14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft launched a community technology preview of its Microsoft Expression Web Designer, developed to help you build Web sites.
The company wants to move forward from one Web design utility, FrontPage, to two applications based on the same technology: Expression Web Designer and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007. With the Expression line, it is expected to appeal to designers and illustrators with tools built to make it easier for them to work with developers of back-end software.
"Expression Web Designer will enable developers to create standards-based Web sites, and it will have close integration with Microsoft's ASP.NET 2.0 server software," Microsoft said.
Microsoft announced that it has filed a counterclaim against Lucent Technologies as part of a patent dispute started in 2002, when Lucent sued Dell and Gateway over claims related to Microsoft applications.
Lucent decided to sue Microsoft directly in April, alleging infringement of one Lucent patent. In its counterclaims, filed on Monday, the giant alleges that Lucent infringes on several of its patents. "Rather than engage in meaningful licensing negotiations, Lucent continues to choose to litigate against Microsoft and our customers," Tom Burt, deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in a statement. A Lucent representative refused to comment.
A company representative announced on Monday that software testing and security expert James Whittaker has joined Microsoft's Security Technology Unit as a security architect. James Whittaker has co-authored several books on security, and most recently was a professor of computer science at Florida Institute of Technology. "James will focus on internal education and training efforts, as part of the Security Development Lifecycle process," the Microsoft representative sustained.
On Tuesday, Chairman Bill Gates presented a new server program which is developed to help workers find data stored on their company's computers, as well as information located only inside the brains of their colleagues. The next version of Microsoft's SharePoint server application will have a feature entitled Knowledge Network that will automatically build profiles of employees and their areas of expertise.
Gates also presented a Windows Live Search software that will allow workers to search their desktop, across a corporate network, and the Web from within a single software. That program, still in early development, is scheduled to be released in beta and to be launched on the market in a final form in the second half of this year.
The new SharePoint software is expected to be made available as part of the Office 2007 launch, which will take place in October for large businesses and in January for small businesses and consumers. In an e-mail to customers, Gates sustained that an estimated 30 percent of information workers' time is spent looking for information, an activity that annually costs businesses about $18,000 per worker in lost productivity. "We're flooded with information, but that doesn't mean we have tools that let us use the information effectively," Gates wrote in the e-mail.
On Wednesday, a federal judge added a two-year extension on the term of Microsoft's landmark antitrust settlement with the government. The approval of the settlement extension means that the software giant will begin rewriting substantial parts of its technical documentation and devising a new plan to validate its accuracy. It has designated the head of its server and utilities business, Bob Muglia, to oversee that process, an action that the regulators praised as a sign of Redmond's seriousness.
The company confirmed that, even if the final judgment expires in 2009, it will agree to license the technology that it currently is required to offer through 2012. The Justice Department dismissed antitrust concerns over the next version of Windows Vista, including a recent outcry from Google over a new search box that is part of Internet Explorer 7.
On Thursday, Microsoft gave details about a minimum set of requirements for all users that will try Windows Vista. "There's really no reason to wait until the launch of Windows Vista to start shopping for a PC that can deliver a great Windows Vista experience or to start thinking about upgrading your current PC to windows Vista," product manager Greg Amrofell sustained.
To be rated as Vista-capable, a computer needs an 800MHz processor, 512MB of memory and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card. Premium Ready machines need a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive. Microsoft also released on a "Get Ready" Web page , which contains an Upgrade Advisor utility to help people determine if their computer is ready for Windows Vista.
On Friday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Whale Communications, a specialist in secure remote access and Web application firewalls. "The takeover is meant to broaden Microsoft's security offerings and give its customers more options in providing secure access to their networks from more locations and devices," Microsoft said in a statement. Microsoft refused to comment on an Israeli news report that it paid $75 million for Whale, which has engineering operations in Israel.
