Free! Shipping Software: The End Game: As they move from development to shipping, Microsoft’s products go through a set of interim releases, giving customers opportunities to influence their features and to plan deployments
Standard Edition Completes Visual Studio Line: Visual Studio Standard Edition fits between low-end Express tools and Professional Edition and completes the product line for Visual Studio 2005

Consumer Products and Services

Free! Media Player Update Moves Strategy Forward: Windows Media Player 10 and accompanying technologies attempt to equal the ease of use offered by Apple's digital media products while supporting new scenarios, such as portable digital video players
Portable Media Centers Launch: Portable Media Centers occupy a gray area between portable audio-only players like Apple's iPod, portable DVD players, and multifunction devices like Pocket PCs, but at a premium price
MSN Enters Music Store Race: The success of Apple’s iTunes Music Store is bolstering Apple’s chosen format and DRM technology; to meet this platform threat, Microsoft has launched its own music service
New Hardware Includes Fingerprint Readers: New fingerprint readers eliminate the need to remember credentials for multiple Web sites, but are not intended for network log-ons or sites where high security is required

Server Products

MOM 2005 Ships with New Licensing Model: MOM 2005 is available in an economical version for businesses with 10 or fewer servers, but changes to the licensing model of the full product could increase its cost
Adapter Connects BizTalk 2004 and SAP: A BizTalk Adapter for SAP allows developers to connect BizTalk 2004 to the mySAP suite of business applications; the Adapter will compete directly with a product from partner iWay Software

Windows and Mobile

Longhorn Components on Windows Roadmap: The next Windows desktop OS, code-named Longhorn, is significantly scaled back, and Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 will get graphics features and APIs originally planned for Longhorn
AutoUpdate Impacts Windows XP SP2 Rollout: Because AutoUpdate threatened to install Windows XP SP2 before organizations were ready, Microsoft provided a means to defer installation--but it should not be deferred indefinitely
New Installer Supports Security Push: First released with Windows XP SP2, Windows Installer 3.0 will help keep installed software up-to-date, which is critical to keeping systems working and secured against attack
Spyware Growing Security and Privacy Problem: Despite recent efforts to improve the security of Windows, spyware can still get on computers, requiring additional vigilance on the part of users
Graphics Files Pose Threat: A new critical vulnerability in a graphics-processing component used by Windows and many Microsoft and third-party applications is difficult to properly detect and fix, which may lead to future problems
Tablet PC Seeks Mainstream: The latest Tablet PC platform improves pen input and text recognition, but mass sales of Tablet PCs await delivery of these capabilities as standard features of Windows

Sales and Support

Understanding Microsoft’s Worldwide Support Organization: Because of its complex mission and relationships with the product business units, Microsoft’s Support Services organization too is complex, yet it can offer a fairly consistent set of services that cover most of the world
Remote Desktop Licenses Enable Blade PCs: To accommodate blade PCs--rack-mounted PCs in a data center that run a desktop OS and are accessed remotely from other PCs--Microsoft has developed the Remote Desktop License

Corporate News

Sendo Suit Settled: Handset manufacturer Sendo and Microsoft have ended their lawsuit, in which Sendo alleged conspiracy and misappropriation of trade secrets and Microsoft alleged breach of contract, shortly before the discovery phase



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