With the launch of the 2003 upgrade to its renowned productivity suite less than two weeks away, the Redmond, Wash., giant has stepped up its marketing efforts by unveiling strong partner support of the various components of Microsoft Office Systems.
At its Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft officials announced that hundreds of independent software vendors are adapting components like InfoPath, Exchange, SharePoint or Project Server into a variety of business intelligence, collaboration, work management and business process solutions.
Microsoft starts banging the SME drum in earnest this autumn, which must be a little disconcerting for competitors given that Microsoft technology is already a default decision in many smaller firms.
But who exactly is Microsoft's competition? It could even be you, which probably isn't a good position to be in. Microsoft is set to shake up established business relationships and channel networks as it attempts sell more of its technology to smaller firms.
At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference late last week in New Orleans, various Microsoft executives and representative discussed the company's long- and short-term plans, focusing primarily on security. And this is exactly what Microsoft's partners wanted to hear about, and not Longhorn, which is still over two years out. For the record, Longhorn wasn't a hot topic at the partner conference--Microsoft prefers to wait until the PDC in late October to unload its Longhorn information--though a couple of executives did mention Longhorn in passing. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, for example, didn't mention Longhorn once in his keynote address, preferring to discuss more pertinent topics as security, partnering, customers, and why the company's products aren't about specific features but rather a whole that is greater than the parts.
Bill Gates will use his keynote address at the ITU World Telecom in Geneva this week to unveil Wireless Provisioning Services (WPS) for subscribers to public access hot spots. WPS will become available as a downloadable software upgrade to Windows XP and as a Service Pack release for Windows Server 2003 in the first quarter of 2004. WPS will create a Microsoft standard for accessing IEEE 802.11x hot spots from participating Wi-Fi providers.
Users signing on to a public access hot spot must currently navigate through each provider's unique user interface to gain access to the network. The WPS code, which will be embedded in XP and Server 2003 and will be available as a free download in first quarter 2004, promises to simplify that task.
Microsoft and Vodafone Group PLC announced a partnership Monday that aims to bridge the gap between services offered over mobile networks and applications built for PCs. The companies are developing technologies that should allow developers to write PC applications that incorporate services from wireless operators, such as determining the location of a user, authenticating their identity, accepting payments for services or sending text messages, executives at the companies said.
For example, a tow-truck company could develop a PC application that connects to a mobile network so that when a customer breaks down and calls for help from a cell phone, the towing company could quickly see the motorist's location. The operator could also send text messages from the PC to the user's mobile phone telling them when help is on the way, the executives said.
Microsoft execs at last have admitted publicly, at last, that Longhorn will not ship in 2005. Does it matter? At Microsoft's worldwide partner conference this week, Microsoft finally admitted that Longhorn won't see the light of day until 2006. This isn't a guess on my part, educated or otherwise. Or flame bait. Or conjecture. This is straight from the horses' mouths.
At the show this week, several Microsoft execs casually slipped into their presentations that Longhorn is three years away from debut. Last time I did the math, that was not 2005, as promised just a few months ago. Nor is it even the wishy-washy "2005+" that a few execs had taken to attaching to their product timetables. The new target is 2006, plain and simple.
Two solution providers headquartered outside the United States are the latest recipients of 2003 Best in Show honors.
The first, Best in Show - Small Business, was awarded to IdealSoft, a Singapore-based solution provider that has been in business since March 1996. Not only did IdealSoft bring its customer, a waterproofing company called Uniseal, into the computer age by computerizing a set of manual accounting and operations processes, but it also helped it leap into the mobile world with an innovative wireless data-collection component.
The second award, Best In Show - Enterprise, was even tougher to pick. But what put Toronto-based DapaSoft's solution for the Province of Ontario on top was its ability to provide its solution under incredible time constraints - just three weeks. The patient screening system designed by DapaSoft for the Ontario Air Ambulance Base Hospital Program was developed to cope with crisis earlier this year.
Windows continues to offer value compared to open-source software and Microsoft will continue to drive that message home to both customers and partners, according to Will Poole, Microsoft's senior vice president of the Windows client business group.
Delivering the last keynote - in a mammoth five-hour session - to the attendees at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference here on Friday, Poole said the Windows client group was actively looking at customer needs in the area of security vulnerability, the cost of deployment, and enhancing productivity through new technologies such as the TabletPC.
Microsoft expects to launch Yukon Beta 2 and the Whidbey Beta 1 in May of 2004 with Phase III testing scheduled for August, company executives said on Friday. SQL Server executives gave partners a look under the hood of its Yukon" database at Momentum here, as well as some time lines for its next generation database and Visual Studio development platform.
Yukon Beta 2 and Whidbey Beta 1 will be targeted for release in May for corporate developers and application architects, said Don Petersen, a SQL Server product manager.
Strengthening its year-old alliance with Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard launched a new .Net Solutions Partner Program at Momentum Friday. The initiative, which is part of HP's PartnerOne and will be targeted at ISVs and software solution providers, is aimed at expanding the portfolio of integrated, certified .Net solutions available out-of-the-box to speed implementation, deployment and time-to-market for customers, HP executives said.
To date, 26 partners have signed up, including Bindview, Citrix, J.D. Edwards, Net IQ and Siebel. ISV participants must be Microsoft Gold Certified Partners and members of HP's PartnerOne program certified through its Developer and Solution Partner Program.