Microsoft this week has rolled out a turnkey solution that ties front-end CRM functions with back-end ERP and supply chain management systems.
The company used the National Retail Federation show in New York, historically the largest gathering of technology professionals in the retail and consumer packaged goods industry, to showcase what Microsoft describes as its first integrated CRM-ERP solution for specialty retailers.
Microsoft Dynamics for Retail is targeted at a large swath of retailers, though not the big-box stores such as WalMart, Target and Best Buy. Instead, Dynamics for Retail targets chains that have large numbers of smaller stores such as jewelers, record stores, clothiers and wineries, said Michael Griffiths, in a telephone interview Monday.
A partnership unveiled this week between Microsoft, MediaCart Holdings, and Wakefern Food will deliver personalized ads to
grocery shoppers through computerized carts. The initiative is yet another way that Microsoft aims to derive revenue from
ads, even as it continues to struggle with Google to take more of the online advertising market.
MediaCarts have been tested for nine months by Wakefern in its ShopRite grocery stores and involve shopping carts with computerized
screens that deliver ads and other information to shoppers based on their preferences, the companies said.
In an unexpected move, Microsoft late last week delivered a near-final version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to the public, just days after stating that this release would be issued only to beta testers. The Vista SP1 Release Candidate Refresh, an updated version of the RC code that Microsoft shipped in December, originally went out to 15,000 beta testers on January 9.
"In the interest of gaining additional tester feedback, on Thursday, we made the Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh available via Windows Update to interested testers on the public site," a Microsoft statement reads. "We are still on schedule to deliver [the final version of] SP1 in Q1 CY08.
Microsoft executives may have been hoping that the company's troubles with the European Commission were finally over after it cried "uncle" and dropped all further appeals in October over the EC's 2004 antitrust ruling.
That would have been too easy.
Monday, the EC announced it has launched two new probes into the company's business practices. However, whether the EC will yet again drop the hammer on Microsoft again is open to debate.
"It is clear that the EC is flexing its muscles," Tim Bajarin, president of tech consultancy Creative Strategies, told InternetNews.com. But the EC's next move isn't at all clear.
A group that includes Google Inc. and Microsoft accused broadcast-industry lobbyists Thursday of interfering with U.S. regulators' tests of mobile Internet devices that operate on unused television airwaves.
A "public misinformation campaign" by the National Association of Broadcasters has "confused the testing process" and misled policymakers, the Wireless Innovation Alliance said in a letter to NAB President David Rehr. The airwaves, known as white spaces, are between TV channels.
The group promoting the devices wants the Federal Communications Commission to make the airwaves available for unlicensed uses, such as mobile Internet access, after broadcasters convert to digital signals next year. The group must first convince the FCC that the devices won't harm TV reception.
One of Microsoft's top executives, a key figure in the evolution of its business strategy, surprised the industry Thursday by announcing plans to retire from the company this year.
Jeff Raikes, 49, is credited with helping to build the Microsoft Office productivity suite and related programs into a multibillion-dollar product line. He will leave as Microsoft Business Division president in September after 27 years with the company.
"Very few people have contributed more to Microsoft than Jeff," said Steve Ballmer, the company's chief executive, in a message to employees announcing Raikes' retirement plans.
Microsoft will provide the technology that allows visitors to the U.S. Library of Congress to first take a virtual tour
of historic documents and map out what exhibits they want to see, the two organizations announced Thursday.
The project will include the Myloc.gov Web site, to be launched in April, linked to information kiosks at the LOC's Thomas
Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. Interactive galleries will allow visitors to the Myloc.gov site to view and sometimes
interact with items such as a rough draft of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible, and a 1507 map that
first used the word "America.
Microsoft will need to find a new point person for its acquisitions strategy after confirming that Bruce Jaffe is moving on. Jaffe will remain as vice president of corporate development until the end of February. Valleywag first reported his departure on Wednesday, suggesting he was off to found his own start-up in Silicon Valley. Marketwatch was able to confirm Jaffe's departure with Microsoft representatives, but didn't shed any light on his future plans.
Microsoft might not be the unbeatable giant it once seemed to be, but Chairman Bill Gates made the case Sunday night that its technologies are becoming even more flexible and powerful as they seep into automobiles, Internet-based TV networks and living rooms.
A few months away from leaving his daily duties at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropy, Gates used his traditional kickoff keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show to highlight how Microsoft is extending the reach of its software beyond desktops and servers, and incorporating alternative inputs like voice and touch.
Microsoft announced today that it would acquire Fast Search & Transfer, a Norwegian enterprise search company, for about $1.2 billion in cash.
The purchase price is based on a $3.5 per-share valuation of FAST's stock, 42 percent higher than its closing price of Jan. 4th.
The purchase could add more muscle to Microsoft's maneuvering against Google in the enterprise search market, such as its recent offer of its Search Server 2008 product as a free download.
Both companies are jockeying for position in the race to provide businesses with the tools to organize and retrieve information within their organizations and throughout the Web.