Microsoft will resume two major Windows updates it had stalled due to a conflict it caused with one of its lesser-known software products.
A week ago, Microsoft delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a problem that could lead to data loss when running the XP update in conjunction with its Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System program. It also halted automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 because of a similar issue.
The software maker on Tuesday said it is releasing XP Service Pack 3 for Web downloads, and resuming automatic updates to Vista Service Pack 1, after developing a filter that will prevent machines running Dynamics RMS from getting either update.
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Microsoft officially withdrew its offer to acquire Yahoo on Saturday — but only after it threw an additional US$5 billion on the table.
In a letter to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer confirmed that Microsoft was willing to offer US$33 a share, but that Yahoo was holding out for at least US$37 a share, or US$5 billion more than Microsoft was prepared to spend. In the letter, Ballmer also says he is ruling out a direct offer to shareholders.
“This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer,” Ballmer said. “Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.”
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For users still unhappy using the Ribbon interface in the Office productivity suite, Microsoft has a new option: search.
On Monday, the company released an Office add-on called Search Commands that lets users type the function they are looking to do. After months of testing it internally, Microsoft is ready to give the public a chance to try it out. But the new tool won’t be found on Microsoft’s main Web site.
It will be available via a new effort, dubbed Office Labs. Spearheaded by Microsoft veteran Chris Pratley, Office Labs is Microsoft’s attempt to test out productivity ideas that may — or may not — be ready for prime time.
Office Labs is not the first time Microsoft has tried to create a sandbox for new ideas. It already has its “Live Labs,” which has served as an incubator for the online services business.
Office Labs is working on about 10 or so ideas, Pratley said, but the remainder are either in the planning stages or only being tested internally.
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will be made available for download from Microsoft’s web site today and will be pushed out to XP users via the Windows Automatic Update in the coming weeks/months. The update includes all patches and fixes released since SP2 in 2004, but does not include Internet Explorer 7.
The update is likely to be deployed quickly in enterprises, as it enables IT departments to ensure client systems are fully patched, without having to roll out a myriad of separate fixes.
It also brings extra security in the form of support for Network Access Protection (NAP), a technology introduced in Vista. NAP is a policy enforcement mechanism to ensure systems comply with security requirements.
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Microsoft on Wednesday kicked off automatic distribution of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the year-and-a-half-old operating system.
The company finalised the Vista update in February but held off until now pushing it directly to individuals.
This Microsoft has started sending it to Vista users who have the automatic update feature turned on. However, Microsoft cautioned that not everyone will get SP1 immediately.
“While Microsoft is beginning automatic distribution today, it’s important to note that customers might not see the update download right away since Microsoft is distributing the service pack in phases to ensure a seamless download experience,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Vista SP1 was made available for download to customers last month. Service Pack 1 doesn’t add much in the way of new features. It is more so a collection of changes designed to fix bugs and improve performance, as well as address competitive concerns raised by Google over Vista’s desktop search system. Microsoft also changed how its anti-piracy mechanism works.
Microsoft yesterday released the final Windows XP Service Pack to computer builders and volume licensing customers.
“Today we are happy to announce that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has released to manufacturing (RTM),” wrote Chris Keroack, the service pack’s release manager, in a message posted to a TechNet support forum. “Windows XP SP3 bits are now working their way through our manufacturing channels to be available to OEM and Enterprise customers.”
Some of the biggest additions to Windows XP SP3 include a range of features backported from Windows Vista, such as black hole router detection, Network Access Protection, and Windows Imaging Component. A full summary of the SP3 features and changes can be found at Microsoft’s XP SP3 download centre.
Existing XP Pro and Home users will have to wait until April 29 to be able to download the service pack directly from Microsoft Download Center while TechNet and MSDN subscribers will have to wait another month until they can download it, according to Keroack.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has told delegates at the software giant’s Most Valuable Professionals Summit in Seattle that Windows Vista is “a work in progress” and that the company is trying to learn from its mistakes.
“I think we did a lot of things right, and I think we have a lot of things we need to learn from,” Ballmer told the assembled independent developers, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The five-year development cycle for Vista had been too long, according to Ballmer, and was not something that Microsoft would be repeating.
“Can we just sort of kiss that stone and move on?” he asked. “Because it turns out many things become problematic when you have those long release cycles. We can’t ever let that happen again.”
Ballmer confirmed that Windows 7 will be released in 2010, but would not be drawn on whether Microsoft will extend the deadline for selling new computers running XP beyond 1 July.
“I know we are going to continue to get feedback from people on how long XP should be available,” he said. “We have some opinions on that. We have expressed our views.”
