South African reseller of phone services, Blue Label Telecoms, said on Wednesday that Microsoft Corporation would buy 12 percent of the group in its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Nov. 14.
Blue Label said in a statement it would collaborate on a preferred partnership basis with Microsoft to drive services and products in developing economies and explore new business opportunities.
Microsoft yesterday confirmed that a site in Grange Castle Business Park, Dublin, has been selected as the location for its new European data centre. Planning permission has already been granted by South Dublin County Council for the $500 million (343.6 million euro) 51,000-square metre data centre.
Ground works have begun at the site and the data centre is due to open in May 2009. Grange Castle will be the main data centre for Microsoft in the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to support its "software + services" strategy of offering more of its applications as services over the internet under the Live brand.
Microsoft on Wednesday showed off a new Xbox feature that will allow parents to set the amount of time that kids can play games. The move is part of the company's effort to broaden the reach of the Xbox 360 to include more families. The company also recently introduced a lower-priced Xbox 360 Arcade model that skips a hard drive, but includes a handful of casual games like Pac-Man and Uno. Microsoft is also working to expand its Viva Pinata title into a franchise of products aimed at younger kids.
All about Microsoft
On November 6, blogger Stephen Chapman helped break the silence. Chapman posted a list of some of the planned investment areas that will allegedly be part of Windows 7. While none of the elements on the list is earth-shattering most are just evolutions of the "pillars that Microsoft delivered with Windows Vista there are a couple of new features to put on your Windows-watching radar screens: StrongBox and Component Delivery Platform.
Microsoft is trying to fight piracy in China by ensuring that more new computers in the region come with genuine copies of Windows pre-installed at the factory.
The Redmond company said Wednesday that it had come to an agreement with the nation's second largest computer manufacturer, Founder, which includes a deal to resell Microsoft hardware as well.
Wednesday's agreement follows a similar one with Lenovo, where the #1 computer maker agreed to preload the Windows OS and other Microsoft products.
InternetNews
Microsoft turned to Google for a little help this week as it fought to finally get antitrust eyes off its back.
On Tuesday, the company fired back at two groups of states requesting that most aspects of Microsoft's consent decree be extended for another five years. And to help make its case, Microsoft pointed to Google's stock valuation as proof that innovation in the computer industry is thriving.
This is just the latest development in a long and torturous case that gained momentum in 2002 when Microsoft agreed to settle its long-running antitrust case with the federal government and several states. A federal judge had previously ruled that Microsoft was in violation of antitrust laws, a decision that had been upheld on appeal.
Microsoft is officially naming the server solution it has been developing for the midsize business market Windows Essential Business Server, which replaces the code name "Centro."
Windows Essential Business Server is an integrated server infrastructure solution that includes Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security for Exchange, System Center Essentials, the next version of ISA Server and SQL Server 2008.
The product is designed for the 1.2 million midsize businesses worldwide, which Microsoft defines as those with between 25 and 250 PCs, most of which have IT infrastructures as complex as that of an enterprise customer, Russ Madlener, director of product planning for Microsoft's server and tool division, told eWEEK.
InternetNews
Microsoft is doing for business search what competitors already do for consumer search: giving tools away for free.
The company today announced Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, which is based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 technology.
"The new Search Server Express is core to our strategy to broaden the appeal of search solutions to end users and developers," Kirk Koenigsbauer, general manager of Microsoft's SharePoint Business Group, said in a statement. "Businesses can have Search Server Express up and running in as little as 30 minutes, delivering secure, relevant results to their users at no charge and with the flexibility to run the solution on their own hardware."
Like most other 2-year-olds, Windows Live is walking on its own but is still a bit wobbly. After months spent mastering the basics, though, the service is starting to move independently of its parent--MSN--and to carve out its own identity. In recent months, Microsoft has taken the beta tag off Windows Live Hotmail, added the Windows Live Photo Gallery and SkyDrive services, and completed mobile versions of Live Search and other services.
Microsoft's Windows Live services are living up to their name by going live, losing the "beta" label, and becoming available as a free, Windows suite of six Web-connected applications.
The suite includes Windows Live Mail, which integrates with Hotmail and supports POP and IMAP. Among the other complete, desktop services are Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Writer for composing blog posts. Windows Live Photo Gallery manages picture albums that can be uploaded to Microsoft Spaces, MSN Soapbox, or Yahoo's Flickr.