Microsoft Archive

Microsoft Services & Integration Solution for UNIX 3.0

"Microsoft announced that version 3.0 of its Services for UNIX (SFU 3.0) package was released to manufacturing this week. SFU 3.0, one of the key products developed by Microsoft’s India Development Center teams in Hyderabad, India, and Redmond, Wash., is being offered to meet the growing demand of UNIX customers wanting to take advantage of Microsoft Windows 2000. SFU 3.0 is a breakthrough version that incorporates new tools for rapid migration to Windows 2000 as well as new features for tighter platform integration in mixed environments. SFU 3.0 enables customers to optimize their previous investments in UNIX infrastructure, applications and people, while capitalizing on the value of Windows 2000 as an enterprise platform." ENTNews has an explanatory article about this too.

Microsoft: Switching Your OS Is Illegal

OSAlert reader David S. MacLachlan wrote in to tell us about an editorial at OSOpinion: "Seems that there's a bit more to the End User License Agreement that Microsoft has in force... if you purchase a computer that has Windows pre-installed, you're legally required to not install any other OS on it... even if the computer has been donated to you or sold to you as used." Update: As many readers have already stated, the claims do not seem to hold. There is a clause in the XP OEM license saying that the software is "attached" to the specific hardware, can only be used with that specific hardware, and must be transfered with that specific hardware, but that's a normal OEM clause.

Microsoft Fears Hype and IBM, but not Sun

"Microsoft has admitted its biggest worry over the roll out of its flagship .Net strategy is the potential backlash from angry customers once they realise today's web services are mainly hype. And according to Charles Fitzgerald, global director of strategy for the .Net platform at Microsoft, his firm is also much more worried about IBM's Websphere than the widely perceived battle between .Net and Java." Read the rest of the stoy at Yahoo! News.

Microsoft Sees What’s in Tech’s Future

"Microsoft shipped its Windows XP operating system just six months ago, but the software giant is already preparing for the next wave of computing. Microsoft has identified a handful of technology trends likely to reshape PCs and is working to define how Windows XP and its successors will take advantage of them, said Chris Jones, vice president of the Windows client team." Read the story at ZDNews. "Microsoft invites engineers to converge in Seattle for WinHEC to hear the latest ideas about DVD, audio, video and other consumer computing technology. Bill Gates' dream that people will build a PC first, then design a home to fit may be just around the block." Read the special feature at ZDNews.

Meet the Real Microsoft: Why it’s Not What You Think

"Whenever I visit Microsoft, I'm always reminded that the Microsoft of reality--at least the Microsoft I see when I talk to the people who actually design, build, and market the company's technologies and products--is very different from the Microsoft of myth. Before I calculate my Microsoft Report Card, based on my trip to Redmond earlier this week, I'd like to address some of those myths and explain how they vary from the reality I've seen firsthand." Read the rest of the article at ZDNews AnchorDesk.

PC Makers Balk at Microsoft Licenses

"PC makers and several states allege that new Microsoft licensing agreements, arrived at under the proposed antitrust settlement between the software maker and the U.S. Justice Department, impose harsher terms on some manufacturers than agreements currently in place." The details make it sound more like this is a pricing structure change that lowers costs for low-volume OEMs, and raises them for high-volume OEMs. CNET has the story.

Microsoft Device to Bridge TV, PC

"Microsoft will demonstrate on Monday a tablet-shaped device that will serve as a bridge between the TV, the PC and the company's .Net services, according to sources familiar with the plans. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will show off the device, known as Mira, during his eHome presentation Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device is effectively a cross between a Pocket PC-based handheld computer and a TV remote control. Mira will be a wireless handheld device and contain a sizeable screen. In conjunction with a TV or a PC, Mira will deliver Internet content, serve as a portable game player in conjunction with Microsoft's Xbox video game console, and allow consumers to shop online, see program listings and perform other tasks." The story is at C|Net-News and the funny thing is that the demonstration will take place the time that Steve Jobs will be delivering his highly expected keynote at MacWorld on Monday and will be uncovering the new Apple "secret weapon". Is Microsoft trying to minimize the potential surprise Apple is preparing? Is Apple's secret weapon also a tablet Mac? We will know for sure on Monday.

Microsoft Names Linux as their Long Term Threat

"Linux is the long-term threat against our core business. Never forget that!" Microsoft Windows Division Veep Brian Valentine exclaims in a confidential memo to his Sales Brownshirts obtained by TheRegister. Microsoft was winning ground against Unix the last few years and they were converting companies to x86 (intead of expensive SPARCs etc), but many companies were just converting to x86 Unices (and especially, Linux) instead of Windows. And Microsoft does not seem too happy about that.

Microsoft Showcases New Tech at Research’s 10th Anniversary

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates demonstrated today technologies for transcribing spoken Chinese, making handheld computers aware of when they're being touched and moved, and adding emotion to computer slide shows. At an event recognizing the 10th anniversary of Microsoft Research, Gates indulged his fondness for technology, raising hopes for a world where computers will become more useful. At the event, among the things it was showed was a handheld computer that understands which way is up and where it's being touched, technology that lets it reorient the display according to how it's held or understand when a person is holding it like a cell phone to give dictation. The "Mulan" software project for reading Chinese writing out loud or transcribing speech into characters. With about 60,000 characters in Chinese, it's difficult to use keyboards. Automated bug detection that helped make Windows 2000 less crash-prone is being used in all other Microsoft product lines. Video compression technology that's less error-prone than the prevailing MPEG4 standard. Software that's designed not to sap people's emotion when creating narrated slide shows so sharing photos online is more like the storytelling that accompanies the viewing of traditional photo albums. Software that can reconstruct three-dimensional images from a few still photos.