Microsoft News Tracker

Nate Mook at BetaNews:

Microsoft’s annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference has been scheduled for May 23-25, 2006 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will be crucial for vendors preparing for the launch of Windows Vista late next year, with Windows Server “Longhorn” also expected to make an appearance.

The WinHEC home page has more details.

Colin Barker at ZDNet UK:

Companies shouldn’t rush to upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista, according to analysts at Gartner, who believe most firms could safely hold back until 2008.

The majority of improvements in Vista will be security-related and most of this functionality “is available via third-party products today”, Gartner claimed in a research note published on Friday.

While Vista will feature “offer incremental, evolutionary improvements” over its predecessors, XP users should “pursue a strategy of managed diversity” only bringing in Vista on new machines and not until 2008, the analysts recommend.

Most firms only bring in new Windows client versions on new hardware, so the controversial recommendation is to delay any Vista machines until 2008. More by following the link.

Paul Thurrott has the exclusive:

Sources at the company told me this week that Microsoft will soon delay the release of Windows Vista Beta 2 from December 7, 2005 to sometime in January or February 2006. However, because the Vista development schedule is extremely time constrained, the company will try and make up lost time by eliminating one of the planned release candidate (RC) milestones that were planned for later in the process.

A Microsoft representative told me that the company remains on track for shipping Windows Vista in the second half of 2006.

More by following the link.

Press release - New and Improved MSN Shopping Launches Right on Time to Give Shoppers Relief This Holiday Season:

MSN® Shopping (http://shopping.msn.com) kicks off the holiday season with brand-new comparison shopping tools, with thousands of retailers, a bigger-than-ever product selection, new search tools, and helpful gift guidance to help consumers find the best value and make holiday shopping easier than ever.

The brand-new MSN Shopping provides consumers with a quick and easy way to find the products and gifts they’re looking for. Shoppers can search for a specific product such as a hot new toy that their kids asked Santa to deliver, or browse by product category for people on their gift list, including that person who has everything…

“I’m excited that MSN is now in the comparison shopping game — we’ve built new, powerful tools to make it quick, easy and fun for shoppers to find what they are looking for from one of the largest selections available online,” said Jim Barr, general manager for MSN Shopping. “MSN has ramped up our commitment to online retailing and now provides consumers with an ultimate shopping experience: Find exactly what you’re looking for at the best price, all from the comfort and convenience of home, or anywhere you have an Internet connection.”

To provide consumers with one of the largest selections available online today, MSN Shopping has collaborated with online shopping sites including PriceGrabber.com and Shopping.com. With seven times the number of retailers and 35 times the number of products, the new MSN Shopping has tens of millions of items from thousands of retailers. Products come from a range of the most-well-known brands and most-recognized merchants, from Target and FTD to mom-and-pop retailers with one-of-a-kind gift items.

Visitors to MSN will soon be able to shop in places beyond MSN Shopping, with the first step being to team up with MSN Search. MSN Search visitors will be able to receive instant answers to their product queries. For example, when consumers search for digital cameras on MSN Search, they will receive instant answers provided from MSN Shopping.

More by following the link. The tie-in of Search to Shopping is interesting, but I tried the suggested search and it isn’t live yet (just as the press release indicates), so it’s not clear exactly what it entails.

Reuters:

Microsoft has reached a $30 million settlement with South Korea’s Daum over an antitrust suit, but regulators said they will continue to review their case against the world’s largest software maker.
…
“The agreement resolves the companies’ antitrust dispute in South Korea,” Microsoft and Daum said in a joint statement. The two sides also said they would work to build a new business partnership.

However, South Korea’s watchdog said its review of allegations of unfair business practices by Microsoft would continue despite the settlement.

“The complaint by Daum was used as evidence for the broader case (against Microsoft),” the Fair Trade Commission said in a statement. “The withdrawal of Daum’s complaint will have no impact in proceeding with the review of the Microsoft case.”