Word documents generated by the latest version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, according to tests run by a document standards specialist.
In a blog posting this week, Alex Brown, leader of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) group in charge of maintaining the OOXML standard, revealed that Microsoft Office 2007 documents do not meet the latest specifications of the ISO OOXML draft standard.
“Word documents generated by today’s version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to ISO/IEC 29500,” said Brown in a blog post recounting the process of testing a document against the “strict” and “transitional” schema defined in the standard.
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Microsoft has unveiled its BizTalk RFID Mobile platform designed to enable delivery of information from mobile devices to core business processes.
A previously private beta version of the software was made available today, and general availability is promised for late 2008.
“It is only natural that Microsoft extends BizTalk RFID to mobile devices, and it complements its mobile hardware partners very well,” said John Fontanella, vice president of research at AMR Research.
“The ability to operate at the edge in real time opens up opportunities that can only further enhance RFID’s value.”
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Research which pitted Windows PCs against Macs found that Vista works better on a Mac.
The May issue of Popular Mechanics includes a comparative review of Macs running OS X Leopard with PCs running Windows Vista without SP1. The verdict: Vista PCs are slower.
While PCs were able to install some software faster than on a Mac, Apple’s laptops and desktops proved to be better on overall performance than PCs, according to the reviewers.
“In our speed trials… Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown, and program launch times,” Glenn Derene writes in the review.
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Software behemoth Microsoft has plans to grow the Australian software industry by extending a giant hand of support to local start-up companies.
Through partnerships with state governments, the AIIA and La Trobe University, Microsoft is offering a holistic incubation program, dubbed Empower, to provide and connect Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) with the resources needed for bringing innovative software products to the Australian market.
“While we are part of an international corporation, Microsoft Australia is absolutely an Australian company,†Microsoft Australia’s industry development manager, David Sajfar, told iTnews.
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Microsoft will begin pushing out Vista SP1 to users via its Automatic Update service this week, following comments made by Bill Gates that suggested the next major Windows version might appear as early as next year.
Vista SP1 is already available for download via Microsoft’s Windows Update service, but the company has confirmed that the service pack will now be pushed out as an automatic update starting from mid-April.
Companies wishing to deploy SP1 in a controlled fashion will need to block it from downloading automatically, unless they already disable updates as part of company policy.
Earlier, Microsoft had suspended distribution of an update that is a pre-requisite for SP1 to be downloaded. Some users experienced difficulties while installing the Servicing Stack Update patch, but Microsoft said it has now issued a fix for the problem.
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Microsoft is set to begin a pilot of a new Genuine Advantage anti-piracy mechanism for Office that will add a “nag-like†feature, akin to what is now part of Windows Vista, to Office.
Office already currently includes an Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) validation mechanism (for Office XP and Office 2007), but Microsoft doesn’t do a whole lot to “punish†those it deems to be running non-Genuine versions of Office. However, as part of a new OGA notifications pilot program — which Microsoft is launching in Chile, Italy, Spain and Turkey, according to an April 8 announcement buried in a Q&A on Microsoft’s Web site — Microsoft is set to turn up the unpleasantness a notch.
I asked Microsoft to explain what will happen in the new pilot. According to Cori Hartje, Director Genuine Software Initiative:
“Today, in current OGA validation process, there is no visual & persistent representation within the experience of being a non-genuine Office user. The outcome for being non-genuine today is that the user does not gain access to Office templates and other downloads. In the pilot the non-genuine copy of Office will also have an icon on the toolbar or ribbon indicating that it is non-genuine.
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The Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. today sent the following letter to Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation.
Dear Steve:
Our Board has reviewed your most recent letter with regard to the unsolicited proposal you made to acquire Yahoo! on January 31, 2008.
Our Board carefully considered your unsolicited proposal, unanimously concluded that it was not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders, and rejected it publicly on February 11, 2008. Our Board cited Yahoo!’s global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as its substantial unconsolidated investments, as factors in its decision.
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On Jan. 31, Microsoft offered to acquire Yahoo for US$44.6 billion, or US$31 per share, in cash and stock. Yahoo’s board rejected the offer, which has since declined in value to US$29.36 per share because of a substantial drop in Microsoft’s share price.
Microsoft, having grown tired of chasing the approval of Yahoo directors, have now issued the company an ultimatum. Either they must agree to its $US44 billion buyout offer within three weeks, or Microsoft will take its offer directly to shareholders.
“If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective, which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal,” wrote Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer in an open letter sent to Yahoo!’s board on Saturday.
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