[The articles below were posted between Apr. 30, 2007 and May 21, 2007 and appear in the June 2007 hardcopy edition of Update.]

Windows & Mobile

Vista Boasts Redesigned Interface

Vista boasts a substantially redesigned interface, and third-party developers can leverage some of its new features to improve or promote their applications

Next Internet Explorer on Horizon

The next Internet Explorer will deliver general browsing improvements as well as new client-side APIs, but it probably won't appear before the next Windows client OS release

Business Applications & Services

New License for Dynamics Snap, Portal Applications

A new license plan will lower the cost of deploying Snap and portal applications for Dynamics AX but could increase the cost of the other Dynamics portal applications

Duet Future Promised

Duet 2.0 will ship late in 2008, which assures customers that Microsoft and SAP will not eliminate this jointly developed product, but little information about new features has been released

Solution for Digital Media Management

Interactive Media Manager, a solution for professional media companies to manage digital content for Internet distribution, is available through Microsoft Consulting and selected systems integrators

HP Duet Appliance Aids Evaluations

An HP server preloaded with Duet, available in June 2007 in North America, could help organizations evaluate the product and jumpstart production deployments

Systems Management and Security

System Center Product Roadmap

The first round of System Center management products designed specifically for Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative will ship during 2007 and into 2008

Modeling Framework Key to Microsoft's Management Strategy

Management models are key to Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), and a standard modeling language is an important start, but obtaining consensus on a standardized model library may be difficult

Forefront Client Security Focuses on Administration

The centralized management offered by Forefront Client Security may overcome concerns about the quality of Microsoft's malicious software signature files

Operations Manager 2007 Explored

Operations Manager 2007 constitutes a major milestone in Microsoft's DSI strategy by making extensive use of management models, but much rests on the shoulders of the authors of those models

Operations Manager 2007 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing

Although the cost of monitoring server machines with Operations Manager 2007 remains about the same, there is a huge price break for monitoring devices that run nonserver OSs

Virtualization Features Delayed

Microsoft is making feature cuts in an attempt to maintain its release schedule for Windows Server virtualization

Application Platform

Silverlight Details Emerge, Expression Studio Ships

The initial release of Silverlight targets Internet video, but the ultimate goal is to make Windows the best platform for creating, hosting, and running Rich Internet Applications (RIAs)

Next SQL Server Announced

The next major release of SQL Server, code-named Katmai, will offer better scalability and support new types of applications, but a preview is several months off

Future BizTalk Could Change Workflow, Messaging

BizTalk Server will undergo a major technical change to incorporate new messaging and workflow technologies after the planned 2007 release of BizTalk Server 2006 R2

Platform Services Expanding

Web developers can tap into an increasing number of Windows Live platform services, but per-user fees for high-traffic services could stifle developer interest

Documentation Deficiencies Complicate Integration

Trends in development processes and team priorities have pushed product documentation into the background and major features are often undocumented

BizTalk Services Demo B2B Technologies

BizTalk Services can help enterprise developers explore how Microsoft's Web services platform could be useful in building cross-organization composite applications, which use Web services for functions like supply chain management

Consumer and Small Businesses

AQuantive Leads Online Investments

The US$6 billion acquisition of online advertising company aQuantive represents a major expansion by Microsoft into the online advertising market

Hotmail Relaunched

After nearly two years of beta testing, Windows Live Hotmail has launched with a new interface, more storage, and free connectivity from Outlook

Sales, Marketing, and Services

Virtualization Licensing Adapts to New Challenges

Significant changes to licensing of Microsoft software in virtual machines will help customers adopt virtualization technologies, although licensing and technical challenges remain

Desktop Use Rights Expanded

Volume customers can now install Microsoft's desktop applications multiple times on the same device, making it much easier for organizations to use desktop virtualization

Low-Cost Suite for the Poor

A low-cost suite of software will give low-income people around the world more access to Microsoft technology

2007 Support Deadlines by Product

Chart shows products and service packs being retired or leaving Mainstream support in 2007

Corporate and Legal

Vista, Office Launches Boost Q3'07 Earnings

Even subtracting out the one-time recognition of deferred revenue from previous quarters, Microsoft showed strong revenue growth as it launched updates to its flagship products