Microsoft News Tracker

Well, this morning’s sneak peek turned out to be a spoiler. There isn’t too much to add other than a link to the overview press release and a Q&A on Centro. One odd note was Bill Gates claiming Office 12 would ship in early 2006.

Update: Microsoft’s web site has a Midsize Business Center.

Official press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced general availability and promotional pricing for Microsoft® Office Small Business Accounting 2006 and Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006, two new Microsoft Office offerings designed to enable small businesses to manage all their sales, marketing and financial processes within the familiar, easy-to-use Office environment. With strong support from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), retailers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers, these new solutions are evidence of the continuation of Microsoft’s commitment to delivering integrated solutions specifically developed to help small businesses start, grow and thrive.
…
Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 is a full-featured financial management software solution that is available as a stand-alone offering or as part of Office Small Business Management Edition 2006, which also includes Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel® 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003, Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 and Microsoft Office Access 2003.
…
Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 is available in the U.S. for an after-rebate price of $149 ($179 estimated retail price less $30 mail in rebate*). ADP Payroll for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting is available for $169 per year. Microsoft Small Business Management Edition 2006 is available in the U.S for an after-rebate price of $569 and to existing Microsoft Office customers for an upgrade price of $399 (product estimated retail prices are $669 and $499, respectively, less $100 mail-in rebates*). Customers can go to http://www.office.microsoft.com/sba to learn more.

Service Pack 1 for Small Business Accounting is already available which isn’t particularly surprising since the final version of SBA has been available to MSDN subscribers since June.

As far as the big shootout with Intuit’s Quick Books, Joe Wilcox notes the salient point:

Microsoft’s SBA-QuickBooks comparison tells it all. Most of the differences between the products have to do more with Office integration than features.

And what better entry point could there be?

Reuters via CNET:

Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in a European Union court, the software giant said Wednesday, detailing the latest wrangle in its long-running battle against competition authorities in Brussels.

“Microsoft has filed an application for annulment with the Court of First Instance specifically concerning the issue of broad licenses for the source code of communications protocols,” a company representative said.

The issue relates to server software that runs printing, filing and security tasks for small office groups.

The Commission was expected to comment at its regular midday briefing.

Microsoft MBS corporate Vice President Satya Nadella gives us a look at what is coming at today’s Microsoft Business Summit:

We have two major announcements. Small Business product - Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 (SBA) - goes to customers. And today is an important marker for us in terms of delivering “Green” Wave 1 innovations - role specific user experience, Portal technology built on WSS, integrated Business Intelligence, and Web Services across all our ERP and CRM product lines. Coincident with Business Summit, we are unveiling the name of “Green” – Microsoft Dynamics. We will be shipping versions of Microsoft Dynamics starting this Fall.

More on Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) and Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta) by following the link. Windows Workflow Foundation and RSS support in general and in Microsoft CRM are also mentioned.

Update: Mary Jo Foley has more including a letter from Steve Ballmer on the midmarket and a description of the new Midmarket Server (codename Centro):

Microsoft Corp. is recognizing the specific needs of the midmarket with a new infrastructure software solution under development known as Centro, which will be released in 2007 as part of the “Longhorn” wave of products.

Centro is specifically tailored to address the needs of the midmarket segment, which Microsoft defines as those customers with between 25 and 500 PCs connected to the Internet.

Seems like Small Business Server with more seats and 2 years out.

Update: Microsoft Corporate VP Tami Reller elaborates on the new Dynamics brand:

• Microsoft CRM becomes Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

• Microsoft Business Solutions-Great Plains becomes Microsoft Dynamics GP.

• Microsoft Business Solutions-Axapta® becomes Microsoft Dynamics AX.

• Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision becomes Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

• Microsoft Business Solutions-Solomon becomes Microsoft Dynamics SL

This first wave of major releases under Microsoft Dynamics will share common client technology that focuses on a role-based user experience with deep integration to Microsoft Office. Future waves of Microsoft Dynamics releases will focus on common server technology, including a common process model that combines the best business processes from each of the releases.

Eileen Brown provides the heads up:

There are quite a few changes coming with the new Software assurance program, so I’d really recommend that you watch one of these 4 global webcasts coming up next week.
…
Microsoft Announces Major Software Assurance Program Enhancements
Microsoft invites all customers and partners to attend one of four global webcasts live on September 15, 2005.

Senior Microsoft executives will introduce several new technology, support, planning, and training benefits that will boost the value of your Microsoft software investment and improve the way IT professionals deploy and manage technology.

Webcast registration info by following the link. If you aren’t familiar with Software Assurance, see Microsoft’s Volume Licensing home page.