News


Microsoft: Windows XP SP1 Due in August-September

During a news conference on steps Microsoft is taking to comply with the antitrust settlement, company officials said Windows XP Service Pack 1 will be available in the next two months.

Windows 2000 SP3 Generally Available

Microsoft posted Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000 late Thursday, two days after making SP3 available to Premier Customers. The oft-delayed bundle of regression-tested bug fixes is the first Windows 2000 service pack so far that Microsoft has recommended that users install.

New SQL Vulnerability Patched

A moderate vulnerability in the Microsoft Data Access Components could compromise security on SQL Server systems. The security bulletin issued by Microsoft about the issue late Wednesday is the third involving SQL Server in the last two weeks.

ENT's Guide to Microsoft Clustering Technologies

Over the last several years, Microsoft has greatly expanded its list of technologies that fit under the umbrella term "clustering." Here's an overview of some of the most prominent Microsoft clustering technologies.

Under the Hood of Advanced Server Limited Edition

ENT contributing editor Stephen Swoyer drills into the specifics of the 1.2 release of Microsoft's Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition 1.2. ASLE 1.2 is the version of Microsoft's 64-bit operating system tuned for Intel's new Itanium 2 processor.

Windows 2000 SP3 Released to Premier Customers

Microsoft is set to release Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000 on Thursday, company officials said.

Data Center in a Package: Just Add Money

Microsoft and a host of hardware and services vendors want to help you get your Internet Data Center, based on Microsoft software, up and running quickly. To that end, more than a dozen vendors are working on prescriptive architecture guides (PAG) under a full-featured program called the Microsoft Systems Architecture (MSA) program.

Microsoft: MAPI Has a Future in Exchange and Outlook

An ISV who relies on Microsoft's proprietary API for Exchange got nervous about its future when Microsoft started talking about its forthcoming "Titanium" and "Kodiak" releases. Microsoft says MAPI is alive and well.

Windows CE .NET 4.1 Available

Microsoft on Tuesday made available an interim release of its Windows CE .NET operating system for mobile and small-footprint devices that adds IPv6 support, new file viewers and a Speech API.

IBM Opens Windows .NET, Xeon MP High-End Benchmarking with a Roar

Leveraging Windows .NET Datacenter Server beta code and Intel's new Xeon MP chips, IBM used the Transaction Processing Performance Council's OLTP benchmark to demonstrate impressive performance on its funky new eight-processor servers.

Gates Outlines 3 Waves of Software Coming from Microsoft

Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates spent his day Thursday trying to help the financial community understand the themes behind Microsoft's dozens of planned product releases over the next few years. The "wave" model he came up with may be equally helpful for IT decision makers trying to make sense of how Microsoft's roadmaps fit with their own organizations' plans.

Company Extends Apache to Support .NET

Covalent Technologies this week released extensions to their Apache Web server product to allow integration with Microsoft's ASP.NET.

Microsoft Puts Out 5 Security Bulletins Overnight

Microsoft issued five security bulletins on Wednesday night, including one bulletin and patch addressing three critical vulnerabilities in SQL Server 2000. Two of the bulletins dealt with SQL Server 2000, one dealt with Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, another involved Microsoft Metadirectory Services 2.2 and a fifth bulletin was a reissue of an earlier patch for Windows Media Player.

Exchange 2000 SP3 Posted

Microsoft on Wednesday posted the third Service Pack for Exchange 2000 that includes fixes from an eight-week Trustworthy Computing-related code review.

Windows .NET Server RC1 Ready

Release Candidate 1 of Windows .NET Server is finished and Microsoft will distribute the code to anyone who wants to test it, the company said Wednesday. Shipping RC1, which is feature complete, is a major milestone in Microsoft's process for delivering a finished operating system.

Microsoft Creates .NET Provider for Oracle

Microsoft on Tuesday made one of its occasional noises about integration with a competitor when it trumpeted a new tool for wiring Oracle databases to applications developed in the .NET Framework.

Microsoft, Lotus Claim Victory in IDC Findings

Market research firm IDC released its annual report on messaging and collaboration Tuesday, concluding that the market is growing in number of seats but shrinking in revenues.

IBM Unveils Latest DB2

The latest beta of IBM Corp.’s relational database server, DB2, has hit the Web, revealing what will come in the next release. When version 8 is released later this year, it will include new management features and Web services functionality.

Microsoft to Release Q4 Earnings

Microsoft is scheduled to discuss its earnings this evening for the fourth quarter of the 2002 fiscal year and for the entire year, which ended June 30.

Microsoft Taking Nominations for 64-bit SQL Testers

Simultaneous with the Itanium 2 processor launch last week, Microsoft began taking nominations for the SQL Server 2000 64-bit beta program.