What does Microsoft’s IPTV reorg have to do with ‘Fiji’?

Sur le même thème que "What does Microsoft’s IPTV reorg have to do with ‘Fiji’?"

Microsoft and Samba finally come to terms over Windows protocols

After years of public disagreement over ensuring interoperability between their respective software, Microsoft and Samba have come to terms. And not surprisingly, each vendor is offering quite a different spin on the licensing agreement they unveiled on December 20. It took an intermediary, the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF) — a non-profit organization created by the Software Freedom Law Center — to hand off the Microsoft protocol documentation that Samba said it needed to make its Unix/Linux file/print sharing products work properly with Windows. According to a press release issued December 20, Samba is paying Microsoft a one-time sum of 10,000 Euros, after which the PFIF will make available to the Samba Team, under non-disclosure, “the documentation needed for implementation of all of the workgroup server protocols covered by the European Union decision. [lien] [EN]

More Microsoft predictions from around the Web

Earlier this week, I weighed in with my 10 Microsoft predictions for 2008. A few other Microsoft watchers have done the same. Among some of the other interesting prognostications out there: Steven Bink: Don’t forget about the Windows Server 2008-based bundles that are coming in the new year. Bink mentions Cougar (Windows Small Business Serer 2008); Centro (Windows Essential Business Server 2008; Windows Storage Server 2008; and Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2008. WindowsConnected: Betas of Windows Server 2008 SP1 and Windows Vista SP2, predicts WindowsConnected’s Josh Phillips. (Me? I’ll be surprised if there are even private betas of either of these next year, especially given the pace at which Microsoft is developing/testing/rolling out Vista SP1 and XP SP3.) CRN: “Microsoft will extend the February 2009 system builder deadline for Windows XP Professional. [lien] [EN]

Coal in Microsoft’s stocking: Google-Doubleclick gets the U.S. regulator nod

Although Microsoft and other Google rivals tried, they were unsuccessful in their lobbying to derail the $3.1 billion Google-Doubleclick merger. On December 20, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a statement claiming they found the proposed buyout unlikely to lessen competition in the online advertising market. Microsoft has gone on record with its goal of rising to become the No. 2 online advertising player within three to five years. Wonder if the Redmondians factored a merged Google-Doubleclick into its calculations or were banking on the deal being nixed? The European Commission is still weighing the Google-Doubleclick deal, for what it’s worth…. [lien] [EN]

Opera: Acid or no, its Microsoft antitrust complaint goes forward

Now that Microsoft has passed the Acid2 Browser test, is Opera Software satisfied? If dropping its antitrust complaint filed last week with the European Commission is the measure, the answer is no. I asked Opera whether Microsoft’s announcement on December 19 that an internal Internet Explorer 8 build has passed the Acid2 test meant a change in its complaint. Opera asked the European courts to require Microsoft to change its practice of bundling IE with Windows, as well as to compel Microsoft to make IE comply with accepted Web standards. An Opera spokesman delivered the company’s response: “We congratulate Microsoft on the screenshots showing IE8 passing the ACID2 test. We appreciate the effort of Microsoft’s developers in this achievement. “We hope that IE8 passes the ACID2 test out of the box when it ships and we look forward to testing IE8 on all the main Web standards. [lien] [EN]

Internal Microsoft IE 8 build passes the Acid standards test

A week after Opera Software filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft that focused, in part, on Microsoft’s falure to make Internet Explorer (IE) standards-compliant, Microsoft has gone on record stating IE 8 will include support for key Web standards. Microsoft verified last week that an internal test build of IE 8 passed the Acid2 Browser Test, according to Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of IE Development. Hachamovitch noted the milestone in a blog post to the IE Team blog on December 19. Microsoft also posted a video to its Channel 9 Web site explaining the finer points for developers interested in the Acid2 details. Acid2 is a test page, maintained by the independent Web Standards Project group, that was written to help browser vendors ensure support for Web standards in their products. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft ‘officially’ announces XP SP3 public test build

Even though Microsoft began pushing out a public test build of Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 the week of December 10, it wasn’t until December 18 that the company would acknowledge officially the existence of that build. On the 18th, Microsoft made the XP SP 3 Release Candidate (RC) build available for download from the Microsoft Download site. Microsoft allowed the same, near-final build to be released last week on several public file sharing sites. When I asked Microsoft December 11 whether the public RC of XP SP3 was available, the company declined to comment. Yesterday, Microsoft sent me the following statement: “Today, Windows XP SP3 RC was made available to the public via the Microsoft Download Center. While Windows Vista provides the most advanced security and management capabilities of any Windows Operating System. [lien] [EN]

What’s on Microsoft’s agenda for 2008?

