Microsoft Talk

microsoft and antitrust

A jury in Rhode Island found Microsoft guilty of patent infringement, ordering it to pay US$38 million to Uniloc, the patent holder.

Initially filed in 2003 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, the suit alleges that Microsoft’s product activation system infringes on a patent held by Uniloc.

The jury decided that the patent is valid and that Microsoft willfully infringes it.

The software giant still thinks otherwise and intends to appeal the decision. “We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported. We will ask the court to overturn the verdict,” the company said in a statement.

Microsoft’s product activation process aims to reduce piracy by requiring people to activate their software, tying it to a particular machine in the process. Users can then reinstall the software repeatedly on that machine, but can’t share the software with other people and PCs.

Uniloc sells technology that software developers use to offer flexible licensing terms, such as trial periods.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, said it was disappointed in the verdict, and plans to appeal.

The verdict was reached by a jury in a long-running case in federal court in Rhode Island, which found that Microsoft infringed Uniloc’s patent on software that generates unique identities for licensed users and prevents unauthorized use or copying of programs.

“We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported,” said a Microsoft spokesman. “We will ask the court to overturn the verdict.”

Uniloc USA and its Singapore-based parent originally filed suit against Microsoft in 2003, claiming that Microsoft infringed its patent with security software it was using to prevent unlicensed use of its Windows XP operating system and parts of its Office suite of products.

After six years of legal wrangling, the jury trial started in March. The damages award is one of the largest on record in patent law disputes.

The case: Uniloc USA, Inc., et al v. Microsoft Corp., et al, U.S. District Court District of Rhode Island (Providence), 1:03-cv-00440-S-DLM.

sql

Many SQL Server 2000 and 2005 shops have been waiting for the pack before upgrading to the 2008 edition, as it contains all the cumulative updates and fixes issued since SQL Server 2008 was released to manufacturing in August, resulting in an overall more stable application.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) also makes it easier to deploy SQL Server 2008. A feature called Slipstream allows users to install the database and service pack at once, easing the process of loading the software onto hundreds or thousands of servers, said Fausto Ibarra, director of product management.

There isn’t much in the way of new features in SP1, but that is a deliberate reflection of Microsoft’s strategy to put out initial releases that are feature-complete, with packs only used for fixes, he said. “We got feedback from customers that they wanted more predictability, service packs that they could deploy without worrying about application compatibility.”

Should there be a compatibility problem, users have the ability to uninstall the service pack, he said.

While Microsoft is hoping the service pack’s release will entice more SQL 2000 and 2005 users to upgrade, the company claims SQL 2008 has been downloaded more than 3 million times already.

Some Microsoft customers, such as the financial services company Raymond James, haven’t bothered to wait for SP1.

Raymond James is using SQL Server 2008 to power its BI (business intelligence) platform, said Todd Daniell, manager of the company’s BI group.

The platform is being used by about 7,000 workers, from back-office employees to financial advisors at Raymond James’ many locations around the country, he said.

windows 7

“Looking forward, we can confidently say that no matter how netbook PC hardware evolves, we’re gearing up to ensure that Windows 7 will run great on them,” Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows communication manager, wrote in Friday blog post.

“We’ve been testing Windows 7 on netbook PCs since before Windows 7 was feature complete, and our plan is to enable these small notebook PCs to run any edition of Windows 7,” he wrote.

A beta version of Windows 7 was released in January.

LeBlanc’s comments were part of a “year in review” blog about Windows netbooks. He shot down suggestions that netbooks will hurt Microsoft, and touted the company’s gains over Linux-based netbooks.

“Initially, some in the industry viewed low-cost netbook PCs as a new challenge for Microsoft and an opportunity for Linux to make inroads in the consumer market. Some believed consumers wouldn’t want or need their netbook PC to be a full-featured PC,” he wrote. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true – a number of analysts and researchers following the space see ample evidence indicating customers really DO want netbook PCs to work like their larger brethren – and that the way the vast majority of consumers make that happen is by buying a netbook PC with Windows.”

He pointed to NPD data that said Windows-based netbooks have gone from 10 percent of units sales in the first half of 2008 to 96 percent as of February 2009. LeBlanc also said that return rates for Linux-based netbooks were four times as higher than Windows, according to vendor data.

Microsoft

Bach outlined Microsoft’s target, a “three-screens-and-a-cloud scenario” in which “our customers can get the services and capabilities they want delivered to any device whenever they want.”

Such a scenario involves interaction and syncing between your “three screens”—TV, PC, and mobile phone—and an online account that manages them and backs up your content. Bach pointed out that, ideally, “A Windows PC, a Windows phone, and a Windows Live service will create that connected experience that we’re talking about.”

