Security administrators in charge of networks of Microsoft systems will be busy next Tuesday.
Microsoft on Thursday sent out its monthly advisory about the security bulletins that will be released on the second Tuesday of the month (Patch Tuesday, which this month falls on Dec. 13).
The list includes 14 security bulletins, three of them rated "critical" and 11 of them "important." The three critical bulletins, warning of remote code execution vulnerabilities, affect most supported versions of Windows. The important bulletins cover Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint and Internet Explorer, among other products.
Posted by Scott Bekker on December 08, 20110 comments
Microsoft plans to add a Small Business Competency to the Microsoft Partner Network in the spring.
"One of the big pieces of news that's been a large discussion on a number of these forums for awhile is we are planning on launching a Small Business Competency in the spring," said Julie Bennani, general manager of the Microsoft Partner Network, during the online MPN Interactive Leadership Forum for partners this week.
"We will keep the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) in market, but based on your feedback and your request that we elevate that space to the equivalent level of the other competencies, we are planning on doing that this spring," Bennani said.
The Small Business Competency had a place in the lineup of nearly 30 competencies just ahead of the MPN rollout in 2010. But Microsoft executives had second thoughts when it was time to make the new MPN competencies live and decided to leave the extra-competency structure of the SBSC alone for awhile.
The decision was always conditional. As Bennani told Redmond Channel Partner magazine last year, "What we decided to do -- as opposed to being too dramatic in that area -- both for the partners and for customers, was to just raise the requirements in that community and see how partners respond and [see] what it does for the customer."
Posted by Scott Bekker on December 07, 20110 comments
Tribridge, the major Microsoft Dynamics partner that recently became one of Microsoft's three Master VARs in the United States, this month acquired another high-profile Microsoft Dynamics partner: Dallas-based ePartners.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, combines two award-winning and very connected Microsoft partners. "Tribridge has won Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year awards three of the last five years," said David Willis, vice president of Microsoft's U.S. Dynamics business, in a statement supporting the merger. "Their acquisition of another Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle partner with a sizeable customer base, industry expertise and additional, committed resources will help Tribridge continue to grow their business exponentially."
For its part, ePartners was a Microsoft Global Partner of Year in 2001 and 2004 and was a finalist for Microsoft Dynamics U.S. Reseller of the Year in 2010.
In a statement explaining the deal, Tribridge CEO and Chairman Tony DiBenedetto said his Tampa, Fla.-based company secured equity funding last year to make strategic acquisitions like the ePartners deal. He said ePartners was especially attractive to Tribridge for its vertical experience in health care, as well as its broad ERP practice and cloud computing expertise.
According to a Tribridge statement, "more than 90 percent of ePartners employees and executives will join the Tribridge team in a variety of roles."
The deal comes after ePartners sold its U.K. operations in August to eBECS Ltd., a Microsoft Dynamics reseller in the United Kingdom that specialized in Microsoft Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM solutions.
Tribridge has about 400 employees and about 3,500 customers, according to the company's Web site. It wasn't immediately clear whether that figure included the ePartners addition.
In mid-November, Microsoft named Tribridge the third and, for now, final member of its Dynamics Master VAR program. Tribridge joined SBS Group and Socius, both of which were announced as Master VARs on Microsoft's Dynamics partner-only portal in October.
As Master VARs, the three companies will be able to create their own Microsoft-sanctioned networks of smaller Dynamics partners, called Sales Affiliates, throughout the United States that will leverage the Master VAR's centralized marketing, support, operations and training.
Related:
Posted by Scott Bekker on December 05, 20110 comments
Senior Microsoft partner executives will give updates on the Microsoft Partner Network and take questions from partners Tuesday in a pair of webcasts.
The Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership Forum will be held as LiveMeetings at 10 a.m. EST and again at 9 p.m. EST. The presenters will cover the same topics at each session, but both will be live to accommodate questions from partners in various time zones around the world.
Eric Ligman, Microsoft director of partner experience, will moderate the session. Other speakers include Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group; Julie Bennani, general manager, Microsoft Partner Network; Ross Brown, vice president, Worldwide Partner Sales; and Karl Noakes, general manager, Microsoft Partner Strategy & Programs.
According to the event description, the executives will be discussing "key topics of interest, questions, concerns, misconceptions and more that we have heard from partners around the world regarding the Microsoft Partner Network to help address and answer these for you, the Microsoft partners. This session will also include an open forum Q&A session where you will be able to ask questions of the leadership team regarding the Microsoft Partner Network."
