WinInsider

In a strangely revealing interview with ZDNet UK, Robert Short, vice president of Microsoft's Windows Core Technology group, revealed that the software giant is working on a command-line-only version of Windows Server. "That's something Linux has that's ahead of us, but we're looking at it," he said. "We will have a command-line-only version, but whether it'll have all the features [of the GUI version] is another matter. A lot of the tools depend on having the graphical interface. Printing, for example, requires all the graphics subsystems because we have the 'what you see is what you get' model. You need to have the whole of the display stuff to render it. It's a very tangled subsystem." Sounds pretty definitive to me.

In a pre-show demonstration of the Longhorn graphics subsystem at the WinHEC trade show in New Orleans Monday night, I saw for the first time some of the advanced video effects that Microsoft will enable in the next Windows version. Longhorn, due in late 2004 or early 2005, includes a completely new desktop composition system that replaces the model used in previous Windows versions with one that is more technically advanced, visually appealing, and scalable. The early test versions Microsoft is showing at WinHEC include amazing animation effects, smooth window scaling, and advanced window translucency.

Microsoft plans a major cleanup of Win32 API and integration of XML application markup language (XAML) to make the next version of Windows as friendly to developers as users.

First, the software giant aims to slash the number of API calls in the Win32 API set from more than 70,000 to fewer than 10,000 to help developers better exploit the next-generation Windows shell, user interface (code-named Aero) and .Net framework components in Longhorn, according to sources familiar with the Longhorn plans.

"Win32 has like 76,000 APIs, and they're taking it down to 8,000 with Longhorn technology," said one source familiar with the plans.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates hopes to wow a technical conference today by showing off a prototype of a new personal computer, but he won't spend much time detailing its processor speed, memory or other hardware and software minutiae.

Instead, he'll point out simple features like how the PC stops playing music when an attached telephone is picked up or how lights built into the monitor frame alert users to an urgent e-mail or voice mail even with the display dark.

The demonstration will focus on usability and user-friendliness -- something that has often escaped the computer industry as hardware companies build machines and separate programmers come up with the software to run them.

This is not a joke: Microsoft is bringing Internet access to the portable toilet. The iLoo, developed by Microsoft's MSN division, will be a standard portable toilet (or "loo," as the Brits so quaintly call it) equipped with a wireless keyboard and an extensible, height-adjustable plasma screen located directly in front of the seated user.

MSN plans to install an external "Hotmail station" on the outside of the MSN iLoo so people can do something useful while they queue. This will include a waterproof keyboard and plasma screen enabling users to surf the Internet while waiting.

Two hold-out states on Monday asked a federal appeals court to overturn last year's Microsoft antitrust settlement, saying it had failed to restore competition to the software business or hold the company accountable for past misdeeds. In a 76-page brief filed with the court, the attorneys general of Massachusetts and West Virginia argued that the lower court had fumbled the case by endorsing an inadequate settlement.

"The district court's decree fails to meet even the most basic goal of preventing Microsoft from continuing the conduct specifically found unlawful by this court," said the states in their argument. "Telling the wrongdoer not to repeat its misdeeds is not an adequate remedy."

Microsoft is aiming to raise the stakes in the $30 billion global video game industry and strengthen its foothold in living rooms with major changes to its Xbox Live online gaming service, industry sources said on Monday. As game makers prepare for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the year's largest video game show, Microsoft is readying a new version of Xbox Live with advanced community features such as voice chat and locater services that operate independently of games in progress, said sources with knowledge of the software company's plans.

While a Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the upcoming upgrade, he did say the company was planning "groundbreaking announcements" at E3.

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard offered an early look at their latest concept for business PCs on the eve of its unveiling. The companies on Monday night released information on Athens, a new prototype desktop PC designed to handle business communications, ahead of the start of Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC).

As previously reported, Microsoft and HP crafted Athens as a streamlined prototype that puts the PC in the role of business communications hub. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates plans to officially introduce the prototype when he kicks off the WinHEC show with a keynote speech Tuesday morning.

Microsoft on Monday said it will pay $12.3 million in vouchers to settle a class-action suit brought by Montana consumers who claimed the company violated the state's antitrust laws. Microsoft will issue the vouchers to Montana customers who purchased its operating system, productivity suite, spreadsheet or word processing software over a four-year period ending August 2002. The $5 to $12 vouchers can be used to purchase computer hardware or software from any manufacturer. Microsoft also will donate half of the unclaimed settlement proceeds to Montana schools.

The software maker now has 15 similar class-action lawsuits outstanding in various states and the District of Columbia. Microsoft earlier this year reached a whopping $1.1 billion settlement with California and a $202 million settlement with Florida.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday his company was working constructively with the European Commission as it investigates the software giant for possible anti-competitive practices. The Commission has been investigating Microsoft for abuse of a dominant position for nearly three years.

"We are working very constructively with the EU and hope we can reach a mutually acceptable resolution," Ballmer told Reuters after a news conference restricted to local reporters only. "It's an important thing for us," Ballmer said, but declined to predict the resolution. He added: "I oversee the company but I am not personally in the middle of the negotiations."