Microsoft News Tracker

Reuters (dated Tuesday, January 31):

Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it has joined research-intensive organisations to sell its non-core technology to start-up companies in an attempt to earn money from discoveries that would otherwise gather dust. The world’s largest software maker said it was already working with government agencies in Ireland and Finland to reach young companies that may be interested in technology from Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar research arm.

You can check out the catalog of what is available here.

Update: Here’s the press release and it turns out the government connection is rather stronger than the above quote would lead one to believe:

LISBON, Portugal — Jan. 31, 2006 — Today at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum (GLF) Europe 2006, Brad Smith, Microsoft Corp. senior vice president and general counsel, will announce an expansion of the company’s IP Ventures program to include close collaboration with governments and public sector development agencies. Under this innovative program, Microsoft opens up internally developed technologies to governments to facilitate new product and business development with entrepreneurs and small businesses. By licensing and spinning out Microsoft’s innovations, governments can work with their local startup and venture capital community to encourage new business growth and deliver innovative technology to new markets.

The combination of support from governmental economic development agencies and access to commercially viable technologies through IP Ventures provides businesses with unique opportunities. In addition to government support through special funding, prescriptive guidance or even office space, local entrepreneurs and startup businesses will now also have access to technologies that can quickly be brought to market.

There’s a variety of examples by following the link.

Press release:

Microsoft today announced it is merging the Exchange and Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) groups to form the Unified Communications Group (UCG). With the mission-critical nature of e-mail and the rapidly increasing use of instant messaging, VoIP, audio/video/Web conferencing, customers are asking for an integrated communications experience that enables them to intuitively and seamlessly communicate across all modes of communication. The merger of the teams aligns Microsoft’s efforts internally and allows the company to more rapidly and effectively addresses these customer needs.

The Unified Communications Group resides in Microsoft’s Business Division, led by division President Jeff Raikes. The combined group will be led by Anoop Gupta, currently corporate vice president of the RTC group.

A biography of Gupta is here (he’s a former Stanford professor and Bill Gates’ technical assistant) and per Ina Fried at CNET:

Gupta, whose leadership of the combined unit was also announced Monday, used to head the RTC unit. Under the changes, Exchange chief Dave Thompson will continue to direct that product, but will report to Gupta. Thompson had reported to Paul Flessner, a senior vice president in the server and tools business.

You may recall that the Business Division was created last September by having Information Worker (aka Office) and Microsoft Business Solutions report to Raikes, so the net is that Exchange has been moved out of Server and Tools (part of the Kevin Johnson/Jim Allchin Platform Products & Services Division) and into Office.

The rest of the press release has some Q&A’s with Gupta which provide the usual corporate reorganization rationale of improved coordination, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt that a premier server product like Exchange will add some earnings mojo to the lackluster results in the Business Division ([1], [2]).

And speaking of financial results, Microsoft separately announced the CFOs for the three overarching divisions created in the September announcement. Details are in the Ina Fried article linked above.

Martin LaMonica at ZDNet:

IBM on Monday introduced a free version of its DB2 database, a move designed to win software developers over to its products.

DB Express-C is the same database as IBM’s commercial offerings but the company places limits on what kind of hardware it can run on.

It can be deployed on systems with two processor cores or up to two dual-core chips on Advanced Micro Devices- or Intel-based servers. The memory limit is 4GB but there are no limits on the size of database or number of users.

IBM’s decision to add a free database to its lineup follows moves by its largest rivals in the database business, Oracle and Microsoft.

Nate Mook at BetaNews adds:

Oracle’s free XE edition, meanwhile, is limited to systems with a single processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of database storage space. The company says it is targeting students, small organizations and software developers looking to integrate a database into their applications.

Microsoft introduced SQL Server 2005 Express with the product’s launch in November, which available as a free download and is designed specifically for testing with Visual Studio.

Lisa Vaas at eWeek explains:

The freebie versions have multiple aims. The database titans are trying to arm themselves against the growing popularity of cheaper, increasingly more agile and robust open-source databases.

They’re also out to make developers of low-end applications more familiar with their respective databases, hoping that students and such developers will move up the chain to their meat-and-potatoes editions as their needs, experience and familiarity with the databases grow.

Bernie Spang, director of IBM’s Data Servers division, told eWEEK in an interview that IBM isn’t playing catch-up with competitors so much as getting in the game to compete with open-source databases.

“I’d say that IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are motivated by the same realization,” he said.

Lisa also reports that IBM is offering free online forum support as well as a paid support option.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates arrived in Turkey yesterday and later in the evening had dinner at the Dolmabahce Palace with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan where he met local businessmen, promised continuing investment in Turkey, and announced that “he will ‘form a silicon valley’ in Istanbul.”

It looks like a full agenda including introducing the Turkish version of Windows XP Starter Edition, addressing 2,500 Turkish students coming from all around Turkey, and attending a Microsoft CEO summit. He also spoke to journalists about a plan to

… work with Turk Telecom and memory chip maker Intel to produce cheap computers under a programme called ‘My First PC’.

Gates said the version would have safeguards to stop children from reaching ‘inappropriate sites’.

The Microsoft chairman did not detail the computers’ retail price or say when they would be available.

There was no word as to whether they will be cellphone based. And, yes, there were some protestors with “Microsoft Go Home” signs.

Reuters:

Microsoft and European Commission officials planned a meeting in Redmond, Washington, on Monday as the software giant tried to avoid the possibility of a daily 2-million-euro fine, a Microsoft official said.
…
The Microsoft spokesman said company officials would present a proposal to license inspection of some of the company’s source code, but a European Commission spokesman said it was by no means clear the offer was relevant.
…
A Commission spokesman declined to confirm the meeting.

You’ll recall that the European Commission has expressed skepticism about last week’s source licensing offer by Microsoft, but wanted to hear the details.