Microsoft's recent decision to pursue a royalty-bearing licensing strategy, which includes its internally developed FAT Allocation Table (FAT) file system, is stirring up new theories in the technology world. Where many industry watchers applauded the move by the world's largest software company to open up its intellectual property, others saw it as a move to put a stumbling block in the way of Linux, the open source operating system whose growth threatens the dominance of Windows.
Like many operating systems, Linux uses the FAT file system technology to keep track of and transfer data from one location to another, whether it's from one computer to another or from a flash memory card in a digital camera to the PC. It's beneficial to users because it allows them to plug in a device without having to reformat it every time they switch to another OS or device.
Even giants have problems--and gigantic software maker Microsoft has at least 10 of them. In an end-of-the-year compilation, research firm Directions on Microsoft has put a spotlight on the top 10 challenges that it thinks Microsoft faces in the coming year.
At the top of the list is an over-arching call for Microsoft to act like a more mature company in a more mature market, said Michael Cherry, a lead analyst who covers operating systems for Directions. This need for maturity, he said, has an impact on everything from how Microsoft handles litigation such as the recent lawsuit filed by RealNetworks to how it manages revenue growth.
IBM generated $13 billion in enterprise software revenues last year. So, when Steve Mills, senior VP and group executive with IBM Software Group, talks, even Microsoft tends to listen. Microsoft Watch Editor Mary Jo Foley chatted with Mills a couple of weeks after he appeared on stage with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to demonstrate Web services interoperability. Mills had plenty to say about the Redmond software vendor.
For months, Microsoft watchers have voiced concerns that delays in the company's introduction of its Yukon database software could derail other products, including a new version of Windows, code-named Longhorn. But Microsoft executives dispute that notion. They told CNET News.com that the delivery of Yukon--which marks the debut of the company's key unified storage technology--won't affect other future products.
The company also for the first time gave insight into the difficulty of building the new storage technology--a pet project of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for more than a decade and one of the most ambitious and time-consuming projects the company has ever attempted.
Microsoft has a new tactic in its war against Linux and open source software (OSS). Michael Surkan, a program manager in Microsoft's networking group, is contacting members of Linux user groups about two surveys (one for home users, the other for work users). Recipients are asked to rate 25 commonly given reasons for using Linux, including "ease of installation," "reliability" and "the satisfaction of not giving Microsoft more money." They are also asked to suggest improvements for both operating systems.
Video game maker Mythic Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, charging the software giant with trademark infringement and unfair competition. Mythic, which specializes in multiplayer online games, contends that an upcoming video game from Microsoft dubbed "Mythica" infringes on its name and trademarks. The company said on Monday that a prerelease of and marketing materials for the Microsoft game, designed to be played over the Internet, violate its established brands under state and federal laws.
While experiencing growing pains related to its 10-month-old Microsoft CRM product, Microsoft is pushing ahead with technology enhancements to the customer relationship management software suite for small and midsize businesses.
Microsoft over the next 16 months will add integration, client support and migration technologies that will build on usability and performance enhancements in a recent upgrade to MS CRM. The Redmond, Wash., company hopes these will relieve the headaches some customers are having.
Microsoft has quietly provided its first anti-spam filter update for Outlook 2003, the company's newest e-mail client. Now available from the Office Update Web site, or via download from this page of the general Microsoft site, the update is the first of a regular refresh of the anti-spam capabilities of Outlook. According to Microsoft, updates will be posted every few months.
Outlook 2003 relies on Microsoft's SmartScreen technology to sniff out spam and deflect it to a special folder within the client. Updates to the filter will, said Microsoft, capture more spam and give fewer false positives.
Microsoft's XML Architect, Indigo maven and Band on the Runtime front man recently talked up Web services, SOAs and more. Microsoft XML Architect Don Box signed on with Microsoft in January, 2002, after a long career of consulting and writing about Microsoft from the outside. Box co-founded the software think tank and training company DevelopMentor. He is the author of several books on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM), one of the precursors to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), XML and .Net. He also is one of a handful of authors of the original SOAP specification.
The free-spirited Box dabbles in fashion, with a line of underwear called "Don Boxers." He's also chief songwriter, singer and guitarist for "Band on the Runtime," a group of rock-playing geeks. At the recent Professional Developers Conference (PDC), Box didn't engage in any of his trademark speaking stunts, such as wearing his boxers on stage, or having a back drop of soap bubbles (unless you count calling Group VP Jim Allchin "code monkey," during one of the keynote addresses as something other than a career-endangering move).
The Recording Industry Association of America Inc. (RIAA) does not have the authority under U.S. law to subpoena the names of alleged peer-to-peer file traders from ISPs (Internet service providers), a federal appellate court ruled Friday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a lower court's decision allowing the RIAA to file subpoenas asking Verizon Internet Services Inc. to turn over the names of suspected copyright infringers without the RIAA having to file lawsuits against the alleged file traders.
The DMCA does not address P-to-P file trading because the technology was not yet being used when the law passed in 1998, Ginsburg noted. The law allows copyright holders to subpoena ISPs when material that allegedly violates copyright resides on their servers, but does not address the actions of ISPs' customers, he wrote.