Archives


Newspaper: Microsoft Ran Slush Fund to Counter Linux

Microsoft created a slush fund to heavily discount or even give away Windows in cases where the software giant was about to lose large international deals to Linux, according to published reports.

HP Ships ProLiant ML350 G3

HP on Wednesday began shipping a new two-way ProLiant server that shows how far the Windows/Intel/industry-standard hardware bloc has come.

Flaw Appears in Itanium 2

Intel acknowledged a flaw this week in its Itanium 2 processors that have been shipping since July. The problem could cause systems to crash.

AMD Releases New Athlon

AMD bumped up the performance of its Athlon XP line this week with the release of its 3200+ model.

IBM Bumps Microsoft from Top Spot in TPC-C

Mere weeks after its years-long drive up the TPC-C benchmark performance charts culminated in the top position, Microsoft lost out late last week to a Unix system from IBM. Microsoft, no doubt, will be back, but the result shows that the Unix camp has far from ceded the premiere OLTP scalability benchmark to the upstart Windows-Intel side of the market.

Fizzer Bubbles Up

A mass-mailing worm known as Fizzer broke out late last week and is getting more attention from a prominent security vendor Monday.

.NET at Two Years: Ready for Prime Time?

When .NET was first unleashed on the world two years ago, there was confusion about how Microsoft was positioning the new technology. Microsoft has since retrenched and removed the .NET designators from all products except its Visual Studio development toolkit.

Critical Flaw Found in Windows Media Player

Officially, your users shouldn't be downloading Windows Media Player skins at work. Realistically, some of them probably are, and it's worthwhile to pay attention to a critical new security vulnerability patched by Microsoft Wednesday night.

Ballmer Promotes Digital Rights Management

Microsoft put a new emphasis on Digital Rights Management technologies, such as the service planned as an add-on for Windows Server 2003, on Wednesday night with an e-mail to customers from company CEO Steve Ballmer.

Longhorn Betas in 2004, GA in 2005

NEW ORLEANS -- The next client version of Windows, code-named "Longhorn," will appear in two beta versions during 2004 and come to market in 2005, a Microsoft official said Wednesday at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.

Windows Server Roadmap 'Out of Band'

NEW ORLEANS -- Just because Windows Server 2003 launched a few weeks ago doesn't mean Microsoft is finished with it. In a WinHEC keynote Wednesday about the future of Windows servers, Dave Thompson detailed dozens of major improvements to the server platform that will be released in the coming months and years.

Microsoft Hands Out Preview of Windows for AMD 64

NEW ORLEANS -- Microsoft gave hardware developers a taste of the Windows operating systems it is working on for AMD's 64-bit processors this week at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.

'Athens' Prototype PC Aimed to Improve Worker Productivity

NEW ORLEANS -- Microsoft and HP unveiled a slick new prototype PC at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference on Tuesday that is designed to improve worker productivity while reducing workspace wiring and clutter.

Microsoft Begs Hardware Developers to Use Watson

Take solace from the annoyance of those pop-up Windows Error Reports in the knowledge that Microsoft is bugging its industry partners just as much to exploit the information surfaced by the reports.

Palladium on Display at WinHEC

The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, better known by the code-name Palladium, will be a major feature of the next client version of Windows and is getting the spotlight in New Orleans at Microsoft's conference for hardware partners.

My First 150 Days With a Tablet PC

Is a powerful, lightweight, pen-enabled computer too much to ask for these days? Four contenders are put through their paces in search for the ultimate in mobile computing.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam

Put your "Make Money Fast" where your mouth is, Microsoft!

What Windows Server 2003 Can Do for You

You've migrated from Windows 2000 in the last year, so why the rush to Windows 2003? Bill examines the pros and cons.

Back to the Toolbox

A look at Mike's own bag of developer tools shows that more .NET code is in his future.

Married to Mac Clients

Macs generally fare well on Windows, with compatible document formats and file-sharing technologies. The latest Mac OS works especially well in the Microsoft universe.