Microsoft on Tuesday disclosed technical information vital to allowing third-party developers to create software that works well with Windows. The Redmond, Wash.-based company released the information as part of its pending settlement with the Justice Department and nine of 18 states. The settling parties are waiting for a federal judge to either approve or reject the November agreement. The software titan posted the information on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site one day ahead of the information's scheduled Wednesday release.
Completion of the disclosure clears the way for the release of Windows XP Service Pack 1, the first major update to the operating system Microsoft launched in October. Among other things, Service Pack 1 contains a new control for setting default middleware programs, such as Web browsers and instant messaging software.
For all the hype that Bill Gates has been generating around the Tablet PC concept, you could be excused for thinking the idea is a new one for Microsoft. But in fact, it's a second go-round for the company, years after its ill-fated "Windows for Pen Computing" experiment a decade ago. The current software shows that Microsoft has learned from its mistakes.
The operating system is Windows XP Professional Tablet Edition, a superset of the standard XP Pro. Microsoft has added a program called Microsoft Journal, which is intended to be a note-taking replacement for the pad of paper you would typically take to a meeting. Everything you write on the pad is stored as graphics -- called digital ink -- unless you highlight an area and ask the machine to recognize what you wrote. Then it takes its best shot at turning your scribbles into ASCII text. This actually works quite well, even on my often illegible handwriting.
Microsoft has begun to incorporate new privacy policies and procedures in upcoming products, apparently in response to this month's settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The newest beta, or test, version of Windows Media Player 9 Series prominently displays Microsoft's privacy policy for the program and offers consumers options for controlling just how much information they share when using the product. Unlike competing products, Windows Media Player 9 Series presents consumers with these options the first time the program is used. Microsoft is scheduled to release a widely available public beta of the media player Sept. 4 in Los Angeles.
Antitrust cases brought against Microsoft Corp. by two rivals must be heard by a court that's already handling more than 100 other antitrust lawsuits against the software giant, a panel ruled last week. Those rivals, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Be Inc., had hoped to keep their cases in California, where they originated. But the Multi-District Litigation panel, which decides whether cases filed in different states should be heard by a single judge, last week ordered the cases transferred to U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz's Baltimore courtroom. An antitrust case filed by a third Microsoft opponent, America Online Inc., has already transferred to the Maryland federal court. Lawyers have said that the East Coast court is more conservative on antitrust issues, a leaning that could favor Microsoft, especially if the case is appealed.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) increased the performance of its family of chips for servers and workstations Tuesday with the release of the Athlon MP 2200+ processor. The chip runs at 1.8GHz, and is the first server and workstation chip from AMD to be manufactured on its 0.13-micron process technology. As of Tuesday, AMD will also offer the Athlon MP 2000+ in a 0.13-micron version. The smaller process allows AMD to reduce its die sizes, resulting in production of more chips from its silicon wafers. This smaller die size also improves the chips' performance and power consumption, said Scott Gude, marketing manager for AMD.
"Low power consumption is key for individuals in heavy-compute environments, and we've cut the power consumption by 12 percent over our 0.18-micron process technology," he said.
Microsoft announced Monday that it has begun offering a full-cost rebate for a DVD playback kit purchased in conjunction with the company's Xbox video game console. The DVD kit includes a remote control and an infrared receiver that plugs into the Xbox, allowing the console to function as a DVD movie player. Customers who buy an Xbox and the DVD kit between now and Nov. 2 will get a $30 rebate, covering the cost of the DVD kit.
Intel came out with four new Pentium 4 processors on Monday and at the same time enacted the first phase of a major price cut. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker released desktop Pentium 4 chips running at 2.8GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.6GHz and 2.5GHz, and those chips will be incorporated into new PCs from Dell Computer, IBM and others. Gateway, for example, is using the 2.8GHz and 2.6GHz processors in its new Profile 4 line of computers with a built-in flat-panel monitor, which debuted Monday.
The new chips also kicked off stage one of a price reduction, something Intel hasn't done for its desktop line since June. The 2.8GHz chip will sell for $508 in 1,000-unit quantities, while the 2.66GHz and 2.6GHz will sell for $401 in volume quantities. The 2.5GHz chip will sell for $243.
Organizations using Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server will be able to download an add-on for the database starting this week that will provide large-scale personalized e-mailing. The add-on, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Notification Services, is included in a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 license, so anyone using SQL Server can install Notification Services on the same machine at no extra charge-a bargain. It requires SQL Server, of course, and, because it's in large measure a programming tool kit, it also requires developer expertise in a .Net language. We tested Beta 2 code of the software. Notification Services is the first server created by Microsoft that uses .Net Framework itself-it's written in C#. We think writing server code in a managed execution environment is a great idea for security and hope to see more of the same in other Microsoft server products.
Microsoft on Monday is releasing SQL Server Notification Services, a platform for developing and deploying database applications that enable users to subscribe to informational updates. The software provides developers and customers with a programming model for generating and formatting notifications based on personal subscriptions, said Mitch Gatchalian, Microsoft product manager for SQL Server, in Redmond, Wash. Information can be pulled from the database and forwarded to subscribers via means such as e-mail, mobile phones or devices, instant messages, or fax, according to Microsoft.
Amid the drive to achieve industrywide interoperability of Web services, vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, and Sun are aiming to steer the IT world toward accepting their technologies as standards. Web services currently are being subjected to a plethora of proposed standards to iron out issues such as business processes, messaging, communications, and security. Most recently IBM, Microsoft, and BEA left Sun out of a proposal for business processes standardization, called BPEL4WS (Business Process Execution Language for Web Services), which irked Sun officials.
BPEL4WS represents the marriage of two rival standards: IBM's WSFL (Web Services Flow Language) and Microsoft's XLang. An executable language, BPEL4WS is designed to ensure that differing business processes can understand one another in a Web services environment.