WinInsider

Microsoft Corp. today showcased its strategy for the evolution of enterprise computing, one that builds on the company's family of manageable, ultrascalable Microsoft Windows Server software and includes plans for pretested and validated computer infrastructures and XML-based Web services, at MEC 2001, the Microsoft infrastructure planning and deployment conference.

At the heart of Microsoft's strategy are multiple ways for enterprises to accommodate the mushrooming workloads and user traffic they are channeling through central servers or groups of servers. Multidimensional scaling -- the ability to scale up or scale out -- allows enterprises to choose the option that best suits their needs, Reeves said. Windows 2000 Server software allows enterprises to scale out by supporting a large number of smaller servers and manage these servers centrally in a single network.

Today at the Windows Embedded Partner Readiness Tour event in San Jose, Calif., Microsoft Corp. highlighted the continued strong demand for Microsoft Windows Embedded Products. The company announced that fiscal year 2001 revenue growth is up 180 percent, 1,500 new design starts have been established, the number of licenses shipped has tripled, and its total partner base in the Windows Embedded Partner (WEP) program has tripled to more than 1,000 members in 45 countries. Because of this strong market demand and partner growth, Microsoft also announced today it is establishing a new level in its Windows Embedded Partner program, WEP Gold, to identify best-of-breed members with the track record and expertise to deliver solutions using the Windows Embedded Family of products.

The MSN® network of Internet services and First USA, Bank One Corp.'s credit card company, launched the MSN Titanium Visa® card, the first exclusive credit card bearing the name and signature butterfly logo of MSN as well as the Microsoft Corp. trademark. The MSN Titanium Visa card sports a translucent design and offers U.S. consumers a number of benefits:

The MSN network of Internet services today announced that latest data from Jupiter Media Metrix reports that MSN eShop is now the No. 1 shopping portal on the Web. MSN eShop surpassed Yahoo! Inc. by nearly 20 percent to secure the largest online reach on the Web. While other shopping sites are experiencing declines in reach, MSN experienced an 11 percent increase from July to August and a 30 percent increase over the past year.

Microsoft announced today that the company is revamping its Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscription service offerings to include five, rather than the previous three, choices. MSDN will now offer Library, Operating Systems, Professional, Enterprise, and Universal subscriptions, with annual prices ranging from $200 to $2800. The company says that the wider range of offerings gives all developers products that match their needs as the industry transitions into an era of XML-based Web services and applications. The new offerings are effective immediately.

A US federal court shut down over 5,500 Web sites Monday after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a motion last week accusing the sites of illegally diverting Web surfers from their intended destination and bombarding those users with pop-up ads. The Web sites are all owned by a Pennsylvania man who purchased thousands of domain names that resemble popular Web sites, but are one or more characters off from the correct URL. The man was attempting to capitalize on misspellings, by diverting surfers to page after page full of ads, most of which revolve around pornography or gambling.

In an interesting example of how one can alter the truth with statistics, Web survey company Netcraft revealed this week that servers running Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), not Apache, are more prevalent on the Web. In the past, Netcraft has awarded Apache the top spot by a wide margin, rather than IIS, because it was simply measuring Web sites, many of which are collocated at ISPs and hosting companies. But this time, Netcraft separated out the number of actual physical servers connected to the Web, and IIS came on top. By a landslide.

Today, Intel unveiled several new mobile processors designed to power small, high-speed laptops with long-term battery life. Its new Pentium III-M (for Mobile) and mobile Celeron chips have already shipped to PC makers, which will release new models incorporating this technology in mid-October. The chips include a new 1.2GHz Pentium III-M, which slows to 800MHz on battery power and consumes less energy than previous models; this chip will cost $800. The company also introduced an "ultra-low-voltage" 700MHz Pentium III-M and several new Low Voltage Mobile Celeron chips, including models that run at 933MHz, 900MHz, 866MHz, 800MHz, and 733MHz.

Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that it will pull the plug on its Finance Manager online accounting service in a month, as the software giant pushes Finance Manager customers to migrate toward desktop applications from its recently acquired Great Plains unit and toward other software applications. While Microsoft will continue for the moment to provide other services through its bCentral network, a portal for small businesses, it will also slowly nudge users to other desktop applications such as Office, FrontPage and Publisher, according to Satya Nadella, the bCentral's vice president. In the case of Finance Manager at bCentral, Nadella said that most users prefered to have their accounting data on their desktop rather than have it hosted off-site. He said Great Plains' new Small Business Manager allows small companies to keep track of their finances.

We've just received the final version of Windows XP Professional. Below is what the official Microsoft CD looks like. For those of you who don't already know, Windows XP Home and Professional editions are expected to be available worldwide on October 25th.