Microsoft is pressing forward in its attempt to challenge Apple's iPod -- overhauling its Zune music player, adding new features and filling out its lineup with a smaller model.
The changes include capabilities that the iPod doesn't have, such as wireless PC synchronization. But analysts say the Zune revamp, by itself, won't be enough to move Microsoft out of Apple's shadow in digital music.
"It's a great player -- for 2006," said Matt Rosoff, analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. He said the improvements put the company "where they probably should have been last year, when they launched."
Microsoft, Dell Inc. and Gateway Inc. have lost a bid to have a $2 billion patent-infringement lawsuit by Alcatel-Lucent over a standard technology for playing DVDs, Internet videos and computer games thrown out of court.
Judge Rudi Brewster in San Diego rejected the companies' challenge to the transfer of two patents into a trust before last year's merger of Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. Microsoft, Dell and Gateway had argued that the move was a sham to keep Lucent's patents separate from an Alcatel licensing deal.
Microsoft has long said that what is good for its partners is good for the software giant. To prove the point, Microsoft launched the Startup Accelerator Program to give startups special access to Microsoft internal resources.
"We're a platform company, and we do well when our partners build things on top of our platforms," Dan'l Lewin, corporate vice president of Microsoft's strategic and emerging business development, told InternetNews.com.
Under the Startup Accelerator Program, the company is providing custom access to technical and marketing resources inside Microsoft to companies it has identified as "high-potential software startups," according to Lewin. The company identifies such candidates as "innovative, compelling, disruptive and potentially strategic to Microsoft."
Microsoft said Thursday that its hit game Halo 3 had reached $300 million in sales in the first week of availability. Better yet for the company, the game is also driving console sales, which have more than doubled according to initial reports from retailers. The figures make Halo 3 the fastest selling video game ever, and one of the biggest entertainment launches in history.
"'Halo' is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of 'Halo 3' is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for video games as entertainment and as an art form," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. The company said 2.7 million, more than a third of the service's customer base, have already played the game through Xbox Live. This amounts to approximately 40 million hours online.
Apparently as part of a separate effort from the HD DVD Promotional Group, Toshiba and Microsoft announced tomorrow morning Asia/Pacific time they will form a new coalition dedicated to promoting the HDi interactive layer used in HD DVD.
The charter members of the Advanced Interactivity Consortium will consist of Paramount, Warner Bros., and Universal Studios. These well-known studios have apparently made a commitment to release HD DVD titles in the near future -- a timeframe has not been publicly specified -- that will feature advanced overlaid menuing, bookmarking, Internet connectivity including download capability, and online shopping.
Microsoft on Thursday slated seven security updates for release next Tuesday that target vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Word, and SharePoint.
Of the seven bulletins expected Oct. 9, four will be rated "critical," Microsoft's highest ranking, while the remainder will be labeled "important," the next-lower rating. What details Microsoft was willing to share prior to the patches' debut were posted to the pre-patch notification filed on the company's Web site this morning.
Six years ago, Microsoft presented its vision of a world where everyone's medical records were instantly available online whenever and wherever they were needed -- with access to those records controlled by the end users, not healthcare providers or insurance companies.
Microsoft this week finally debuted a free online storage and retrieval service for consumers' medical and health records. Named Microsoft HealthVault, the new service is available now. Additionally, the company unveiled HealthVault Search, a health information search engine that is integrated with Live Search.
Adobe-Microsoft Collision Course
Perhaps in a parallel universe, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates are bosom buddies. In that universe, Microsoft is the preeminent provider of operating systems for all kinds of devices, and Adobe is the major developer of software for Microsoft platforms. The two companies engage in a rich collaboration that benefits consumers and enterprises alike.
This universe's reality is harsher. Microsoft chose to develop applications along with operating systems, creating constant tension with many of its development partners. Microsoft now competes with many Windows developers, largely because of its applications business.
Microsoft will launch a frontal assault on enterprise telephony when it launches OCS 2007 later this month but plans to win over most customers bit by bit over the next few years.
At its San Francisco launch event for OCS on Oct. 16, the software behemoth will also announce availability of new devices that can be used with the unified communications software, said Kim Akers, general manager of unified communications at Microsoft, in an interview Wednesday. At the same time, Microsoft will line up device, infrastructure, and software partners who are part of the "ecosystem" the company will promote as part of its edge in combined voice, e-mail, text, and video. The Office Communicator 2007 client and Office Live Meeting will also debut at the event, which will feature Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates.
Product listings on Amazon.com and the Toys 'R' Us Web sites indicate that the Xbox 360 Core system is set to be replaced by a new console that focuses on its arcade game capabilities October 23. If earlier reports provided are correct, the console will come in a darker gray finish (being called a "standard finish") and include a 256MB memory card. An HDMI port will be added, and the device will include one wireless controller, although no headset.Central to the new SKU is the inclusion of five arcade games, two of which are expected to be UNO and Pac-Man. No other details were immediately available, and Microsoft had yet to publicly confirm the new model's existence as of press time.