SQL Server 2008 RTMs

Microsoft reached a major milestone in its journey to market with SQL Server 2008 with the release to manufacturing of the product today .

Microsoft's launch channels and processes are so massive, varied and complex that a little explanation is required. RTM in this case means that SQL Server 2008 is available now for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. An evaluation download will be available tomorrow. Meanwhile, SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available now. Pricing is unchanged from SQL Server 2005.

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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20084 comments


Anxious Foresight

Eagle-eyed Redmond Media Group Online Editor Kurt Mackie found something interesting from a close look at the 10-K document Microsoft recently filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Mackie wrote an in-depth piece detailing Microsoft's assessment of the threat it faces from open source. Check it out here More

Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20082 comments


AT&T Joins the Cloud

This whole race to cloud computing is getting more interesting by the day. AT&T officially joined the list of major participants this morning. There are parties coming in from nearly every side -- software players like Microsoft, Internet players like Yahoo and Google, hardware/software players like More

Posted by Scott Bekker on August 05, 20080 comments


VMware Reaches Out to System Builders

Virtualization specialist VMware Inc. added another facet to its channel efforts today with the addition of a dedicated program for system builders.

The VMware System Builder Program includes pre-sales technical support, training and marketing tools. System builders who join the VMware VIP Partner Program under the new system builder designation will also be eligible for standard VIP program benefits such as financial incentives for new account sales, registering deals, influencing deals, partner-to-partner deals and deals that leverage utilities' energy efficiency rebate programs.

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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 05, 20080 comments


Gates Reportedly Prefers the Stones to the Beatles

So I'm watching MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning at the gym, and they started talking about Bill Gates. (I think that's reason enough to ask my boss to start reimbursing my gym membership as a business expense, don't you?)

It seems Microsoft's chairman has a column in the next issue of TIME magazine about how to fix capitalism. Anything that the ultimate symbol of late-20th-century capitalism has to say about the subject should be interesting.

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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20080 comments


Midori Is Definitely Something To Keep an Eye On

Tech news sites, including our own , are abuzz with details of a new Microsoft operating system, codenamed "Midori." There's no official confirmation from Microsoft, other than that Midori exists as one of many incubation projects.

But some sources describe the OS as being componentized, Internet-centric and designed for cloud computing. The project is separate from the Windows 7 effort, which is based on the Vista code-base.

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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20081 comments


Readers Respond

On Tuesday, I blogged about Citrix's move to concentrate all North American efforts on one distributor, Ingram Micro, ending relationships with Alternative Technology, Avnet and Tech Data. One poster had this response for Craig Stilwell, a vice president whose explanation of Citrix's reasoning was included in the blog post: More

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 31, 20080 comments


Ozzie's Vision of the Cloud Includes Partners

One of the things I thought was missing from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference earlier this month was a speech from Ray Ozzie. While Microsoft made substantive announcements about its Software Plus Services strategy and the role it hoped partners would play, the conference didn't include any kind of overarching vision on S+S from the company's chief technical officer and resident expert on the subject. More

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 30, 20080 comments


The Apache Investment

So after years of pitting IIS against the Apache Web server, the famous "A" in the open source LAMP stack, Microsoft is now backing the Apache Software Foundation. Redmond Media Group Editorial Director Doug Barney has an opinion More

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20080 comments


Microsoft Hits Back on Vista

A few weeks ago, a senior Microsoft executive told partners that the company was drawing a "line in the sand" that it would not allow Vista critics to cross.

Well, chalk up a first victim. Forrester Research analyst Thomas Mendel got a face full of sand from the software giant late last week. On a Vista blog, Chris Flores, a director at Microsoft on the Windows Client Communications Team, lambasted Mendel and his report. Wrote Flores of the Forrester report: "This appears to be more focused on making sensationalist statements."

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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20084 comments


Citrix Dumps All But One Distribution Partner in North America

Citrix Systems Inc. is causing some channel controversy with a decision to dump all North American distributors except for Ingram Micro Inc.

The move means Alternative Technology (owned by Arrow Electronics), Avnet and Tech Data are out of the North American Citrix distribution business on Aug. 30. Starting on that date, Citrix's 1,900 North American authorized Citrix Solution Advisors will rely solely on Ingram Micro for distribution of Citrix's XenApp, XenDesktop XenServer, NetScaler, Access Gateway, WANScaler and Provisioning Server.

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Posted by Scott Bekker on July 29, 20083 comments


Napera Networks Launches Channel Program

Seattle-based SME networking vendor Napera Networks launched a channel program this week. A company spokesperson said Microsoft channel partners will be a good fit for the new Napera Advantage Partner Program, in part because the company's products leverage Microsoft Network Access Protection protocols. For more information about the program launch, go here

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 24, 20080 comments