Determined to affirm support of its 81,000 strong partner community, Microsoft today kicked off its Fusion show here announcing new leadership and reinforcing commitment to fostering business opportunities based on its .Net infrastructure strategy. Microsoft is also using the show here to assure partners who have grown wary of the software giant's approach to delivering services via its Microsoft Services Organization (MSO), in some cases competing directly with its partners. According to Watson, Microsoft has 5,500 major enterprise accounts, 16,000 corporate accounts and 347,000 medium-sized accounts, representing "over 1 million opportunities." In line with that, Watson said Microsoft is realigning its product groups around set of "go to market" solution groups, namely IT infrastructure, application platform, and business productivity.
Making the Switch ... From Linux to Windows
There's been a lot of news lately about Windows users switching to Mac OS X, though of course, the number of people that have actually done so probably numbers in the dozens. And naturally, there have been Linux switching stories all along, though these usually occur mostly on small Web servers and tech enthusiasts' desktops, not exactly huge markets. What doesn't get discussed much, oddly, is the type of switch that must happen every single day, when a Mac or Linux user gives it up and just goes back to Windows. So with the caveat that the only interesting thing about this story is that the guy chose to document his experience, we present Tony Collins, a 27 year old Australian who made the switch. Welcome back, Tony.
Longhorn Details Slowly Emerge
Last month's Palladium revelations were clearly the first step in a long term plan to expose the various bits of functionality that will become available in Longhorn, the next version of Windows. And if the long rollout of Windows XP is any indication, we're going to be hearing about bits and pieces of this new product for years to come. This week, snippets of information about Longhorn's new programming interface, code-named Avalon, appeared in various places. Avalon will expose elements of Longhorn's inductive user interface, which will feature a docked Start Menu some have compared, rather obviously, to the task panes in Office XP. But the notion that Microsoft would extend the task-based UI that debuted in Windows XP isn't exactly news: The company has been upfront about that plan all along. What's interesting about Longhorn, really, is how the system will abstract the underlying file system and let users interact with their data in ways that don't rely on where that data is physically stored. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says that Longhorn should answer just one question to be successful: "Where's my Stuff?"
Seattle-based Microsoft Corp. filed 17 lawsuits Thursday against companies selling counterfeit software, including three in Florida. Best Computers U.S.A. in North Miami was sued for alleged distribution of unauthorized Office 2000 Pro and Windows 98 software, according to the filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division. "We have secret shoppers that test purchase for us," said Microsoft corporate attorney Mary Jo Schrade. "In November 1999, we sent a cease and desist letter when we found out they had agreed to sell a computer system with infringing software. In November 2001, they did it again. We test purchase ourselves to make sure that what one person alleges is happening is really happening."
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has promised for years how Windows will allow consumers to access "information at your fingertips." With Longhorn, the next version of Windows due out in 2005, the company will take its first serious stab at delivering on Gates' vision. And a new application programming interface (API) framework, code-named Avalon, will be at the core of Longhorn's new information-access architecture, according to sources. Avalon is the key to the new "inductive" user interface that will debut in Longhorn, sources say. The new UI will allow users to organize and share information more intuitively, most likely using some kind of "dock," a la Microsoft Office XP, sources say. In such an information environment, files would no longer be displayed on their physical location but instead could be organized by context or in some other way set by users and/or administrators.
Microsoft tossed its hat into the growing customer relationship management ring when it previewed its first CRM product here Thursday. Due for release by the year's end, Microsoft Customer Relationship Management has two modules: one for sales people and the other for customer service representatives. The software will exchange data with Microsoft's desktop applications including its Outlook and Internet Explorer, as well as with its back-office applications, such as accounting and financial packages.
Branching out toward CRM is just one part of Microsoft's expansion into the business applications market, now dominated by SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft and Siebel. It started with Microsoft's acquisition of accounting applications company Great Plains last year. In May, the company agreed to acquire a Danish software company called Navision to increase its reach in that market in Europe.
Microsoft launched a new developer Web site and is offering a new tool to help programmers build software using its technology.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant launched the .Net Architecture Center to provide developers with best practices for building and managing software and ensuring that it's secure. Microsoft also released the Visual Studio Integration Software Developer Kit, which will let businesses integrate their own tools, different programming languages or other technology as part of Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net family of software-development tools. The software developer kit is free to customers who have acquired large volumes of Visual Studio.Net, a Microsoft representative said.
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday unveiled details on packaging and pricing for a software set to debut later this year for mid-sized companies that need to closely manage sales and information about their customers. David Thacher, general manager at Microsoft's Business Solutions group, said clients were currently testing the beta version of Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The software would be priced at $395 per user plus $995 for the server for a standard version, and $1,395 per-user plus $1,990 for the server for a more advanced version, the company said. Last year's acquisition of Great Plains software and the purchase of Navision Software, which was completed on Thursday, are part of Microsoft's drive to provide software and services to small and medium-sized business.
Aiming to attract medium-sized business customers in the market for CRM (customer relationship management) software, Microsoft on Thursday detailed a plan to release a Web-based business application later this year based on its .Net platform. The software maker plans to ship what it calls Microsoft CRM in North America in the fourth quarter of 2002, the company said. The software suite will provide businesses with 25 to 500 employees with a Web-based system for managing their accounting, human resources, supply chain and customer relationships, Microsoft said. This mid-sized business market is one Microsoft calls "underserved."
The suite will be offered as both a hosted service and a product that companies can deploy internally on their own servers. Based on Microsoft's .Net technology, the software is designed to allow integration with external Web services offered by third parties, such as credit checking, mapping and marketing automation services, the company said. Microsoft first announced plans to offer the CRM offering in February.
Microsoft announced Thursday that it has filed 17 lawsuits accusing U.S. companies of distributing illegally copied Microsoft software. The suits, filed in various U.S. District Court jurisdictions, target small PC retailers and consultants, with most of the cases concentrated in Florida, California and New Jersey. Microsoft has become one of the most active companies fighting a growing plague of software piracy, which cost software makers almost $11 billion in lost sales last year, according to a recent study.
Microsoft's intellectual property (IP) claims first emerged back in March, when the company said that it had "possible claims" on a technology called vertex programming, which gives developers more control over 3D effects such as lighting. The claims caused some consternation within the OpenGL Architectural Review Board (ARB), which governs the specification. Microsoft clarified its claims somewhat at this month's quarterly ARB meeting, according to the meeting's minutes, but its proposals still appear likely to throw a wrench in the works of OpenGL, according to legal experts. At the July meeting, Microsoft also added that it may have claims to a technology called fragment shading.
Microsoft responded to the increasing use of OpenGL for Windows games by creating DirectX, which is focused on games on the Windows platform. However, games that use DirectX are more difficult to port to non-Windows platforms, which boosts the attractiveness of Windows for gamers. Supporters of Linux, Mac OS or other operating systems are, therefore, wary of any move by Microsoft to interfere with OpenGL.