key member of the product team wasn't from a newspaper, magazine or TV station.
He was from Microsoft.
The interview was conducted for Channel 9, a new Microsoft Web site with video clips and other features meant to boost communication between people inside the company and outside developers who build software around Microsoft technology.
Large enterprises and Microsoft beta testers can look forward to getting earlier and more frequent access to software under development. Executives for the Redmond, Wash., company, such as Eric Rudder, senior vice president of servers and tools, are pushing for a new policy in which software under development is made available early and often, much the way the first bits of "Longhorn," the next Windows release, were handed out at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in October.
This desire is motivated by the delays of products such as Longhorn and "Yukon," the next version of SQL Server, and to help developers plan for and work on new projects.
With viruses proliferating and many personal computers going unprotected, Microsoft feels greater pressure to include anti-virus software with Windows -- but it's also wary of the potential antitrust implications, the company's top lawyer said Friday.
Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel acknowledged the potential impact that such a move could have on companies that market their own anti-virus software. Major players in the anti-virus field include Symantec, which markets Norton products, and Network Associates, the company behind the McAfee brand.
He said the company has not, "to date," made any decision to include anti-virus software with future Windows versions.
As much as Microsoft works to protect its software from hackers and other Internet threats, there is one aspect of computer security it cannot control: getting people to use antivirus software.
The company is concerned that 70 percent of consumer personal computers do not have updated antivirus protection, said Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief lawyer, in a keynote speech to lawyers yesterday.
"It is such an obvious threat to everybody who uses a PC," Smith said. If people start to think that computers are more problematic to use, the technology industry's long-term health could be at risk, he added.
Shares of Microsoft had their biggest rise in almost two years after third-quarter sales increased more than forecast. Investors are betting revenue growth in the coming year will beat Microsoft's estimate.
The shares rose 6.1 percent after the company said sales rose 17 percent to $9.18 billion. That exceeded Redmond-based Microsoft's forecast of as much as $8.7 billion. Chief Financial Officer John Connors said sales growth may drop to as low as 3.4 percent in the year beginning July 1. Some investors said they were skeptical of his estimate.
Deceptive software, also known as spyware, now accounts for more than 50 percent of the Windows failures reported to Microsoft and is becoming an important industry concern. Microsoft's partners report that spyware is the number-one support problem and is costing the industry millions of dollars a year in support costs.
Earlier this week, Microsoft and other companies detailed to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the steps they're taking to reduce the threat and problems spyware causes. The FTC, which has received many complaints about spyware, is working on a policy for combatting deceptive software.
Microsoft's steady growth in its core businesses, including sales of the Windows operating system, as a sign of continued strength. The company's overall revenue exceeded analysts' expectations by growing 17 percent for the quarter ended March 31, to $9.18 billion.
The company's earnings were "very solid," said Alan Davis, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle. The 17 percent quarterly revenue growth was also more than the firm was anticipating.
Microsoft has changed the name for the next version of its Tablet PC operating system, which is code-named Lonestar. The update will carry the name Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 instead of having a 2004 moniker, although Microsoft said it is still slated for the middle of this year, along with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
"We had been referring to it as 2004, but with a mid-year availability date, we determined a 2005 name would suit it better, and for a longer period of time," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail on Wednesday.