Microsoft will pay about $200 million for its previously announced acquisition of PlaceWare Inc., a privately held Web conferencing provider, according to a securities filing on Monday. The purchase of PlaceWare, which was announced nearly two weeks ago, put the world's largest software maker squarely on the map in the fast-growing Web conferencing business. Previously, Microsoft had not disclosed the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the current quarter.
Microsoft and news network CNN said they were hit by a hoax on Monday after a faked Web page erroneously reported the software giant had agreed to buy the video game operations of French conglomerate Vivendi Universal. The hoax Web site, which Purdue University in Indiana confirmed came from its Internet address, was designed to look like a CNN report and circulated on the Web among video game industry watchers on Monday. It was not immediately clear what the student's motivation was.
"Any purported press release or news story appearing on a Web site is a hoax," Microsoft said. The site was taken down just before 4 p.m. EST, a Purdue university spokeswoman said.
Microsoft is talking with Apple Computer Inc. to avoid a challenge to a planned $1.1 billion antitrust settlement the computer maker claims gives Microsoft an unfair advantage in the education market. Microsoft has agreed to settle California consumer lawsuits accusing it of violating state antitrust law and driving up software prices. Apple, whose sales to U.S. schools fell 15 percent last year, says the agreement that would give Microsoft products to California schools amounts to unfair competition.
The talks indicate that Microsoft is seeking to prevent a prolonged battle to win court approval for the settlement, analysts say. Apple's complaints helped derail a proposed Microsoft settlement in 2001.
Microsoft will not have to include Sun Microsystems Inc.'s latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in Windows and Internet Explorer until the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reviewed the case. The U.S. Appeals Court on Monday granted Microsoft a stay of the Jan. 21preliminary injunction by Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, which ordered Microsoft to include Sun's JRE with Windows and Internet Explorer going forward, and enjoined Microsoft from certain separate or stand-alone distributions of its own Java virtual machine (JVM).
Company watchers are growing increasingly restless as Microsoft pours more money into less-than-profitable new businesses. But does Redmond have a choice? Microsoft still has virtually all of its revenue-generating eggs in the Windows and Office baskets. Company brass know this, and are scrambling to diversify with newer ventures in the handheld device, gaming, home-entertainment and online-services spaces. But instead of being applauded for their resourcefulness, Microsoft officials are finding themselves increasingly dinged for spreading the company too thin.
Microsoft on Monday released an updated version of Windows XP Service Pack 1 without the company's version of Java, complying with a court order that was stayed just hours later. Microsoft released Service Pack 1, the first major collection of Windows XP bug fixes, in September. The update added Microsoft's version of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which the company had decided not to ship with the operating system launched in October 2001. The revised service pack, version 1a, removes Microsoft's JVM, as ordered by a Baltimore court.
An appeals court issued a stay of that order late Monday, pending an appeal of the case. Despite the stay, a Microsoft representative said the company would continue to offer Service Pack 1a for download, in line with current plans to stop distributing its own version of JVM in its products.
Microsoft received a reprieve on Monday from a court order requiring the company to ship Sun Microsystems' Java software. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Microsoft a stay of a Jan. 21 decision from U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Baltimore, who gave the company 120 days to begin including Sun's latest Java runtime environment in every copy of Windows and Internet Explorer. Monday's decision means that Motz's injunction will be on hold unless the appeals court upholds the order. No hearing has been scheduled yet.
"We are pleased the Fourth Circuit has stayed the court order and agreed to hear our appeal on an expedited basis," a Microsoft representative said. "It's appropriate that this matter be decided by the circuit court before we would be required to move forward with implementing the injunction."
Microsoft has started to comply with last month's preliminary injunction ordering it to include Sun Microsystems' latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in certain current and future versions of Windows XP and Internet Explorer. On January 21, Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, issued the injunction requiring Microsoft to include Sun's JRE and enjoining Microsoft from certain separate or stand-alone distributions of its own Java virtual machine (JVM).
The Redmond, Wash., software firm said that, effective today, it is replacing Windows XP Service Pack 1 with an updated version of the service pack, Windows XP SP1a, that does not include its own JVM.
Microsoft may in the future be forced to lower its software prices as a result of the growth of open source, the company cautioned in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In its latest 10-Q quarterly filing, Microsoft said that the popularization of the open-source movement continues to pose a significant challenge to its business model. This threat includes "recent efforts by proponents of the open source model to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open source software in their purchase and deployment of software products.
In order to comply with a preliminary injunction forcing the company to include Sun Microsystem's Java in Windows, Microsoft is preparing two updates to Windows XP Service Pack 1. An initial update dubbed SP1a is expected early this month and will be identical to the currently available SP1, but stripped of Microsoft's Java. SP1b will follow in June, featuring Sun's latest Java revision and meeting the timetable imposed by the court.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz issued his ruling in late December and told Microsoft last month it had 120 days to implement the ordered changes. Motz agreed with Sun's claim that Microsoft was not allowing Java to compete by only supporting Redmond's own .NET platform.