Posted: Feb. 19, 2007

[The articles below were posted between Jan. 29, 2007 and Feb. 19, 2007 and appear in the March 2007 hardcopy edition of Update. One or more are available below for free to non-subscribers.]

Server Platforms

Exchange Server 2007 Adds Unified Messaging

Exchange Server 2007 lets users access voice mail and incoming faxes from Outlook and can 'read' e-mail messages to users over a standard phone, but it imposes additional licensing and other migration costs

Free! SharePoint 2007 Improves Enterprise Search

SharePoint Server 2007 improves enterprise search with new relevance-ranking algorithms, more granular administrative controls, and easier search of line-of-business applications, but licensing and desktop search integration remain problematic

SharePoint 2007 Automates Records Management

SharePoint Server 2007 will help organizations automate many records-management tasks, but the product does not yet meet minimal U.S. government requirements for records-management applications

Vista Support, Improved Asset Tracking in SMS 2003 SP3

SP3 for SMS 2003 adds support for managing Windows Vista systems and improves SMS's asset tracking capabilities

Whale Spawns Security Appliances

Microsoft has upgraded VPN technology it acquired with Whale Communications, integrated it with ISA Server, and is offering it through OEM partners in the form of Intelligent Application Gateway appliances

Exchange-Lotus Migration Tool Updated

A new tool migrates Notes e-mail to Exchange and could be used as a general purpose extract, transform, and load (ETL) platform

Identity Management Roadmap Redrawn

An Identity Lifecycle Manager product planned for mid-2007 will merge Microsoft's primary identity management product, Identity Integration Server, with digital certificate management technology acquired from Alacris

Development Tools & Programs

Free! Exchange Gets Developer Overhaul

Exchange 2007 offers a new developer platform that replaces a hodge-podge of APIs built on aging technologies with a new set built on Web services and the .NET Framework

ASP.NET AJAX Ships

ASP.NET AJAX extensions, released in Jan. 2006 as a free toolkit, help Web developers build applications with some of the responsiveness and user interface features normally associated with desktop applications

VS for Database Pros Ships

An edition of Visual Studio Team System released in Feb. 2007 aims at database professionals who work alongside traditional developers

Windows & Mobile

Feb. 2007 Security Updates

Feb. 2007 saw a security keynote address by Microsoft's chief architects, a 'Patch Tuesday' with six critical and six important security updates, and an important daylight savings update

Consumer XP Support Extended

Consumer versions of Windows get five years of Extended support, bringing them into line with the support life cycle for business versions, but prices go up

Desktop Deployment Accelerator Updated

A new version of the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator includes improved documentation and tools to deploy standardized desktops based on Windows XP, Vista, and Office 2007

Business Applications & Services

PerformancePoint Pricing Announced

Pricing for the PerformancePoint Server 2007 performance management, financial reporting, and budgeting application could make it popular, but the product will ship later than originally planned

Office Online Includes Services

In addition to product information and online help, Office Online includes several hosted online services, including one for sharing Outlook 2007 calendars

Consumer Products & Services

Ads Pay Casual Game Developers

Joining the ranks of other casual game sites, Microsoft will share advertising revenue with developers of games for MSN Games

Sales & Support

Enterprise CAL Suite Reduces Complexity, at a Price

The Enterprise CAL Suite will help customers buy a plethora of new server licenses, but it also marks an era of increasing costs for the latest Microsoft technologies

User Certifications for Office, Vista

Certifications for desktop users have been upgraded to parallel those designed for technical professionals

Corporate News

Deferrals Mask Strong Quarter

A holiday rush on Xbox consoles and continued strong server sales pushed Microsoft revenues to US$12.54B for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2006