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Some Microsoft news items from this week that did not find a post of their own.
Microsoft’s Ben Fathi says Vista’s “no public codename” successor (until recently called Vienna) is coming in 2 to 2.5 years and will have some “fundamental piece of enabling technology” although Microsoft isn’t exactly sure what it is. There’s always WinFS! Update: Microsoft backpedals on 2/13 in a statement from Kevin Kutz, Director, Windows Client:
We are not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows, other than we’re working on it.
If you’re collecting Vista compatibility glitches there were some doozies reported this week including Apple’s iTunes (and more), Nvidia graphics drivers, and MIT tech staff warning professors and administrators at the school “not to upgrade desktops or laptops to Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system because the software isn’t yet ready for ‘productive and safe computing,’” due to incompatibilities with their standard commercial and internal applications.
Aside from Nvidia who should have been better prepared for the launch, these are actually pretty much par for the course despite the adverse press. Commercial application owners like Apple have bigger fish to fry than tracking the exact ship schedule of a Microsoft operating system, but will generally catch up within 90 days of shipment. Internal institutional applications like those at MIT and elsewhere are unfortunately often treated as merely expense items and developers are forced to take a even more leisurely approach.
Microsoft Says They Like DRM in response to Steve Job’s open letter. Meanwhile, big four music publisher EMI appears to be testing the DRM free download waters.
Paddles, CLEAR! ……………THUMP! MSFTextrememakeover waxes indignant over the recent decline in Microsoft’s share price.
EC rebuffs Microsoft over open-source report:
The European Commission has resisted efforts by Microsoft to make it abandon its report into open-source software, it was revealed this week. But the Commission was swayed into allowing a 10-day period for feedback before completing the report.
Previously mentioned here.
Microsoft Speaks Out on Russian Piracy Prosecution and frankly they need to work on their story. So far Microsoft had avoided the headlines like “RIAA sues grandma” but that can’t last forever.
Microsoft to Share Ad Revenue With Casual Game Developers. Good idea.
The tech world is all abuzz ([1], [2]) about Steve Job’s open letter suggesting putting an end to Digital Rights Management for music downloads. The more cynical observe that he only brought up the subject after a number of European national governments (not the EU) started actions of various sorts against Apple due to the perceived “lock-in” that comes from music purchased at Apple’s market leading iTunes online store only being playable on Apple’s iPod.
I’ve always viewed the lock-in argument as one of those odd eruptions to which governments are inexplicably prone when they spot someone having fun without their permission, since it is well known (and Jobs reiterates it in his letter) that the overwhelming majority of music on iPods doesn’t come from iTunes. The number of people that are actually ”locked in” to the iPod is vanishingly small, but that won’t make much difference to the bureaucrats mounting their chargers to redress a perceived injustice inflicted by a large foreign company.
Jobs’s big punchline, of course, is the observation is that Apple is forced into tightly obscured, if not secured, DRM by the demands of the four big music publishers (2.5 of which are European) who control 70% of the market and that the chances of an oxymoronic “open DRM” satisfying them are negligible. Therefore, he posits that the real solution is to remove DRM entirely, particularly since the primary source of music for portable media players is CDs which are not copy protected.
Some of the big four are experimenting with DRM free downloads so there may actually be some room there for a solution, but I’d bet that a more likely result is the offering of goofy “iPod N” editions in the offended nations which lack “for pay” iTunes music access, just like the European mandated Windows XP and Vista N editions lack Microsoft’s Media Player. Whatever the solution turns out to be in Europe, it presumably will apply equally to all the other online music distributors including Microsoft since they have the same licensing restrictions. However, an “open DRM” might be even more annoying to them due their offering of subscription licenses unlike Apple. I don’t think Microsoft really wants to figure out the infrastructure to securely swap a Zune Pass with some arbitrary other vendor’s unit.
Perhaps a more interesting question for Microsoft are the implications of the possible audio DRM solutions for video DRM where the market is more fragmented, but where Microsoft provides the technology for many of the current video download competitors (e.g. see Wal-Mart’s announcement this week). Since there is no source of quality DRM-free movie content, it is harder to make the no DRM case and since Microsoft is nearly a de facto standard, maybe the bureaucrats will decide that Microsoft should publish full interoperability information. Where have I heard that one before?
Not every Microsoft announcement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show made the Bill Gates keynote.
