Microsoft has created a program for electronics manufacturers that combines basic hardware with Windows CE .NET or Windows XP Embedded to entice more vendors to try Windows for new products, the company announced Monday. Under the new Windows Embedded Evaluation Hardware Kitting Program, electronics makers can get Windows CE .NET or Windows XP preloaded on the board they use at the heart of a new product, Microsoft said. Before, the manufacturers would have to load the software onto the hardware themselves.
Additionally, electronics companies can build as many as 1,000 units of the product without having to pay a software licensing fee. They will also get the Windows Embedded Evaluation Toolkit, said Debby Fry Wilson, director of Microsoft's Embedded and Appliance Platform Group.
West Virginia's attorney general said on Monday he would drop the state's appeal of the landmark Microsoft antitrust settlement, leaving Massachusetts as the final hold-out pushing for stricter sanctions. West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw said in a statement that he would drop out of the Microsoft appeal as part of a broad agreement that would also settle suits filed under state laws by state authorities and class action attorneys in West Virginia.
The settlement further weakens the challenge to the Microsoft settlement and moves the company closer toward getting its legal problems behind it. "It's another important step and more momentum in Microsoft's efforts to resolve these legal issues," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said. "What started with 20 states (opposing the settlement) is down to one."
Microsoft Monday introduced new resources to help developers build Web applications using ASP.NET, as well as a new program for companies that host applications on the Web. The software giant unveiled an update to Microsoft ASP.NET Web Matrix, a lightweight tool for building ASP.Net applications first released as a free download a year ago.
Microsoft said it is also is offering new ASP.Net Starter Kits, comprised of five sample applications developers can use as reference guides for developing ASP.NET applications. The sample applications range from e-commerce storefronts to community portals to data reporting applications. Microsoft offers documented source code for each sample for the developer's reference, company executives said.
Bell Canada, the country top Internet provider, will create a co-branded Web portal with Microsoft under a five-year pact announced on Monday. Users of the Sympatico.ca portal, Canada's most visited web page, will have direct access next spring to Microsoft's security and communications software, such as the popular MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger, Bell Canada said. Both companies said they will also try to develop new Internet services in areas such as home networking, mobile computing or interactive entertainment.
America Online Inc. has notified users of its AOL Mobile Communicator device that their service will be cut off effective August 1. AOL stopped accepting new orders for the Mobile Communicator service in July 2002.
In an e-mail to Mobile Communicator users, AOL affirmed its commitment to wireless services and cited its AOL Anywhere services, which are available on many wireless phones and for Palm OS. Former Mobile Communicator users will also be eligible for $100 off of the new color T-Mobile Sidekick device, which can access AOL e-mail and instant messaging.
Privately held software vendor Softmart has landed one of the biggest contracts ever to resell Microsoft software. The company's Softmart Government Services Inc. subsidiary last month was awarded a six-year, $450 million contract to provide Microsoft products and upgrades to the U.S. Army. It also was awarded its first-year delivery order, which is worth $78 million, under the contract. "It's one of the biggest Microsoft ever did; one of the biggest the Army ever did," said Dean Picciotti, Softmart's president and chief executive officer.
Microsoft may be winding down development of the Mac version of Internet Explorer, but the venerable browser still has a couple of minor updates in it. The Redmond, Wash., company today will deliver Internet Explorer 5.2.3 for Mac OS X. Microsoft said the update to the longstanding Version 5 will feature enhancements to security and performance as well as "improved browser compatibility for enterprise users who work on a network with secure authentication or with proxy servers." Within the next month, Microsoft will also provide similar enhancements to users of older Mac OSes when it delivers Internet Explorer 5.1.7 for Mac OS 8/9.
With Friday's deadline in the SCO lawsuit come and gone, computer giant IBM faces an uncertain fate Monday, with UNIX copyright owner SCO threatening to rescind IBM's UNIX license, halting sales of AIX, IBM's UNIX-based operating system. SCO, as I'm sure you recall, sued IBM earlier this year, charging the company with illegally distributing stolen UNIX code in Linux, an open source operating system that closely resembles and works like UNIX. SCO says this violates its UNIX license, and the company is seeking $1 billion in damages.
A beta version of Producer 2003, an upgraded version of Microsoft's free software for adding video and audio clips to PowerPoint slides, is now available for download, Microsoft said Monday. The add-on for PowerPoint 2003 introduces support for Macintosh and Netscape users as well as compliance with "the basic requirements" for two e-learning standards, Information Management System (IMS) and Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), Microsoft said in a statement.
Integration with PowerPoint 2003 has been enhanced, making it easier to import slides, and support for Windows Media 9 Series improves the quality of audio and video clips, Microsoft said. The software's synchronization wizard has also been improved, the company said.
Microsoft has agreed to settle a class-action antitrust lawsuit in North Carolina by setting up an $89 million fund to reimburse customers and buy computer technology for poor schools. The proposed settlement was made public Friday at a court hearing in Raleigh before Judge Ben F. Tennille, who hears complex business disputes. Tennille asked the lawyers to return for another hearing later this year when he will consider giving preliminary approval. He said he wanted to hear what the state Education Department thought about the plan.
The lawsuit accuses Microsoft of driving up prices by destroying competitors and by monopolizing the market with its software tied into its operating system.