The security configuration lockdown wizard for Windows Server 2003 that was supposed to be delivered shortly after the operating system shipped has now apparently been pushed into the first service pack.
Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates mentioned such functionality during his Microsoft Professional Developers Conference keynote in Los Angeles last week. While discussing security enhancements coming in future service packs, Gates said Windows 2003 SP1 could contain a "simple configuration where you can say what the type of the server is, and have all things locked down according to exactly that use."
Microsoft and Borland may have competing development tools for building Windows applications, but this does not mean the companies are not partners. Microsoft's David Treadwell, general manager of the Microsoft .Net Developer Platform team, and Borland's David Intersimone, vice president of developer relations, took turns hailing cooperation between the two companies during the BorCon show here on Monday.
Microsoft plans to expand its research lab in Beijing with the addition of an Advanced Technology Center (ATC), according to a company statement released on Monday. The addition of the ATC to Microsoft Research Asia's (MSRA's) activities in Beijing will expand the number of Microsoft researchers in China to 250 from 170 within one year, the statement said. These researchers will focus on developing products for Asian users that make the interaction between computers and users more natural, it said.
The main focus of MSRA is basic research. The ATC will complement these efforts by focusing on developing these technologies into products and accelerating the transfer of technology from MSRA's labs to Microsoft product groups, the statement said.
As part of the further expansion of its nascent Security Business Unit, Microsoft Corp. Tuesday will announce the availability of Windows Rights Management Services, an add-on for Windows Server 2003 that is meant to help enterprises control the ways in which documents, e-mails and other information is used.
RMS is related to technology that has been used for years to protect valuable digital content such as music and movies. The basic concept is that the creator of the content is able to define who can read the document, for how long and what other actions the users can take in relation to it.
Attorneys for Microsoft head back to federal court on Tuesday to defend a landmark antitrust settlement from a last-ditch challenge from Massachusetts' attorney general and other critics. The two sides will square off before a panel of judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with critics of the settlement arguing it should be overturned and stricter sanctions imposed on the world's largest software maker.
Microsoft will likely counter that the dissenters are extremists out of step with the courts, the Justice Department and 20 other states, all of whom have endorsed the settlement.
"Only Massachusetts continues to pursue different relief that would benefit certain of Microsoft's competitors, but not consumers," Microsoft said in a reply brief.
I had this crazy idea that I might write something about the Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) while the PDC was actually going on. However, between 9-hour jetlag, the all-day training sessions, the Irish contingent who ensured that I never got to bed before 2 a.m. each night, the mysterious blue liquid that turned a bunch of jetlagged geeks into disco-dancing, cigar-chomping, shop-talking (heck, we're still geeks) party animals, and other events I'll leave to your imagination, I'm lucky I'm not dead.
The PDC is a bit like sticking your brain in a taffy pull, both in terms of knowledge absorbed and the unnatural things you do to it. I'll leave meeting deadlines to people who actually get paid to write this stuff.
Microsoft on Monday began selling new voice recognition and control software to allow mobile phone and handheld computer users to control most functions of their phones without fiddling with tiny controls. Microsoft Voice Command will be sold as a $40 add-on for the Windows Mobile Pocket PC software for personal digital assistants and the Pocket PC version for mobile phones, the world's largest software maker said.
Microsoft's next Xbox will have IBM inside.
The software company on Monday said it had entered into an agreement that will allow it to use IBM's processor technology in new Xbox products and services. Although details on the next version of the Microsoft video game console remain scarce, the software maker has begun lining up the suppliers whose technology it will need to create the product.
Microsoft plans to combine its resources in software and research and development with IBM chips, Robbie Bach, senior vice president of Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, said in a statement.
With the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2003 behind us, it's time for a bit of perspective on what exactly happened, and a look forward to see where the industry is going in the wake of what was arguably the most important event in the history of Windows. At PDC 2003 last week, Microsoft rolled out its first widespread alpha build of Windows "Longhorn," the next major release of its Windows client, and the OS that will supplant Windows XP when it debuts in late 2005 or early 2006. The Longhorn PDC release--build 4051--features an XP-style theme that visually resembles the company's current thinking for Longhorn's user experience (UX), codenamed "Aero," the low-level "Avalon" graphics presentation capabilities, a .NET-based Web services infrastructure dubbed "Indigo," a new storage engine built on NTFS and SQL Server called "WinFS" (Windows Future Storage), and a new .NET-based set of programming interfaces called WinFX.
Microsoft is changing its search strategy, by improving its own algorithmic Web search service and pulling out of the directory search business. Microsoft is enhancing its Web crawler search service to compete with the likes of Google Inc., Ask Jeeves Inc. and Yahoo Inc.-owned sites such as Inktomi and Altavista, Robin Kellett, search business manager of MSN Search U.K. said Monday.
"We believe the search engine is an okay service at the moment, but it can be significantly improved. It's all about relevance, both with regard to the query entered and to personalization. Say you search for Dartmoor Pit Ponies -- you may want to find a U.K.-based site, rather than a U.S. based pony site. Most search engines do have a local flavor, like Google.co.uk, but we think the experience can be improved," Kellett said.