14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft announced the launch of Zune Digital Media Player, saying that the giant will prepare an impressive celebration of this moment. "Today at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle at the first of these Zune concerts, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took the stage to share his excitement for this next step Microsoft is taking in music and entertainment. Gates outlined the Zune vision to create new ways for people to connect, discover and share music and entertainment experiences," it is mentioned in the press release. "We wanted to bring Zune to life with a celebration of live music, shared between artists and fans across the country, and really make today all about embracing the social aspect of music. Zune is all about changing the game to make music more social, and at launch we are just scratching the surface of how wireless technology is going to enable social interaction in the future." said Bryan Lee, corporate vice president of the Entertainment Busines at Microsoft. "Zune is Microsoft's music and entertainment platform that provides an end-to-end solution for connected entertainment. The Zune experience includes a 30GB digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service, and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music. Inspired by the vast and varied community of music fans, Zune focuses on helping emerging artists shape the digital canvas. Zune is part of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division and supports the company's software-based services vision to help drive innovation in the digital entertainment space," the giant also mentioned.
On Tuesday, the giant said that "in an effort to help banks rapidly achieve interoperability among business applications, Microsoft Corp. announced a new initiative that provides prescriptive architecture guidance, tools and reference implementations aimed at achieving consistency in banking integration." "Banks have dedicated massive efforts toward resolving integration issues between new business applications and their legacy software. The new Banking Integration Factory helps solve this problem by providing a standard approach adopted by multiple vendors, to lead to more rapid implementation," said Greg Haislip, managing director for the banking industry in the U.S. Financial Services Group at Microsoft. "In addition, the Banking Integration Factory presents Microsoft's vision for building composite banking applications that provide banks with an unprecedented level of choice in creating user interfaces that can be accessed via a Web browser; Windows-based desktop, notebook or Tablet PCs; mobile devices; or the Microsoft Office system," it is mentioned in the press release. It is quite an interesting decision, because banking is one of the domains that Microsoft always ignored. Now, as the company is looking to receive more and more profits after the release of Vista, the giant is aiming to attract banks to use its software solutions.
On Wednesday, the giant announced that Microsoft Office Live is available only in USA after a 9-months beta, and as a test version in Japan, France, the U.K. and Germany, starting November 21. "Customers can sign up for Office Live, a complete, affordable set of Internet-based software and services that help small businesses attract new customers, keep in touch with existing customers, generate repeat business, and easily manage their business while on the go," Microsoft said. "Most small businesses lack IT expertise. Office Live is a one-stop shop that levels the playing field for companies with 10 or fewer employees by providing software and services that make a big difference; Office Live can impact business growth and profitability. Small businesses that sign up for Microsoft Office Live will now find it easier and cheaper than ever before to build and manage their business online. I'm confident that our industry partners will do a fantastic job of helping customers get started on Office Live," said Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president for Microsoft Office Live at Microsoft.
On Thursday, the company released Windows PowerShell 1.0, a command line shell and scripting language that helps IT Professionals achieve greater productivity. "Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT Professionals to more easily control system administration and accelerate automation. Windows PowerShell is easy to adopt, learn, and use, because it works with your existing IT infrastructure and existing script investments, and because it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server "Longhorn". Exchange Server 2007, System Center Operations Manager 2007, System Center Data Protection Manager V2, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager leverage Windows PowerShell to improve efficiency and productivity," the giant mentioned in the product's description. Windows PowerShell is available for download on Softpedia.
On Friday, Microsoft and Sprint announced a new partnership that will allow the company to include its products on mobile devices. "Microsoft Corp. and Sprint today announced a strategic alliance through which the companies will develop and deliver a range of innovative new service offerings for Sprint's business and consumer customers. The first consumer offering in this collaboration enables Sprint customers to use Windows Live Search for mobile on their wireless phones to conveniently search location-based content from the Internet, such as nearby stores and restaurants, as well as Sprint's catalog of ring tones, games, screen savers and related services. The service also provides new opportunities for highly relevant and targeted local advertising, which will benefit businesses and consumers alike," the giant said. "Microsoft and Sprint share a vision that mobility is about helping customers access the information they need while on the go. The new alliance will deliver on that vision for consumers and businesses," said Mark Schweitzer, chief marketing officer at Sprint.
Week's conclusion: quite a calm week for Microsoft. Probably the most important event of these 7 days is represented by the release of Zune, a digital media player that the giant considers that will attract the entire market.