Microsoft’s new My Phone service will facilitate that connectivity. The service backs up a Windows Mobile phone’s data and content, and lets users access that content via PC. For instance, users can search for text messages on their phones using their PCs.

Bach also took the audience on a tour of Windows 6.5 (which you can see for yourself in our Windows Mobile 6.5 slideshow), and talked about the newly announced customizability options. Designers like Isaac Mizrahi have signed on to design wallpapers for Windows Mobile phones.

Besides nifty skins and wallpapers, another way to customize a Windows Mobile phone is through apps from the Microsoft Mobile Marketplace. Bach said that all apps in the Marketplace are certified by Microsoft, that users can back them up, and said there’s a self-serve refund feature with which users can get their money back for apps they aren’t satisfied with.

Adam Sussman from Electronic Arts joined Bach on stage to talk up the Mobile Marketplace, and promised that “every major EA Mobile release this year will be available on the Windows Mobile platform.”

ie8

Still, Microsoft should be applauded for trying.

Most notable in Microsoft’s free, Windows-only browser are tools called Accelerators, which are designed to better mirror how people use the Web these days. Accelerators help you share content and blend services from various sites.

You can install Accelerators written by Microsoft, Yahoo Inc., Google Inc., Facebook or any developer that wants to participate — no one needs permission from Microsoft.

IE8 also offers “Web Slices” to quickly alert users to updates on their eBay auctions, stock quotes, sports scores and other frequently viewed services. They appear on your favorites bar just like other bookmarks, but instead of static pages or text headlines, you get the latest photos and other goodies as well.

The new Microsoft browser also makes it easier to switch between search engines from the search box. And it offers a “private” mode during which IE8 doesn’t store the addresses of sites you visit or keep the small advertising data files called cookies.

But to use any of that, I’d have to give up one of my favorite things about Flock: the way it helps people share content and blend services.

Enjoy.

Micro$oft

Money

Microsoft slaps hefty licensing fees on the use of its Windows OS, whereas Google charges no such fee for Android. The Linux-based Android could save HP, and other Netbook manufacturers, loads of money, and thereby allow for price cuts. Consider HP’s Mini 1000 MIE (Mobile Internet Experience), the Linux-based version of its popular Mini 1000 series. The Mini 1000 MIE was priced at $379, compared to Windows-based iterations of the same computer that fetched $549.

Exposure

It might take a while for those used to the Windows experience to grow accustomed to Android, and many would be hesitant to make the switch. However, Google has become a trusted name in the industry. Those tired of dropping top dollar for Windows may find themselves gravitating to the Android alternative, and as this trend progress, open-source Android would evolve into a richer, more popular experience, giving Google a considerable advantage in a Microsoft-congested OS battleground. That kind of exposure could bolster Google into a powerful position in the computer biz.

Simplicity

Netbooks are primarily aimed at the casual computing crowd, so what better OS than one originally intended for a device that fits in the palm of your hand? Windows can be a complicated, fickle beast — especially the much-hated Vista — that’s packed with memory-hogging features that are useless to those who just want to surf the Web and write e-mail. Android on a Netbook can streamline the computing process with a simple UI and online-based applications, such as Google Docs. Google was practically born to serve straightforward means.

HP is currently “studying” the Android OS and refuse to speculate on future products that may or may not happen. But the stars are aligned, and it looks like HP could hit one out of the park — and crush its competition — if these speculations became reality.

Microsoft Cloud

.Net Services is a component of the company’s Azure Services Platform for cloud computing. It also features Microsoft-hosted, developer-oriented services to help with building cloud-based and cloud-aware applications. The Community Technology Preview of .Net Services M5 (Milestone 5) offers improved support for standards including REST, ATOM, JSON, SOAP, and HTTP

“From the beginning, .Net Services was designed for multicloud, multiplatform use,” said Steve Martin, Microsoft senior director of developer Connected Systems Division product management, in a blog entry. “Developers can use the .Net Services in conjunction with any programming language (using support for industry-standard protocols, or via available SDKs for .Net, Java and Ruby) on any platform to create or extend federated applications.”

The M5 Access Control Service adds a management service supporting REST and ATOM for managing rules. Access Control Service provides capabilities for controlling user access to Web applications and services by federating with multiple standards-based identity providers.

The service bus in M5, for connecting and messaging between network endpoints, offers durable queues and routers supporting SOAP and HTTP, Microsoft said. Also, M5 REST-based activities are supported on the bus, including Put, Get, Post, Delete, and custom verbs for orchestrating messages.

Microsoft demonstrated cloud-to-cloud interoperability at the Mix09 conference in Las Vegas earlier this month, Martin said. “Specifically, we showed how the Access Control Service and Service Bus could be integrated with a Python application deployed into Google App Engine using just two lines of code,” he said.

