Microsoft will unveil on Thursday a new version of its OS for handhelds and demonstrate new features the company asserts will make it a more useful tool for corporate workers.
On Oct. 4, Microsoft plans to release the new OS, which was code-named Merlin. Handheld makers that plan to use the new OS, such as Compaq Computer, are also expected to announce new products Oct. 4. Hewlett-Packard and Symbol will announce on Thursday new devices that use Pocket PC 2002.
More on Pocket PC ("Merlin") and C|Net Video
Leading retailer Toys "R" Us said Wednesday that its online store sold out its first batch of Xbox video game units in 30 minutes on Tuesday. Toysrus.com and its online partner, Amazon.com, began taking preorders for Microsoft's new game console this week, but only in a bundle with $200 worth of extra hardware and games. The Xbox will be available at retail outlets on Nov. 8 with a suggested price of $299. However, Amazon and Toysrus.com take advance Xbox orders for $499 with a number of games and accessories included.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday demonstrated 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. "The message you'll get is one of incredible optimism," he said as he described Microsoft's vision for its research labs.
The W3C recommended SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), advancing it from "candidate recommendation" status where it has spent the last 13 months having its tires kicked by the Web graphics world. The specification, first proposed in January 1999, is designed to make lightweight images that can fit any screen--from cell phone displays to large monitors.
Another goal of the technology is to integrate graphics more tightly with documents on the Web. Based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), a software method that lets anyone set up standard ways of describing digital documents, SVG can be included alongside data and text and manipulated by XML authoring tools. Because it's written in XML, SVG is better able to make graphics searchable and digestible by screen readers, a boon for Web authors struggling to comply with increasingly strict accessibility requirements for people with disabilities.
So busted...
Two British retailers have been found guilty of selling counterfeit Microsoft software. The resellers pleaded guilty to offenses relating to the supply of illegal Windows software. The judge has delayed sentencing in both cases until reports are obtained about the defendants. Each could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years and an unlimited fine.
WebSideStory, Inc., the world's leading provider of outsourced e- business intelligence services, today reported that Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 has shown a fast adoption rate in the first week of its public launch. As of Sept. 3, 2001, Internet Explorer 6's global browser usage share had risen to 2.4 percent, according to WebSideStory's StatMarket, a Web site design and software optimization service and a leading source for data on global Internet user trends.
Dell Computer is taking on 3Com and other networking players, just as it has targeted larger PC makers in the past. Dell on Wednesday is officially jumping into the networking market with the release of four low-end networking devices that connect PCs and servers together in small and midsized businesses. Analysts say Dell has a good shot at succeeding in the market because its new family of products is priced much lower than its competition's. Gartner analysts, for example, have predicted that Dell will capture as much as 10 percent of the low-end switch market by 2002.
Sharp unveiled on Tuesday its second notebook since the company re-entered the U.S. market in June. The Japanese electronics giant's PC-UM10 notebook weighs 2.89 pounds and measures 0.65 inch thick, 11.1 inches long and 9.1 inches wide. It comes with a keyboard that rises slightly when the screen is opened and recedes back into the notebook when the screen is closed. The $1,999 notebook will be available by the end of the month.
Paul Thurrott: Put simply, it's hard for me to not get excited about Windows XP. I've been covering the Windows world for many years, and though this will read like a sound bite from a tired marketing campaign, Windows XP is quite literally the most exciting Microsoft product to come down the pike since Windows 95. In fact, it might be worthwhile to remember what a change Windows 95 was, when compared to the DOS/Windows 3.x world that preceded it, because Windows XP offers the same level of obvious improvement over its predecessors.
Photos from WinXP RTM Event
Does the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer scare Dell Computer? Probably not, say analysts. Although the combined company will command a whopping 81 percent of the U.S. retail PC market, the merger won't erase the problems that drove HP and Compaq to combine - namely, that Dell can make PCs for less than either company. The merger, ideally, will make HP-Compaq more efficient by cutting duplicative costs, but Dell will likely be able to undercut that. In addition, HP will have its hands full trying to integrate two huge bureaucracies and two very different strategies for manufacturing PCs. In short, the combined company will be about as big in PCs as Dell is, but not as profitable.