News


Microsoft Rejects Japanese Antimonopoly Recommendation

The Japanese Fair Trade Commission recommended on July 13 that Microsoft is in contravention of Japan's Antimonopoly Act. Microsoft formally gave the JFTC notice of its plans to seek further hearings on the recommendation this week.

Microsoft Finishes SQL Server 2005 Beta 2

Microsoft this week released its long-awaited Beta 2 for SQL Server 2005, the next major release of Microsoft's flagship database that was formerly code-named "Yukon."

Office 2003 SP1 Available

Microsoft on Tuesday posted Office 2003 Service Pack 1, a collection of bug fixes for all the Office applications as well as feature enhancements for OneNote, InfoPath, Outlook and Access.

Microsoft Earnings, Revenues Grow in 4th Quarter

Microsoft on Thursday announced 15 percent revenue growth, and 82 percent earnings growth for its fourth quarter compared to the year-ago period. But the company missed analyst expectations for earnings per share.

Microsoft Contributes Analyst, Free Software to Cybercrime Organization

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it is helping a new cyberforensics organization get off the ground with the contribution of a full-time analyst and $46,000 worth of software.

Fujitsu Ships Itanium 2 Server

Fujitsu's U.S. subsidiary this week rolled out the second server in its line of Itanium 2 processor-based systems.

Abridean Updates Provisioning Software

Abridean advanced its user management and provisioning software this week with a new release that introduces centralized management of policies governing the granting and removing of user access to systems, data and resources.

Microsoft Unveils $30 Billion Stock Buyback

Company executives also announced plans to issue a special one-time dividend of $3 per share and change Microsoft's regular dividend payments from 16 cents per share per year to 8 cents per share per quarter.

Lindows to Get $20 Million from Microsoft, Will Change Company Name to Linspire

Microsoft agreed to pay $20 million to Lindows to get the San Diego-based desktop Linux OS vendor to stop using a name that Microsoft contends infringes upon its Windows trademark.

Windows Update Services Delayed

Citing the need to incorporate user feedback and the higher priority of Windows XP Service Pack 2-related work, Microsoft pushed back its shipment target for Windows Update Services from the end of this year to the first half of next year.

Quarantining Part of Windows Server 2003 'R2' Fleshed Out

Microsoft unveiled details, a name and partner support for the quarantining technology it plans to add to Windows Server 2003 next year in the update release, code-named "R2."

Patch Tuesday Brings Fixes for 2 Critical Security Flaws

Microsoft patched two critical flaws in its software in a batch of seven security bulletins released today as part of the company's monthly "Patch Tuesday." Each of the two critical flaws could allow an attacker to take complete control of a Windows computer over the Internet.

ISA Server 2004 Generally Available

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server 2004 is generally available, a Microsoft executive told partners at a conference Tuesday.

Bagle Comes Back

Bagle is back and security industry insiders say new developments with the mass-mailing worm will probably cause headaches for Windows administrators all summer.

Windows XP SP2 Coming in August

Windows XP Service Pack 2, arguably Microsoft's biggest service pack yet and the company's most important security project since the Trustworthy Computing initiative, will be released in August.

Postini Declares Shift in Spam Battle

E-mail security and management provider Postini declared this week that its method of blocking spam e-mails based on IP addresses is proving an effective complement to content filtering.

Group: Piracy Costs Software Industry $29 Billion

Pirated software accounted for more than a third of the software installed on computers worldwide in 2003, representing a loss of $29 billion, according to a study released Wednesday by a software industry group.

Ballmer Memo Aimed at Wall Street, Employees

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's massive 4,900-word internal memo to Microsoft employees is a major event in Redmond and for Wall Street, but it affects IT shops only marginally. $1 billion in cuts planned by July 2005. Product schedules do not appear to be affected.

Interim Fix Released for Critical IE Flaw

Microsoft released an emergency configuration update over the July Fourth U.S. holiday that for the first time gives Internet Explorer users protection against the specific vulnerabilities exploited by the Download.Ject attack.

HP to Replace Memory Modules in Laptops

HP disclosed that flawed memory modules in 14 models of HP and Compaq laptops could produce blue screens, intermittent lock-ups or memory corruption. The computermaker announced a replacement program for the third-party memory modules that runs through Dec. 31.