Microsoft researchers have built prototype software for better Windows management and for sorting digital photos that could influence features in the next desktop version of Windows. One system lets users drag windows on their PC desktop into a "focal zone" to enlarge tasks they're working on. Peripheral tasks sit near the edges of the screen, where their icons are grouped by project. The software is designed to take advantage of a new graphics system code-named Avalon that Microsoft is developing for its release of Windows in 2005, code-named Longhorn. It could be the future of task-switching in Windows, says Mary Czerwinski, a senior researcher at the company.
Another project, called MediaFrame, lets users organize digital images according to their content using face-recognition technology and algorithms that can distinguish types of scenery in a photo. The group is working closely with Microsoft developers building Longhorn, says Dan Ling, a VP in Microsoft Research.
An internal alpha build of Microsoft's next Windows release, code-named Longhorn, has slipped out of Redmond labs for the second time in four months. Build 4008 began appearing on Internet sites late last week, following a path similar to last November's leak of build 3683.
To the casual observer, build 4008 shows little progress over 3683. Longhorn's "Plex" visual style has been slightly polished, sporting new graphics for buttons and tabs. The oft-discussed Longhorn Sidebar is also visually cleaner and less prone to crash.
Microsoft has added an optional new taskbar, which can be enabled via the Sidebar, featuring a slimmer design and modern clock display.
The number of companies that have completed an IT project involving Web services standards has grown, a survey released Monday showed. The percentage of surveyed firms using standards such as XML or SOAP increased from 11 percent in mid-2002 to 31 percent today, market researcher Forrester Research Inc. found.
The survey of 877 high-level IT and business decision-makers also found that 60 percent would buy disaster-recovery products or services this year, and 45 percent would purchase business intelligence tools, including data mining and analytics software.
A viral one-two punch--the Code Red and Nimda worms--convinced Microsoft in mid-2001 that security needed to become its top priority. That decision led directly to the creation of the company's Trustworthy Computing initiative. Company Chairman Bill Gates laid the groundwork for the program with an ambitious memo in January 2002 to employees, challenging them to improve the privacy and security of Microsoft software.
The company subsequently halted much of its product development while about 8,500 developers were trained in secure programming and then reviewed the majority of the Windows code for security errors. Microsoft says the entire effort cost some $100 million. But hackers continue to find holes in Microsoft's defense. In January, the Slammer worm hit. This time, not only did customers get infected; Microsoft did, too.
Microsoft said late on Monday said it has signed up more than 350,000 subscribers worldwide for its Xbox Live online video gaming service, as it prepares to bring the platform to Europe. The company had claimed sales of 150,000 subscription kits one week after its November launch and 250,000 kits as of the first week of January for its initial roll-out in the United States and Canada.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft launched the $49 subscription kit enabling online play for its Xbox game console last November in the United States and in mid-January in Japan. It will be released in Europe on March 14.
An early test version of the next major release of Microsoft Windows was leaked onto the Web, offering a glimpse of the company's plans for the new software. The leaked version of the new desktop operating system, code-named Longhorn, hints of major changes under the Windows hood, as Microsoft radically improves file management and searching features in Windows and in Yukon, the code-name for the next version of SQL Server, due out later this year.
In Longhorn, Microsoft plans to introduce a new file system with enhanced storage capabilities. Known as Windows Future Storage (WinFS), the new means for storing, accessing or indexing files will replace NTFS and FAT32, the predecessors used by Windows XP. The file system is intended to make it easier to find information, no matter where it is stored or in what form.
General Motors' Hughes Electronics unit disclosed it has ended its relationship with AOL Time Warner's America Online division, according to a regulatory filing by the DirecTV operator. As a result of the deal's dissolution, Hughes will incur a $23 million pretax charge in its 2002 earnings. But the deal-scrapping will also free Hughes of a commitment to spend up to $1 billion on sales, marketing, development and promotions associated with joint products and services with AOL. Hughes will continue to offer high-speed satellite Internet service to AOL broadband subscribers while the parties break apart their arrangement.
Microsoft said Tuesday that more than 30,000 people have signed up to test its forthcoming OneNote application when the final beta is released later this month. The application, which aims to create a digital equivalent of a notepad and paper, was first shown in November and is due to ship mid-year as one of two new members in Microsoft's Office family of products. With OneNote users can type or enter handwritten notes anywhere on a page, making document creation a less structured affair than with Microsoft Word. Users can also drag images or graphs onto a page and attach audio clips to their notes.
Microsoft has again changed the product name of a shipping product. On Monday, the Redmond, Wash., firm said it was changing the name of its team collaboration technology, SharePoint Team Services, to Windows SharePoint Services. Microsoft said the change reflects its "commitment to providing strategic platform services that are designed specifically to improve information worker productivity." The name change follows Microsoft's recent decision to change the name of its upcoming server family from Windows .Net Sever 2003 to Windows Server 2003.
Microsoft Corp. on Monday finally released the licensing and pricing options for its upcoming Windows Server 2003 family, which is slated for shipment in late April. The licensing model consists of a server operating system license and incremental Client Access Licenses (CALs) "and is designed to allow for complete scalability of your cost in relation to your usage," Microsoft said.
Retail pricing for the different products starts at $399 for the Windows Server 2003 Web Edition, Microsoft's Web server product that requires no CALs. The standard server product, known as the Standard Edition, is priced at $999 and includes five user or device CALs. The enterprise server product, the company's Enterprise Edition, costs $3,999 and includes 25 user or device CALs. Microsoft did not disclose the pricing and licensing terms of the top-of-the-range Datacenter Edition, which is only available through qualified OEMs.