WinInsider

Taking a new twist on an old antispam method, Microsoft plans to use white lists for its free Hotmail e-mail service. Days after Yahoo unveiled new mechanisms for controlling spam on its free Web e-mail service, Microsoft sent Hotmail account holders an e-mail that pledged to upgrade its services with the white lists next month, and offered a sneak peak of how the system will work. A white list checks incoming mail against a list of addresses that the account holder has already approved.

For anyone who develops software for Windows PCs--and that includes nearly everyone who manages business applications--next week will be an important one. Microsoft will take the wraps off the first publicly available code for its next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn. It's due in 2006, if all goes according to plan. Billed as the biggest release of Microsoft's flagship product since Windows 95 nearly a decade ago, Longhorn will include technology for building a new generation of "smart client" software that combines the look and feel of PC apps like Word or Excel with immediate access to information off the Web.

Microsoft's Outlook 2003, which was released to consumers this week as part of Office Systems 2003, proves to be a lot more than a simple makeover for what has become an industry standard.

CRN Test Center engineers evaluated the newest Outlook by installing the product on a Windows XP based system, attached to a Windows Small Business Server 2003 based network. That configuration allowed Test Center engineers to fully explore Outlooks key improvements when combined with Microsoft Exchange 2003, and Microsoft's e-mail /scheduling server software.

Microsoft will attempt to whip up enthusiasm among its nation of developers next week when it shows off many of the pieces that will serve as the foundation of its technology vision of the future for corporate users. At its 10th annual Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, the company hopes to stoke that enthusiasm among 7,000 developers by delivering to them early versions of its long-awaited next generation operating system, development suite of tools, database, and Web services framework.

The show figures to be the first of many come-to-Jesus gatherings as a way to entice developers to start working on development and to win early mindshare. Given that some of the finished versions of the products such as Longhorn, the Windows XP successor, will not be available until 2006, it figures to be a long religious crusade.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer hinted yesterday at the possibility of an impending acquisition by the company. During an onstage interview at the Gartner Symposium for information-technology professionals in Orlando, Fla., Ballmer said to "stand by for news" about an acquisition. His comment came during a portion of the interview dealing with software development tools and XML Web services, small pieces of software that let programs on disparate systems interact.

Ballmer made the statement in the course of underscoring the importance of letting software developers determine, at the time a program is created, how it will be "managed," or centrally controlled and monitored over a network.

Microsoft on Wednesday will announce that it is giving its Most Valued Professionals access to the more than 100 million aggregate lines of Windows source code, which includes all versions, service packs and betas of the Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 products.

MVPs, who are chosen for having a "unique set of expertise and passion" around Microsoft technologies and who are recognized for their contributions to online and technical communities, already have access to the source code components for Windows CE .Net, ASP.Net, Visual Studio .Net, and Passport Manager.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has advice for small businesses who want to grow up to be just like Microsoft: Create a vision about which your employees are excited; hire the best talent; and be willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.

Gates offered his views on how technology changes will affect small businesses to 200-plus small-business representatives from the New York City area whom attended a gathering at Microsoft's New York/New Jersey headquarters here on Tuesday. The get-together, populated largely by members of the New York Chamber of Commerce, was timed to coincide with Gates' launch of the Office System 2003 in New York.

AT&T Wireless on Tuesday began selling Motorola's MPx200, the first smart phone based on Microsoft Corp. software to be sold in the U.S. The MPx200 is also the first Microsoft-based phone to be offered by a major handset maker, which analysts have said may help Microsoft establish its long-sought-after credibility in the mobile phone market.

Microsoft's entry onto the U.S. market comes a year after it introduced the world's first Windows Powered Smartphone in the U.K., manufactured by Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC). Since then, Microsoft Windows Mobile phones have been introduced in several European and Asian countries.

Microsoft launched Exchange Server 2003 on Tuesday, officially starting its quest to convert the large number of users on the aging Version 5 of the e-mail server software. The introduction is part of Microsoft's Office System launch, for which events are being held around the world on Tuesday.

About 120 million people worldwide use Exchange for e-mail, according to Microsoft. The vendor estimates that between 40 percent and 50 percent of those users are on Exchange Server 5, which came to market in March 1997. The introduction of Exchange 2000 Server in October 2000 did not move users to upgrade, largely due to the tough upgrade path.

Microsoft's systems management server has never been a technical leader in the server and desktop software deployment, inventory tracking and remote trouble-shooting categories. However, eWEEK Labs' tests of the new SMS 2003, which is being released to manufacturing this week and will be generally available shortly, lead us to recommend that IT managers take a close look at this new, leaner Windows management platform.

In fact, we think that any organization that is evaluating mobile management systems should immediately put the $1,219 SMS 2003 on its short list. Our tests showed that Microsoft's product isn't the best product available, but its integration with desktop management, new security and reporting tools makes SMS 2003 a heavyweight product, not just an also-from-Microsoft accessory.