Free! Team System Brings Project Management to Visual Studio: Visual Studio 2005 Team System will help project managers collect and analyze information on the status of their development projects and will provide an extensible set of software development methodologies
Toolkit Extends SAP Portal to .NET: A new toolkit from SAP makes it easier to use Visual Studio and the .NET Framework to build components for SAP’s Enterprise Portal software

Sales and Support

Free! Channel Builder Fosters Partner-to-Partner Contact: Through partner meetings around the world and a new partner-to-partner portal, Microsoft helps partners build their businesses
Antipiracy Measure Blocks OEM COAs: To reduce piracy, Microsoft will prevent the use of Certificates of Authenticity taken from certain OEM PCs to activate other copies of Windows over the Internet
Energizer to Use Microsoft IT: Desktops and key servers at Energizer will get day-to-day management from Microsoft under an unusual arrangement between Microsoft's IT organization and the battery manufacturer

Server Products

IM, VoIP, Conferencing Roadmap Unveiled: The first half of 2005 will yield a slew of new releases from Microsoft’s Real Time Collaboration group, including support for public IM networks and a further step into voice
BizTalk Roadmap, Service Pack Released: BizTalk’s future includes an incremental release in 2006 and another release following Longhorn Server; the company has also shipped SP1 for BizTalk 2004
Web Improvements in Reporting Services SP2: A pair of SharePoint Web Parts and report-printing features accompanies a handful of bug fixes in the latest service pack for SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services
Report Builder Debuts: Report design without programming is the promise of a planned SQL Server 2005 feature called Report Builder, now available for preview
Groove Buy for Collaboration: Microsoft plans to acquire Groove Networks, whose patented technology for peer-to-peer document sharing and communication could strengthen the SharePoint product line
ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Ships: ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition provides higher availability, scalability, and manageability than the Standard Edition, but a third-party add-on is necessary for more sophisticated failover capabilities
Accelerator for RosettaNet 3.0: The latest Accelerator for RosettaNet, Microsoft's product for supply chain integration in high-tech manufacturing, supports BizTalk Server 2004 and the latest versions of the RosettaNet B2B transaction standards

Windows and Mobile

Windows Support for IPv6 Increases: Although not yet ready for full production use, IPv6 is now supported in all three of Microsoft's current OSs, thereby providing developers with a test platform
Gates Outlines More Security Promises: Gates used his RSA Security keynote speech to review progress on Trustworthy Computing and promise continued improvements, but security performance remains uneven across the company
New Windows Client Marketing Head: Windows client product marketing will be led by a newly hired vice president, G. Michael Sievert, who joins the company just in time to kick off the marketing push for Windows Longhorn

Business Applications and Services

New Tool, Avanade Push Axapta: Microsoft’s purchase of En’tegrate Software’s ERP Complete implementation tool and the subsequent acquisition of En’tegrate by Avanade could help sales of Axapta in the United States
Office Bridge Platform Updated: The Information Bridge Framework (IBF) 1.5 simplifies debugging but still lacks support for offline data access and remains only one of a complex range of Office developer options

Consumer Products and Services

MSN Brings Paid Search In-House: After months of secrecy, MSN reveals it will launch a system for advertisers to bid on MSN Search keywords and will phase out its paid search relationship with Yahoo's Overture
Details Emerge About Next Xbox, XNA: The next Xbox will have personalized user profiles and a digital music player, and 2006 will see the release of a game development tool based on Visual Studio 2005 Team System
MSN Maps Updated: An update to Microsoft's free mapping Web site offers direct linking and new advertising opportunities, but it might need interface improvements to compete with a recently introduced Google service
MSN Paring Some Services: MSN eliminates its Mac client and ends an agreement with Major League Baseball, while Verizon ends its exclusive broadband arrangement with MSN

Corporate News

Burst Settles, EU and DoJ Investigate: Burst.com settles its antitrust and patent infringement case against Microsoft for US$60 million; EU officials threaten more fines but approve an acquisition; the DoJ looks at Longhorn
Eolas Case Back to Lower Court: A federal appeals court has thrown out a controversial patent-infringement verdict against Internet Explorer and ordered the case to be retried, but Web developers should continue to follow the case
Microsoft and Industry Conferences: This chart shows major Microsoft-sponsored conferences scheduled through April 2006, and a selection of major industry conferences at which Microsoft and its partners are typically present. Events are in the United States except where indicated



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