Quest Software is shipping version 2.5 of its Group Policy Manager tool for creating, testing and implementing Windows Group Policy.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 15, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Visto filed suit against Microsoft for patent infringement in connection with Windows Mobile 5, which introduces push e-mail technology similar to Visto’s offerings.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 15, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft recently took another small step in its Trustworthy Computing initiative by obtaining security certification for a number of updated products.
                    
			            - By Keith  Ward
 - December 15, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft finished development this week on the Web access component of its Office Communicator client.
                    
			            - By Scott  Bekker
 - December 14, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft and Whale Communications announced a partnership that enables Whale to sell an integrated solution that combines Microsoft’s Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 with the smaller firm’s Intelligent Application Gateway product.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 14, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Role-based administration is a major feature in the beta, which is limited to about 1,400 testers.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 14, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Attackers are already exploiting a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Internet Explorer that Microsoft released a patch for Tuesday.
                    
			            - By Scott  Bekker
 - December 13, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    VMware made a splash in November when it released the free VMware Player, which lets users run pre-built VMware virtual machine configurations on client PCs. Now the company has taken its efforts a step further, teaming with Mozilla and Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu Linux) to create a pre-built virtual machine for the Firefox Web browser.
                    
			            - By Michael  Desmond
 - December 13, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft shipped at the end of last week Service Pack 1 for Visual FoxPro 9.0, a quiet update that fixes 200 or so bugs but that adds no new features to the revered database development tool.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 13, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    All of the noise and attention surrounding the release last month of Firefox 1.5 appears to have helped the alternative Web browser’s market share, even if those gains are still only in fractions of percentage points. 
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 08, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    XenSource announced this week that it is shipping version 3.0 of its Xen system virtualization environment built on the open source Xen hypervisor.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 08, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Wave of new developer and IT exams in beta testing during December. 
                    
			            - By Michael  Domingo
 - December 08, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft plans to post two security bulletins for Windows next Tuesday, and at least one of them addresses a critical vulnerability.
                    
			            - By Scott  Bekker
 - December 08, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    It's critical for Microsoft to demonstrate strong partner support for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 launch this week.
                    
			            - By Scott  Bekker
 - December 07, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    FullArmor is shipping PolicyPortal, a Web services-based tool designed to automatically enforce Active Directory Group Policy settings on computers that are disconnected from the directory, either temporarily or permanently.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 07, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft officials plan to appeal an antitrust ruling against the company by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission. 
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 07, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft is shipping a free software add-in designed to enable retailers to transfer point-of-sale data, such as transactions and purchase orders, directly into their financial management software.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 07, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft plans to ship the second beta test version of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP early next year.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 07, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Windows Server 2003 R2 reached its final development milestone on Tuesday when Microsoft released the product to manufacturing. The minor update to Windows Server 2003 will be generally available within 60 days.
                    
			            - By Scott  Bekker
 - December 06, 2005
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft is shipping the second of its “Project Green” – now renamed Microsoft Dynamics – products on schedule, this one its CRM package.
                    
			            - By Stuart J. Johnston
 - December 06, 2005