In March, Microsoft held a similar event, which turned into a wide-ranging discussion generating headlines about partner roadmaps, the ISV competency, incentive programs, branding campaigns and Pinpoint momentum.
An Eric Ligman blog post with information about the sessions and registration details is available here.
Related:
Posted by Scott Bekker on December 05, 20110 comments
I breathed a sigh of relief today to find that the Carrier IQ smartphone rootkit is not lurking on my Windows Phone (although my colleague Lee Pender has a funny takedown of the whole issue here.)
"Since people are asking-- Windows Phones don't have CarrierIQ on them either," Joe Belfiore, Microsoft corporate vice president of Windows Phone Program Management, Tweeted Thursday.
As an otherwise happy user of a Windows Phone, I can honestly say I'm not surprised. It's not because I trust Microsoft to get the security right, although there have been some third-party claims to that effect. It's because so many other apps aren't available on the Windows Phone yet. Could this just be a happy case of dodging a bullet by being late or having a market share too small to bother with?
Allegedly, there will be a more detailed statement from Microsoft later. In any case, Microsoft joins RIM, Nokia and Verizon in stating that they don't put Carrier IQ on their devices.
Related:
Posted by Scott Bekker on December 01, 20111 comments
Looks like the long and frustrating wait for official Microsoft Lync mobile apps for multiple smartphone platforms may finally be coming to an end.
Late last year, Microsoft said it was working on mobile Lync apps for the Apple iPhone and collaborating with RIM for a BlackBerry version, along with working on an app for Windows Phone. All of the apps were supposed to come in calendar 2011.
What happened inside the black box of Redmond is hard to say. Strategy tax arguments? Confusion over how Skype would fit into the picture? Unintended technical hurdles? In any case, Microsoft declared over the summer that Lync mobile apps would be arriving in the fourth quarter for Windows Phone, Android, iOS and Symbian smartphones.
Earlier this month, the official Microsoft Australia (MSAU) Twitter account confirmed that the apps would be coming in the next four weeks, an indication that the apps should squeak in under that self-imposed deadline.
The precise Tweet took the form of confirming another user's message. On Nov. 22, MSAU posted the message: "Confirmed RT @gh8421: So apparently Microsoft Lync is coming to #WP7, #Android, #BB & #iDevices in the next 4 weeks."
According to a Microsoft FAQ (which doesn't state delivery dates), the mobile clients for Lync will be developed by Microsoft, smartphone vendors or development partners: "Microsoft-developed Lync clients will be available for Windows Phone 7 and iPhone, jointly developed clients will be available for Nokia phones, and partner-developed clients will be available for other smartphone platforms."
As for what the clients will do, Microsoft's FAQ says mobile client users will be able to
- view colleagues' availability;
- initiate instant messaging, e-mail or phone calls;
- provide status updates;
- connect to conferences with a single click;
- use a single phone number across a desk phone, PC and mobile phone;
- and benefit from several built-in security features.
I'd be careful about assuming that all that functionality will be available on the first rev. It may be, but Microsoft is fostering an information-poor environment here. There's also the possibility that Microsoft will take a Windows Phone-first approach -- not in terms of time, apparently, but in features.
Will the Windows Phone version have more features available than other versions? We'll see next month -- that is, if Microsoft hits this latest timeline.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 30, 20110 comments
Quest Software has most of its strategic partners converted to managed status after a significant revamp of its channel program four months ago, the company's top channel executive says.
In an interview this week, Michael Sotnick, vice president, Worldwide Channel and Alliances for Quest, provided an update on Quest Partner Circle (QPC).
Quest launched QPC in July at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to unify its channel programs, many of which were inherited from multiple acquisitions. Given the company's Microsoft-heavy tools portfolio, many of Quest's 4,000 channel partners are also Microsoft partners.
One of the major changes was to create a three-tier network, consisting of Elite, Premier and Registered partners. Partners in the top two tiers, Elite and Premier, have dedicated account management from Quest. "About 600 to 650 of our total partners have moved over to a managed partner status," Sotnick said. Of those, about 200 or so are Elite and roughly 400 are Premier.
Altogether, managed partners account for about 15 percent of Quest's partner community, which Sotnick said is about right.