Encarta

“People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past,” the software maker said in a notice posted on its MSN website.

Microsoft, which axed 5,000 jobs earlier this year to cut costs and warned profit and revenue would fall over the next two quarters, said it would stop selling Encarta software products by June.

Encarta websites worldwide, except Encarta Japan, would be discontinued on October 31 and Encarta Japan will cease after December 31, the company said.

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From Microsoft Watch: Steve’s comments about Yahoo are more important than Apple slap downs. “We’re largely on the same strategy, with or without a partnership with Yahoo,” he affirmed. But what about with Yahoo? Had he spoken to Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new CEO, about a deal?

“Carol arrived at Yahoo, what, in January sometime?” Steve asked. “I did have a discussion with her to welcome her and tell her I wanted to chat.” He spoke to her on the phone, but said there would be a meeting when it was appropriate. Steve continued:

I’ve known Carol for years. Carol is very straightforward. Very friendly. She makes up her mind about what she wants to do. I know that if I want to talk to her about something, when she’s ready we’ll have a real discussion because she’s that kind of person. Whether a deal gets done or not, who knows?
Fine. Fine. But will there ever be a deal, Steven Adler pressed. “There are a lot of things that are fairly compelling economically in trying to put together our two search efforts in some type of partnership. … I spoke fairly strongly economically with the bid we made last year.”

Microsoft’s CEO emphasized that there is a “fairly compelling set of economics that underpin the idea of a search partnership. And, unless I’m fooling myself, over time I expect there to be a good opportunity for a deal.”

Maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of the Fox TV show “Lie to Me.” As a journalist, I’m fascinating by lying because people lie to me so often. On the telephone, those lies are hard to perceive, and even live when I’m taking notes.

Microsoft

Robert Bernard

(Credit: Microsoft)”Recently our CEO, Steve Ballmer, sent out an e-mail to all 90,000 Microsoft employees. He made clear that environmental sustainability is a core value for the company that is embedded in all we do,” Robert Bernard said in an interview with CNET News. He added that Ballmer talked about the topic as a corporate belief, “as opposed to a green campaign or a marketing campaign or a marketing issue.”

This could be good news for both the environment in general and laptop users in particular.

Computers running the Windows operating system have had problems with power hunger, most notably laptops, where battery life is said to have suffered. So power hungry, in fact, that PC manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard developed their own power management software, instead of the application shipped with the latest Windows Vista operating system.

Microsoft’s global market share in operating systems is almost 90 percent, and recent reports indicate that the global IT industry generates as much greenhouse gases as the aviation industry. So Microsoft’s environmental footprint can be considered significant.

Microsoft is now promising lower power consumption in its next operating system, Windows 7, among other products.

“The real opportunity is when consumers see the results rather than actually having to notice them,” Bernard said. “For example, when they buy or deploy a new version of Windows their energy consumption, and therefore their bills, will decrease over time.”

Facebook

No matter how Facebook tries to position itself to earn its living someday, it runs afoul of its users. Thus, Facebook is a classic example of a company that loses money on every sale, but “makes it up in volume.”

The things Facebook must do to turn itself into the big moneymaker that venture capital funding demands will, I predict, turn it into just another MySpace clone–in the sense that MySpace is run for the benefit of advertisers, not its users. Which is why many adults who started on MySpace moved to Facebook in the first place.

Facebook already has credibility problems stemming from the types of advertisers it mostly attracts. How is it that every Facebook ad seems to be promoting a dubious scheme of some sort?

Microsoft does not need for Facebook the make the huge profits its current financing requires. Microsoft could buy Facebook and just run nice, low-impact Microsoft advertising and do just fine. Alternatively, it could accept advertisers very selectively and, over time, create an environment that users might actually accept.

This is a case where I trust Microsoft, in its kludgey “be all things to all people” way, to do a better job of looking after me than a bunch of Facebook folks still infected with start-up fever and expecting Googlesque returns.

Microsoft Campus

On his ElasticVapor blog, Reuven Cohen, founder and chief technologist for Toronto-based cloud-computing startup Enomaly, said Microsoft was among the first companies to review the manifesto, and he was surprised that Microsoft Manager Steven Martin spoke out so vehemently against it in a blog post that appeared early Thursday morning.

“Let me say, we’ve been in active discussions with Microsoft about the open cloud manifesto, which has literally come together in the last couple weeks,” he wrote. “It is unfortunate they feel this way. …Their 2:28 a.m. pre-announcement of the manifesto was a complete surprise given our conversations.”

Moreover, Cohen challenged Microsoft’s contention that the manifesto does not provide for an open forum in which ideas about revisions can be discussed. “If Microsoft is truly committed to an open cloud ecosystem, this document provides a perfect opportunity to publicly state it,” he wrote.

