Microsoft said on Thursday that it will introduce a new version of its software for managing customer information, contacts and communication that will include language support for European customers and also expand its licensing for the software.
Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which is built into its Outlook e-mail, contacts and calendar software, is part of a push by the world's largest software maker into products for small and medium-sized businesses.
Microsoft, which sells its software to companies through resellers, said that a much wider group of resellers will be able to sell Microsoft CRM to businesses and also offer the same licensing and upgrade programs.
Microsoft has made further licensing concessions to would-be competitors, satisfying for now the federal judge overseeing the settlement of the giant software company's landmark antitrust case.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told a hearing on Thursday that Microsoft had allayed many of her concerns by making it cheaper and easier for rivals to license computer code needed to make server software work properly with its Windows operating system.
"I'm pleased that at least there's been some progress in that area because I was very, very concerned about that," Kollar-Kotelly said after hearing presentations from Microsoft, the Justice Department and state attorneys general.
'Outlook Connector for MSN' to be premium service for subscribers only. Microsoft demonstrated a forthcoming feature of MSN 9.0 - called Outlook Connector for MSN - at its annual Financial Analyst Meeting here on Thursday. The Connector is aimed at providing users with seamless integration between Outlook 2003 and MSN services, such as scheduling, contact management, photo-sharing, and the like.
During Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' kick-off remarks to the financial analyst and press attendees of the day-long event, lead technical program manager Raj Pai put a "preview" release of the Connector through its paces. Pai said Microsoft make the final version of the Connector available as part of MSN 9.0 when it ships later this year. Microsoft officials have acknowledged for years that customers have been champing at the bit for the ability to share their business and home calendars and contacts.
The judge overseeing the Microsoft case said on Thursday she was satisfied with the company's compliance with its landmark antitrust settlement after the software giant made further licensing concessions. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the company had so far "allayed many of my concerns" by making it cheaper and easier for rivals to license computer code needed to make server software function properly with its Windows operating system.
Software company Microsoft said Thursday it plans to add 4,000 to 5,000 jobs worldwide and increase its research and development spending by as much as 8 percent in the current fiscal year. In a statement ahead of a meeting with financial analysts, Microsoft said it will spend as much as $6.9 billion on R&D, including equity compensation expenses.
It also said between 3,000 and 3,500 of the new jobs will be in the United States. The company already has more than 50,000 employees worldwide.
Last week, Microsoft raised its revenue forecast for fiscal 2004 by about $1 billion despite a cautious outlook for technology spending. The company also said it had no plans to spend any of its $49 billion cash pile on major acquisitions or an increase in its dividend.
After months of anticipation, Microsoft's Yukon has reached its summit. A select group of testers have been granted the first glimpse at the software giant's next generation SQL technology. The download appears exclusively on the private BetaPlace Website - although bits and pieces have already shown up on the Web.
A Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews, "The first private beta for Yukon was released yesterday to 500 customers and partners." The initial 500 are just the tip of the iceberg, "Microsoft will release the beta to another 1,500 by the end of the month," said the spokesperson.
U.S.-based Motorola will launch a mobile phone based on Microsoft software later this year, the first top five handset maker to do so, industry sources said on Thursday. "It will come later this year. They've been working on it for many months now," one industry source told Reuters.
Pictures of the new Motorola handset, to be produced by Taiwan's contract manufacturer Chi Mei Communication Systems circulated on discussion groups on the Internet.
Motorola told Reuters in February it would bring out a Microsoft phone, mainly in response to U.S. operators' requests, but then declined to give details or timing. Motorola's model would be a clamshell with an internal antenna. Microsoft is struggling to break into the 450 million units a year mobile phone industry, but the major vendors have so far been reluctant to work with the software giant.
In its first 90 days of availability, Windows Server 2003 has outsold Windows 2000 three to one, when compared to that product's first 90 days. Microsoft will tout this fact today at an analyst meeting where it will also announce a change in the way the company's executives account for costs in various departments at the software giant. It's unclear whether the dramatically increased sales pace, however, was brought on by Microsoft's Licensing 6.0 program, which essentially provides free product upgrades to companies that purchase a multi-year agreement.
Continuing a trend that began with Windows Server 2003, Microsoft announced yet another name change for the product that was to have been called Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications (RTC) Server 2003; now, the product will go by the moniker Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003. Likewise, Microsoft Placeware Conference Center will be rebranded as Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2003 in keeping with the new "Live" naming system used for products that facilitate live communication across and between companies around the world.
Microsoft is set to announce plans on Thursday to reorganize its executive ranks, with an emphasis on improving financial management, according to a published report. CEO Steve Ballmer will delegate much of the software giant's day-to-day financial operations to seven executives serving as chief financial officers overseeing individual units of the company's business, according to a story in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. Those CFOs will reportedly head divisions centered on Microsoft's primary product lines--Windows, server software, mobile software, office software, video games, business software and MSN.