WinInsider

Microsoft is boasting that it has surpassed Java usage with .NET and is preparing to make its application development platform more conducive to Web services. In a speech at the VSLive conference in New York last week, Eric Rudder, Microsoft senior vice president of server and tools, touted progress versus the rival Java platform as well as future products such as Indigo, a Web services offering now in beta release. Indigo is to be discussed at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles in late-October.

"When we started out a year ago, it was hard. We were still behind Java by a considerable margin. They were about 30 percent share. But we actually launched the product and made some amazing traction, started to catch up. Luckily, Java flattened out and we've actually passed Java usage with .Net usage, and this trend actually shows no sign of abating," said Rudder. "So overall, competitively, we're doing fairly well."

Much of .Net's success rides on whether Microsoft can sell enterprises on the benefits of Web services -- which basically boil down to component reusability and rapid, inexpensive integration across platforms. The .Net Framework uses XML for data representation by default and provides easy access to Simple Object Access Protocol (Soap) interfaces. Ordinary methods -- chunks of code making up procedures -- can be turned into Web services simply by adding the attribute "WebMethod" before each declaration, but are otherwise unchanged. .Net also automatically creates a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) document that describes services in a standard manner: it is possible, according to programmers, to turn out a simple Web service application in a morning.

Microsoft continues to aggressively develop .Net, with additional features such as the Web Services Enhancements class library. These were introduced as version 1.0 last December and previewed as version 2.0 in July, and add many features such as encryption, digital signatures, message routing and attachment encapsulation. At the same time, the company unveiled new and more capable conversion tools designed to move Java projects over into the .Net world.

The Athlon 64 chip from Advanced Micro Devices is coming out toward the end of September, and software that takes full advantage of the chip won't be that far behind. Microsoft will release a version of Windows optimized for the chip in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2004, Marty Seyer, vice president and general manager of AMD's microprocessor business unit, said in an interview this week.

The beta version of the operating system will become available in "late Q3," he added. That's slightly later than the midyear release of the beta Microsoft had promised earlier, but the estimated release schedule of the final version conforms to the expectations of most analysts.

SCO Group is playing hard ball to assert its right to profit on the Linux operating system. On Tuesday, Lindon, Utah-based SCO even threatened to sue a Linux user to make its case. It may be an idle threat, but ever since SCO sued IBM in March for allegedly misappropriating SCO's Unix code for Big Blue's Linux business, the company's stock has tripled and was up some 3% on Tuesday. Judging by that climb, investors seem to think SCO's lawsuit has a fighting chance against Big Blue.

High-profile attorney David Boies has agreed to represent SCO, but legal eagles say it's too early to handicap the case.

One analyst whose hedge fund bought shares of SCO sees things differently. "I think there is a lot of meat on the bone here, so to speak, in terms of there being a strong case," says the analyst, who requested anonymity. Among the reasons he cites:

But in the long term, SCO's actions have the potential to dampen Linux's growth until the issue is resolved, Soundview analyst Victor Raisys said in a research note Tuesday. Trial in the IBM case is set for April 11, 2005.

Microsoft said on Wednesday it was examining a new statment by the European Commission on its probe of the software giant, but said it was unfortunate that the three-year-old probe would now take longer.

"We are exmaining its contents thorougly now to assess the concerns in detail," said spokeswoman Tiffany Steckler in Paris. She said the company believes "it is somethwat unfortunate as it lengthens the proceedings that have already been going on for three years."

Microsoft has taken some steps already that respond to concerns raised by the European Commission as a result of as separate case in the United States, she said.

The EU's executive Commission, which has been investigating Microsoft for four years, said recently collected information from businesses across Europe and the United States confirmed that abuses were "still ongoing."

But stung by the trans-Atlantic row that erupted in 2001 after they vetoed the merger of U.S. companies General Electric and Honeywell, EU officials are wary the Microsoft case could become another political hot potato.

EU Antitrust Commissioner Mario Monti also has been treading warily since European courts criticized his team for sloppy casework last year and overturned decisions in three cases.

Around Microsoft's campus, some colleagues jokingly refer to Martin Taylor as their Joe Friday. The story goes that whenever they begin gushing about the company's latest product or technology, he routinely demands the data that would clinch such claims with customers.

In the software business, where companies routinely hype their newest releases to the heavens, Microsoft is no stranger to hyperbole. But the gathering momentum behind Linux provides Taylor, the software maker's newly appointed general manager for platform strategies, with extra incentive to promote his just-the-facts, ma'am, approach.

Microsoft is taking Media Center further overseas, with plans to launch the PC entertainment software in China, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The company, which announced the expansion on Wednesday, said the primary hurdle to the expansion was gaining access to the program guide information needed to enable PCs to act as a digital video recorder. Until now, sales of the entertainment-oriented PCs have been limited to the United States, Canada and Korea.

"For us, it shows a nice, not only validation of the whole media center concept, but (also) momentum," said Tom Laemmel, product manager for Microsoft's Windows eHome Division. Media Center PCs run a specialized version of the Windows XP operating system that has an extra interface to make it easy for people to view photos, music and video on a television hooked up to a PC.

Microsoft Corp. has agreed in principle to settle an antitrust suit over sales of its Windows operating software following a ruling that lowered the number of buyers in the litigation, according to people familiar with the situation.

Microsoft has agreed to pay $10.5 million to as many as 500,000 customers who alleged they overpaid for single copies of Windows they bought directly from the company, the people said. In an April 14 ruling, a judge in Baltimore excluded from the suit customers who bought Windows in large quantities.

One might assume that Microsoft's booth at the LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco this week would get the same reception as a visiting team's fan in the hometown bleachers. But that's not the case, a Microsoft executive says, despite the fact that the Redmond company sees the open-source operating system as a serious threat.

"People are pleased to see us here and part of the conversation," said Jason Matusow, Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative manager. "We certainly want to be here in terms of participation," he said, explaining that the majority of people at the show are working in mixed software environments, with programs such as Linux, Microsoft Windows and others.