Cohen did not name the other companies involved with the manifesto, saying only that “several of the largest technology companies and organizations” are among its co-writers.

However, a document available on IBM’s Web site also refers to a manifesto on cloud computing — this one called an “architectural manifesto” about the “possibilities (and risks) of cloud computing” — hinting that IBM may be one of the large technology companies to which Cohen refers in his post.

Cohen said the goal of the manifesto’s authors was to “draft a document that clearly states we … believe that, like the Internet, the cloud itself should be open.”

“The manifesto does not speak to application code or licensing but instead to the fundamental principles that the Internet was founded upon — an open platform available to all,” he wrote. “It is a call to action for the worldwide cloud community to get involved and embrace the principles of the open cloud.”

IE 8

Just days after the browser’s big debut, its market share has fallen a full 28 percent from its peak. Alternative browsers, meanwhile, have held steady ground, losing no significant number of users to Microsoft’s new offering.

IE 8 By The Numbers

IE 8 managed to break the 2 percent mark within a day of its release last Thursday, according to tracking data by analytics firm Net Applications. It grew slowly over the weekend, topping out at 2.59 percent of the overall browser market at 3 a.m. (EDT) Sunday. From there, things started heading downhill.

With a steady decline, Internet Explorer 8 dropped down to 1.86 percent of the market by Monday morning. It’s bounced up and down a bit since then, but thus far, there’s been no sign of a second wave of supporters rushing to make the switch.

Compare that with the release of Firefox 3 last summer: Within just three days of its launch, Mozilla’s next-generation browser more than doubled its beta share, jumping up to nearly 19 percent of the market.

“I suppose the kindest description of user reaction to IE 8’s first public outing would be ‘underwhelming’,” says Aodhan Cullen, CEO and founder of online data firm StatCounter.When it comes to the big picture, it looks like IE 8 was essentially a wash: Most of the new IE users seemed to come from IE 7, data from StatCounter suggests.

Java FX coding challenge

Sun has launched a JavaFX developer contest that pays a top prize of US$25,000, $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. There will also be three special $1,500 awards for student developers — who can also compete for the main prizes — and up to 100 small honorable mention awards.

The contest began this week. The deadline for entries is May 29.

Developers in a range of North American, South American, European, Africa, Asian and Middle Eastern countries are eligible. A complete list is available HERE

Winning applications in the contest will be chosen based on criteria such as originality, quality of the end-user experience, and their “viral nature,” that is, the likelihood a user will want to pass it along to someone else. The applications must work both inside a browser and as a desktop application and a mobile application or both.

News of the contest brought a thumbs-up from Java developer James Sugrue.

“It should increase the interest in JavaFX, which is no bad thing,” he wrote in a blog post to the Java community site Javalobby. “After all, money is a great driver for creativity.”

While Sun is clearly hoping that ponying up money will drive interest in JavaFX, the company is also claiming the platform has made major strides.

As of Feb. 19, Sun had shipped 100 million JavaFX runtimes, according to a February blog post by CEO Jonathan Schwartz.

Microsoft Cloud

From Microsoft Watch:

EPIC’s problem is much bigger than Google, and the organization has gone down this cloud-services-squashing path before. In August 2001, EPIC filed a complaint against Microsoft’s Passport service. A year letter, the FTC and Microsoft reached a settlement, and Passport was never the same. Microsoft abandoned its ambitious plans for the service as well as .NET My Services, previously called HailStorm.

Hangman Wants Google
Now EPIC wants Google’s neck in the noose, because of last week’s security breach that exposed 0.5 percent of Docs to unauthorized access. Let me ask: Are you worried? I get nausea over credit card and other breaches that expose social security and other account numbers. But Google Docs? Good riddance if someone wants to read the Google Doc poem, “Poo Poo Poodle’s Last Poo on the Rug.”

But EPIC does care and insists that weak Google security will get your identity stolen. Disconcerting: Close reading of the complaint suggests that all cloud computing services risk the organization’s ire. From the 15-page legal filing:

The Google Docs Data Breach highlights the hazards of Google’s inadequate security practices, as well as the risks of Cloud Computing Services generally. The recent growth of Cloud Computing Services signals an unprecedented shift of personal information from computers controlled by individuals to networks administered by corporations. Data breaches concerning Cloud Computing Services can result in great harm, which arises from the centralized nature of the services and large volume of information stored ‘in the cloud.’
Past data breaches have resulted in serious consumer injury, including identity theft. As a result of the popularity of Cloud Computing Services, data breaches on these services pose a heightened risk of identity theft. The FTC should hold accountable the purveyors of Cloud Computing Services, particularly when service providers make repeated, unequivocal promises to consumers regarding information security.