Microsoft News Tracker

That’s Bring Your Own Bunk:

Microsoft is planning a party in the Mojave Desert to mark the Nov. 22 launch of its new Xbox 360 console.

The plan is for Microsoft executives, game developers and some 3,000 contest winners to party and play the new console at an undisclosed Southern California location for “Xbox 360: Zero Hour.” There will be music, food and entertainment — and Xbox 360 gaming stations ready to play.

But there is a catch. Microsoft is only offering winners a ticket to get in.

“The rest is up to you,” Xbox says.

That means the gamers have to look after their own transportation and lodging.

The bash will run from sundown Nov. 20 through 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 22.

More details on the actual “Xbox 360: Zero Hour” event here, but the exact location is still secret. For all I know there’s a Motel 6 next door, but why do I envision a car caravan of bleary eyed game fans lost in the desert?

I would have guessed that very few PR stunts would be too outrageous in the world of gaming, but Dean Takahashi proves me wrong in Why Would Microsoft Hold Its Xbox 360 Launch Event In A Hangar the Mojave Desert: A Little History Might Tell Us Why:

Microsoft is holding the “Zero Hour” launch event for the Xbox 360 at a huge aircraft hangar on an airfield in the middle of the Mojave Desert. This isn’t your usual location for a major press event, but I’ve got a guess as to why. I think that after nearly a decade in storage, the company wants to make use of its $4 million alien spaceship. None of this is verified. Maybe I’ve been watching too many conspiracy theory shows, but hear me out.

Follow the link for all the amazing details of a prior big gaming event, but I liked:

There would be about 3,000 guests who would walk through a “misty, tracheal tube dripping with slime and emerge inside the spaceship. “At the far end of the elaborate, football-field-sized exposition hall would be a stage, where a videotaped Bill Gates would appear.” Gates would talk about technology and then rip off a mask to reveal a bug-eyed alien.

While I suspect we can all think of of just a few things wrong with this plan, it sure would have generated buzz.

Mary Jo Foley at eWeek:

Microsoft is expected to announce the commencement of the long-awaited Office 12 beta program possibly as soon as next week, according to testers.

But for now, it’s not clear which Office products—including a new “Office 12 for Windows Mobile” SKU—will be part of the initial test round.

On Thursday, Microsoft sent confirmation notices to the first group of testers accepted into the Office 12 Beta 1 program.

In the note, Microsoft informed the chosen technical testers that they should expect to receive the Beta 1 code, documentation and support some time in the next two to three weeks.

As for “Office 12 for Windows Mobile” goes, it’s for products like PDAs and smartphones running Windows Mobile:

Tentatively called “Office 12 for Windows Mobile,” the product will consist of viewers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint (along with some very limited editing capabilities for Word and Excel)—plus a new “OneNote Mobile” version of Microsoft’s OneNote note-taking application.

Also, for those so inclined, Jensen Harris explains how to decode Office build numbers.

Elizabeth Montalbano at Infoworld:

Microsoft Corp. will tout its version of Windows for high-performance computing at the Supercomputing 2005 show next week in Seattle, but observers said the company faces a considerable challenge in selling the OS for compute-intensive environments already dominated by Unix.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates will keynote at the show on Tuesday to reinforce Windows’ position as a platform for large compute clusters. Microsoft is planning to ship an OS tuned for high-performance environments, Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, as soon as January, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.

Microsoft originally hoped the OS would be available in time for the show next week, but plans were pushed back earlier this year. Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Windows server division at Microsoft, unveiled the first beta of Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition in September at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference, and said the full release would be available in the first half of 2006.

Todd Bishop at the Seattle PI:

The Microsoft executive who oversaw the company’s acquisitions and investments group for the past two years is leaving to join a New York-based financial advisory firm.

Brian Roberts, corporate vice president of the company’s Corporate Development group, will become a managing director at Evercore Partners, the Redmond company confirmed Friday. At the firm, Roberts will join Richard Emerson — a former Microsoft senior vice president who preceded Roberts as head of acquisitions and investments.

During Roberts’ tenure in the position, Microsoft acquired a string of small- and midsized companies to supplement its products and bolster its initiatives in newer areas.

Roberts is being succeeded on an interim basis by Marc Brown and for the moment, at least, Roberts’ Microsoft bio is still online.