Microsoft News Tracker

Ronna Abramson at TheStreet.com:

Microsoft and Google shared some holiday cheer Thursday as they settled their litigation over former Microsoft executive Kai-fu Lee jumping ship to join Google.

In a tersely worded announcement, Microsoft said it has reached an agreement with rival Google and Lee settling the suit. The terms of the agreement are confidential, and all parties agreed to make no other statements to the media regarding it.

Microsoft would only say that “We are pleased with the terms of our settlement with Google and Dr. Lee.” Google did not release a statement on the settlement and a spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Microsoft sued Google after Google announced in July that it was hiring Lee to head a new China research center. Google then countersued.

While not overly important in the overall scheme of things, the legal jousting in this case did produce a comedic moment or two.

Whale Communications has announced a partnership with Microsoft to deliver a network security appliance for mid-tier enterprises:

Whale today announced that it is working with Microsoft to offer an integrated access solution combining Whale’s Intelligent Application Gateway and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004. This technology will provide one of the first solutions in the market to deliver IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, endpoint security and application security components in a single secure appliance.

The next generation access appliance will provide mid-tier enterprises with an easy to use solution for end-users and an easy to manage solution for IT professionals. It will enable anywhere access by a broader set of users to a broader set of applications and network resources than traditional access devices.
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Whale’s hardware/software solution enables enterprises to leverage their existing application and network infrastructures to deliver hybrid IPSec tunneling and application layer SSL VPN access – accompanied by best-of-breed endpoint and application security — based on organizational needs and policies all from a single, secure and easily manageable gateway appliance.

Paul F. Roberts has more at eWeek as does Ian Hameroff at the Windows Server Division Weblog:

On Monday, we announced that Microsoft and Whale Communications are teaming up to deliver an integrated access solution that combines ISA Server 2004 with Whale’s Intelligent Application Gateway. This integration creates one of the industry’s first edge security solutions to offer both IPsec and SSL VPN capabilities in a single, easy to manage appliance.

…it’s great to see even more evidence that our partners are turning to the Windows Server System platform and security technologies to build their products on. I was in the Security Business and Technology Unit when we launched the ISA Server 2004 appliance initiative (in fact I worked on Mike Nash’s keynote where we demoed this for the first time at TechEd 2004) and this announcement further demonstrates the growth and momentum in Windows-based appliance space.

You tend to only hear about Windows dedicated servers and server appliances in connection with Storage Server, but there’s more to it as the Windows Dedicated Server Solutions home page demonstrates.

Over at the European Commission, they’ve been making a list and checking it twice and have decided that Microsoft’s been naughty, not nice:

The European Commission threatened U.S. software giant Microsoft with daily fines on Thursday for failing to comply with antitrust sanctions a year after a top European Union court rejected its appeal.

The EU executive said it may fine Microsoft up to 2 million euros ($2.37 million) a day unless it complies with an order to provide interface information to allow rivals’ group servers to work with the company’s ubiquitous Windows operating system.

“I have given Microsoft every opportunity to comply with its obligations. However, I have been left with no alternative other than to proceed via the formal route to ensure Microsoft’s compliance,” EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
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The Commission said that in its view, supported by two reports from a Monitoring Trustee appointed by mutual agreement, Microsoft had not yet provided full specifications.
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“This is an important and essential step. It is a year to the day since the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg ordered Microsoft to comply with the Commission’s decision, and it is about time it did,” said lawyer Thomas Vinje, a partner at Clifford Chance in Brussels, who represents an association of rival software producers, SIIA.
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The Monitoring Trustee had found that “any programmer or programming team seeking to use the Technical Documentation for a real development exercise would be wholly and completely unable to proceed on the basis of the documentation.”

Microsoft has five weeks to reply to the Commission’s objections, but can ask for an extension. The fines are actually backdated to Dec. 15 (corrected at source - ed.).

Related: The Brussels elves have been busy lately - EU releases new monopoly guidelines and encourages antitrust lawsuits

Update 11:24 AM: Brad Smith, Microsoft SVP and General Counsel responds:

“We believe today’s Statement of Objections is unjustified. The Commission has issued this Statement regarding technical documentation we submitted last week, even though by its own admission neither it nor the Trustee have even read or reviewed these new documents.

“We revised the technical documents last week at the Commission’s request, responding to new feedback raised with us only six days before. In the interest of due process, we think it would have been reasonable for the Commission and the Trustee at least to read and review these new documents before criticizing them as being insufficient.

“We are fully committed to comply with the Decision. We’ve shipped a new version of Windows, we’ve paid an historic fine, and we’ve provided unprecedented access to Microsoft technology to promote interoperability with other industry players. In total, we have now responded to more than 100 requests from the Commission. We continue working quickly to meet the Commission’s new and changing demands. Yet every time we make a change, we find that the Commission moves the goal post and demands another change.

“Of particular concern is the Commission’s latest demand that the internal workings of Windows be documented and licensed, which can open the door to the production of clones of parts of the Windows operating system. During the September 3, 2004 hearing with President Vesterdorf, the Commission clearly stated this was not within the scope of its decision. Yet the Commission confuses disclosure of the source code with disclosure of the internals and insists that it will fine the company if it fails to address this.

“We will continue to take new steps to address each new demand from the Commission, in order to ensure our compliance with the Commission’s March 2004 decision in a timely manner. At the same time, we will contest today’s Statement to the full extent permitted under EU law, including a full Oral Hearing on these issues.”