Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley's blog covers the products, people and strategies that make Microsoft tick.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).
It turns out that "Fiji" is, indeed, an interim Windows release and it is NOT Vista SP1. Fiji is the codename for the next version of Windows Media Center. And Microsoft's plan of record is to release this next Windows Media Center build "out of band," meaning in between core Windows releases.
At the kick-off of its second annual Small Business Summit even in Seattle on March 19, Microsoft took the wraps off Response Point, software designed to power small-business phone systems that are under development by a handful of Microsoft partners.
Now that Adobe has released the alpha build of Apollo, it's time for Microsoft to show its hand, in terms of its plans to create a development environment for coders interested in its WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere) technology.
Google is confirming that it has bought in-game advertising provider AdScape Media for an undisclosed amount. Guess that means Microsoft is going to have to come up with some kind of response when asked about Google as a competitor to Microsoft's Massive acquisition.
Now that the "Microsoft Service Credits for Web Search" cat is out of the bag, Microsoft officials are sharing more details about the program, designed to convince enterprise customers to use Microsoft's Live Search technology.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has thrown down the gauntlet and called Google's headcount growth plans "insane." Hmm. Let's look at a few interesting facts for comparison.
The "Microsoft Service Credits for Web Search" program provides kickbacks to businesses who agree to use Microsoft's Live Search services. The more users a company agrees to "influence," the bigger the payout from Microsoft. But the Web Search credit program isn't without precedent at Microsoft.
Microsoft acquired in May 2006 Massive Inc., one of the leaders in in-game advertising market. Katherine Hays, a senior director with Microsoft's platform and services division -- and the co-founder of Massive -- offered Wall Street analysts and other interested parties an update on what Microsoft has been up to in this space, via a Web-conference meeting on March 15.
Could SharePoint Server become the new center of Microsoft's universe (at least among business users)? SharePoint as an operating system in and of itself? These ideas aren't as crazy as they might sound.
Microsoft is now planning to release its Dynamics Live in phases during the third and fourth quarters of 2007, rather than all at once in the third quarter of this year, company officials said on March 14.