14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft acquired DesktopStandard Corporation, "a leading developer of Group Policy-based enterprise desktop management products".
"Joining with Microsoft will allow DesktopStandard to more quickly meet our goal of helping customers extend Group Policy to handle the majority of their distributed management tasks and to provide a more manageable environment for doing so," said DesktopStandard's CTO and cofounder Eric Voskuil, who will join Microsoft's Windows Enterprise Management Division in the role of Software Architect. "Customers will benefit now and into the future as our innovative team joins Microsoft in building the future of model-based policy management technologies."
"DesktopStandard will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft while the DesktopStandard technology is transitioned to Microsoft. Customers can continue to purchase GPOVault, ProfileMaker, PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Share Manager from DesktopStandard and existing partners. ProfileMaker will be available only from existing DesktopStandard partners. Microsoft will continue to support customers according to the terms and conditions of existing agreements. Microsoft is not acquiring the PolicyMaker Application Security business," it is mentioned in a press release published on the company's website.
It seems like Microsoft made a hobby to acquire new companies every week. I understand that they are aiming to expand, and buying more and more leading developers is a good market strategy, but don't you think they must stop before they'll create a new monopoly?
On Tuesday, Microsoft decided to appeal against a fine imposed by European Commission on July, after an antitrust case started in 2004. The appeal was sent to the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, the second highest European Union court. "As Microsoft said in July, we would appeal the fines imposed on the company at that time. The deadline for the appeal was October 2," a Microsoft representative sustained. "We have great respect for the Commission and this process, but we do not believe any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate given the lack of clarity in the Commission's original decision and our good-faith efforts over the past two years. In our view, the issue has never been about compliance but clarity. Having gotten clarity from the Commission in April, we have met every deadline since then. And our top priority is to meet the final deadline in two weeks" said at that time, Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel.
"In the fight against software piracy, Microsoft today introduced an innovative set of technologies that will be included in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn." The technologies are aimed at helping prevent piracy and protect customers from software tampering while making licensing easier to manage," Microsoft said on Wednesday.
"Collectively termed the Microsoft Software Protection Platform, the new technologies will introduce improvements in how Microsoft software activates, is validated online and behaves when tampering or hacking is detected. The upcoming releases of Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" - code name for the next generation of Microsoft's server software - will be the first two products to ship with the new technologies included, but eventually more Microsoft products will adopt the technologies," was also mentioned on the website.
"Software piracy is not a victimless crime. It harms consumers, businesses and other organizations every year. The investments we have made to help address this challenge in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" not only strengthen anti-piracy technologies, but also improve the overall software licensing experience and better protect customers - from individual consumers to the largest organization - from the risks of counterfeit software," said Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative.
After Microsoft lost some confidence from its customers with the release of WGA, the company gives it another try and I hope this one will be a success. Honestly, I'm tired to be just a "test user" for the giant?
On Thursday, the company released an advance notification to inform customers about the upcoming updates. "Six Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. Some of these updates will require a restart. Four Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Office. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. These updates may require a restart. One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft .NET Framework. The highest Maximum Severity rating for this is Moderate. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool. These updates may require a restart," it is mentioned in the advisory.
On Friday, Microsoft released Windows Vista RC2, a version that is meant to be the last public test version of next operating system. "This build (5744) has a number of improvements and updates from previous builds, and has been through daily testing processes to refine quality and performance. We are making this release available for a limited time only (and only by download) in order to get broad distribution and testing in a variety of PC configurations. Please note: This build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update as RC1, and you may not be able to upgrade from this build to the final version of Windows Vista," is mentioned on the download page.
Week's Conclusion: After the week started (again) with an acquisition, it ended with another, and the last one as the giant hopes, version of Windows Vista. This time it is entitled RC2 and it is meant to be the last public test version of the next operating system. I bet another version will be released soon?
