Microsoft News Tracker

Internet Advertising Revenues Surpass $4 Billion for Q3 and the fact that it is up 33% over Q3 2005 is the good news. The bad news is that it is only up 2% over Q2 2006. Of course, the worst news is that the spoils are unevenly distributed among the players and while Google shows great growth, other players like Microsoft just get by.

And speaking of advertising, Microsoft apparently thinks Google shouldn’t have the eyeballs in the US municipal free Wi-Fi market all to itself, so it signed up to provide ads for MetroFi’s public network in Portland, Oregon. No financial details were disclosed.

Internet Explorer 7 Auto-Updates Begin

Office 2007 and Windows Vista were made available for download by members of Microsoft’s MSDN and TechNet programs. Vista is also now available to Volume License customers. Also, CompUSA will start retailing Vista and Office 2007 to small businesses on Nov. 30 through a special volume licensing plan. Unsurprisingly, bootleg versions are also available, but Microsoft says they won’t work for long.

Microsoft’s Software Update Services (SUS) users got a 6 month reprieve until July 10, 2007. It’s being replaced by Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

If Linux violates Microsoft’s patents, let’s see the proof. I can’t believe that Microsoft would be so foolish as to sue its customers, so FUD like Ballmer’s remarks and deals with impoverished Linux vendors like Novell are all we’ll see. Related: Red Hat Rejects Patent Agreement with Microsoft.

Microsoft Delays Halo 3 to Late 2007

Had to happen: Universal sues MySpace over “user-stolen” content

Hardware hackers (in the old, good sense) are already taking apart their Zunes.

Microsoft is either going to release a low end version of Longhorn Server called Fresno for the appliance market or they aren’t.

Sony’s launch of its PlayStation 3 videogaming console last Sunday in Japan and Friday in the USA was a canonical example of the genre:

• Lines of sometimes unruly fans, profiteers, and thugs (Japan, USA). Check.
• A shortage of product (Japan, USA). Check.
• Large losses on every unit sold. Check.
• Bugs in the unit requiring immediate correction. Check.

I guess the good news for Sony is that the PS3 is getting favorable reviews, but as far as the battle for the wallets of videogamers, this is just an opening skirmish. Bill Gates actually summed up the state of play pretty well in an interview with Ina Fried at CNET:

There’s obviously one other big product for the holidays in terms of things that you guys make–Xbox 360. You did get the year’s head start this time. There still seems to be pretty strong critical acclaim and demand for PlayStation 3. How do you see that?

Gates: I wouldn’t change positions with them in a million years. I mean, we know what it’s like to be a year late. We feel great about the position that we’re in. And, of course, they’re going to sell a lot in Japan.

You know, Sony can make 80,000 bricks, and people would buy them. So the real competition–you’re going to see the impact of our innovation and all the momentum we have in Christmas 2007. This Christmas, the story is: Xbox 360 is going to sell super-well, and they’ll sell the rounding error amounts they can make.

This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the nature of the industry seems to be that all the runners stagger at the start.

Well, maybe not all. Tomorrow is the launch of the Nintendo Wii console and they intend to break the mold by actually making money on every unit as well has having considerably more product available at launch than Sony, although they still expect shortages.

With the US Thanksgiving holiday next week, here’s a Microsoft story with a holiday twist - More Micro, Less Soft:

Alas, the eating season is upon us. And with the recent news that mouse jockeys are more supersized than ever, Microsoft and a growing number of companies are on the attack against fat. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight, with the problem adding an average 20% more in costs to company medical claims. Indeed, more than ever before, Cubicle Land is becoming a place of McMansion bodies and big backyards.

To fight back, employers are doing everything from ripping out elevators and installing stairs to building parking lots a five-minute walk away, as Sprint Nextel Corp. did at its Overland Park (Kan.) headquarters. But with Microsoft the biggest loser in Corporate America, the company’s pioneering on this front offers lessons in managing excess worker waistage.

…

Rather than simply adding tips on the low-cal life to in-house newsletter MicroNews, or popping for some Jenny Craig, Microsoft created a weight management benefit (employees already get free medical coverage). The software giant picks up 80% of the tab–up to $6,000–for a comprehensive, clinical weight-loss program. Expensive, yes. But Cecily Hall, Microsoft’s director of U.S. benefits, says the company has already realized a one-to-one return on investment since the program began in 2002. “These people are coming off of prescription drugs, they’re seeing their primary care physician less, and not having as much hospitalization,” says Hall.

Microsoft’s weight management benefit includes up to a year’s worth of sessions with a personal trainer, behavioral and nutritional counseling, support groups, and medical supervision. Its war against weight started in 2002, about the same time Ballmer, then all puff and jowl, lost a fast 50 and turned taut and lean. His newly restructured physique was the inspiration of Redmond, and soon 800 Microsofties were forgoing the logger-man portions in the cafeteria and subbing diet sodas for the free pop.

There’s more by following the link, but I think I’ll just have another helping of pumpkin pie, thanks.