WinInsider

I've been using software-based virtual machine (VM) environments for years to test different Windows configurations and explore Linux-based OS alternatives. However, with recent moves from VM giants VMware and Microsoft, the latter of which purchased Connectix's VM assets last year, combined with a proliferation of high-end PC server-based hardware, it appears that machine virtualization is poised for greatness in businesses of all sizes. If you've overlooked this intriguing solution, you might be surprised about some of the benefits.

Microsoft updated a free software add-on this week that allows the Microsoft Outlook client to connect to IBM's Lotus Domino messaging and collaboration servers. The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for IBM Lotus Domino allows users to connect Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2002 to 5.x and 6.x versions of Domino. In January 2003, Microsoft shipped a similar tool that supported use of Outlook 2002 with Domino Release 5.x.

Intel took a step toward its goal of bringing pricing of 64-bit Itanium 2 processor-based systems in line with its 32-bit Xeon processor-based systems on Tuesday with the unveiling of two new Itanium 2 processors.

The 1.4-GHz Itanium 2 with 3 MB of cache is available immediately for $1,172 each in 1,000-unit quantities. A 1.6-GHz Itanium 2 with 3 MB of cache will be available in May for $2,408 in 1,000-unit quantities.

According to Intel, complete entry-level systems with the new dual-processing-capable chips will start at $2,100. Fully configured systems will be available for about $8,000.

Users of Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine (JVM) have an extra three years to drop the software and migrate to Microsoft's .NET or a competing Java product following the company's broad deal with Sun Microsystems Inc. early this month.

Microsoft was set to end support for its JVM on Sept. 30, much to the dismay of developers who built applications to work with the software. Now Microsoft has extended security patch support for its JVM until Dec. 31, 2007, Brian Keller, a Microsoft product manager, said Tuesday. Security patches are the only support Microsoft currently provides for the JVM.

Microsoft ended up paying out money to other companies to settle on patent issues shouldn't obscure the fact that the company has spent the past decade securing its own intellectual-property holdings. During the past two years alone, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online search server, Microsoft has received about 1,000 patents, or an average of 10 a week.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to formally accuse Time Warner Inc. of improperly booking more than $400 million in advertising revenue, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The case alleges that Time Warner and its America Online unit misled investors about the financial health of AOL by pumping up ad revenue in numerous deals, and by inflating AOL subscriber numbers, the newspaper said.

Citing federal sources, the newspaper said the improperly booked revenue related mainly to an ad deal with German media company Bertelsmann AG following Time Warner's 2001 merger with America Online.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, remains a major patent target. It is battling between 30 and 35 ongoing patent cases that cover everything from the automatic starting of an application in Windows to the sending of Web alerts. And it is facing more patent claims against it than in the past. Just 18 months ago, it had 20-some patent cases against it, company spokesman Jim Desler said.

Security concerns are accelerating current migrations to Windows Server 2003, a new joint ENTmag.com and Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine survey finds. Deployments of Active Directory and Exchange Server 2003 also figure prominently into migration plans, according to the survey. But even with the new capabilities of the Windows Server 2003 family, few Windows sites are ready to use the operating system to take on high-end enterprise inititatives such as 64-bit computing and Web services interoperability.

Three years after unleashing Windows XP to the world, Microsoft has hundreds of millions of customers using its latest Windows client, but enterprise adoptions and retail sales are lagging. The solution? A multi-pronged advertising blitz centered on all of the updates the company has released for XP in the intervening years. In other words, if you haven't looked at XP lately, you might be surprised by how much it's improved.

The ad blitz will begin in June with the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), one of the biggest and most important updates Microsoft has yet created for any of its products.

Today, VillageReach, a small Seattle nonprofit group, announces it has received $3.3 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $250,000 from the World Bank to expand its pilot project to improve deliveries of vaccines in Mozambique in southern Africa. The $3.3 million grant is the largest VillageReach has received from a single donor, and nearly double the $1.7 million it had raised since its founding in 2000.