Message to the new chief of America Online: You've got a mess. On Thursday, Robert Pittman resigned as chief executive officer of the embattled online division, the latest evidence that the titanic $165 billion union of America Online and Time Warner has hit an iceberg. Some of Pittman's duties were picked up by two company veterans, but the search is on for the person willing to bail water at America Online. And it could be a long, difficult search as candidates examine the woes afflicting the online giant. After all, Pittman himself assumed the top job just a few months ago.
After former CEO Barry Schuler stepped down in April, Pittman was sent from AOL Time Warner's New York office to AOL's Dulles, Va., headquarters. While Pittman's mission was temporary, other executives within AOL Time Warner were approached to take over, according to reports. None accepted, so the search has broadened to outside the company, as evidenced by the company's recent confirmation that it hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart.
There's yet another new version of Windows on the horizon, this one intended to turn your personal computer into a home entertainment center (or at least a key component of one). Dubbed Windows XP Media Center Edition, the new Windows will initially be available only on special PC hardware, and "initially" won't be until early fall, in time for Christmas but missing back-to-school sales. Formerly code-named "Freestyle," this is the technology Microsoft first showed back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where it dueled with the Moxi set-top box for showstopper honors. Moxi won, but promptly ran out of money and ended up being acquired by Digeo. Last week, Microsoft said it had decided not to release Freestyle as a stand-alone version of Windows (so folks like you and I could buy it as an upgrade), introducing it instead on new PC hardware only. The reason: Freestyle requires a TV tuner and a special remote control that makes the system usable from across the room--a key component of the XP Media Center experience.
Back in January, the industry's collective jaw dropped when an internal e-mail from Bill Gates, clearly intended for wider circulation, announced to the world that security was now the company's number one priority, even ahead of new features. Industry watchers quipped that this could mean no more new Microsoft products. If the company just promised not to deliver insecure products, what could it do, given its apparent inability to deliver any other kind? The press looked at the endless list of patches and service packs, of features switched on that should be off, and other problems, and seized on a new stick to beat the company with.
First of all, we of the press at the show were favourably impressed. Microsoft developers were putting a dollar figure on the security push, and it was high $100m for .Net server alone, according to David Thompson, vice president of Microsoft's Windows server group). For another thing, there were noticeably more sessions at this conference relating to security -- and they were getting much higher audiences. Sessions on updates to key products, such as Active Directory, were majoring on security issues. Within of Microsoft's own developers and the community of people using its tools, it is very clear that "secure" has surpassed "cool" in the league of buzzwords. Indeed, it is now true to say that secure is cool.
As far as I can tell, this is a real change in attitude.
A beta version of Windows Media Player 9 leaked out onto Internet sites Friday, providing an early glimpse at Microsoft's upcoming Windows Media 9 Series platform. Although the leaked build -- numbered 2601 -- appears to be from late January, its new features showcase Redmond's digital media plans. Version 9 appears almost identical to its predecessor on the outside, but adds DVD copying, improved encoders and better plug-in management. Cross-fade and normalization plug-ins have been included as standard offering in the new Windows Media Player. The biggest changes come with a new focus on audio and video subscription services. A "Services" button has been added to the menu bar, which leads to a page with options for removing a service and selecting a default - although neither are currently functional. The feature suggests Windows Media Player will integrate with online services such as Pressplay and MusicNet, allowing users to easily download music directly to their libraries.
Contrary to reports that Microsoft has abandoned its HailStorm technology, company officials have revealed plans to embed components of the XML schema and data-access technology throughout its .Net application, server, and client stack. The software giant is combining HailStorm services, a unified storage system, and collaborative SharePoint services toward the goal of building a universal canvas infrastructure across multiple product groups. The move to stitch the HailStorm architecture into the client/server software stack fits with the overall expansion of the .Net Framework, said Dana Gardner, an analyst at Boston-based Aberdeen Group.
