Microsoft Great Plains believes Crystal Decisions can fill a few product gaps, as the software behemoth ramps up its CRM offerings for later this year. The companies signed an OEM and reseller agreement that will give Microsoft CRM customers access to Crystal Decisions' reporting, analysis and information delivery capabilities. For potential Microsoft CRM users, the announcement shows that Microsoft may be leading with customer needs -- that is, the company is serious about getting the technology right. By picking more open and familiar tools, rather than developing tools in-house, Microsoft may be shaking off some of its proprietary coils. "By announcing a strong reporting tool from the get-go, before they even come to market, is a good sign," Spang says.
PC makers in recent months have begun installing a high-speed version of the Universal Serial Bus, dubbed USB 2.0 High-Speed, across their product lines. By the crucial holiday sales season, the major PC makers will have incorporated USB 2.0, with at least one maker installing six USB 2.0 ports in a PC to replace the crowded array of differing ports. USB 2.0 "is the one technology that finally meets all the requirements we've had up until now," said Brian Zucker, a technology evangelist at Dell Computer. USB 2.0, which can move data up to 480mbps, compared with the pokey 12mbps handled by USB 1.1, provides stiff competition for FireWire, a technology invented by Apple Computer that transports data at 400mbps.
Partly due to delays in launching USB 2.0, FireWire has gained in popularity in the past two years. But with USB 2.0 on the market, FireWire temporarily loses its title as the speed king. Perhaps most importantly, FireWire also represents a more costly option for PC makers than USB 2.0, which could undermine its acceptance. "USB 2.0 is more cost-effective," said Roger Kay, an analyst at market researcher IDC. FireWire "will still be around, but over the longer term it does begin to fade."
A developer of peer-to-peer (P-to-P) technology released a new application this week that allows groups of users to view a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation over the Internet in a collaborative setting. Called Presence-AR Adapter for Microsoft PowerPoint, the product is sold as an add-on for Microsoft's presentation software and allows multiple users to simultaneously view a PowerPoint presentation over the Web. The presentation can be stored on several PCs across a network with the goal of providing faster access to the files being viewed, said Derek Ruths, chief technology officer of Advanced Reality, based in Houston, Texas.
Using a standard compression technology, images contained in a PowerPoint presentation would load almost instantly on a users machine, regardless of the size of the image file, according to Ruths, regardless of the speed at which a participant is connected to the Internet. One caveat is that images will first appear fuzzy for users with slow connection speeds, and then sharpen as the download process completes.
Fujitsu next week will introduce its prototype Tablet PC at TechXNY, part of an anticipated wave of the new devices expected to arrive at the industry trade show in New York. Targeted at the mobile workforce, the Fujitsu Stylistic ST4000 Tablet PC is a clipboard-style device that allows users to input data in a handwritten manner much like today's PDA systems. While thinner and lighter than a laptop, the ST4000 stocks the innards of today's cutting-edge mobile computers, including a low-voltage mobile Intel Pentium III processor running Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, according to Fujitsu representatives in Santa Clara, Calif.
Much delayed Bonus Pack from the month of May is finally here. Some of the main highlights are: Windows .Net servers kill Unix; Previewing Windows .NET Servers; Very Smart Appliances in Microsoft eHome; Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) Preview; Can .Net Conquer The Enterprise?; C# striking a chord with programmers; C# versus Java - developer priorities; Intel's Itanium 2 Twice faster as Itanium; Intel wages chip war with Sun; IBM Builds Tiny Transistor That Beats Silicon; New Pentium 4s Offer Raw Speed Boost; Oracle money went to many politicians; Oracle Lobbyist Under Ethics Cloud; California widens Oracle investigation; Oracle in trouble; Time for AOL-TW to Grow Up, Fast.
Fujitsu will unveil a prototype of a tablet PC next week, sources close to the company said, one of a new breed of computers that have touch screens and can read handwriting. The new tablet computer, which sources say is to be dubbed the Stylistic ST4000 when it ships later in the year, will be part of a mobile computing festival at next week's TechXNY trade show in New York. Microsoft will command most of the attention next week, however. As previously reported, the company will unveil details of its new Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system at the show, sources familiar with its plans said.
While Microsoft shows off its software next week, hardware makers also will show off their prototypes of the device. The list includes Hewlett-Packard, which announced its Compaq Evo tablet PC on June 2, Acer, Toshiba and Sony. Fujitsu's new Stylistic ST4000 will weigh about three pounds and will include an ultra-low-voltage Pentium III-M processor from Intel, sources said.
Nielsen/NetRatings this week began publishing media player statistics that use a new method of counting the most popular products for accessing video and audio on the Internet. The biggest winner in the change may be Microsoft: The software giant saw its Windows Media file format take the top spot in the at-work market for April 2002, a first for the company, which has been steadily closing on industry leader RealNetworks for several years. Apple Computer's long-trailing QuickTime format slipped slightly in total files counted, but those numbers wound up closer to its rivals because of the changes, as expected. At home, RealNetworks' RealMedia format continued to lead. But under the new methodology, the number of files in its tally dropped significantly compared to past reports.
A new report from market researcher ARS speculates that the PC giant is getting ready to place an order with a contract manufacturer in Taiwan. The report says Dell's systems will likely be based on Microsoft's Pocket PC software. Cody Pinkston, a spokesman for Dell's client products group, said the company doesn't comment on rumors or unannounced products. However, he acknowledged that Dell is "always looking at emerging technology and business opportunities," although there was "no specific team" looking at the handheld market. In keeping with its overall strategy, Dell would likely get into handhelds with a lower-priced offering than its competitors in an effort to quickly gain market share. It launched its projectors, for example, at $2,500, at least $500 less than rival products.
IBM Drops Linux Support for Thinkpads
In a curious move given its otherwise stellar support of Linux, IBM is dropping support for the Open Source solution from its line of Thinkpad laptops, effective immediately. The decision to drop this support was purely financial, with IBM dropping funding for the project and laying off the people who worked in that group. Incidentally, in IBM-speak, this is referred to a "resource action." Outside of IBM, we call it bone-headed.
Windows "Switchers" Were Solicited, Paid
So it turns out that Apple's latest ad campaign, in which real ex-Windows users explain why they made the move to the Mac, is less than honest. Contrary to comments made by CEO Steve Jobs last week, the ex-Windows users featured in the ad were solicited by Apple to make feedback and didn't approach the company first. Furthermore, the participants were paid to be in the ads and will receive royalties for each ad airtime. I don't think any of this is a problem, if it weren't for the fact that Jobs made it sound like these people came to Apple in the first place. That's not what happened.
Microsoft Posts Office Updates
Microsoft Office 2000 and XP users will want to head over to the Microsoft Web site and download the latest security patches for those products, thanks to recently discovered vulnerabilities in Excel and Word (2000 and 2002 versions). The patches fix recently discovered vulnerabilities but also roll-up all previous fixes.
Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) is designed to greatly simplify the process of keeping Windows-based systems up-to-date with the latest critical updates. SUS enables administrators to quickly and reliably deploy critical updates to their Windows 2000-based servers as well as desktop computers running Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional. [view demo flash 2.88MB]