Microsoft News Tracker

Microsoft’s second generation Zune media players became generally available yesterday and the good news is that while the reviewers are not ecstatic or predicting the imminent demise of Apple’s iPod, they are crediting Microsoft this time around with solid if somewhat stolid entries in the flash and disk-based media player markets (cf. this compilation and Walter Mossberg’s review).

Perhaps even better for Microsoft is that they have a new Zune ad agency who reportedly is de-emphasizing the “Social” although I am hard pressed to say that the new TV ads are that much of an improvement despite actually showing the product. That, of course, is an innovation compared to prior Zune ads. Still, no one seems to have told the crew at Microsoft’s new and improved Zune Arts that the Social is out and they are merrily generating more bizarre sharing videos.

This looks to be another building year for Microsoft’s Zune and I would suggest that we will know that they are really ready to rumble when we see the Zune available outside the USA.

Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of Xbox LIVE and Microsoft is doing a bit of self congratulation on the 8 million active members and providing a free downloadable Xbox LIVE Arcade game to celebrate. Members who joined in 2002 will also get 500 free Microsoft Points. More interestingly, there is a new system update coming on December 4 that will support an Xbox Originals offering which is Microsoft’s first foray into full downloadable games for the Xbox:

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Version 2.0 of Microsoft’s troubled OneCare personal antivirus software is due to ship next week according to Robert McMillan at Infoworld. You may recall that OneCare got off to a great start last year with help from its lowball pricing, but a embarrassing variety of glitches cropped up including a relative inability to actually detect viruses compared to competitors’ products.

Microsoft says they have been making incremental improvements in virus detection which is good news for existing customers (and customers of Microsoft’s Forefront security products for businesses which use the same detection engine), but it’s not clear that bolting on a variety of new but extraneous features in version 2.0 is going help OneCare turn the corner.

Update: It turns out that OneCare 2.0 was made available on November 15.

Microsoft yesterday revealed its new Web based security management console for Microsoft’s Forefront and and Antigen enterprise messaging security software:

Microsoft today unveiled the new Forefront Server Security Management Console, a centralized, Web-based management solution for onsite or remote administration of Microsoft messaging and collaboration security solutions.
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It’s a Web-based tool that helps businesses centrally manage, configure, report on and update multiple deployments of Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, as well as Microsoft Antigen products.

The above is from a Q&A with Margaret Arakawa, senior director of Security & Access Product Marketing at Microsoft, who offers more about Microsoft’s Forefront products by following the link including a mention of the upcoming “Stirling,” a unified security offering announced in June:

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Microsoft is holding a Virtual Launch Event tomorrow for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 which adds a variety of useful minor enhancements including new VOIP support to CE 6.0 which launched slightly more than a year ago. If this seems a little dry, recall that Windows Embedded CE is the foundation upon which Microsoft’s Windows Mobile phone operating system is built, and CE 6 will be the basis for the next release of Windows Mobile codenamed Photon.

In other Windows Mobile news, Microsoft spinoff ZenZui (soon to be renamed Zumobi) announced an open beta of their mobile phone Web browsing service/interface for Windows Mobile phones.

Update: The official announcement press release says Microsoft is increasing their spending on Windows Embedded by 33% this year to US $75 million.