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A selection of “small” Microsoft stories from last week:
Vista’s voice recognition feature provided the comedic relief at last week’s Financial Analyst Meeting, but the claim is that it was a known beta bug. Speaking of Vista, Developers cry foul over Windows kernel security which makes things harder for both hackers and legitimate security software from third parties. Microsoft released Vista upgrade information, but take it with a grain of salt. Finally, a frequent refrain: “No one outside of the 98052 ZIP code seems to believe that Windows Vista is really going to ship when Microsoft says it will.”
What RealNetworks thinks about Microsoft’s Zune – Rob Glaser would like Microsoft’s spurned partners to call.
Shocking news: Lehman Bros. thinks Microsoft Poses Long-Term Web Threat To Google, Yahoo. The NY Times had more on the same competition from a Yahoo perspective.
Californians to Soon Get $1.1B from Microsoft. It’s another state antitrust settlement.
Microsoft plans to charge $1.50 for the next Office 2007 beta to help pay for the bandwidth and hosting required by the unprecedented demand. Starts next Wednesday at 6PM PDT, but only applies to new testers.
The Microsoft Developer Network Library is now a free download. It used to be only available to MSDN subscribers although there is an online version.
Microsoft recalled Small Business Server 2003 R2 due to a manufacturing defect.
Microsoft Sets Sights on iSCSI: “Microsoft on Friday will release the iSCSI target technology it acquired from String Bean Software earlier this year.”
Microsoft Releases Free Commerce Server 2007 Developer Edition . This used to be Commerce Server 2006 but has undergone a name change. The full version is supposed to be available on August 1.
Windows Live Mail Desktop starts an open beta – also sometimes called Windows Live Mail Center.
Microsoft Defends WGA, Plans Similar Tool to Validate Office
Strictly in the rumor category – Microsoft Likely In Digital River’s Deal Pipeline:
Digital River reported on Thursday solid second-quarter results with upside despite the seasonally weak quarter. The e-commerce outsourcer also announced it has reached new business deals, one of which could be with Microsoft, according to a report from RBC Capital Markets.On Thursday, Digital River (nasdaq: DRIV ) posted second-quarter earnings per share and revenue of 41 cents and $71.3 million, beating the Street’s estimates of 37 cents and $70 million.
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On its earnings conference call, Digital River also announced new deals in the pipeline for first-quarter 2007.“It was these new deals which garnered the focus of the call, and while management was not able to say much, they did mention that it was some of the biggest business they had ever seen,” wrote Robert Breza, an analyst at RBC, in a report Friday.
The analyst speculated that one of these new deals is with Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT). Digital River said it hopes to announce the deals before its third-quarter earnings report, he said.
As indicated in the article, Digital River is a prominent e-commerce outsourcer:
Digital River is a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, having built, managed and grown revenues for more than 40,000 clients since our inception in 1994. We deliver e-commerce sites based on best practices for companies like Symantec, Motorola, 3M, H&R Block, Novell, Autodesk, ACT! and Staples.com.
It’s fun to speculate on a hot Friday afternoon about which of Microsoft’s businesses will need significant e-commerce outsourcing in 1Q2007.
Below are some selected highlights from yesterday’s Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting 2006. As I mentioned previously, the list of speakers with copies of their presentations, and transcripts and/or Webcast replays are available here. (Bink.nu also has some candid snaps of the speakers.)
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer
Ballmer: Microsoft must be ‘multi-core’ :
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said Thursday that his company must be able to operate successfully in multiple markets — a phenomenon he calls being “multi-core” — for the company to continue to grow well into the future.Although Microsoft is best known for its desktop OS and software business, the company has managed also to carve out a successful business in server software, making it a two-core company, Ballmer said at Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting in Redmond, Washington.
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But as Microsoft moves ahead, the company is fighting a war on several fronts, and Ballmer hopes it will develop more core businesses with its entertainment and online services strategies.“There really is a Sony that lives inside of us,” he said. “There’s an aspiring Google or Yahoo that lives inside of us.”
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“You have to confront the question: Is it OK to get into some area of endeavor when you’re not first?” he said. “It’s always best in our business to be first. We want to be first. But are you prepared to get in and innovate and try to get growth in areas where you’re not first in the market. As investors, you have to understand that we think that’s important.”
And on a theme dear to the analysts’ hearts – Ballmer: Vista delays won’t be repeated.
