Microsoft's iWave lineup, new versions of Office, SharePoint Portal Server and Visio, will take another in a series of introductory bows at TechEd in a week. The news out of the Dallas conference will not be so much around what's shipping but what will be shipping "soon," several sources said.
SharePoint Portal Server 2.0, Office 2003, Visio 2003 which were all due in June, are now slated to ship at the end of the summer, the company has said. iWave is the internal name for a range of Information Worker products starting with Office, and expanding to include Visio, InfoPath, Project and other offerings.
Microsoft has assembled a bundle of third-party wireless products for a promotion next month to allow mid-market customers to administer Windows Server 2003 remotely from a handheld device. The Windows Server 2003 Mobile Admin Pack will be promoted to 50,000 U.S. customers. The $159 discount package will be available to U.S. Medium Business customers who have acquired Windows Server 2003 on a volume license. The promotional price will be limited to the first 1,000 participants.
Siemens is collaborating with Microsoft to integrate telephony-based services into real-time communications applications. The German company, better known for its enterprise and carrier network equipment, is developing a software platform that adds fixed-line telephony, cellular, and wireless capabilities to new presence and collaboration-driven applications supported by Microsoft's soon-to-be-launched RTC Server 2003 software, said Bernd Kuhlin, president of the enterprise networks unit at Siemens, Thursday at a real-time communications event here co-hosted with the U.S. software company.
Microsoft released a plug-in for Internet Explorer that is designed to protect sensitive documents from unauthorized editing or copying--an early step in its effort to encourage corporations to use its software to share sensitive information. The Rights Management Add-on, available in a beta, or test version, allows permitted users to view files, the company said. The Web browser plug-in is meant to help companies protect sensitive documents, e-mail and other Web-based data from being manipulated, forwarded or copied by unauthorized individuals.
Microsoft recently began a drive to spread the adoption of rights management technology. In a policy e-mail to customers last week, CEO Steve Ballmer outlined plans for digital rights management (DRM) services that could meet mundane business needs as well the needs of the more glamorous entertainment industry.
Microsoft will rely on its time-tested bundling strategy, key to its successful capture of the desktop market, to help jumpstart its server software business. A new server software bundle, code-named Jupiter, will enter customer testing before the end of June, according to company representatives. The bundle, which includes some of the company's server products for building custom business applications, is the cornerstone to Microsoft's ambitious plans to increase its share of the fast-growing market for integration software.
Microsoft's strategy binds together at least three of its server applications into a single bundle. Jupiter includes BizTalk Server integration software, Content Management Server for storing and presenting business documents, and Commerce Server for building e-commerce Web sites.
Microsoft is proposing a new legislative approach to battling junk e-mail, hoping to bridge a widening gap between various industry and consumer groups that threatens to bog down congressional efforts to eradicate spam. Like several bills already proposed or being drafted, the software giant wants increased penalties for the fraudulent practices of many spammers who peddle diet fads, get-rich-quick schemes and pornography.
But the company is also pushing for an electronic seal-of-approval system for all e-mail marketing, to ensure that legitimate marketers meet high standards and to help consumers weed out unsavory or unwanted spam.
Warren Buffett is in town, and that means a wild game of bridge over at Bill Gates' home.
Seriously.
Buffett actually called it a "low-stakes, high-level bridge game," although he didn't say what exactly "low" stakes means when the world's richest men play each other.
Buffett joined 100 other corporate leaders at Microsoft this week for Gates' CEO Summit, an annual event that aims to bring together some top names in business for a two-day chat. The executives are discussing corporate governance and business technology, among other things, and Gates is making sure everyone knows about Microsoft's latest products.
The payout of $70 million to former Microsoft temporary workers is under way after a dispute between the workers' lawyers and Microsoft was resolved, but the lawyers can't find more than 1,000 people eligible for payments. Claim forms were sent this month to 14,000 eligible workers who were denied benefits between 1986 and 2000. Those who return the forms by Aug. 12 are expected to receive a check sometime in 2004. But the claims-processing company has been unable to locate an additional 1,000 potentially eligible workers.
Outlook 2003 is the best version of Outlook yet, but to take advantage of all its new features, you will need to upgrade to Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003.
The decision of which email client to use is critical for many businesses, since this is the most commonly used (and depended upon) application in the office. From a management perspective, Outlook 2003 offers some valuable new features, but you'll need to consider carefully the cost of those features when deciding whether to upgrade. Here's what you need to know in order to make the best decision in terms of Outlook 2003.
The agenda this week in Redmond and Medina includes discussions about new technology, a panel on corporate governance -- and, of course, bridge with Warren Buffett. The occasion is Microsoft Corp.'s seventh annual CEO Summit, a two-day event that began yesterday on the company's Redmond campus. More than 100 top executives from a variety of companies around the world are attending.
During his keynote address yesterday morning, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates assured the CEOs that software breakthroughs have continued apace despite the difficult economy and the "harsh realities" of the technology sector in recent years.