WinInsider

Microsoft said on Monday that PacketVideo Inc. has agreed to use its digital media delivery format, in a deal that gives the software giant a key foothold into the nascent market for mobile multimedia content delivery. PacketVideo, which had previously been seen as a key Microsoft rival in the race to bring rich video and audio content to mobile phones and mobile devices, said that the deal with Microsoft would help it expand its range of customers. "This is an extension of the strategy we've had," said Michael Aldridge, lead product manager at Microsoft's Windows digital media division. "This wireless deal is a component of the an overall strategy to seamlessly distribute Windows Media technology."

AMD converted its highest-end multiprocessing server and workstation chip to 0.13-micron technology. In switching the AMD Athlon MP processor to the smaller size, AMD has moved all three members of its Athlon processor family to the 0.13-micron process. The AMD Athlon MP processor 2200+ can run in dual-processor servers and workstations. Like Intel 32-bit processors, Athlons are based on the x86 instruction set and are compatible with Windows.

AMD has tried to reframe the debate about processor performance from a clockspeed focus measured in gigahertz to some other more general and, in AMD's opinion, accurate measure of chip performance. The 2200+ number in the name, instead of a clockspeed number like market share-leader Intel's recent 2.8-GHz Pentium 4, emphasizes that focus and follows AMD's recent practice. The AMD Athlon MP processor 2200+ costs $224 each in 1,000-unit quantities.

Microsoft Corp. last week released to manufacturing (RTM) its long-awaited Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 1. Microsoft says that it will make XP SP1 available to PC manufacturers and to premier customers over the next few days.

Giga's Enderle says that SP1 could prove to be a double-edged sword for Microsoft in terms of Windows XP uptick. On the one hand, he allows, a lot of IT organizations make it a practice to wait until Microsoft releases an operating system's first service pack before they adopt it broadly. "A lot of times, companies hold off deployments, so they can deploy with the first service release. So there is a percentage of folks who are definitely waiting for that," he speculates.

Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition OS isn't slated to launch until Nov. 7, but companies such as Motion Computing, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Fujitsu already have revealed plans to release Tablet PC products. Groove Networks also has lofty visions for digital ink. Digital ink allows users to write on the screen in their own handwriting and the system treats the notes as searchable digital text. Innovative as this technology is, industry analysts and OEMs are more focused on the problems it solves.

For developers, the Tablet PC OS is the first to include the .Net framework including the CLR (Common Language Runtime) natively integrated in the OS. In XP it is a download, said Alex Gounares, software architect on the Tablet platform team. "All of the new Tablet ink capabilities are programmatically exposed, from handwriting recognition to ink, as a first-class data type to a set of controls to manipulate and edit ink. They are all exposed through .Net," Gounares said.

How would you like to have breakfast with Bill Gates, well you can, kind of. You can join more than 1,500 IT professionals, software developers, channel partners and media to hear what Bill had to say at Breakfast with Bill filled with insights and interesting discussion.

Mr. Gates sharing his vision of an interconnected world and Microsoft's role in the breakthrough technologies that will make it a reality. At the top of the list is the need for rich tools such as Microsoft's recently released Visual Studio .NET and industry standards such as XML that are creating a common way to communicate using the Internet. Microsoft's .NET platform, through XML Web Services, is designed to help break down barriers between software applications, systems and people. In combination with rapid hardware advances in disk capacity, fibre, memory and Wi-Fi, the 802.11b wireless Ethernet standard, IT industry standards are helping to reduce the overall cost of IT projects.

First major update for XP available September 9. Delivering on its promise to release Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) in the coming days, Microsoft announced late Friday that the critical upgrade to its latest desktop operating system will be issued on September 9. With the release to manufacturing (RTM) of XP SP1, the company will finally deliver its first comprehensive set of bug and security fixes to the fastest selling Windows version ever.

"Microsoft is always focused on improving the reliability and security of Windows for our customers, and Service Pack 1 is the latest delivery on our commitment to those customers," said Jim Allchin, the group vice president for the Platforms Products Group at Microsoft. "Windows XP is the most secure and dependable operating system we have ever produced, but our work doesn't end when we ship the product. Windows XP Service Pack 1, along with services such as Windows Update, are examples of how we help customers keep their PCs updated with the latest and greatest technology."

Here is collection of news that made headlines in the month of August... Microsoft nemesis get a NY school job; Microsoft: Road to success; Microsoft's Money Problem: What to Do With It All; Fuel cell powered Notebooks by 2004; Microsoft's .NET 'moving along just fine'; .Net enters formative years; Windows .NET Server-Getting Closer; Microsoft 'Trinity' to bring unity to .NET; Microsoft retools Visual Studio.Net; Microsoft maps out VS.NET's future; Report: AOL's got unhappy customers; AOL Admits Accounting Flubs; AOL investigated for "round trip" trades-WSJ; Sun Microsystems makes fishy loans to Execs; Apache patches another security hole; Netscape usage down to 3.4 percent; WebSideStory: 'Browser Wars a Massacre'.

Software giant Microsoft on Friday said it will release the first service pack for its Windows XP operating system on Sept. 9, adding new security measures and features to comply with proposed federal orders making it possible to remove certain programs. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said Windows XP Service Pack 1, which adds features and patches problems with the software, would be available either through download from the company's Web site or via a CD. The company said the pack contains all the security updates it developed as part of the "Trustworthy Computing" initiative it launched earlier this year, which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said has cost $100 million thus far.

Microsoft Corp. is planning a series of new releases for its SQL Server 2000 data management system this year ahead of its next major upgrade due in 2003. These include an accelerated release of the 64-bit version of the SQL Server 2000 database, the general availability of the next release of SQL Server's mobile database and a third service pack to address such areas as security. The Redmond, Wash., software maker has pushed up its planned release of a 64-bit version of its SQL Server database to coincide with the release of the Windows .Net Server, Gordon Mangione, vice president of Microsoft's SQL Server Team told eWEEK during briefings here this week. The 64-bit version of SQL Server promises to up the ante in its ability to scale for larger enterprises.

It's been a busy week in the telematics (in-car communications) field, capped by a Microsoft-Toyota deal in which the car maker agreed to employ Windows CE for Automotive as the heart of its new in-car "G-Book" information network. Toyota says its G-Book offering, scheduled to debut in October, "will connect people, cars and society."

Microsoft last January to deliver advanced automotive telematics solutions, including wireless Internet connections, to the industry. Windows CE for Automotive is a real-time embedded operating system that enables new categories of in-car computers designed to provide hands-free communication, access to personalized information on the Internet and other convenience and entertainment applications.