"Are we calling it HailStorm going forward? No. We're calling it Web services and .Net," Microsoft's Mangione said. "But a lot of the thinking around schemas, how you get multiple objects -- frankly, there was, in some cases, overlap with other parts of the company. We were heading down a path of developing multiple ways to access [and store] data, multiple ways to store a contact. And that didn't make sense."
A Corona-fueled bash has hit the Web. The latest incarnation of Microsoft's Windows Media Player -- formerly code-named Corona -- leaked to Windows enthusiasts' Web sites within a week of the official launch date announcement. Although Microsoft cordons off access to select groups of partners and software testers, downloads sites have permeated the Web bringing the next-generation digital media platform, Windows Media (TM) 9 Series, to the masses. Windows Media 9.0 introduces a new proprietary codec that Microsoft is pitting against the MPEG-4 standard embraced by competitors including Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computers. Apple's newly christened QuickTime 6.0 includes support for the standard. Both standards charge royalties for distribution or transactions.
On one knows better than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that, as the .Net platform evolves, the success of Microsoft depends on how well the company coordinates its tool, server, and client strategies and how well it communicates that vision. In an interview with InfoWorld Test Center Director Steve Gillmor and InfoWorld Editor at Large Ed Scannell at Microsoft Fusion 2002, Ballmer discussed the progress of .Net, changes in the company's approach to product development, and Microsoft's efforts to simplify product licensing and inspire trust in customers and partners.
Last time we talked was two years ago, at the beginning of the .Net era. So where are we now in the .Net evolution?
Let me start by talking about where I think we are in the XML revolution first, and then [I will] talk about where we are with .Net. I believe that the IT industry collectively decided over the last three or four years that the world was going to be replatformed with XML as the key foundation. It's not like anyone ever got together to decide this, but it's like magnetic north, where it's been clearly indicated that everyone is rallying around the concept. But I think the degree to which [XML] is pervasive might still be underestimated. A lot of partners, even at this conference, see it as b-to-b for big companies. But it is really about the way software in general is designed. It is all about the way security should work. Management -- everything is changed.
Microsoft removed its Java software from the company Web site, causing conspiracy theorists to fire up their keyboards yet again. But the move was completed in anticipation of Windows XP Services Pack 1 (SP1), which will include the Java software. The problem is that Sun claims Microsoft doesn't have the right to distribute Java online because of their Java legal case settlement. Microsoft disagrees, but rather than face yet another court battle, the company decided to simply remove the software and just distribute it through SP1. So this begs the question: If Sun wants Microsoft to be forced to include Java is Windows, why would it complain that the company was offering the software, for free, to Windows customers from its Web site? This stuff makes my head spin.
Microsoft is expanding capability of its directory technology to allow customers to more easily add new applications to their network. The directory technology essentially provides a network manager with a central database to store and manage information about users, computer systems and networking devices. Microsoft competes against Novell and Sun Microsystems in the directory-server software market. Microsoft's "Active Directory" is included in Windows 2000. A forthcoming version of the operating system, called the Windows .Net Server, will include a new capability called Active Directory in Application Mode.
With the application mode, companies can manage access to software that runs on Windows-based networks much easier, said Jackson Shaw, Microsoft's Active Directory product manager. For example, a business can use the directory technology for one specific function, such as a portal Web site for a department, without having to store that information in the main corporate directory, he said.
I'm writing to you, as a reader of one of Microsoft's customer newsletters, about an issue of particular importance to those of us who routinely use computers in our work and personal lives - making computing more trustworthy. Trustworthy Computing involves a lot of things - reliability, security, privacy and business integrity.
Before I share my thoughts about this in more detail, I want to give you some context on why I am sending this email. This is the first in an occasional series of mails that CEO Steve Ballmer and I, and periodically other Microsoft executives, will be sending to people who are interested in hearing from us about technology and public-policy issues that we believe are important to computer users, our industry and everyone who cares about the future of high technology. This is part of our commitment to ensuring that Microsoft is more open about communicating who we are and what we are doing.