This post was written by Jeff Johnston
On Computerworld, Scot Finnie says that Microsoft Inc. is standing at the most important crossroads. The company, which always managed to provide customers with what they wanted, seems to have lost its focus after the 2004 antitrust ruling. It even allowed the search business opportunity to pass by and started taking focusing on generating short-term profits rather than on charting a long-term strategy. IT customers expect the industry leader to ante up some big-time vision and R&D that delivers significant innovation.
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Microsoft has published technical documents describing how it built support for the rival Open Document Format within Office 2007. In addition, Microsoft has also given away notes on how it supported its own format, Office Open XML (OOXML). This information could be helpful for third-party software firms trying to build applications that work with Office 2007. Despite Microsoft’s long-standing argument that customers benefit from the tight integration between Office 2007, SharePoint and other Microsoft applications, the company was sincere about promoting interoperability with other formats and applications.
Microsoft is adding support for multi-touch touch screens in the next version of Windows, Windows 7. The inclusion of multi-touch capabilities in Windows marks the surest sign yet that touch will join the mouse and keyboard as a common interface in computing. Microsoft Inc. has firmly put its stake in the ground in touch technologies already, with its tabletop Surface multi-touch computer beginning to show up in AT&T stores and is likely to make its public debut shortly in places like Sheraton hotels and Harrah’s casinos.
Microsoft’s tricky balancing act in 2009 will be to phase out Windows XP while boosting demand for Windows Vista and building anticipation for Windows 7. Compounding this challenge is that Vista has been Microsoft’s most embattled operating system, and though recent reports say that Vista has improved over the past year, there are also reports of a growing indifference from users. Many are sticking with Windows XP for now (or even requesting to “downgrade” to XP with new computer purchases) with the hope that Windows 7 will be more nimble and efficient than Vista.
Microsoft Inc. has further extended the life of Windows XP so that computer makers can include the operating system on low-cost desktop PCs. Microsoft has been under pressure from computer makers to provide a version of its OS for an emerging class of very low-cost laptops and desktops. Its new Windows Vista OS is widely seen as too resource-hungry for those machines. PC makers can now include Windows XP in those systems until 2010, the same as the deadline for low-cost laptops.
Awareness Inc. has launched its platform that has been integrated with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This integration, developed by working with Microsoft Inc., brings the value of social media to Microsoft Office SharePoint Products and Technologies and enables users to directly engage with Awareness-powered, external-facing Web 2.0 communities. The scalable and searchable backend of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, ideal for broad information-sharing within an enterprise, combined with Awareness’ expertise in powering social media communities, gives companies an effective way to tie their internal collaboration closely to their external Web communities.
Microsoft Corp. has launched the first public beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2). It is now available in five language-specific editions: English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Microsoft has not committed to Vista SP2 delivery or RTM dates, but a Web site that has a solid track record of predicting such things said the update would hit RTM in April 2009. Vista SP2 can be downloaded as a 388MB stand-alone installer for 32-bit versions.
To complement its Windows Vista operating system, software giant Microsoft Corporation recently launched its latest suite of hardware products composed of two mouse pads, a keyboard and a webcam. In a press briefing last week, Katherine Teu, regional marketing manager of Microsoft Hardware Southeast Asia, said the products were made with a combination of innovation, style, and functionality aimed at delivering high performance and comfortable use, be it for work or entertainment. Teu said the products were designed to enhance the PC user’s experience and complement the capabilities of its Windows Vista operating system.
Microsoft Inc. has launched version 2 of Zune portable digital media player in Canada. Zune version 2 is much improved in design and function and its unique, cool and intuitive WiFi-based music sharing and synchronization between computers and players within a one-block range sets it apart from the crowd. Since the company has not indicated the launch date of the Canadian online Zune Marketplace store, customers may need to download your music, without from digital copyright protection, either from other Windows compatible sites or iTunes.
Microsoft has announced survey findings from the Xbox 360 Holiday Entertainment Survey along with the launch of some weird tools. With the Xbox Holiday Value Finder you can very visually compare the Xbox value with a dinner out and other things. The Xbox 360 Holiday Gift Influencer is a new tool that allows you to answer a series of questions and then receive a customized letter that you can provide to the gift-giver in your life to prove why you need an Xbox 360 console.