Microsoft on Thursday released an updated preview of Expression Blend 2, the next version of its interface design tool that integrates into Silverlight, Microsoft's new Web-based platform for rich media that is competing with Flash. Most notably, the August update supports Visual Studio 2008, which is also in beta.Expression Studio 1.0 was officially launched at MIX 07 at the end of April, and Microsoft had already prepared Blend 2 specifically for Silverlight. The company hopes to entice developers to build rich Web interfaces using the tool, and then deploying them with Silverlight, which requires a browser plug-in much like Flash.
Microsoft on Friday said it had released the final version of its Windows Live ID authentication system, which would allow third-party developers wishing to build applications around Windows Live services to implement the authentication scheme on their sites. The service directs requests to Microsoft to sign in, then directs them back with a unique identifier used to access various Live services.
The release provides samples of code used to integrate Windows Live in various languages including ASP.NET, Ruby, Java, Perl, Python, and PHP. Microsoft has also provided improved documentation over what was provided with the Alpha version of the release provided at Mix 07. The SDK is now available for download from the Microsoft website.
Microsoft currently faces three primary threats to its future business: Linux and other open-source software, cloud-based computing and a number of players in the entertainment devices space, according to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner.
"We view those as the three real threats and opportunities for us as a company, and which we keep our eye on," Turner told eWEEK in a recent interview at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver. "Those are the ones we track and that we are working on today."
But Rob Enderle, an analyst with The Enderle Group, disagreed with that assessment, saying the greatest threat to Microsoft is the perception that it cannot compete in many of these areas without cheating.
Microsoft is actively getting into the business of lobbying the federal government to reject the Google-DoubleClick merger, government documents indicate.
A Wednesday Associated Press article detailed a lobbying disclosure form that the Redmond company is required to file with Congress. It showed that Microsoft hired Patton Boggs LLP to lobby the government concerning the DoubleClick merger.
Microsoft would not address the subject specifically in requests for comment, only offering that Google's attempt to acquire the advertising network should be closely reviewed.The company is fresh off completing its own advertising merger, having closed a $6 billion deal with aQuantive.
Microsoft this week began rolling out new features to users of its Windows Live Hotmail service, most notably adding increased mail storage of 5GB for free accounts and 10GB for paid subscribers. The company has also add "vacation replies" and the ability to turn off the Today screen.
The updated Hotmail will reach users gradually over the coming weeks, Microsoft says. Other new features coming include better performance, increased mail retention, contacts de-duplication, mail forwarding for combining accounts, meeting requests, and better spam filtering.
On August 15, Microsoft released to a select set of testers a first beta drop of Service Pack 1 for Office 2007.
The beta appears to be available to members of the Office 2007 Technology Adoption Programonly at this point.
Microsoft released to manufacturing Office 2007 on November 6, 2006.
Microsoft officials confirmed the availabilty of the Office 2007 SP1 Beta but declined to share any information on what fixes and updates are included in the pack. The Office team also declined to provide a final release target date for the service pack.
Could Citrix Systems' purchase of XenSource for $500 million be a prelude to Microsoft's acquisition of Citrix?
"Citrix built a $1 billion-plus business on the back of its access to Microsoft source code. XenSource's exclusive access to Microsoft's forthcoming 'Viridian' hypervisor code is a key driver for this deal," he told eWEEK Aug. 15. "For Citrix, Viridian becomes the base operating system component for its next business, just as Windows Terminal Server has been for Presentation Server."
Microsoft quietly beefed up a key defensive feature of 64-bit Windows Vista Tuesday to better protect the operating system against hacks that have plagued it for weeks.
The update to Vista's Kernel Patch Protection, a.k.a. PatchGuard, was issued through Windows Update as a high-priority download, but not as a patch per se. Microsoft, in fact, denied that it was a security fix.
"While this updates adds additional checks to the Kernel Patch Protection system, it does not involve a security vulnerability," an advisory posted Tuesday by the Microsoft Security Response Center stated.
Microsoft said Wednesday that it had licensed its audio watermarking technology to Activated Content in an effort to spur the efforts behind embedding trackable "watermarks" in audio files.The process of watermarking holds many benefits, as it can potentially be used in the fight against piracy. For example, DRM-less files could carry an identifiable code in them. When these files appear on peer-to-peer networks, labels would be able to identify where they are coming from.
Activated Content appears to have more than just watermarking music files in mind for Microsoft's technology, as it plans to use it in the telephony and advertising industries as well. The company plans to merge its existing proprietary technologies with Microsoft's, the companies said.
Legal payouts of $511 million in one year would be enough to sink many companies. But for Microsoft, it amounts to a small victory.
That's what the Redmond company paid in legal settlements and related expenses in its fiscal year 2007, ended June 30. It was Microsoft's lowest total in years -- down from about $2.3 billion in payouts two years earlier.
But with cases still pending, most notably in Europe, it's not clear if the trend will continue.