WinInsider

Microsoft, looking to leverage its expertise in software as it tries to catch up to competitors in the video game industry, on Wednesday introduced a new platform to be used in building games for its Xbox console. At the Game Developers Conference here, Microsoft unveiled XNA, a new system that it said will underpin games for future versions of the Xbox, as well as for the Windows and Windows Mobile operating systems.

Chairman Bill Gates unveiled on Wednesday Microsoft's latest foray into business computing with Speech Server 2004 and an updated version of its software for mobile phones.

The world's largest software maker has been expanding its product offerings as it targets a wider base of business customers, but its efforts so far have been overshadowed by the wide reach of its Windows, Office and server software for networked computers.

"There's a huge range of scenarios that this new speech capability will be used for," Gates told an audience of developers at a conference in San Francisco.

In one of the first non-Microsoft-funded total-cost-of-ownership studies by a major market-research firm, Windows still comes on strong.

On the heels of several Microsoft-sponsored studies evaluating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows vs. Linux, The Yankee Group has performed its own independent research on the same topic. And the findings are somewhat similar: Linux provides smaller companies with customized vertical applications or who have no legacy networks with better TCO than Windows.

But for the vast majority of customers - and especially those that are already Windows shops - Windows still offers better TCO value, according to the Yankee/Sunbelt Software study, which is due to be published this week.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer vowed to fight the European Commission's antitrust ruling, arguing that all companies, even ones with a near monopoly, have a right to improve their products.

Ballmer's comments follow a decision by the European Commission earlier Wednesday, which involved ordering Microsoft to offer a version of Windows that comes without the Windows Media Player and to share enough of its intellectual property to enable server industry rivals to sell machines that can effectively interoperate with Windows-based computers. The commission also imposed a record $613 million fine against the software behemoth.

Microsoft, in conjunction with several developer shows taking place this week, announced Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition along with a Visual Studio 2005 technology preview and a series of programs to boost Visual Studio 2005.

Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, unveiled at the Mobile Developer Conference, is focused on enabling hardware innovation and application development. The product adds support for dynamic screen-switching between landscape and portrait modes and square screen resolution support, which enables smaller devices with keyboards. Other features include VGA and QVGA that support high-resolution displays for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

Microsoft is appealing the sanctions the European Commission imposed today on Microsoft for anti-competitive behavior, giving the company 90 days to offer a version of the Windows operating system without Media Player and 120 days to disclose greater interface information so rival servers can interoperate with Microsoft products.

Microsoft will seek a suspension of the remedies because removing Media Player code from Windows will break not only the Media Player but other features in Windows as well, Smith said. Web sites, including those of the Italian parliament and Swedish broadcasting organization, and numerous applications will not function properly. Among the applications that won't work are voice narration that explains to new users how to use the computer and the operating system, and close captioning for the hearing impaired, he added.

With a maelstrom of legal battles, security issues and product delays swirling around it, Microsoft is taking time out this week to reconnect with its developer base in San Francisco.

As previously reported the Redmond, Wash.-based software vendor is expected to distribute a beta-style working version of its Visual Studio toolbox for its .NET environment (code-named Whidbey).

After getting nowhere with the European Union's competition commissioner last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer offered a few humble comments and then headed home to await the worst.

What he instead should have said is, "To heck with Mario Monti."

To be sure, the tangle with Janet Reno's Justice Department over antitrust charges in the 1990s taught Microsoft's brass to avoid making inflammatory statements in public. And so to prevent worsening an already bad situation, Ballmer dutifully stayed on message. Word to Microsoft public relations: In this case, the politic thing would have been for Ballmer to wrap himself in the American flag and cry foul.

With challenging litigation in several states, an ongoing and strengthening consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, the ongoing attacks on Microsoft products and customers by virus writers, and the recent ruling by the European Union, the company has never been under greater threat.

In fact, I can't remember any company-technology or otherwise, with the possible exception of Standard Oil in the first part of the last century (which was, fortunately, before my time)-that has been under greater, and longer, sustained threat. Strangely enough, the company appears to be weathering the storm. However, while things appear very bad now, there are indications that this may be bottoming out for the firm.

Microsoft this summer plans to add mobile support to its existing CRM offering, with a full point release set for next spring. CRM Mobile will bring sales-centric capabilities to PocketPC 2003 devices in July, and a phone edition is slated for later in the summer, said Holly Holt, group product manager for Microsoft CRM at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft. The latter release is basically "waiting for the phones" to be ready, she said. Pricing for the mobile support, which is considered a part of the current 1.2 release, hadn't been determined at press time.