Microsoft News Tracker

Press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced that McDonald’s Corp. has selected Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded as the foundation for its new point-of-sale (POS) platform. McDonald’s selected Windows XP Embedded due to its exceptional performance and unique retail design, and the ability to work with a single vendor that can provide a wide breadth of solutions for its restaurants. To date, McDonald’s has deployed Windows XP Embedded to several thousand devices across Europe and Asia and plans to eventually roll out the Microsoft operating system for its worldwide standard POS platform.

Bill Gates was only expected to announce a $1 billion Microsoft investment in India during his visit this week, but it turned out to be $1.7 billion and 3,000 new jobs. Rajesh Mahapatra at the AP:

Microsoft Corp. plans to invest $1.7 billion in India and add 3,000 jobs in the country over the next four years, nearly doubling the world’s largest software company’s work force here, Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a robust economy, as a potentially huge market, and the investment would be one of the single largest by an information technology company in India.

Much of the money would go toward improving the software giant’s research and development capabilities, including the creation of a new facility in the southern city of Bangalore, India’s technology hub, Microsoft said in a statement.

It’s not clear exactly how the pot will be divided between offshoring, outsourcing, sales, and marketing. Besides the above article’s “much of the money” going to R&D, there were other opinions:

John Ribeiro at InfoWorld:

The funds will be spent on Microsoft’s development operations in India and other areas in line with the company’s strategic vision for India, Gates told reporters in Delhi.

Ribeiro in a separate article:

Microsoft currently has 4,000 staff in India, and plans to increase that figure to 7,000 over the next three to four years, Gates said. It is not, however, clear whether the staff will be all employed by Microsoft or will also include staff at outsourcing companies in India that do work for Microsoft.

Shailendra Bhatnagar at Reuters:

About half of the money would be spent on its existing research and development centre, its global software delivery unit and expanding to 33 more cities by opening retail outlets.

Chris Noon at Forbes riffs on Bill Gates’ rock star status in India and echoes the first Ribeiro article above:

Gates said the $1.7 billion investment “would be deployed across select focus areas over the next four years in line with Microsoft’s strategic vision for India”.

And the last is probably as clear as it is really going to get.

It was the worst possible outcome in the S. Korean antitrust case. Kim Yeon-hee and Lee Shin-hyung at Reuters:

Microsoft Corp. was ordered to separate its instant messaging service from its Windows software and allow rival products on its system in South Korea after losing an antitrust case on Wednesday.

The U.S. software firm, which was also fined about $32 million, said it would appeal the decision by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) but did not plan to make good on a threat to withdraw its Windows operating system from the country.

The ruling, which resembles a 2004 European Commission decision, held Microsoft breached antitrust laws by selling a Windows version that incorporated its instant messaging software.

“Windows’ Media Server, Media Player and Internet Messenger services were blocking competition and leading to a monopoly in the market, as well as raising the entry barriers to PC server and operating system makers, hurting the interest of consumers,” said FTC Chairman Kang Chul-kyu at a news briefing.

Analysts said the ruling would have limited ramifications beyond South Korea.

Microsoft statement:

We disagree with the Commission’s decision and strongly believe that Microsoft has operated within Korean law.

Microsoft’s integration of instant messaging and media player functionality in Windows has created great value for consumers and opportunities for Korean developers who write applications that run on Windows and create devices for Windows.

Competition in these technologies in Korea has been, and remains, vibrant with many new Korean companies successfully offering digital media and instant messaging choices for Korean consumers. This decision could have the effect of chilling innovation in Korea.

We intend to appeal this decision because it is inconsistent with Korean law. Nevertheless, we will continue developing products for Korean consumers in a way that complies with all laws and is pro-competitive. Microsoft has long felt that Korea is an important center of innovation for our industry. We remain committed to Korea and look forward to continuing to serve the interests of Korean consumers as well as the rest of the Korean information technology industry.

Now for a lengthy series of appeals and possibly a version of Windows that no one will buy, just as in the EU case.

Gavin O’Malley at Online Media Daily:

Microsoft is expected to go live later today with a local version of its Windows Live service, according to an analyst briefed on the initiative.

Microsoft Windows Live Local, powered by Virtual Earth, will allow users to open a satellite-based map image of a city and a bird’s-eye view of specific buildings–all in a single screen. Rather than relying on satellites to capture images from the sky a la Google Earth, Microsoft’s new service is using low-flying airplanes to capture its images.

Juan Carlos Perez has more details at InfoWorld:

The company hopes the new service will provide a significant boost to its local search service on the MSN.com portal, which competes against Google (Profile, Products, Articles) Inc., Yahoo Inc. and others. It currently offers aerial and satellite images from Virtual Earth, but Windows Live Local will take the aerial imagery to another level.

Using images and technology from Pictometry International Corp., a specialist in this area that signed a licensing deal with Microsoft earlier this year, Windows Live Local will give users images of a much higher resolution and quality than Virtual Earth. Users will be able to zoom in much closer and also tilt the view to see buildings and streets from different angles, and not just directly from above. Virtual Earth is able to do this, but Windows Live Local’s ability is more sophisticated and extensive.

As Virtual Earth is today, Windows Live Local will be integrated with MSN’s local search index, to complement its business listings, maps and driving directions with aerial images. Windows Live Local will also have what Microsoft calls “community features” to let users share, save and annotate Windows Live Local images.

According to article, Kelsey Group analyst Greg Sterling who saw a presentation of it by MSN Local Search General Manager Erik Jorgensen says “It will make [MSN local search] very competitive.” I’d say that was an understatement as far as the imagery goes. Jorgensen has some sample screen shots here and Sterling provides a brief review on the Kelsey Group blog.