"We see those numbers growing modestly. Maybe instead of 15 percent as managed partners, that may go up to 16-17 percent," Sotnick said. "Much more important, we have started the direct-engagement with those partners. We are much more centered on value and intimate planning relationship with valued partners than we are on number of partners."
That partner-by-partner planning should help Quest work toward another of its goals with the unified partner program -- getting partners to sell more of Quest's product lines.
In addition to products Quest developed internally, the company has added products over the years with acquisitions of ScriptLogic, NetPro, Aelita Software, BakBone, MessageWise, Vintela, Provision Networks, PacketTrap Networks, PassGo, Vizioncore, Fast Lane, Foglight, Surgient, Wingra Technologies, Volcker Informatik AG and Toad.
The acquisitions are ongoing -- just last month Quest acquired ChangeBASE, a U.K.-based automated application analysis company that Quest executives believe will help strengthen Quest's already large migration portfolio for Windows 7 and later Windows 8 migrations in the increasingly multi-platform corporate environment.
In planning meetings and at Quest's recently concluded North American partner conference, Sotnick said Quest is already seeing increasing interest from existing partners in broadening the products they represent in two main areas. "Partners who have come into the Quest Partner Circle from outside our core Windows migrations portfolios have an appetite to get into migration and Windows management," Sotnick said. "Longstanding partners in Windows management and migration have indicated that identity and access management is the most likely area where they're going to invest next."
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 17, 20110 comments
In the take-this-for-what-it's-worth category, there's a published report that Nokia plans to release a Windows 8-based tablet in 2012.
My skepticism stems from the sourcing. The head of the French operations of the Finland-based firm was quoted in a French newspaper saying the following: "In June 2012, we will have a tablet that runs on Windows 8." (Hat tip to The Register for catching the item and translating the quote to English.)
That's not exactly the vetted and careful way that a company releases information about a major future product in order to create buzz and prepare the channel.
But it's a data point on two fronts. 1) It's an early drip in the coming flood of rumors about Windows 8 ship dates. 2) It's another indication that Nokia is serious about taking the Microsoft partnership beyond smartphones.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 16, 20110 comments
My 21-year-old nephew was an early adopter of the Microsoft Xbox when it came out in November 2001. Later, his pre-ordered Xbox 360 shipped in the first wave, arriving to the delight of his cousins during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2005. He has a Kinect, of course, and he still goes out at midnight sometimes to buy new games as soon as they become available.
All of that makes him far more qualified than I am to evaluate whether the Xbox Live Hub on Windows Phone is a device differentiator or not. While the subject is a little off-topic for this business-focused blog, the point is whether there's anything behind Microsoft's contention that Xbox integration between the phone and the console is one of those sleeper advantages that will eventually drive adoption. After all, there are an estimated 41 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide. Make the experience compelling, and that's a lot of potential phone buyers.
So Friday night, I sat on my nephew's couch and handed him a Windows Phone to see what he'd make of the Xbox Live Hub on a Windows Phone. (He's a Droid user.) The Windows Phone he tried out was a Samsung Focus running Windows Phone 7.5, so it had all the latest Xbox Live features.
The Xbox Live Hub is one of those default tiles on the home screen of the Windows Phone device. It serves as the gaming center on the phone -- all mobile games from Angry Birds to Need for Speed show up there, and that's whether or not the user has an Xbox Live Gold membership (the memberships are $10 per month or $60 per year). The hub includes the Xbox Live-branded games, which implies some sort of pedigree and quality bar, but is also the repository for other games bought in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
The Hub is also where Microsoft markets and recommends new games, and there's context-aware searching and shopping for new games from within it.
Once my nephew had worked through the predictable annoyance of remembering what his Xbox Live password was after years of being automatically signed in on his console, he got down into the console-phone integration features.
The avatar that he'd created on his Xbox appeared on the phone screen, where the avatar goofed around convincingly and engagingly among the menus. My nephew could customize his avatar on the phone if he wanted. He could see from the phone which of his 50-or-so Xbox Live friends were online or offline and view their requests and exchange messages. He could also monitor his Xbox Gold point total, as well as see how many points he'd gotten from achievements on various games going back for years.
The verdict after 10 or 15 minutes spent playing with the Xbox Live Hub on the phone? The features complement the Xbox console experience nicely, but they don't yet improve the experience in a compelling way. As my nephew put it: "It's nice. I wish I could put that on my Droid."
