14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Microsoft purchased MotionBridge, a Paris-based company that specializes in mobile search. Microsoft prepares to launch mobile-search capabilities as part of its overall Windows Live services, so this move is intended to make the upcoming product more powerful and secure. "The emerging field of mobile search is strategically important and crucial to delivering on our vision for Windows Live of providing a seamless and rich information experience for individuals and businesses across devices. With MotionBridge, we are excited to continue to offer mobile operators the tools to maximize the value of their content and data networks, and provide a powerful search engine for mobile users," MSN corporate vice president Christopher Payne said in a statement. The financial terms were not disclosed, but Microsoft will continue to offer MotionBridge's services, using company's people and technology to expand the mobile capabilities of Windows Live.
Also on Monday, Microsoft has corrected a mistake in its anti-spyware software that flagged some Symantec security utilities as malicious application. The problem occurred after Microsoft released an update for Windows AntiSpyware last Thursday night. The updated application identified a Windows registry key set by the Symantec products as belonging to password stealing malicious program known as Bancos. After the registry keys are detected, the user was alerted and received the suggestion to delete the keys. ?The deletion of these registry keys will cause all versions of the Symantec AntiVirus and Symantec Client Security software to stop operating correctly," Microsoft and Symantec said in a statement. The software giant stated: ?The issue affects users of Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware Beta 1 and various versions of the Symantec security software for corporate users. Users of Symantec's Norton-branded consumer products are not affected."
Microsoft announced on Tuesday at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona that its corporate instant messaging software will soon be extended to mobile devices. The new software, called Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, runs on the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. The new mobile client is integrated with the desktop version of the application, allowing workers on the go to communicate via IM even when they are away from their desks. Communicator Mobile is expected to be available for download for Live Communication Server testers within 60 days. "The new client is a key component of Microsoft's vision for unified communications, putting people at the center and enabling information workers to have access to real-time communications capabilities virtually anytime, anywhere, on any device," Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president for the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft, said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Microsoft confirmed that Daniel Robbins, the founder and former chief architect of the Gentoo Linux project, has quit his job at Microsoft after only eight months. It is well known that the company is one of the biggest critics for free and open-source software, but it seems that the decision was taken after Robbins decided to leave because he was not able to use all his technical skills in his role. "I didn't make the decision to leave Microsoft due to concerns about the company as a whole. Microsoft has just had a string of very successful product launches and I anticipate that it will continue to enjoy great success. The reason I decided to leave had to do with my specific experiences working in Microsoft's Linux Lab. Although I believe that the concept behind Microsoft's Linux Lab is a good one, I wasn't able to work at my full level of technical ability and I found this frustrating," he said.
On Wednesday, the big deadline day in antitrust case for Microsoft, the giant launched an attack on the European Commission accusing it of disregarding evidence and denying due process. Microsoft filled a 75 page response to the EU on the notion that it failed to comply with the antitrust ruling by outlining a list of its own accusations. In the filing, Microsoft claims that the European Commission had not reviewed the most recent documentation submitted by Microsoft. "When the commission issued its statement of objections on 21 December, 2005, the commission and its experts had not even bothered to read the most recent version of those documents which Microsoft had made available on 15 December, 2005. The commission waited many months before informing Microsoft that it believed changes were necessary to the technical documents and then gave Microsoft only a few weeks to make extensive revisions," the Microsoft filing stated.
The giant announced on Wednesday new details on the next version of Office, confirming plans for a new home version and some new server-based products. Microsoft said that next Office will offer a lot of features, included in the new user interface, which makes the software more attractive and easy to use. "We do not expect our customers to notice any significant change in our pricing. Office Standard, for example, will sell for $399, while Office Professional will sell for $499. Also, as widely expected, the version formerly code-named "Office 12" will be known as Office 2007 when it ships in the second half of this year," said Parri Munsell, a group program manager in Microsoft's information worker unit. Microsoft is also using the SharePoint brand for a new Web site-development application. Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 is based in part on its current FrontPage web-authoring tool, though that program is being phased out. Microsoft said it will sell the SharePoint Web design program for $299, while pricing and availability for Expression will be announced in the near future.
On Thursday, the giant announced a new service that will connect boaters to the Internet. Seafaring Web surfers can stay connected 25 miles from land thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and antenna maker KVH Industries. "Today's consumers expect to be able to stay connected while they're on the go in their vessels. Consumers will now be able to communicate, access information and enjoy digital entertainment where their travels take them," Sam Klepper, MSN TV's general manager, said in a statement. In the attempt to make Internet omnipresent, the company also offers a wireless keyboard so they can log on anywhere from stern to starboard. "KVH's Mobile Internet Receiver with MSN TV service will also include WiFi output to provide Internet connectivity to any WiFi-enabled laptop or other product," the companies said in a statement.
On Friday, Microsoft has made available the latest release of the Visual Studio 2005 software development kit. "The latest release of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK, the February CTP, is now available for download from the Visual Studio Extensibility site," said Rob Caron, a content architect for Visual Studio Team System, in his blog. "You can also find the Team Planning & Documents from the VS SDK Product Team on the downloads page, too. These docs include their 12-month plan and the release plan for the March release."
