SAHS - Technology Integration

Microsoft's financial health, which is wrapped up almost entirely on sales of fat clients running the latest Windows operating system with the latest version of Microsoft Office, is completely at odds with the mesh model.
- Last week, Microsoft made two major online services announcements, both focused on initiatives intended to address data accessibility pain points by knitting together the devices you own with Web-based services that Microsoft provides and promises to maintain. What should be giving users and deve...

Microsoft released on Aug. 27 a second test version of Internet Explorer 8, delivering a feature-complete upgrade to the world's most widely used Web browser. The world's largest software maker said the latest version -- beta 2 -- of Internet Explorer, which has a market share of about 75 percent, comes with new features to enhance privacy, ease-of-use, and security. Microsoft first released a test -- or beta 1 -- version of IE 8 in March, but that was aimed at letting Web developers take a first look at the new browser. This latest version is aimed at a broader consumer audience.
- SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp released on Wednesday a second test version of Internet Explorer 8, delivering a feature-complete upgrade to the world's most widely used Web browser. The world's largest software maker said the latest version -- beta 2 -- of Internet Explorer, which has a ma...

Microsoft's MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) may have gone home, but the enthusiast outreach continues and increasingly using new social networking tools. Microsoft's vice president of Supportability and Customer and Partner Experience, Rich Kaplan, discusses the MVP program, last week's MVP conference and new enthusiast engagements in this week's Microsoft Watch podcast.
- Audio Podcast Content....

The documentation defines how high-volume Microsoft products communicate with other Microsoft products.
- Microsoft will make available the preliminary versions of technical documentation for the protocols built into Microsoft Office 2007, SharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007. This documentation, which defines how these high-volume Microsoft products communicate with some of its other prod...

Kevin Johnson led the charge on Yahoo, and headed the platform and services division. The new Windows division will include Windows, Windows Live and Internet Explorer. The new Online Services division will include search, MSN, advertising platforms, and e-commerce.
- The departure of Kevin Johnson may give Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer the opportunity to reshape the huge platform and services division into more effective business units. The end result may be better financial results for Microsoft and better products for Microsoft customers. Those changes highlig...

The original lawsuit alleged Microsoft illegally bundled volume-management software technology it had licensed from Veritas into several Windows versions, but Symantec is dismissing it.
- Symantec asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle on April 1 to dismiss the lawsuit it brought against Microsoft in May 2006 for misappropriation of intellectual property and breach of contract. Symantec, which sought unspecified damages in the original lawsuit, alleged that Microsoft inappropr...

Troubled Servicing Stack Update code flipped the reboot switch on unsuspecting users, Microsoft says.
- Microsoft has fixed the issue of endless reboots that some customers had while installing the Servicing Stack Update that contains the installation program for Windows Vista SP1. That issue led Microsoft to suspend the automatic distribution of the SSU pending an investigation into the problem. ...

Bill Gates will still serve to inspire; Proximic looks at Googles gold.
- The Grizzled Grimalkin cant understand why everybody is getting so maudlin about Bill Gates stepping away from day-to-day management of his software company. Its not as though hes going very far. Even if he spends more time managing his familys charitable foundation and his personal investments, do...

Gartner analysts are predicting doom and gloom for Microsoft Windows, but it doesn't seem likely.
- In a presentation at a Gartner-sponsored conference in Las Vegas, analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald said Microsoft is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and has not responded to the market, and it faces serious competition that will make Windows moot unless the software deve...

The question now isn't quot;Is Vista Dead? quot; It is. The real question is: Can Microsoft get Windows 7 out in time to save its desktop domination? I think Microsoft quot;could quot; pull it off. Here's how.
- Vista is dead. That's not what Bill Gates said at a seminar on corporate philanthropy in Miami on April 4, but it might as well have been. What Gates actually said, according to the Reuters report, is that he expects that the next desktop version of Windows, Windows 7, would be released quot;somet...