14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft Corporation published a statement to provide more details on Novell agreement. "Microsoft and Novell have agreed to disagree on whether certain open source offerings infringe Microsoft patents and whether certain Microsoft offerings infringe Novell patents. The agreement between our two companies puts in place a workable solution for customers for these issues, without requiring an agreement between our two companies on infringement.
Both of our companies are fully committed to moving forward with all of the important work under these agreements. The agreements will advance interoperability between Windows and Linux and put in place a new intellectual property bridge between proprietary and open source software. Customers and participants throughout our industry will clearly benefit from these results.
We at Microsoft respect Novell's point of view on the patent issue, even while we respectfully take a different view. Novell is absolutely right in stating that it did not admit or acknowledge any patent problems as part of entering into the patent collaboration agreement. At Microsoft we undertook our own analysis of our patent portfolio and concluded that it was necessary and important to create a patent covenant for customers of these products. We are gratified that such a solution is now in place," Microsoft said.
On Tuesday, Nissan North America and Microsoft announced a new partnership that will allow Nissan to expand its services in the online media. "Nissan's target audience is adopting an increasingly mobile lifestyle, and the amount of time consumers spend online is rising significantly. Broadening our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to deliver targeted messages to consumers across a diverse online network," said Jan Thompson, vice president of marketing at Nissan North America.
"Nissan North America is demonstrating exceptional vision and bold leadership with its commitment to make the Internet a cornerstone of its advertising strategy in this alliance with Microsoft. With unique, diverse and flexible assets that Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions can provide, Nissan is extremely well-positioned to reach consumers at every stage of the automotive buying cycle," said Eric Hadley, general manager of global marketing at Microsoft.
In a statement published on Microsoft's website, it is mentioned that, as part of the agreement, Nissan will offer sponsorship of the "Forza Motorsport 2", a console game for Xbox 360.
On Wednesday, the company said that the Viva Pi?ata game will be promoted among multiple children activities and live demonstrations on Xbox 360.
"Viva Pi?ata, which translates to "long live the pi?ata," invites gamers of all ages and skill levels to create an immersive world where living pi?atas inhabit an ever-changing environment. Beginning with a few basic tools, players build and take control of this environment, using their creativity and imagination to attract, protect, nurture and manage more than 60 pi?ata species that can visit their world and make it their home. The Xbox 360 video game follows the debut of the "'Viva Pi?ata' Saturday morning animated television series on 4Kids TV Fox," Microsoft said on its site.
"The Xbox 360 game 'Viva Pi?ata' inspired us to take the spirit of the game and expand the concept to create learning tools to help kids experience more about their Hispanic heritage in a fun and engaging way. One example is a 'Viva Pi?ata' digital desktop pet pi?ata that people can download to their computer. Every day the pi?ata will share new information about Hispanic culture from key holidays to Spanish vocabulary," said Chris Di Cesare, director of Xbox marketing at Microsoft.
On Thursday, the giant announced that, after a year since its release date, Xbox 360 will offer to its customers TV shows and movies. "On its one-year anniversary, Xbox 360 will digitally deliver an initial lineup of TV shows and movies to gamers in the U.S. via Xbox Live, the online games and entertainment network from Microsoft," the company said.
"We're exactly where we wanted to be this holiday with Xbox 360 retail stock availability. With an incredible library of games, more than 4 million gamers playing online with Xbox Live, and a growing catalog of high-definition gaming and entertainment content, why would anyone wait in line when you can get a superior experience from Xbox 360 right now?" said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.
On Friday, the company released a statement to comment on the completion of the technical documents' analysis by the European Commission.
"This is another important step in the process. The Trustee and Microsoft have now completed the technical review and edits to the more than 100 documents, totaling 8,500 pages, that we submitted in July of this year, in accordance with the deadline established by the Commission. We are pleased that the Commission has recognized our efforts to comply with our documentation obligations, and we will continue to work closely with the Commission and the Trustee to ensure that we are in full compliance with every aspect of the Commission's decision," the giant said.
"The next phase in the process, established by the Commission, is that the documentation is now available for review by any potential licensee, and we look forward to receiving feedback from the industry," Microsoft added.
Week's Conclusion:
Since Vista is no more a worrying matter, Microsoft is enjoying a calm period for the company, with agreements and partnerships meant to improve the company's image among its customers. Sleep tight, you "little" giant!
