Microsoft News Tracker

From the AP:

Educational software maker Blackboard Inc. on Tuesday said it is working with Microsoft Corp. to integrate the companies’ software platforms.

The project is aimed at combining the Blackboard Community System with Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal Server for improved interoperability between Blackboard’s Academic Suite and Microsoft’s popular Office suite, the companies said. Blackboard’s software is used by schools for actions like scheduling classes, assigning homework and posting grades.

Shares of Blackboard surged to an all-time high after the news, climbing $2.96, or 12.4 percent, to $26.85 on the Nasdaq. The stock reached its previous 52-week high of $25.94 last October, and is up 81 percent so far this year.

Blackboard said it initiated the project with Microsoft in response to numerous requests from academic institutions using both Blackboard and SharePoint systems.

The Blackboard press release has more.

Update: Tom Taulli at The Motley Fool has some background.

(Via InsideMicrosoft) Evan Roberts at Search Engine Lowdown kicks the tires on the MSN adCenter USA pilot and has a review and screen shots of the beta interface.

Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch - Banned in Redmond:

The ‘B’ word (bundling) is on the Microspeak blacklist. But there’s no sidestepping the reality: Windows Vista is likely to get more bundled components.

Finally, after months of rumors, it’s official: Microsoft is planning to bundle the core of its Windows Antispyware product into Windows Vista.

We know, we know: Bundling is a banned word in Redmond. When a previously standalone Microsoft product or technology is subsumed by another, the result is supposed to be labeled “innovative integration,” according to the Microspeak police.

It’s not hard to understand Microsoft’s loathing of the ‘B’ word. The company has gotten its hand slapped more than once for bundling. You don’t have to look further than the U.S. Department of Justice and EU vs. Microsoft cases for examples.

But those lessons seem to have been forgotten. Based on recent signs, it looks like Microsoft is gearing up to bundle not just Windows Antispyware, but possibly also some other new wares, into Vista, the version of Windows due in 2006.

Some other components are mentioned in the rest of the article, although I think Mary Jo has conflated the Kahuna interface replacement for web-based Hotmail with the Vista Microsoft Mail client replacement for today’s Outlook Express.

In any case, I believe the likeliest candidates for bundling are in the security area where it’s needed most and where Microsoft has a recent history (e.g. Windows Firewall). Joe Wilcox discusses some of the implications. as does Graham Cluely from Sophos.

There have been a number of stories about Xbox 360 shortages lately, including this one from Rick Aristotle Munarriz at The Motley Fool - Hands Off My 360, Buddy:

You know you’ve got a smash holiday hit on your hands when it’s only October and Amazon.com has already stopped taking orders. That’s the seemingly enviable position that the Xbox 360, the next-generation gaming device from Microsoft, finds itself in at the moment.
…
[Wal-Mart and GameStop examples elided]
…
To be fair, many retailers aren’t even bothering with the preorders. They will just deal with diehard gamers — or their desperate parents — lining up outside their stores on the morning of Nov. 22 and dispense the 360s accordingly.

I had no problem securing a Sony PSP the day it came out back in March, but the hype behind the Xbox 360 and the staged rollout that is just three days from the start of the holiday shopping season is going to make this one a tough box to nab.
…
Delays are always possible, but there’s a good chance that this is Microsoft’s one shining moment to build an established base over the holidays before Sony and Nintendo storm the market.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time a holiday item was in short supply, but there’s another theory from Seth Jason also at The Motley Fool - An Xbox Conspiracy?

After a title like that you’re probably hoping for some real dirt. Alas, I’m going to give you only rank speculation. My own rank speculation. Take it for just that. (And note, it’s not the first time I’ve indulged. In fact, the last time was a year ago to the day. Spooky.)

To begin, today, my colleague Rick Munarriz took one of his always interesting and entertaining peeks at a consumer-culture phenomenon that could be good news, or bad news, for dear old Microsoft. According to increasing reports, the next generation Xbox 360 is already in short supply. Yup, before it even hits the streets.

Maybe I shouldn’t have had the double jalapeno pizza for dinner, but after an entire night of thought, here’s my unsubstantiated conspiracy theory: Mr. Softy is sandbagging.

You heard me. Mr. Softy is behind the demand curve precisely so that people will notice, the buzz will start, and the press will amplify the story, and therefore the demand.

Further elaboration by following the link.

Anything’s possible, I suppose, but I’m too busy to pay much attention as I’m over at http://www.hex168.com/ trying to figure out the clues to win one of the few remaining Xbox 360’s. (Explanation here.)

Mary Jo Foley and Darryl K. Taft at eWeek:

Microsoft Corp. has lost one of its high-profile hires to an open-source consortium.

Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, announced on Monday that Ward Cunningham is leaving Microsoft to join the staff of the open-source tool consortium. Cunningham’s new title is Director of Committer Community Development.

Cunningham, the father of the Wiki concept, joined Microsoft about two years ago. At Microsoft, he was not involved directly in social-networking-software development.

A recent Channel 9 video featured Ward and Sam Gentile discussing wiki history and more.