Microsoft has shipped an early trial version of "Freestyle"--its new entertainment-centric PC design--to some beta testers, a company representative confirmed Thursday. PCs equipped with a remote control and an early, pre-beta release of the Freestyle software were sent to a small group of testers that have been accepted into the Freestyle beta program, said Jodie Cadieux, marketing manager for Microsoft's eHome division. She said comments from the advance test will help decide the nature and release date of a full beta version of Freestyle.
Announced early this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Freestyle is a part of Microsoft's eHome strategy to shift personal computing to the living room. PCs equipped with Freestyle software and hardware add-ons would act as a digital entertainment jukebox, distributing music, video and photos throughout a networked home.
Verizon Communications announced a broadband service deal with Microsoft on Thursday that combines Verizon's digital subscriber line (DSL) network with the software giant's MSN portal. "You can think of it as a strategic alliance, but it's actually a new service," said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on a conference call to discuss the agreement. The companies said they will create a new type of DSL experience: giving subscribers services and content with their high-speed Internet access. MSN's content, instant messenger service and Hotmail e-mail service will all be part of the deal. The companies said they would share revenues from the new service, but declined to give specific financial terms.
The service will create a unified platform for wireless and broadband access, building on a deal struck last month between Microsoft and Verizon Wireless, the cellular division of Verizon Communications. The new service will be available early next year to Verizon's 34 million customers and will be the same whether offered through Microsoft or Verizon, the companies said. Customers will have a choice of e-mail addresses with Verizon's or Microsoft's name, and they will be able to choose to be billed by either company.
The lucky few selected to beta test Windows XP's new Freestyle technology have a new toy to play with. Microsoft shipped to Freestyle testers a beta version of the multimedia interface designed to be used with a remote control from across the room. "The Freestyle beta release kit will include a PC and all the necessary equipment required to setup and run Freestyle, along with support and bug reporting information," Microsoft beta coordinators wrote in an e-mail to testers. "As a reminder, you will need to provide a monitor that can support 1024 x 768 resolution." Freestyle turns a Windows XP PC into a virtual media center, allowing a user to access music, video and photos at a distance from anywhere in the room. Freestyle sports an extra-large user interface with simple layouts and flexible menus.
Wal-Mart has started selling PCs pre-installed with the Lindows operating system that the makers claimed on launch would be able to combine the ease of Microsoft applications with the stability of Linux. Start-up Lindows.com is dedicated to providing Microsoft applications on top of a Unix-like operating system. However, since the products first appeared on the Wal-Mart website last Friday, Lindows' boasts have been reduced somewhat. Lindows is now only claiming to provide a whole host of applications at just $99 on top of its operating system, but doesn't guarantee that any of them are Microsoft apps. [bummer]
In a surprising end to the Microsoft antitrust hearings, Microsoft lawyers refused to comply with a judge's request that they offer possible concessions to the nine states suing the company. During closing arguments Wednesday, Microsoft lawyer John Warden refused to give any ground. "This proposed decree is fundamentally flawed," Warden said of the state penalties. "We can't remedy any of this by changing a few words here and there." The judge, who had asked both sides to find middle ground, smiled slightly through Warden's statements. Kollar-Kotelly has to decide whether to institute the states' harsh sanctions against Microsoft as punishment for breaking antitrust law. She is also weighing a much less demanding federal settlement made last year.
Sorry for the lack of better title, but yet another company that has failed to create compelling product/service and is now suing Microsoft for their own negligence. I guess when your are
number one company in the world with $40 billion in reserves, then you are going to attract shit like that. I guess you got to find a source of profit somewhere, I just didn't expect that it would be in others companies pockets.
In a new suit that echoes earlier charges from Netscape, Sun Microsystems and others, Microsoft is accused of bullying companies out of using Burst.com products and stealing the streaming company's technology. The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Microsoft's upcoming video encoding and decoding product, Corona, includes Burst's patented video-delivery technology. The company also alleges that Microsoft pressured partners and customers, including Intel and RealNetworks, into dropping support for Burst technology. And it claims Microsoft intentionally caused Burst's products to be incompatible with Windows software.
Fujitsu announced plans Tuesday to broaden its existing global partnership with Microsoft, saying it will offer products and services based on Microsoft's .Net platform to enterprise customers around the world. As part of the deal, Fujitsu, in Tokyo, will develop a version of its Interstage middleware products for use with Microsoft's .Net platform, the company said. The current version of Interstage is based on Sun Microsystems' Java technology and includes a J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) application server, enterprise software applications, and development tools. Interstage is one of the most widely used application development platforms in Japan, according to Rob Enderle, a research fellow with Giga Information Group. For Fujitsu, one motivation for the deal may be to help it expand its presence in the IT market and compete more effectively with major players such as IBM, he said.
This week, Microsoft surpassed General Electric to become the world's largest company, as measured by market value. Microsoft's move into the number one spot came thanks to a small stock price increase, which gave the company a market capitalization of over $299 billion. GE, by contrast, has a market capitalization of just over $295 billion. Microsoft had held the number one spot once before, when it pushed past GE for most of 1999. But GE had been ranked number one since April 2000, after a brief stint behind Cisco Systems. Microsoft, Cisco, and GE, of course, have been hit hard by the sliding economy. Despite being among the largest companies in the world, both Microsoft and GE have market capitalizations that are less than half their peak values.
Microsoft and nine plaintiff states return to the courtroom Wednesday for closing arguments in the software giant's antitrust remedy proceeding.
The day in court will bring to a close nearly two months of testimony, spanning 33 witnesses, before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who will now decide Microsoft's fate. Nine states and the District of Columbia are pursuing stiffer sanctions than those proposed in a separate settlement with the Justice Department and nine other states. Kollar-Kotelly has yet to approve that settlement, leading some antitrust experts to wonder if she will treat the two different "tracks" in the case as one proceeding. In a Tuesday court order, Kollar-Kotelly guided both sides to seek a compromise and to "prioritize the various provisions in your remedy proposals," organizing which portions are most integral "and which are less significant."
The federal judge hearing the Microsoft antitrust case wants lawyers for Microsoft Corp. and nine states to focus on modifying competing penalty proposals rather than argue about their differences. "Prioritize the various provisions in your own remedy proposal, indicating which provisions are integral to the proposal's effectiveness and which are less significant," U.S. District Judge Kollar-Kotelly told both sides in an order Tuesday. The judge cautioned that the order should not be construed as an indicator of how she will rule. She also wants Microsoft to consider how the company could close loopholes in the federal settlement, a central criticism of the deal. Any changes Microsoft makes would have to be agreed to by the Justice Department. The settlement has yet to be approved.