It may look like Windows 2000 Server with a mere user interface lift, but .NET Server 2003 is much more than that. Microsoft has made dramatic changes to many parts of the OS. And the code has either undergone functional changes or been completely rewritten to work out bugs and improve stability and speed.
.NET Server 2003 Standard Edition will replace Windows 2000 Server as the entry-level server platform for most midsize organizations (and will be the upgrade path from it as well). The new platform will fall between .NET Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Microsoft Small Business Server 2000, which will be replaced with a new version sometime in 2003.
Although Microsoft Corp. doesn't anoint Windows .Net Server 2003 Release Candidate 2 as "feature-complete," this edition shows that Microsoft's next operating system revision will be a significant, incremental upgrade compared with the massive overhaul that took place going from Windows NT to Windows 2000.
Some of the most important benefits of Windows .Net Server 2003 RC2 come from kernel improvements, which should greatly improve the scalability and performance of Microsoft's flagship server operating system. However, these improvements probably won't be observable until the final code is ready. Microsoft hasn't specified a release date.
Microsoft said late Thursday that problems with its .Net Passport servers briefly locked some subscribers out of their online accounts. "Some users have been experiencing some intermittent problems with sign in," said Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn. "It was a networking issue with a small subset of accounts." Sohn said the company detected problems with the .Net Passport servers around 3:30 p.m. PST and the company's technical team had it under control about three hours later. "We think we've fixed it and we're continuing to monitor the situation," he said.
In court documents released Thursday, the Consumers for Computing Choice and the Open Platform Working Group asked for permission to intervene in the case so they could appeal the settlement between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department.
Robert Lande, a law professor at the University of Baltimore who specializes in antitrust, said he was puzzled by the groups' attempts to intervene in the case. "You've got to have cognizable harm in order to have standing to appeal something," Lande said. "I can't even guess as to their theory."
In December, two ardent Microsoft foes funded by competitors such as Sun Microsystems and Oracle--the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Software and Information Industry Association--began a similar attempt to inject themselves into the case to appeal Kollar-Kotelly's decision. Under the Tunney Act, a federal judge must determine that such an antitrust settlement is "in the public interest."
Device maker High Tech Computer has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to begin selling the "Falcon," a cell phone powered by Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition software.
An HTC representative could not be reached Thursday to comment on sales plans, but because the phone uses Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) phone networks, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless are likely candidates for selling the device in the United States. The Falcon, which was approved by the FCC last week, uses the more basic of Microsoft's two sets of cell phone software. Pocket PC Phone Edition phones can make calls but have a large screen and lack a number pad.
Apple Computer on Thursday released the final version of its iSync synchronization software, in what could be seen as an attempt to trump new software coming next week from Microsoft. In late September, Apple released a beta version of iSync, which lets people synchronize calendar and contact data with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones, Palm PDAs and the Apple iPod digital music player. In December, sources close to the Cupertino, Calif.-based company had said that iSync would not ship in time for next week's Macworld trade show in San Francisco.
Core skills
The 'core' technical IT skills, according to e-skills, demanded by employers for both contractors and permanent staff are unchanged from last year except for the addition of .Net this year:
- SQL
- C++
- Unix
- Oracle
- C
- Windows NT
- Java
- Visual Basic
- MS Office
- .NET
Significantly, .Net skills are appearing on the must-have list alongside Java and XML. Hull University is developing--with Microsoft--the first .Net Post Graduate Degree course for Computer Science in the UK, beginning in September 2003. As part of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance, universities create a "lending library" where students can legally access copies of the products for home use.
Will Longhorn take the blue ribbon, or get slaughtered? Microsoft Corp. is banking on the former. Others aren't so sanguine. Longhorn is the code name for the next top-secret version of Microsoft's cash-cow Windows software, a product Microsoft hopes will ring up new sales and stave off competitors such as the rival Linux operating system. But as thousands of engineers in Redmond labor to bring Longhorn to market, some in the technology industry wonder if the much-anticipated product will fall flat.
One major problem: Longhorn, envisioned as breakthrough software that could improve computer security, data storage and the look and feel of Windows, is expected to share key attributes with another operating system Microsoft tried, unsuccessfully, to launch nearly 10 years ago. That ballyhooed project, code-named Cairo, has been largely forgotten by all but computer cognoscenti and the Microsoft engineers who worked on it.
I would assume that by now most everyone has heard of Microsoft's .Net initiative. Despite getting off to a bumpy start with a mediocre marketing campaign, the initiative is picking up speed and beginning to generate some enthusiasm in the developer community. Developers have been enthusiastic as they find that .Net not only shortens development cycles, but also represents a big step towards improved coding standards. Enterprises are happy as they are finding cost advantages to developing in .Net. In turn, we've seen market demand for programmers and systems analysts with .Net experience begin to rise. It looks like Microsoft has a winner.
Microsoft is set to release its first mainstream consumer software application protected by product activation, in what could be a first step toward expanding use of the antipiracy technology. On Tuesday, Microsoft plans to officially launch Plus Digital Media Edition (DME), a $19.95 add-on pack for the Windows XP operating system. Microsoft has offered various versions of Plus since the release of Windows 95. But unlike earlier versions, Plus DME is protected by product activation, meaning that consumers will have to enter a 25-key code to install the software and then "activate" Plus DME over the Internet.