After looking questionable earlier this summer, Microsoft will likely get the U.S.'s vote on its pitch to make Office Open XML an International Organization for Standardization standard.
Meanwhile, the cut-off date for the final vote tally as to whether it will become a recognized ISO standard looms this coming Sunday, Sept. 2. However, the final results will likely not be decided until early next year.
A yes vote by the U.S. is viewed almost symbolically as a requirement for long-term success of the proposal. The U.S. group is slated to meet tomorrow to finalize its vote.
Microsoft distributed a new build of Windows Vista's first service pack last week to its invite-only list of testers, according to bloggers armed with copies. But as is the norm, the version also leaked to BitTorrent networks.
The 6.0.6001.16633 (longhorn.070803-1655) build weighs in at a relatively svelte 684MB, bloggers and message forum users claimed.
The first Vista Service Pack 1 beta, which leaked earlier this month to BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, was significantly larger -- more than 3GB -- and came as an .iso file that was, in effect, Vista with SP1 already added. Last week's build, an .exe file, updates existing Vista installations.
Microsoft will distribute free software to non-profit groups to boost charity in India, a company official said Monday.
The software donation will be routed through a technology assistance program that India's NASSCOM Foundation is offering in partnership with TechSoup, a San Francisco-based group that joins in charity work with companies such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Symantec.
NASSCOM Foundation, the philanthropy arm of the trade body of technology companies operating in India, introduced the program Monday -- titled BiG Tech.
What may eventually be considered one of the most useful and welcome new features for admins has finally been officially released by Microsoft. Today, the company announced that System Center Configuration Manager has officially "released to manufacturing." A 120-day trial evaluation version appeared on Microsoft TechNet this morning.
SCCM is the replacement for Systems Management Server 2003 R2, and its purpose is to enable an administrator from a central location to manage and configure operating systems remotely.
Just because Microsofts "Get the Facts site has been replaced with a supposedly less vitriolic "/Compare one doesnt mean that Microsoft-commissioned studies are a thing of the past.
In fact, on August 27, Microsoft released two brand-new studies, both ordered and paid for by the company.
One is a study that pits SharePoint Server vs. open-source collaboration/portal alternatives. That one was based on information from CMP's Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED), plus "a series of in-depth business-focused interviews with top management from solution providers across North America and Europe."
Microsoft is working with state officials in Louisiana to offer Windows and Office software free for a year to small businesses still feeling the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Microsoft on Monday unveiled a new program, called the Software License Relief Program, in conjunction with the 2007 Hope & Recovery Summit, which is commemorating the second anniversary of both storms. Microsoft is working with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center to offer the program, which will launch next month and gives eligible small businesses access to software from Microsoft, including Windows and Office, free of charge for a year.
It's no secret that Microsoft employs individuals that attempt to bypass the security restrictions built into its software products in order to make them safer, but the company has rarely publicized this fact. That's changing with a new Web log called hackers @ microsoft.
The Redmond company plans to utilize the blog to introduce its "white hat hackers" and show people what they do for Microsoft, although in keeping with tradition, those mentioned on the blog will likely go by their pseudonyms. "At his or her core, a true hacker is someone who is curious and wants to learn how systems work. This can and of course at Microsoft is done in an ethical, legal manner," techjunkie writes in the first posting on the site.
Whether it involves choice or price, freedom isn't free.
This is especially true in the realm of computer software licensing, where the question isn't if one has to pay for program use and development but rather how, to whom and when.
And nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of Microsoft's ongoing interoperability efforts as they relate to Linux platforms and the debate -- open source vs. proprietary software -- those endeavors have unleashed.
Microsoft officials have been talking up, as of late, the need for some fundamental changes in software design and development to accommodate the shift to many cores on client systems. There are several Microsoft Research projects focusing on various aspects of the many-core challenge. The newest and seemingly most far-reaching of these is MS-ManiC.
"...is focused on designing scalable memory system architectures for future many-core processors. The memory system is not only one of the major performance bottlenecks in chip multiprocessors, but its design can lead to serious energy inefficiency, unpredictability, and security holes..."
You may have heard rumors of the past week that Sony's lagging PlayStation 3 (PS3) was experiencing and unexpected renaissance, with Sony expected to announce this past week that the PS3 had actually outsold the Xbox 360 for the first time in July. Well, Sony did make a bunch of PS3 announcements this week, but a sales jump wasn't one of them. What's funny about this is that it was Sony that started the sales rumors: The company revealed that it expected July's numbers to show that the PS3 had come out ahead of the Xbox 360. That didn't happen: NPD reported that 170,000 Xbox 360s were sold in July, compared to 159,000 for the PS3. (Market leader Nintendo continued to surge with 425,000 Wii consoles sold in July.) To be fair to Sony, PS3 sales are up, however, just not enough to unseat #2 Microsoft. But let's get real here: Halo 3 is coming. And when that happens, all bets are off.