Kevin Johnson, Co-President, Platforms & Services Division
Microsoft sees up to 10 percent sales growth from Vista:
Microsoft expects sales in its popular Windows division to grow 8 to 10 percent in the coming fiscal year, a senior executive said Thursday.The No. 1 computer software maker expects sales of between $14.3 billion and $14.5 in its Windows operating system division in its current fiscal year, Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, said during the company’s annual financial analyst meeting being held at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Since that’s the projected unit growth rate in PCs, Microsoft’s Windows client revenue is merely matching units. I guess that’s good news since it has lagged unit growth recently and presumably a match is the best they expect from the upselling and antipiracy initiatives:
Vista, with its multiple versions, has “something for everyone,” Johnson said, but Microsoft plans in particular to promote the purchase of its higher-end, or “premium” versions to consumers. Traditionally, higher-end versions do better among business customers than home users. “There is an opportunity for us to grow the premium mix,” he said.Premium versions of Vista include Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.
Microsoft also is investing in ways to encourage customers in emerging markets to purchase genuine copies of Windows Vista as part of an overall campaign to prevent people from using counterfeit or pirated versions of Windows, Johnson said.
To achieve this goal, Microsoft is “putting more feet on the street” and is providing more training for channel partners, especially in emerging markets such as China, to help sell genuine copies of Windows, he said.
Johnson also reiterated that Vista development continues on schedule although his caveat that it wouldn’t ship before it was ready inexplicably depressed investors since it’s clear that there’s no windfall there.
Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President, Server & Tools Business
Muglia went off on a Linux tangent for some reason, but I guess he’s entitled – his business is an earnings growth superstar even if it gets no buzz.
Jeff Raikes, President, Business Division
Jeff had some interesting things to say about competitors. He referred to OpenOffice and IBM WorkSpace as efforts to “clone our old technological” capabilities. Whoa.
But it’s “good enough,” Jeff, as are old versions of Office and there’s the rub. Raikes also predicted a less than scintillating 7% CAGR for his business over the next few years.
Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division
No surprise that Microsoft game, device unit sees loss in ’07, The big surprise is that they plan to make money in 2008.
Microsoft said investments for its new “Zune” media player and another year of losses at its Xbox game unit will continue to weigh on the entertainment and devices unit’s earnings this year. The division posted a loss last year.The entertainment and devices division encompasses much of Microsoft’s consumer-oriented products, such as Windows-based smartphones, the Xbox 360 game console and its upcoming “Zune” media player, but it has not been a consistent earnings driver.
“Fiscal ’07 will be a loss. We think that turns to profit in 08,” Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, said at Microsoft’s annual analyst meeting.
As for Zune:
The software giant said it will invest “hundreds of millions” of dollars to develop and market Zune, due to hit the market later this year.
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Bach encouraged investors to be patient and not expect an immediate return on its outlay for the device.“It is something that is going to take time,” said Bach. “This is not a six-month-investment time horizon,” he said, adding that it may take three, four or five years to succeed.
Zune’s differentiating feature from Apple’s iPod will be built-in Internet connections that allows users of the devices to connect with their friends and other music fans.
On the Xbox 360:
Though competitors Sony and Nintendo are slated to launch rival game consoles this fall, a Microsoft executive predicts his company’s next-generation game machine should have a 10 million unit lead by the end of this year.
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Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox 360, which launched last year, starts at $299, and Bach said he sees no price changes through the holiday season.
That presumably lays to rest the persistent rumors that there will be an Xbox 360 price cut when Sony ships the PS3. Microsoft also touted Windows Mobile based phones as gaining share from Research in Motions’ Blackberry. There’s more on Bach’s presentation here including:
When asked whether Microsoft was abandoning its PlaysforSure digital-media-connectivity initiative in favor of developing its own end-to-end Zune solution, Bach said Microsoft is planning to continue to back PlaysforSure.“PlaysforSure continues as it is today,” he said. In fact, the Zune team “will work with the same (PlaysforSure) interfaces,” Bach said.
He likened the PlaysforSure/Zune paradigm to the PC/Xbox console one. The two teams will continue to work in parallel, with the hope that the two different environments ultimately will work together, Bach said.
What else could he say?
Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect
Ozzie’s presentation was described as “visionary” and “a high-level, theoretical look” which I take to mean that there were a lot of glazed eyes among the financial crowd. On a slightly more down-to-earth note – Web services to aid, not kill, software:
Web services, delivered alongside classic software, will complement rather than replace the existing software industry, Microsoft Corp.’s chief technologist said on Thursday.Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie told investors and reporters attending the annual financial analyst meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters that the company is looking to convert its existing software franchises into Web-delivered services.
