[The articles below were posted between April 25, 2005 and May 23, 2005 and appear in the June 2005 hardcopy edition of Update.]

Server Platforms

Management Product Roadmap Expanding

Although details about the Dynamic Systems Initiative are still hazy, 2005 brings many new or updated management products and technologies to Microsoft's arsenal

Corporate IM Extending to Mobile Devices

New client software for future Windows Mobile and RIM BlackBerry devices will allow users to access corporate instant messaging services based on Live Communications Server 2005

Windows & Mobile

Roadmap to Longhorn Clarified

Even after the release of a major service pack and Windows client and server editions for x64 processors, the Windows team still faces a crowded development roadmap

Longhorn, 64-Bit Promoted at WinHEC

Focusing almost exclusively on 64-bit computing and the next Windows client release, code-named Longhorn, Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2005 painted a rosy future for hardware vendors

Windows XP Legacy Hardware Edition

To help customers extend the life of older hardware, Microsoft is working on a special version of Windows XP code-named Eiger

New Security Advisories Launched

The May 2005 'Patch Tuesday' included a new security communication tool—the security advisory—in addition to an important security bulletin and an updated Malicious Software Removal Tool

New Support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2

A free download for Windows XP enables support for the new 802.11i security standards for wireless Wi-Fi LANs

Two-Front Antipiracy Efforts Continue

Microsoft continues to address software piracy by actively hunting for pirates on its own and by enlisting customers in the hunt through its Windows Genuine Advantage program

Business Applications & Services

Business Solutions: ERP Support, CRM, and Retail Roadmap

Although some planned releases have been delayed or scrapped, Microsoft will update each of the products that complement the MBS ERP portfolio at least once before the end of 2006

Mendocino Ties SAP and Office

SAP and Microsoft will work together to better integrate Microsoft's Office desktop product with SAP's popular enterprise resource planning system

Maestro to Direct Business Scorecards

A business intelligence server product, code-named Maestro, will enable 'business scorecards'; it will ship in fall 2005

MBS Lines Up with Industries

The Business Solutions group will reorganize much of its partner marketing efforts around 14 specific industries, and expand its vertical marketing teams

Report Wizard in FRx Service Pack

FRx 6.7 SP3 contains over 100 bug fixes across a range of product features and adds a new wizard to expedite the creation of financial reports

Free Ads in Office Marketplace

The Office Marketplace Web site enables vendors to advertise Office add-on services and software for free on Microsoft.com

Development Tools & Programs

Framework Aims to Increase Driver Reliability

A forthcoming set of APIs for device drivers aims to reduce the amount of code developers must write and increase reliability by isolating some drivers from the core OS

Team System Price Promotions

Promotional prices for Visual Studio 2005 Team System make the product more affordable for small teams and for customers looking to upgrade to the complete suite of products

Speech Server R2 Coming

Speech Server 2004 Release 2 will offer a new single-server configuration, as well as support for Canadian French and U.S. Spanish languages

VS 2005 Partner Program Updated

Partners can more easily extend Visual Studio with new APIs and support for C# and VB.NET, but they must watch for future competition as Microsoft broadens its own tools lineup

Dynamic HTML Rides Again

Several technologies originally developed by Microsoft under the name Dynamic HTML and aimed at creating interactive Web sites are seeing wider use

Consumer Products & Services

Xbox Successor Unveiled

The sleek, off-white Xbox 360 will focus on high-definition gaming, new digital media and online features, and extendibility—but can it make money?

IPTV Commercial Rollouts Planned

Three telecommunications companies plan to deploy services based on Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, Microsoft's platform for delivering television and other video to consumers over IP networks, by early 2006

PC Management, Antivirus Service Planned

Two years after its acquisition of GeCAD, Microsoft formally announces a consumer PC management subscription service with antivirus support: Windows OneCare

MSN Adding Tabbed Browsing to IE

MSN is serving as a delivery vehicle for Windows features, such as Windows desktop search and tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer, that are too urgent to delay

Blog Alerts Company Acquired

The acquisition of MessageCast, already a close MSN partner, could help MSN capitalize on the growing trend of using syndicated feeds to keep abreast of blog updates

Sales & Support

License Rights Documentation Simplified

Licensing documentation will be simplified to make user restrictions easier to understand, although no changes are being made to licensing itself

Professional Accountants Network Launched

A partner channel for Microsoft's Small Business Accounting package and preliminary information about availability and pricing have been announced

Commercial, Government Refurbishers Aided

A program that provides OSs for refurbished computers has been expanded to include government and commercial refurbishers

Corporate News

New Japan, France Leaders and CFO

Two important subsidiaries got new leaders in early 2005, and Microsoft added a new chief financial officer (CFO) and replaced its head of Human Resources

Servers, Xbox Stand Out in Slow Q3'05

Strong sales of server applications and Xbox game consoles were the bright spots in the third quarter of Microsoft's fiscal year 2005

IP Licensing Expanded to Research

Cutting-edge technologies from Microsoft Research are now available for start-up companies to license