Despite Microsoft's and testers' best efforts to meet the intended ship date of late 2002, Microsoft CRM will go to a second release candidate and miss the deadline. The customer relationship management software "will shortly move to testing RC2" and the company will collect feedback from that beta drop, with plans now to release to manufacturing (RTM) after it has received and reviewed that feedback, a spokeswoman said via e-mail. The product is now expected to RTM in early 2003, she said. The company does not expect this to delay a global Version 1.1. release planned for 2003, she said.
Apple Computer is refining a strategy for connecting cell phones and other portable devices to its Macintosh systems in an effort to boost sales. But a rival endeavor from Microsoft, expected to be unveiled early next year, could dim the company's hopes, analysts said.
Synchronization software is shaping up as a key battleground for Apple and Microsoft. As consumers shift spending away from PCs to more portable devices, such as cell phones or digital music players, controlling the key element for synchronizing data on these devices with computers is becoming increasingly important, say analysts.
Microsoft used 2002 to turn the tide in its nearly 5-year-old antitrust battle with the Justice Department and 18 states. The Redmond, Wash.-based company started the year with its nemesis--the Justice Department--as an unlikely ally, the result of a settlement reached in November 2001. But Microsoft spent most of 2002 convincing U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that the deal was in the public interest and that stiffer remedies requested by nine nonsettling states were not necessary.
Following a string of courtroom procedural gaffes made by the states and three days of testimony by Chairman Bill Gates, Microsoft successfully weakened the states' arguments. After more than four months of deliberations, Kollar-Kotelly approved the settlement with minor modifications and imposed a revised version of the deal as her remedy in the plaintiff states' case. The ruling stunned many legal experts, who questioned whether the states could successfully appeal.
Microsoft appointed a new chief Macintosh maven on Wednesday. The software giant named Roz Ho general manager of its Macintosh Business Unit, which produces software for Apple Computer's Macintosh operating system. Ho, who had been manager of the Macintosh Business Unit's Silicon Valley operation, will take charge of the unit's staff of 150 and software products, which include Office v.X for Mac, MSN Messenger 3.0 for Mac and also the forthcoming MSN for Mac OS X, due next year.
"The Macintosh Business Unit is made up of some of Microsoft's most talented thinkers and developers," Ho said in a statement. "I'm excited to continue working with my team to extend that innovation and create the most compelling Mac computing experiences in the industry."
IBM on Wednesday said that it is shipping 16-processor Xeon MP-based servers in volume. The servers, which are six months behind schedule, broaden the options for customers who are looking to run powerful Windows-based systems with more than eight processors for server consolidation or large database projects.
The 16-way system is the largest configuration of IBM's eServer xSeries 440 system. The modular systems come in four-processor units which can be linked via proprietary interconnects to create larger and larger systems. IBM began offering a four-way version about a year ago and expanded x440 support to eight way systems in March. IBM also offers an entry level version populated with just two processors. IBM's differentiator is a pay-as-you-grow approach.
Microsoft has pushed back the date it will release to manufacturing (RTM) its entrant into the CRM market. The primary cause for the delay is Microsoft's inability to deliver the seamless front-end to back-end integration it has touted as its mid-market advantage, said Cheryl Kingstone, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston. To date, Microsoft has relied on its BizTalk server coupled with connection licenses out of the box to integrate the CRM with the Great Plains accounting software, but links to other applications - such as Solomon -- are not in place, Kingstone added.
A recent software industry merger may have whetted Microsoft's appetite for a deal of its own, but analysts said on Tuesday that the software giant was likely to limit itself to snapping up little companies with new technologies. For months, analysts had been speculating that a Microsoft/Rational deal would make sense because Rational's tools are used by developers to write software programs principally for Microsoft's .NET Internet software.
Several days after the deal with IBM was announced, Rational's shares jumped on speculation that cash-rich Microsoft would put in a competing bid. That speculation was fueled in part by Rational's disclosure, in a proxy statement, that it had held discussions with a company described only as "Company A" about "a potential business combination transaction."
Microsoft is preparing a Feature Pack release for ISA Server that will include enhancements for protecting Exchange and IIS servers and configuration wizards to improve ease of use. The company briefly posted a Q&A with Security Business Unit general manager Craig Fiebig on Tuesday explaining the feature pack. The Q&A was later pulled from the Web. Internet Security & Acceleration Server is Microsoft's enterprise firewall and Web caching server, first introduced in 2000.
Microsoft said Tuesday that sales of its Xbox video game console have surged in the past 30 days, an indication that the system might be gaining ground on competitors such as the Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. In a letter to analysts, the software giant said that it sold 468,000 Xbox units in November, nearly double the number it sold the previous month. The company also reported sales of 2.4 million Xbox software titles, with five titles topping the 100,000 units sold mark. Finally, Microsoft reported that the Xbox Live Starter Kit, which enables Xbox users to play games online with people around the country, has sold over 136,000 copies.
Massachusetts and West Virginia, the two holdout states seeking tougher penalties against Microsoft Corp. in its antitrust case, told the trial judge that the software company owes them $2.32 million in attorneys' fees. Seven of those states then decided against appealing her decision, and Microsoft agreed to pay them $25 million in legal reimbursements to be divided based on how much they spent on the antitrust case. California contributed most of those legal costs.
"This is money these two states would have received had they not decided to pursue an appeal," Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said. "Maybe we'll see whether this is an issue the court needs to resolve." He declined to say whether Microsoft believes $2.32 million was an appropriate amount for reimbursement.