News


Michael Dell Invests $100 Million in Red Hat

Dell Inc. chairman and founder Michael Dell is investing $100 million in Red Hat, the Linux distributor that often stands in as a symbol for the open-source movement's challenge to Microsoft's OS dominance.

Windows 2000 Patch the Lone Fix for May

As planned, Microsoft released only one security bulletin for May in its monthly Patch Tuesday event today. The bulletin patches an "important" flaw in Windows 2000 that can allow an attacker to take control of a vulnerable computer over the Internet.

SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 Released

Microsoft on Friday posted Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000, the first service pack update for the company's flagship database server since early 2003.

Microsoft Research Projects for Sale

Microsoft will put some of the fruits of its $5-billion-per-year R&D operation on the auction block, offering to license the technologies to entrepreneurs for a fee and a cut of the profits.

The Devil's in the x64 Hardware Details

Microsoft has a $12 upgrade program to encourage customers running 32-bit Windows XP Professional on machines with x64 processors to make the jump to Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The software giant warns, however, that customers need to proceed carefully with respect to their hardware.

IDC Downgrades Forecast for 2005 IT Spending

Mixed signals in the United States and slower growth in Western Europe and Japan to slow IT spending growth through 2005, analyst firm says.

One Microsoft Security Bulletin Coming Next Week

May will be a light month for security bulletins from Microsoft. The software giant plans to release only one bulletin during its monthly Patch Tuesday next week.

Getting Ready for 64-bit Windows

Stumped about how to prepare for 64-bit Windows now and in Longhorn? A Gartner analyst recently laid out a roadmap for organizations to follow in evaluating x64 versions of Microsoft Windows.

IBM Reorg: Up To 13,000 Job Cuts, Mostly in EU

IBM announced late Wednesday a restructuring that will result in layoffs of as many as 13,000 workers, primarily in Europe, and a pre-tax charge of up to $1.7 billion.

SANS Releases Quarterly Update to List of Critical Security Updates

The security organization says the rate at which threats are emerging requires more regular updates to its closely watched list. New to the SANS Institute list are seven Microsoft vulnerabilities and problems with products from Computer Associates, Oracle, antivirus companies and media player companies.

Cisco Rolls Out First of Its Adaptive Security Appliances

Cisco Systems on Tuesday launched a key component of its Self Defending Network initiative when it delivered the first of its Adaptive Server Appliance 5500 Series family of multi-function network security appliances.

Opinion: Exchange 2000, 2003 in Danger

Microsoft released eight security bulletins in April. According to our analysis, one is critical, one important and another noteworthy. The rest can be applied with the next service pack or major version upgrade.

IBM Unveils Emerging Technologies Tools

IBM has released three new XML development tools for its Emerging Technologies Toolkit, a collection of free tools aimed at familiarizing developers with areas that the company sees as strategic to its vision of computing going forward.

ScriptLogic Ships Updated Desktop Admin Tool

ScriptLogic is shipping version 6.5 of its Desktop Authority PC administration package. The upgrade makes improvements in file and registry security operations, Windows firewall control and inactivity timers.

IE 7.0 Plan Remains Mostly Dark

SEATTLE -- Microsoft held a session at the Windows Hardware Engineering conference Wednesday on "Internet Explorer today and tomorrow," although the working title could have as easily been "Internet Explorer eight months ago."

Sun To Ship Four-way AMD64 Dual-core Servers

Sun Microsystems plans to ship versions of its Sun Fire V40z server in May that will be available with up to four of AMD’s new dual-core, 64-bit Opteron processors.

SP2 Released for SQL Server Reporting Services

A new service pack out for SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services adds several end-user features, as well as standard bug fixes, to the free add-on for the SQL Server database.

WinHEC Goody Bag Includes Another Longhorn Preview

SEATTLE -- Attendees to Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference this week were treated to a kit of DVDs, including one eagerly awaited item -- another pre-beta version of the Windows Longhorn operating system.

Microsoft Hires Paper Executive for CFO Job

Chris Liddell, the chief financial officer at International Paper, will assume the same job at Microsoft.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Sales Top 1 Million

SEATTLE -- Windows XP Media Center Edition sales topped 1 million in the six months since the launch of the most recent edition, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said this week.