It’s the end of the year, which means it’s pundit prognostication time again. Here are my 10 predictions about what I think we’ll see in Microsoft land in 2008. (I could have done a lot more than 10, given I’m finishing up a book on Microsoft’s future, Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era. If you want more, you’ll have to wait until this spring.) For this Top 10 list, I didn’t go for the low-hanging fruit and predict that Service Pack 3 will give Windows XP a new lease on life… or that the Internet Explorer (IE) team will field a first test build of IE 8. Too easy! Instead, I’m sticking my neck out with 10 less obvious predictions for the new year, ranging from Beta 1 of Office 14, to a surprise, big-name hire for Microsoft’s Expression team. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft outlines what’s coming in Windows Mobile 7, 8

Microsoft isn’t offering up any dates or final product names, but it is breaking with Windows Mobile tradition and is talking about future features. It’s not hard to see why Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team is uncharacteristically willing to share its roadmap. The Apple iPhone has all the buzz and, according to at least one market researcher, more of the the Web-browsing market share than Windows Mobile does. Here’s what Microsoft has shown/told a select handful of bloggers, journalists and other sundry “influentials.” Coming early next year is Windows Mobile 6.1, a minor update to the current Windows Mobile platform that includes a number of interface enhancements. Next on the horizon is Windows Mobile 7, which will add zooming, scaling and a new suite of Win Mobile apps, including Internet Explorer. [lien] [EN]

As Microsoft knows, there’s more than one way to disrupt a market

Financial-analyst-turned-Web-pundit Henry Blodget posted an explainer this weekend on what “disruption” really means and why Google and other Web-based office suites are on ther verge of disrupting Microsoft in a major way. From Blodget’s post, entitled “Microsoft in Denial: Google Threat is Classic Disruption“: “Disruptive technologies do not destroy existing market leaders overnight. They do not get adopted by the entire market at the same time. They do not initially seem to be ‘better’ products (in fact, in the early going, they are often distinctly “worse.”) They are not initially a viable option for mainstream users. They do not win head-to-head feature tests. Initially, they do not even seem to be a threat.” Google Apps and other Web-based office suites sure fill that bill. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft’s $300 million ‘consumer product blitz’ inches closer

What kinds of products will Microsoft be pushing when it launches its new $200 million to $300 million consumer-product ad campaign in early 2008? AdAge has reported that Microsoft has narrowed its search for an agency to handle creative for the forthcoming “consumer-products blitz” to two: MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Publicis Groupe’s Fallon. No doubt, Xboxes and Zunes will be on the roster. Windows Home Server (which is currently plagued by a serious and still unresolved file-corruption bug) could be on the list, too. Windows Live services and Windows Vista could stand for some serious consumer advertising help. Other likely candidates for Microsoft’s consumer ad campaign? I’d bet the Surface tabletop technology — which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will show off during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote in early January — will be part of the campaign. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft to build an ‘Emacs.Net’ text editor

Developers are puzzling over recent clues blogged by a few Microsoft employees regarding a new “Emacs.Net” tool the company is building. Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division (the folks who developed the Windows Communication Framework, a k a “Indigo”)  is hiring developers  to build a product that team member Doug Purdy described as “Emacs.Net.” Purdy hinted that Microsoft will divulge its Emacs.Net product/strategy plans at the company’s Professional Developers Conference in late October 2008. Emacs is a text editor used primarily by the Unix community (though versions of Emacs that work on Windows systems already exist). Richard Stallman is credited as the father of Emacs, the name of which was derived from “Editing MACRoS.” “Emacs is a text editor where a lot of the functionality is written in Lisp. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft offers a Vista two-for deal

As 2007 rolls to a close, Microsoft isn’t letting up on its efforts to push Windows Vista. The latest promotion is aimed at subscribers Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) or TechNet who provided Microsoft with Vista testing feedback. “As we approach the one year anniversary of launching Windows Vista we want to remember you as one of the many people who downloaded and tested one of the Windows Vista Beta or Release Candidates through TechNet or MSDN. YOU were a significant contributor to the development of Windows Vista. Your participation was extremely valuable to Microsoft, and we would like to say, ‘Thank You!’” according to an e-mail message I received about the promotion at the end of December. Under terms of “The Ultimate Offer,” testers can go to any retail or online store and buy a copy of Vista Ultimate (full or upgrade version) for full price and Microsoft will match it with a second complimentary Vista Ultimate Upgrade product key. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft softens limits on its Windows Web Server

When Microsoft starts shipping Windows Web Server 2008 real soon now, the licensing terms and conditions it will require of its customers will be different than they were for prior versions of the company’s Web-server version of the product. Customers will be able to use any type of database software, with no limit on the number of users, with the Web-server SKU based on Windows Server 2008, according to Microsoft. CRN first reported the change in the database-licensing terms for Windows Web Server 2008. With the Windows Server 2003 Web Edition product, Microsoft customers were not allowed to use the product with “non-enterprise database engine software, such as Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine, licensed to support not more than 25 users at one time,” a company spokeswoman said on January 4. [lien] [EN]

Microsoft adds a new subscription licensing plan for SMBs

Microsoft is making available in the U.S. and Canada a volume-license subscription plan aimed at small and mid-size businesses (SMBs). The plan, known as the Open Value Subscription, has been available in various Microsoft international subsidiairies since 2000/2001, according to company officials. Eric Ligman, Microsoft US Senior Manager for Small Business Community Engagement,  announced via a posting on the Microsoft Small Business Community blog Microsoft’s strategy to add Open Value Subscription as an option, starting on March 3, 2008. Liggman blogged: “The Microsoft Open Value Subscription Program provides a way for SMB customers to ’subscribe’ to the Microsoft software they want to utilize in their businesses in a ‘lease-like’ fashion. This option provides the up-front cost. [lien] [EN]