Microsoft is preparing a version of MSN Messenger with new features that will be available exclusively to paying subscribers of the MSN 8 online service. The Redmond, Wash.-based company plans to release the new instant messaging client, MSN Messenger 5, simultaneously with the launch of MSN 8. That launch could happen as early as October, which should also see the release of version 8 of online service software from AOL Time Warner's America Online unit. AOL unveiled the latest update to its popular AOL Instant Messenger product, version 5, last week.
Microsoft plans to offer two versions of MSN Messenger 5, one as part of MSN 8 and another as a separate standalone product. But some of the best new features will only be available to MSN 8 customers, who must pay a fee to use the service. An additional feature will be available exclusively to Windows XP users.
Microsoft grew its share of shipments in the server operating environment market in 2001 by seven percentage points even as the overall market declined by about one percent, according to market researchers at IDC. Windows servers accounted for nearly 49 percent of server operating environment shipments in 2001, compared with almost 42 percent in 2000. Al Gillen, research director for IDC's system software research, attributed Microsoft's growth to Microsoft's licensing programs and customer migrations from Windows NT to Windows 2000.
An interesting turnabout took place over last weekend when Microsoft posted on its Product Support Services Web site a detailed knowledge base article that provides step-by-step instructions on how to change volume-licensed product keys for Windows XP. But the move, which started as a customer service to help users legitimately change keys, could actually serve as a blueprint of sorts for hackers to access XP keys, some said.
Unlike consumer customers, Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., provides XP to volume-licensed customers with keys that unlock re-quested applications and validate their installations. But shortly after XP's release last fall, hackers seized on a method of accessing such keys to open their pirated versions of the operating system. The company moved to stave off those pirates with an update, Service Pack 1, that swapped compromised keys for more secure keys, and validated installations.
Thanks to WMLAH.com for this link.
Speaking on Monday on a flying visit to London, Ballmer addressed a whole series of Microsoft software issues, including a veiled hint that the channel strategies of Great Plains and Navision would be altered over the course of time to bring them in line with other Microsoft products and that the company's CRM ambitions are not limited to the desktop as its rivals insist. But despite growing speculation that the company will mount a takeover bid for a major services company - with Accenture most firmly in the frame - Ballmer chose to insist that Microsoft was not interested in trying "to be IBM" and maintain a large services organisation. The strategies that had been in place 20 years ago at Microsoft still looked pretty good to him, he said.
Musicians, consumer electronics giants, broadcast companies, and other media content providers are embracing Microsoft's budding Windows Media 9 Series technologies, now in beta, at an unprecedented rate. This week, singer Peter Gabriel released his latest album, "Up," as both a digital download and traditional in-store CD release, with the downloadable version only available in Windows Media Audio (WMA) 9 format. And because of advances in the new WMA 9 format, Gabriel's downloadable digital album can be had in both stereo and 5.1 channel surround sound versions.
The head of Microsoft's year-old video game business said on Wednesday he is confident a raft of new games and the launch of online gaming will jumpstart sales of its market-trailing Xbox console. For J. Allard, general manager of Microsoft Xbox, the optimism comes amid mounting pressure to boost sales. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday added pressure on the unflappable Allard, saying he "expected" Xbox to overtake Nintendo's GameCube to become Europe's second-best selling console.
To do so, Microsoft would need to have a banner Christmas. The veteran console specialists Nintendo said last month it expects to have shipped three million units to retailers by year-end while one leading research firm, ScreenDigest, estimates Microsoft will only sell 1.3 million Xbox units this year.
Nearly a year has passed since Microsoft and the US federal government proposed a settlement of their four-year antitrust battle. California and eight other states have fought on, arguing the settlement wouldn't go far enough to prevent the company from stifling competition. Now, any day, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will decide if the settlement serves the public interest or if Microsoft should face stricter sanctions sought by the holdout states. Microsoft has portrayed itself in the past year as a kinder, gentler software giant, touting its compliance with the settlement terms even before the deal becomes official.
Software giant Microsoft on Tuesday said it has acquired British video game developer Rare Ltd. for $375 million in cash to bolster its internal game development efforts. The announcement was expected, as Nintendo said last week it had sold its 49 percent stake in Rare to Microsoft. Microsoft said Rare will now develop games exclusively for its Xbox video game console. The developer will remain in Warwickshire, England, where it was founded in 1985.
Since it completed its acquisition of Navision in July, Microsoft has been unearthing some of the other hidden nuggets that it bought along with Navision's suite of business apps. Navision offers a family of CRM, human-resource management and manufacturing/distribution wares that Microsoft is rebranding as part of its Microsoft Business Solutions lineup. But Navision also has some under-the-covers .Net-based technologies upon which the Danish software company had been laboring prior to the Microsoft acquisition. Microsoft is moving some of Navision's metadata-store technology from its Axapta enterprise resource planning software into the evolving Microsoft Business Framework (MBF), according to Darren Laybourn, vice president of MBF.
Microsoft on Tuesday scored its first big promotional boost for the new Windows Media Player 9 Series software. Peter Gabriel's new album, "Up," debuted Tuesday in stores--and on the Web in Windows Media 9 Series format. In what Microsoft claims is a Web first, the album comes in 5.1-channel surround-sound audio. Consumers can preview the entire album, before deciding whether to purchase "Up." The price was not immediately available. The surround-sound download is a hefty 188MB. A 62MB version of the file in "stereo" format is also available.