State legislators investigating a controversial $95 million Oracle contract have expanded their witness list to include testimony from workers in other states that have had Oracle contracts, state officials said Thursday. California officials launched their investigation last month into the six-year no-bid contract, which the state is now in the process of canceling.
The California contract sells the state more Oracle database licenses than the state has employees and costs at least $6 million more than it should, according to the auditor's report. Oracle maintains that the contract could save California as much as $163 million.
City officials in Toronto are trying to extract themselves from their own $11 million Oracle contract that auditors estimate is 10 times what the city needed. And in Ohio, officials changed their information technology contracting procedures after some frustrating negotiations with the software company.
The state of California for decades has relied on Oracle database software to track data from criminal justice records to payrolls. But the company's efforts last year to sell the state on consolidating its software purchases have come under increasing scrutiny. Last month, the state auditor concluded that the $95 million to $123 million contract, initially promoted as a way for California to save more than $100 million, could cost taxpayers millions of dollars for unneeded software.
"Oracle has a long tradition of aggressive sales and pricing tactics," said Betsy Burton, an analyst for Gartner, a Connecticut-based market research group that has been critical of Oracle. "But the fact is that today they are losing business to Microsoft and IBM because of their tactics."
Microsoft has claimed that customers are buying into its new licensing model in increasing numbers ahead of the 31 July deadline, but has admitted that many are looking at other options. Licensing manager Sue Page told vnunet.com: "We have seen a significant increase in the numbers of Upgrade Advantage [UA] and Software Assurance [SA] purchasers; more than a 30 per cent increase since the start of May and a seven-fold increase since this time last year."
She said that the company's licensing call centre is fielding 1,400 calls a week, and that resellers are reporting a 10-fold increase in calls. But according to a survey by Microsoft reseller Wstore, 30 per cent of customers have considered alternatives to the Redmond giant. Page indicated that Microsoft is not concerned, however, because software purchases are not made on a simple price comparison. "If 30 per cent are looking [at other software] we aren't worried. Looking at the options is a sensible business decision," she said.
After a long break between releases, Microsoft on Tuesday issued the Windows 2000 SP3 Release Candidate, marked build 3.140. The long awaited update weighs in at 17MB and 30MB for Professional and Server versions of the operating system, respectively. This third service pack for Windows 2000 began beta testing late last year, and was originally slated to be a maintenance release including no new features. However, SP3 will end up as quite a significant update, adding support for Automatic Updates and a new configuration pane to comply with Microsoft's antitrust settlement with the Department of Justice and nine states.
People don't think of Windows Server as an application server, even though that's what it is: It provides a platform for application development, where programmers can build, deploy, and share the functionality of reusable software components. And like BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, Oracle 9iAS, Sun iPlanet, and so on, Microsoft's application server is complemented by an integration server (BizTalk), a portal server (SharePoint), and an integrated application development environment (Visual Studio). In particular, I think, Microsoft covets the central position that J2EE app server vendors also seek: the de facto platform for application integration in the enterprise.
The most obvious difference from the rest of the pack is that Microsoft's application server is an inseparable part of the operating system. But there's something else that distinguishes Redmond's offering: a productivity suite on every enterprise desktop. And that, I think, puts .Net in a unique position to create a fully connected enterprise.
Microsoft handed out details about its upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 1 this week, and the free download will apparently show the first signs of the company's antitrust settlement with the Justice Department. The service pack, available publicly as a release candidate this summer and completed later this year, won't contain many other surprises, according to Microsoft. Expect a bevy of security updates, many of which will already be available courtesy of Windows Update. Microsoft promises an updated version of the XP messenger client, Windows Messenger, with improved security, along with support for Mira, Freestyle, and the upcoming Tablet PC.
Microsoft Corp. is in talks with regulators to settle longstanding charges it misrepresented its financial results, but it isn't expected to pay a fine, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will likely bring civil charges that Microsoft failed to keep accurate books and records, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. When companies settle such charges, they typically agree to abide by SEC rules rather than pay a fine, the Journal said. "Microsoft has cooperated fully with the SEC but because this is not a public inquiry, it's not appropriate to comment further or speculate about the status," of the investigation or any settlement talks, a company spokesman is quoted as saying.
Set to debut in Fall of this year, Xbox Live will enter beta testing this summer and a select few will be chosen for the trial. Xbox Live is Microsoft's upcoming online subscription service for the Xbox gaming console, which is slated to feature services that potentially go beyond online gaming. Testers will be given early access to Xbox Live services and pre-release Xbox games. Microsoft has opened sign-ups for those interested in being involved in the beta test program. Making heavy use of broadband, Xbox Live will utilize a headset, dubbed the Xbox Live Communicator, not a keyboard or mouse. Match-making will be a prominent feature, allowing gamers to make friends and find other players with similar interests. The ability to instantly switch between games is also rumored to be a key inclusion.
Microsoft and the Enterprise - It could be argued that no company has a presence as powerful or as ubiquitous in the corporate IT world as Microsoft. Only Intel, Cisco, and IBM can come close. And clearly, no software company comes close in rivaling the revenue base, branding power, and mindshare of the Redmond juggernaut, whose Windows operating system and Office productivity suite platforms are de facto standards for desktop and laptop computers in Global 2000 environments and beyond. Furthermore, over the past few years, Microsoft has made great strides in extending its influence beyond the desktop, as evidenced by the inroads made by its Windows NT/2000 (leading server operating system in terms of unit shipments), Exchange Server (controls over half of the server-based e-mail and messaging software market), and SQL Server (quickly gaining share in the market for database software for small and medium-sized businesses) platforms.
Beta-testing for the first service pack update to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP will begin within a few weeks. The release of the update expected this summer. According to PC World, the free update will include a selection of bug, security and compatibility fixes, many of which are already available as separate downloads. This Release of Service Pack 1 (SP1) could prompt a surge in the adoption of Windows XP by some companies that traditionally wait for this milestone before upgrading to a new operating system, PC World surmises. Desktop PCs running Windows XP will outnumber those running Windows 98 by late 2003, Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at market research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass told PC World. The ambitious update had a slow start compared to that of its predecessor.
"The release of SP1 for Windows XP is likely to cause companies in the pilot-project phase of software adoption to feel comfortable enough to move forward with their adoption plans," Kusnetzky added.