Microsoft News Tracker

The delivery of the Hyper-V beta wasn’t the only work Microsoft developers wrapped up last week just in time for the holidays:

Microsoft Office 2007 System Service Pack 1

Actually multiple service packs, this is a fit and finish release for both client and server Office 2007 software that provides “stability, performance and security enhancements.” Downloads are available now and coming soon to automatic update. There’s also a whitepaper that describes the changes. Also available was SP1 for kissing cousin Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Windows Vista SP1 RC 

We’re making available today the RC release of Windows Vista SP1, found here on MSDN and here on TechNet, with an FAQ here.  I invite you to download, install and use the SP1 RC and let us know about your experience by providing your feedback here.

Public downloads are now also available. It may throw a crimp into the “now business can take Vista seriously” stories, but Microsoft is highlighting the obvious in warning that SP1 most likely won’t solve Vista software compatibility problems.

Windows XP SP3 RC1

Microsoft snuck this one out and I still haven’t found a direct Microsoft download link, but the folks at BetaNews have made it available. What Microsoft is providing is a new overview of what’s in SP3 and not unexpectedly, it’s mostly a roll-up of individual fixes, but there are some minor new features and feature enhancements.

Last week Microsoft acquired Multimap, an online mapping firm based in the UK:

Microsoft Corp. has acquired Multimap, one of the United Kingdom’s top 100 technology companies and one of the leading online mapping services in the world. The acquisition gives Microsoft a powerful new location and mapping technology to complement existing offerings such as Virtual Earth, Live Search, Windows Live services, MSN and the aQuantive advertising platform, with future integration potential for a range of other Microsoft products and platforms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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One of the best-known online mapping companies worldwide, Multimap provides a publicly available personal mapping service at http://www.multimap.com, as well as a range of integrated business services.
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Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search teams in the Online Services Group. The acquisition is the latest in a series of moves as Microsoft seeks to expand its online services to deliver software, services, and premium content and applications to consumers and businesses.

No price tag was announced, Rhys Blakely at The Times suggest it was $50 million. It could well be a technology buy, but as Lewis Page observes at The Register, “it’s relatively difficult (for users, anyway) to see all that much difference between Multimap’s technology and Microsoft’s existing offerings. Redmond would seem to be buying Multimap’s users rather than its platform.”