A larger part of that strategy will emerge with the company's next iteration of the Windows operating system. Code-named Longhorn, the software will include a new search-and-storage system intended to make it easier to find any digital content stored on individual PCs or across a network.
The exact role that Longhorn will play on the Xbox is unclear, but Microsoft is expected to revise its software so that the game console can be linked into a larger home network, in what Microsoft terms the "Longhorn time frame" of 2005 or 2006. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told CNET News.com recently that "every group at Microsoft is talking about the Longhorn wave."
Unisys and Microsoft next month will launch a joint program aimed at luring enterprises away from Unix/RISC platforms and over to systems powered by Intel Corp. chips and running Windows, according to Unisys officials.
In a study conducted in April surveying 16,000 Unix systems users, Unisys found that 35 percent of businesses running Sun Microsystems Inc.'s SPARC/Solaris environments were interested in migrating to another platform, said Bill Jefferis, director of migration services at the Blue Bell, Pa., company. Analyst reports have backed that up, and Unisys plans to have an analyst firm conduct another one, he said.
The moves are being fueled by a number of issues, including the desire to move to a less expensive platform than Unix, the desire to consolidate their data center resources and worries about Sun's financial situation., he said.
Dell is using Microsoft's Web conferencing and enterprise instant-messaging software for internal communications. The Redmond, Wash., software giant announced Tuesday that Dell is using Microsoft Office Live Meeting and MSN Messenger Connect for Enterprises within Office and its accompanying applications such as SharePoint Portal Server 2003. The announcement is significant because Dell plans to eventually use Microsoft's Office Live Communications Server, which allows office applications to communicate in real time through IM and interactive conferencing.
The Windows XP Extras program is a monthly series of unique game content available for download-including add-ons for the hottest games on the Windows platform. We are currently working with developers and publishers to create exciting new content that will provide even more entertainment for gamers. Each month a new featured download(s) will be available exclusively for Windows XP users.
Microsoft on Monday announced the availability of Version 1.2 of its Microsoft CRM suite, building on existing functionality and adding usability and performance enhancements.
The new version of the software supports the latest Microsoft technologies such as Windows Server System 2003, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Office 2003 and, for small businesses, Microsoft Small Business Server.
Microsoft expands its trademark dispute with Lindows to Europe, putting pressure on the Linux seller and its PC partners to stop distributing the company's open-source operating system.
The dispute opens another front in Lindows' trademark spat with Microsoft, which has claimed that the company's name violates its Windows trademark in the United States. Microsoft's lawsuit over that issue is scheduled for trial next March.
The latest action involves Microsoft's European trademarks for the Windows name. Lawyers representing the software company in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (the Benelux countries) and in Sweden sent letters to Lindows and several PC manufacturers in those countries, saying the use of the Lindows name infringes on Microsoft trademarks in those countries.
Windows Mobile Start Services, which the company refers to as Club Microsoft, is similar to cell phone "clubs" that allow ring tones, screen savers, Web bookmarks, e-mail accounts and other items to be downloaded to a cell phone using an Internet-connected PC.
In the United States the clubs are popular with cell phone subscribers who are uncomfortable with the cell phone's cramped keypad and unfamiliar interface. "We all like to do things differently," said Jason Gordon, Microsoft's mobile devices product manager. "Some people like to use the PC interface, others the cell phone touch screens, others the touch pads."
As 2003 draws to a close, Microsoft is busily preparing an enterprise reporting add-on for SQL Server for release early next year and has also announced a substantial overhaul of SQL Server's extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) capabilities. Microsoft has been a BI player for at least half a decade, introducing its first back-end BI offerings-an OLAP add-on called "OLAP Services" and an ETL facility called Data Transformation Services (DTS)-with SQL Server 7.0.
The latest moves offer proof that the software giant is intent on enhancing the BI capabilities of its flagship database. The company has introduced a metadata repository, ratcheted up the integration between its Excel front-end tool and SQL Server, enhanced both OLAP Services-rechristened as Analysis Services (AS) for SQL Server 2000-and DTS incrementally, and, in a related move, introduced a CRM offering (under the auspices of its Microsoft Business Solutions division).
Microsoft is hoping Magellan can take it where Microsoft Profit and bCentral Finance Manager could not. The destination? Small business accounting, a market dominated by Intuit's QuickBooks.
After several failed attempts, the software giant will once again make a foray into small business accounting with a project code-named Magellan, sources said.
Details are sketchy. A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the code name, and said the company continues to investigate the best ways to serve small businesses, but that it is too early to talk product plans.
Microsoft will phase out a slew of products as of December 15, citing its 2001 legal settlement with Sun Microsystems over Java as the impetus. Among the products that Microsoft will no longer make available to customers through any of the Microsoft's sales channels are Windows 98, SQL Server 7 and a number of versions of Office 2000, according to a note from a Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) program manager posted to a public Microsoft newsgroup. It also appears some versions of NT 4.0 are also due to be phased out, but as the note is ambiguous on this point, it's impossible to tell which ones.