Technology giants International Business Machines (IBM) and Microsoft this week roll out new efforts aimed at wooing executives by pushing the ability of their products and services to help out cash-strapped businesses.
Armonk, NY-based IBM's new ad campaign, which continues its "on-demand" initiative rolled out with great fanfare last year, is aimed at a global audience and will carry the tagline "Can you see it?" -- urging c-level executives to visualize the benefits IBM products and services can bring to their businesses.
When Microsoft Corp. officially releases Windows Server 2003 Thursday, it will do so with .Net Framework 1.1 embedded in the operating system. But what does that give developers?
According to some, very little. That's because .Net Framework 1.1 does nothing in relation to the operating system code, they say. "There is a difference between a product that ships with the Common Language Runtime-which is the essence of .Net-and one that actually uses it," said one developer who requested anonymity. "Windows Server 2003 ships with .Net 1.1 but doesn't actually run any of its OS code within it."
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, said on Sunday it cut the prices of its fastest microprocessors for desktop and laptop PCs by as much as 38 percent on Sunday, following its regular pattern of slashing the cost of its chips in advance of faster models.
The price of Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor running at 3 gigahertz was cut 32 percent to $401 from $589. The price of the mobile Pentium 4 chip running at 2.4 gigahertz was cut 38 percent to $348. Intel last made price cuts in February. The cuts came as Intel introduced faster models of both types of chips.
Online discount retailer Overstock.com said on Monday it has reached a settlement with software leader Microsoft on litigation concerning allegations of advertising unauthorized Microsoft software. Overstock said settlement was "substantial" but not material to liquidity and will not harm its future prospects. Terms of the settlement were confidential. Further details on the litigation were not immediately available. Shares of Overstock.com closed at $11.95 on Thursday and shares of Microsoft closed at $25.50.
Pension and mutual funds should keep a close eye on the shares of Microsoft, according to a weekend Barron's article that noted the world's No. 1 software maker makes up 3.4 percent of the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index. If the stock prices changes $10, the overall market value changes $107 billion, and the S&P 500 index moves 1.4 percent, Barron's reported.
Yet the newspaper also said that while the software maker's gross revenues increased 12 percent to $28 billion in its fiscal year ended June 2002, and net income was up 6.5 percent to $7.8 billion, it may not be enough to merit the stock's price/earnings ratio of 33 -- three times its revenue growth rate and five times its earnings growth rate.
Cisco Systems has created a more efficient and targeted way for police and intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on people whose Internet service provider uses their company's routers.
The company recently published a proposal that describes how it plans to embed "lawful interception" capability into its products. Among the highlights: Eavesdropping "must be undetectable," and multiple police agencies conducting simultaneous wiretaps must not learn of one another. If an Internet provider uses encryption to preserve its customers' privacy and has access to the encryption keys, it must turn over the intercepted communications to police in a descrambled form.
On the other hand, the argument that it hinders privacy goes like this: By making wiretapping more efficient, Cisco will permit governments in other countries--where court oversight of police eavesdropping is even more limited than in the United States--snoop on far more communications than they could have otherwise.
Microsoft's stack face-lift speaks to a number of the company's latest goals - namely, boosting its .Net Framework development platform as an alternative to Java and Linux, making it easier to use the company's server platform, and enhancing its Web services capabilities. The server and tools are being launched together to create synergy between the products, said Dennis Oldroyd, director of Windows Server marketing at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash.
"The key new [feature] for Windows Server is inclusion of the .Net Framework shipping native," Oldroyd said. The Net Framework 1.1 includes the CLR (Common Language Run time), ASP .Net class libraries, and the .Net programming model. "It's our version of the application server. We think it leapfrogs Java in terms of productivity, in terms of performance."
This weekend, Microsoft [is] pending release of four new Fun Packs for Windows XP, which are designed to help users be more creative with the built-in digital media and communications features in the company's latest operating system. These special spring-themed Fun Packs add features and functionality to Windows Media Player 9, Windows Movie Maker 2, and the digital photography and Web browsing functionality in XP. There are also two new PowerToys for Windows XP.
Microsoft Research showed off many of the company's emerging technologies this week at a Silicon Valley event. Rick Rashid, senior vice president of the division, delivered an address summarizing its goals and structure. Hands-on demonstrations of technologies slated to appear in Microsoft's future products followed.
Microsoft Research has its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, but there are satellite locations around the globe, including one in Beijing. Rashid started the organization in 1991, structuring it along the same lines as the peer-review communities found at universities. Researchers publish hundreds of papers on emerging technologies each year, and work to develop those technologies.
Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on the beta code for the next release of its BizTalk application integration server, sources close to the company said. Code-named Voyager, the new integration server is the last major component of Microsoft's upcoming Jupiter E-business suite to be upgraded. Key improvements include much tighter support and linkage to Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net application development tools. Microsoft plans to officially debut Visual Studio.Net 2003 on April 24 along with Windows Server 2003.
"The No. 1 thing here [with Voyager] is a better developer experience. They're doing away with the Explorer interface they had for connection," said one source close to Microsoft. Microsoft is hosting a technical preview of the code this week, the source said.