Microsoft

Microsoft fixes 11 flaws in six patches; three are critical

Microsoft has released its July 2007 security bulletin, which includes six updates: three are designated "critical" by the software giant; two are deemed "important," and one is ranked "moderate." Two affect Microsoft Office, and one affects the Windows Vista Firewall. This patch cycles also addresses one flaw first reported in 2005. To keep your Windows XP SP1 system secure, update to Windows XP SP2 today. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS07-036: Critical Titled "Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel … Read more

Enterprise software: customers upgrading at a snail's pace

Oracle owns the database world. And this may be precisely its biggest problem.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, customers aren't planning to snap up its newest version of its industry-leading database, 11g. The reason? Oracle is improving its database at a much slower pace, providing fewer reasons to upgrade:

[I]t typically takes at least several months for a company to fully shift to a new version of Oracle's database software -- the larger the company, the longer it takes -- and lately Oracle has made several small, incremental changes in new releases rather than a few large, important ones that would compel a company to switch quickly, customers say....… Read more

Sony to announce PS3 movie and TV download service?

It's E3 week, folks, and the video game world is revved up for the latest news, and, it turns out, Sony may have something noteworthy to announce.

According to Newsweek, Sony, at its E3 press conference, may offer up some details on what would be a PlayStation 3 TV show and movie download service.

If it's true, Sony would be catching up to Microsoft, which has offered such downloads since last fall. And it seems to me it had better be true, because even though Sony has said it is dropping the price of the PS3, it needs … Read more

Microsoft figures out open source...in China

Fortune Magazine has a great article on Microsoft's growth in China. Gates is apparently a rock star in China, with government officials and groupies clamoring to meet him. He owns China, as the article suggests.

Gates says he's certain China will eventually be Microsoft's biggest market, though it may take ten years. Projected sales this year are already three times what they were in 2004, yet still less than annual revenue in California. (Microsoft will not disclose figures, but Fortune estimates China revenue will exceed $700 million in 2007, about 1.5% of global sales.)

Why? How did Microsoft get to this point in China? Well, funny enough, by acting very much like an open source vendor, despite its best efforts :… Read more

Windows Server 2008 launch set for February

DENVER--Confirming what many had expected, Microsoft announced on Tuesday that the next version of its server operating system, Windows Server 2008, won't formally launch until next year.

Microsoft said it will launch the product, which it has said will be finalized before the end of the year, at an event in Los Angeles on February 27. The company will also launch Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 at the same event. The company made the announcement at its Worldwide Partner Conference here.

The new operating system, formerly code-named Longhorn Server, includes the PowerShell scripting language, role-based deployment … Read more

Microsoft sets pricing for hosted CRM

DENVER--Microsoft on Tuesday detailed the pricing for its Dynamics Live CRM product, the hosted version of its customer relationship management (CRM) software.

The professional version of the software will list for $45 per user per month, though during 2008 it will sell for $39 per user per month. The higher-end enterprise version, which includes offline data access, will sell for $59 per user per month.

Microsoft will offer the professional edition of the product at no charge, starting this quarter and through the end of the year as part of an early access program.

In an effort to keep its … Read more

Microsoft slammed as partner event kicks off

DENVER--The temperature may have topped 90 degrees yesterday, but Microsoft got a chilly welcome as it got set to kick off its Worldwide Partner Conference on Tuesday.

Under the headline "Di-worse-ifying," the Denver Post took the software giant to task for losing its focus on its traditional business as it works to expand into areas like the Xbox and online advertising.

Well, if the paper doesn't love Microsoft, downtown Denver sure does. The mile-long 16th Street pedestrian mall was filled with banners welcoming the company--and the estimated 13,000 people it is bringing to the city.

And … Read more

Microsoft E3 preview: Price drop anyone?

Rumors are flying around about what will be announced at E3, yet little of this speculation has anything to do with Microsoft exclusively--until now. Not to be outdone by Sony's recent actions, at this year's E3, Microsoft is planning to announce a price drop on all three versions of the Xbox 360. Next-gen is reporting that the new prices will go as follows:

"The $299 Core pack will drop to $249; the $399 Premium pack will drop to $349; and the recently released $479 Elite model will drop to $399."

Also potentially showing its face at … Read more

Office for Mac and the interoperability divide

I was reading the latest issue of Mac|Life tonight (I liked it better as Mac Addict, by the way), and it struck me how dependent Apple is on Microsoft. For all the cool things that come with Mac hardware and OS X, a large swath of the Mac user population would be crippled or wiped out if Microsoft decided to stop supporting Office for Mac.

The Mac faithful (of which I am part) won't like to hear this, but it's true. OpenOffice is an excellent program (It actually is now--three years ago it was rubbish), but many of us simply couldn't use it "in production." Sure, I could run Office for Windows in Parallels' coherence mode (and almost certainly would), but that's an unnecessarily roundabout way of solving something best done directly.

This is a relatively small problem for Mac users, right? I suppose so. The same thing, however, is true in the enterprise. Many prefer to run Linux for an increasing array of server-based applications. But they don't want to be stranded, just as I would be on my Mac without Office. Net net: interoperability is a Very Good Thing. It's good for open source, but it's also good for Microsoft (and everyone else, because no one has a complete lock on any particular area of enterprise software).

All of which makes me wish we could, as an industry, talk about interoperability with more candor. More honesty. This isn't a dig at Microsoft, though it has been guilty of conflating patents (a desire to get paid) with interoperability (a desire to get along). The two don't necessarily go together.… Read more

MSN nails the Live Earth broadcast

If there was any doubt as to how MSN would pull off the live internet broadcast of the Live Earth concert series today, it has been cleared. Powered by MSN's Soapbox, the broadcast comes off really well.

As you can see above, the video is nestled nicely among a slider of all of the different concerts, information about the venue that you are watching and links on how you can help the cause. The slider on the bottom also contains live updating information on what is happening on each stage, along with what act is next. The video can … Read more