Responding to the growing popularity of server appliances, Microsoft plans to roll out a dedicated Web server in next year's first quarter as part of its upcoming Windows .NET Server Family, according to a source close to Microsoft.
"The way to look at it, this is an arrow aimed at the heart of Linux," said Chris LeTocq, a research analyst and co-founder of Guernsey Research in Los Gatos, Calif. The idea of server appliances is catching on. Market research firm IDC, in Framingham, Mass., issued a report in May estimating that worldwide revenues will experience a compound annual growth rate of 56 percent and leap from $3.8 billion last year to $31.4 billion in 2005.
A federal appeals court on Friday delivered Microsoft a blow in its antitrust battle with the government, denying a request that could have indefinitely delayed further proceedings in the case. The order, issued by the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, means that the government can resume proceedings before a federal district judge while the Supreme Court decides whether to take Microsoft's request for appeal. The mandate returning the case to the trial court will be issued seven days from Friday, the order states.
Microsoft Corp. today announced legal action it has taken against three New York-based resellers, Accu-Pro Computer Services Inc., Computer Care Center Inc. and DPC International, for the alleged distribution of counterfeit and/or infringing Microsoft® software. These lawsuits reflect Microsoft's ongoing effort to protect consumers and legitimate distributors from the negative impact of software piracy.
Microsoft will finally unveil Passport 2.0 later this month, over a month after it had originally planned. Passport 2.0 is the first major update to this service, and it will include a new user interface, P3P support for better privacy security, Contact Us/Member Services enhancements, back-end Contested Passport capabilities, back-end and Passport deletion. A new Passport Support Tool is also expected, which will replace the Passport Profile Tool that is currently used. And with this release, Hotmail will be moving to Passport code base as well, for easier integration.
From WinInfo Short Takes: Week of August 20
The long-running battle between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems over the Java programming language escalated Thursday, as Microsoft issued a terse response to a Sun ad campaign that ran last week.
Microsoft described Sun's campaign against Microsoft as "unparalleled hypocrisy," arguing the company "has taken every step possible to prevent Microsoft from shipping its award winning Java virtual machine. They spent several years suing to stop Microsoft from shipping a high-performance Java virtual machine that took advantage of Windows."
As AT&T Corp. mulls a sale of its cable television unit, the list of potential buyers is headed by other cable titans. Microsoft is also said to be interested in participating, a move analysts say is aimed at thwarting any attempt by rival AOL Time Warner Inc. to expand its cable empire. Microsoft almost certainly isn't interested in running an entire cable network, analysts said. But having invested $5 billion in AT&T Broadband two years ago, Microsoft could chip in on any deal that would keep the biggest U.S. cable network out of AOL's hands, they said. Certainly Microsoft has the financial clout to toss in a few billion dollars to make a deal happen. The company reported cash and short-term securities of $31 billion at the end of June.
In short, Windows XP offers excellent platform stability and performance, a task-oriented interface, clever compatibility for a wide array of software, as well as the best features of previous Windows systems. XP certainly offers a friendlier interface with easy-to-use digital image, music and video capabilities, along with significant improvements in usability for networking, Internet browsing and troubleshooting. Being a new computer user has never been easier. As you use the new OS, you will find that Microsoft has spent considerable time developing XP to be intuitive, offering logical commands as you navigate through folders and functions.
Impact of vulnerability: Five vulnerabilities resulting in privilege elevation and/or denial of service
Recommendation: System administrators should apply the patch to all machines running IIS 4.0 or 5.0 immediately
A next-generation wireless technology developed by companies such as Qualcomm has won the so-called third-generation stamp of approval. The International Telecommunication Union, a body representing carriers on five continents, this week said the CDMA network meets its standards for third-generation, or 3G, technology. 3G networks allow telephone carriers to offer a high-speed, always-on service for cell phones capable of surfing the Web.
M3 Sweatt, director of business development for Microsoft TV Platforms, discusses the company's ultimate game plan for interactive TV.
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