“The overall services opportunity is largely additive, increasing revenue opportunities for both our existing software licensing model as well as our services business model,” Ozzie said.
Microsoft’s strategy is to connect a wide range of devices onto various networks to allow consumers to enjoy the same information and entertainment not only on their computers but also via mobile phones, televisions and gaming systems.
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In response to a question, Ozzie declined to say how much revenue per user could come from new Web services or how these might compare to license revenue streams from Windows and Office software that generate the bulk of Microsoft revenue.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Chief Advertising strategist
Microsoft Demos Next Version of adCenter
Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer
Turner delivered some bromides.
Craig Mundie, Chief Research & Strategy Officer
Microsoft shows off cell phone-PC prototype. It’s called FonePlus and is intended for emerging markets and rivals Nicholas Negroponte’s “$100 PC” as we have mentioned previously. It’s merely a research project but drew disproportionate press interest.
Chris Liddell, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Microsoft acquires more, but R&D still the focus:
Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said Microsoft was in “high investment mode” and very acquisitive over the past year, spending $649 million to buy 23 companies. He said it acquired four companies in July.But its acquisition spending is still dwarfed by the billions it plows into research and development every year and Liddell said it was unlikely that will change.
And Microsoft executives underscored that they are contemplating no change of strategy that would lead to a major acquisition anytime soon. It has spent less than $30 million per company, on average, on its buying streak over the past year.
Jay Greene and Peter Burrows, with Steve Hamm at BusinessWeek online:
A How-To kit for the ideal PC has been making the rounds of leading design shops. It calls for “accelerated curves” and “purposeful contrast.” The preferred colors include a shade of black called Obsidian and a translucent white dubbed Ice. “We want people to fall in love with their PCs, not to simply use them to be productive and successful,” reads the enclosed booklet. “We want PCs to be objects of pure desire.”
Doesn’t sound much like Microsoft (MSFT), does it? But it is. BusinessWeek has learned that a team of 20 in-house designers has been working quietly for the past 18 months on an elegant new look for PCs that will run Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows Vista. It’s a major departure for the company, which historically has left design to the likes of Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Gateway (GTW). Persuading the hardware guys to embrace the toolkit won’t be easy. They’re already working overtime to build better-looking gear on their own.
Microsoft for years has pushed their functional specifications on OEMs via the Windows Hardware Engineering Conferences and other mechanisms, but style?
Microsoft is no newcomer to hardware design, of course. The company has made PC mice and keyboards for years. The Xbox game console has been a hit. Microsoft is working on a music player, Zune, that it hopes will rival the iPod.
Microsoft’s mice and keyboards are nicely done, but they’re a niche and the Xbox 360 was created with significant outside design help. I expect that the same is true for the Zune, so it’s not quite clear exactly what Microsoft brings to the table. More to the point, the PC business has some tough cost strictures:
But trying to transform the PC ecosystem—even peripherals makers such as Logitech received the kit—takes things to a whole new level. It reflects the fact that the economics of the computer business is changing. The PC world used to be divided into two camps: those who made lucrative software and the poor schlubs who built the low-margin hardware it ran on.
Apple has turned that model on its head. From the beginning it has managed to create a unified design for its products by building everything itself, first with the Mac and then later with the iPod. Although Apple sells one computer for every 20 PCs, the iPod’s success has proved how crucial it is to create a seamless experience for consumers, who are buying much of the gear these days. Says a top PC design executive: “You’re going to see more and more of this desire to integrate hardware and software.”
I’ll buy that, but it’s not clear to me how a color scheme will make the experience seamless – I would have thought the seamless part would start a little closer to Redmond. Besides, if you really want something snappier than a beige box, you don’t have to look too far (e.g. [1] if you like bright lights). It sounds more like Microsoft is worried that the OEMs aren’t following their functional “suggestions” in lockstep and the styling suggestions are just a bonus.
Hit the link for much more, but the big PC makers aren’t exactly jumping for joy at the chance to further commoditize their products. When all Windows PCs are the same except for the manufacturer’s logo, their margin inevitably goes to zero. I do wonder though if Microsoft has any thoughts of ditching their pesky partners on PCs, just like they did on personal media players with the Zune? It would make the Apple emulation complete.