Microsoft is working on deeper integration between the Windows Phone as a controller for an Xbox console-based media center, as shown at about the 1-minute mark of this video. If that integration works as advertised, the case for the Windows Phone among Xbox users may improve dramatically. But for now, the Windows Phone-Xbox integrations are nice to have, not yet must have.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 15, 20113 comments
The carriers are finally starting to invest some real marketing money in Windows Phone.
Watching Monday Night Football last night, I noticed at least two carrier-backed ads promoting Windows Phone. (There may have been more ads, but I was channel surfing -- Green Bay was dominating the Minnesota Vikings so completely that the game was almost unwatchable.)
The highlight was this funny bit from AT&T with two slacker buddies torturing each other with their Samsung Focus Flash phones.
The Focus Flash is the low-cost, Mango-out-of-the-box, front-facing-camera device that is a strong candidate to be the top Windows Phone 7.5 seller. T-Mobile also had a spot for the HTC Radar.
When it comes to national TV audiences on a week-to-week basis in the fall, Monday Night Football is the biggest stage in the United States. The gimmicky launch event with AT&T in New York this month got some attention, but TV spots from carriers on Monday Night Football are the kinds of things that drive demand.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 15, 20110 comments
In the battle for third place behind Google Android and Apple iPhone, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is making progress among developers, according to a new survey.
The evidence that Microsoft is edging out Research In Motion's BlackBerry as smartphone platform No. 3 comes from the latest Appcelerator/IDC survey, released Monday (PDF here).
"The third major mobile OS after iOS and Android is now clearly Windows, driven largely by the Microsoft/Nokia partnership and underscored by the new Nokia Lumia 800," said Scott Ellison, vice president of Mobile & Connected Consumer Platforms at IDC, in a statement about the survey results.
The number of respondents saying they are "very interested" in the Windows Phone OS jumped 8 points this quarter to 38 percent, according to the survey of 2,160 Appcelerator developers.
By comparison, RIM lost 7 points of share to wind up with 21 percent of respondents saying they were "very interested" in developing for Blackberry OS phones.
When asked why they had more interest in Windows Phone than a year ago, a plurality of 48 percent attributed it to the Microsoft/Nokia partnership.
The Appcelerator/IDC announcement of the results characterized Windows Phone as having "decisively moved ahead" of RIM.
The results are a good leading indicator for future market share gains by Microsoft. Windows Phone still has a long way to go to be a serious contender to the dominant platforms, though. Developers "very interested" in developing for Android amounted to 83 percent of respondents. Those "very interested" in developing for iPhone came to 91 percent.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 14, 20110 comments
IT departments over the last couple of years have been drinking from the firehose when it comes to dealing with mobile devices in the workplace.
Known as the "consumerization of IT," practically speaking, it means employees have been bringing their own devices to work and demanding that their IT department support their use.
The pace at which devices like smartphones and tablets are arriving unannounced in organizations shows no signs of letting up, either. But the people who try to help advise corporate IT on managing their infrastructures in an orderly way seem to be catching up and starting to give guidance on how to handle the device explosion.
One example came at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011 in Barcelona this month. During the conference, analysts from Gartner outlined four mobile management styles that it expects will emerge (quotes are from a Gartner document outlining the styles):
- Control-oriented. "The organization provides and strictly manages devices, contracts and applications."
- Choice-oriented. "The primary goal is user satisfaction, typically in cases where users demand a greater choice of devices, but have relatively undemanding application and service needs." Characterized by lightweight control and limited application support.
- Innovation-oriented. "The goal is to empower users who want substantial autonomy and are often in roles over which IT has little or no control. [Users] are in charge, and no reasonable device, application or service request can be refused. The IT organization won't abandon responsibility for critical issues such as data privacy and corporate risk; however, the controls will likely be more policy-oriented than technology-oriented."
- Hands-off. "The goal is to take the minimum level of responsibility for mobile devices and services, typically by not providing them. This regime is not about avoiding responsibility, but finding approaches that mean it's not necessary to take responsibility. It includes concepts such as employee-owned devices and [bring your own] IT."
These mobile management styles are pretty basic, but they seem like a pretty logical way to start categorizing organizations, departments and employees.
Posted by Scott Bekker on November 14, 20110 comments