Federal investigators looking into America Online's (AOL's) accounting practices are now focusing on two advertising deals the company forged with German media giant Bertelsmann, which may result in AOL having to issue further restatements to its financial results.
AOL parent company AOL Time Warner (AOLTW) revealed regulators' concern over the Bertelsmann deals in a quarterly filing submitted with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Friday. Both the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have initiated probes into AOL's accounting practices, which has led the company to launch its own internal investigation and restate nearly two years worth of financial results, totalling $190 million.
Microsoft on Monday released a Windows XP update designed to enhance security for computers that connect to wireless networks. The software update would change how the operating system connects to 802.11, or Wi-Fi, networks or base stations. Under the older method, one encrypted key is used by everyone connecting to the wireless network. The update would provide a means of associating a separate key for each computer connecting to the network, a change that in theory should increase security.
Businesses are increasingly concerned about wireless security, particularly since a breach through a single base station could expose an otherwise fortified network to infiltration by hacking or snooping.
Late Friday, Microsoft made the Gold, or RTM, code for Windows Server 2003 available to MSDN subscribers and beta testers. MSDN Universal and Professional subscribers now have download access to Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise 64-Bit editions, as well as System Resource Manager and a customer support and diagnostic toolset. Windows Server 2003 beta testers received access to 180-day time-limited versions of the final code; the editions they received depend on which editions they tested during the beta. Microsoft said that beta testers will not receive a retail copy of the final code, as is typically the case with the company's server beta programs.
Microsoft said criticisms of its Palladium security initiative are rumors and speculation about technology that won't even be ready to hit the market for years. Palladium, whose formal name is Next Generation Secure Computing Base, is technology that Microsoft says will make computers trustworthy. It will use a security processor attached to a PC motherboard, along with a subsystem of the Windows operating system, called the Nexus, to allow users to create a highly secure virtual space to store sensitive data and run sensitive applications.
Microsoft has hired a former venture capitalist to help come up with new ideas for products in its business applications group. The company hired Katie Drucker, 33, in January to incubate new businesses, Peter Rinearson, a vice president in the company's information worker business, said in an interview. Drucker was a vice president at Kellett Investment Corp., the firm founded by former WorldCom Inc. board member Stiles Kellett.
Microsoft's business applications sales rose by less than 1 percent for the 12 months ended June 30, and the company is trying to come up with a few projects that could turn into big businesses in a few years, Rinearson said.
Microsoft's MSN Internet service has stagnant customer growth and lower-than-forecast sales, partly because the company's delayed introduction of fast U.S. Internet access is driving clients elsewhere. MSN had expected more sales from its fast broadband Web service. Delays in rolling out and securing broadband distribution partners are raising costs, MSN marketing director Bob Visse said. MSN scaled back marketing plans that may have attracted unprofitable subscribers, he said.
Microsoft announced Friday that it had released two high-end operating systems to computer manufacturers. Windows Server 2003 is Microsoft's high-end business operating system, which the company hopes will extend its reach into the enterprise. Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003 is designed for workstations running Intel's Itanium 2 processors.
The release of Windows XP 64 could spur the adoption of Itanium-based workstations, which have not sold as well as expected, say analysts. Dell Computer released a workstation containing the original Itanium chip in 2001, but then quietly pulled it off the market. Although Dell hasn't come out with Itanium 2 computers yet, company executives said the direct PC maker will adopt the chip. Currently, Hewlett-Packard is the only major computer manufacturer offering Itanium 2 workstations.
Microsoft is planning to release cheaper, no-frills versions of its business-management applications this spring, with prices 30 percent lower than regular versions. The lower-cost "standard" editions will be available for three different software packages developed by the Microsoft Business Solutions unit, a representative said Friday. The newly formed division of the Redmond, Wash., company focuses on accounting, sales and inventory systems for midsize businesses.
The three software lines getting new price tags and packaging are Solomon, Great Plains and Navision, products that were picked up through Microsoft's acquisition of Great Plains Software and Navision.
The Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted two trade groups their request to appeal the landmark antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice, in the latest setback to the controversial settlement. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) will have their appeals case get underway beginning in May.
The two organizations sought to intervene in the case in December. Under the Tunney Act, the courts must determine whether the antitrust settlement is in the public's best interest. The historic settlement was approved in U.S. District Court by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
Microsoft hopes to re-energize its upgrade engine with the launch of Windows Server 2003. Microsoft's latest network operating system (NOS) promises the tools and support to succeed in encouraging Windows NT Server 4.0 users to upgrade where the enticements offered by Windows 2000 Server failed.
CRN Test Center engineers kicked the tires of Windows Server 2003 to see what the new NOS has to offer those relying on NT Server 4.0, and even those that made the move to Windows 2000 Server.
First off, Microsoft has gone to great lengths to clean up the software's management interfaces. Administrators will find it somewhat easier to navigate the intricacies of Active Directory (AD) and perform several other tasks.