From the Microsoft Hardware group (i.e. the part of Entertainment & Devices that makes money but gets no buzz):
Microsoft Hardware’s Innovative Industry Firsts Earn Top CES Honors
This week at the 2007 International CES in Las Vegas, Microsoft Corp. will showcase its award-winning peripherals, the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 and the Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000, both named CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Awards Honorees on the basis of their innovative designs and advancements in peripheral engineering…
Microsoft’s Upgraded Fingerprint Reader Makes Windows Vista Features More Convenient
…Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader with software updates from DigitalPersona Inc., for Windows Vista compatibility, offering users the convenience of replacing their passwords with their fingerprint…
Microsoft and Razer Launch Cutting-Edge Gaming Keyboard
HD DVD related:
Microsoft Technology Brings HD DVD to the Mainstream
Microsoft Corp. showcased the growing momentum behind HD DVD through its contribution of core technologies. Microsoft helped deliver the highest-quality video with the VC-1 codec, advanced interactivity with HDi™, and a streamlined and affordable platform for player manufacturers through the use of Microsoft Windows CE 6.0.
Microsoft Corp. and Broadcom Corp. announced a joint effort to support a hardware and software reference design for more cost-efficient HD DVD playback. The new platform uses Microsoft Windows CE 6.0 and Broadcom’s BCM7440 system-on-chip solution, allowing consumer electronics manufacturers, original design manufacturers and systems integrators to more easily and affordably deliver HD DVD playback. Several of the more innovative, high volume electronics companies that plan to use this new hardware and software platform to speed the production of HD DVD players include Lite-On IT Corp. and Zhenjiang Jiangkui Group Co. Ltd./ED Digital.
MSN Direct:
MSN Direct Goes High Def with Clear Channel
Microsoft Corp. and Clear Channel Radio today announced at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that they have executed a collaborative agreement to build a nationwide data delivery service using HD Radio technology, providing personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers. This initiative will be branded MSN Direct HD, an extension of Microsoft’s existing MSN Direct service, which currently transmits a variety of information including traffic, weather, movie times, sports, and stocks to Smart Watches, weather stations, Global Positioning System navigation devices and small home appliances.
Microsoft SPOT Initiative Accelerates With Addition of MSN Direct to Navigation Devices
Microsoft Corp.’s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) Group announced the availability of MSN Direct navigation services and announced that Garmin International Inc. will be the first to offer the new MSN Direct service to Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. Customers will be able to receive dynamic local information, including weather condition and traffic updates, movies listings, and gas prices.
Microsoft SPOT also announced plans to work with future versions of Microsoft Streets & Trips and Pharos Science & Applications Inc. to offer MSN Direct Navigation Services to their devices. In addition, Microsoft SPOT is working with Centrality Communications Inc. to integrate MSN Direct with its GPS reference designs…
Mary Jo Foley interviews Jeremy Allison who is free to dish on the Microsoft Novell deal now that his tenure at Novell has ended. One of many good lines:
A nagging doubt is that if I had just spoken out louder against the deal I might have been able to change something, but I was too quiet until too late. It’s *hard* to be the one saying the emperor has no clothes, especially whilst listening to others praising the finery of the silk stitching :-) .
I’m sure plenty of folks at Novell have now noticed how chilly it is.
HD-DVD AACS hacked and Studios Take Claims of AACS Crack Seriously. It’s more of an exploit of some specific HD-DVD player software but it works and it means that all currently released titles are vulnerable.
MMS Exploit Released for Windows Mobile – No Patch Available:
And remember, just because it doesn’t look like a computer doesn’t mean it can’t be owned.
More discussion here.
Is this the HTC 2007 Windows Mobile lineup? HTC manufactures most Windows Mobile phones.
The PlayStation 2 Still Rocks:
“The PS2 will have legs well into 2008,” says Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. And while Nintendo Co.’s Wii console is getting most of the industry buzz, and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp. has racked up big sales in its year on the market, some say the PS2 might even beat out each of those offerings in 2007. “The PS2 probably has the capacity to sell more than any other gaming” console, says Simon Jeffrey, chief operating officer at game maker Sega of America.
Interesting times ahead. The first round results will be clear when we get some holiday sales numbers. Also, Microsoft Xbox 360’s updated 65nm CPU delayed to mid 2007.
Yahoo! Answers Captures 96% of Q and A Market Share according to Hitwise. Windows Live QnA got 1%. Not a surprise – Yahoo owns this niche.
Windows Live Mail Plus rumored to offer 4GB storage and some other assorted bling for the subscription price.
Read the Exchange 2007 fine print since Microsoft has tinkered with the Client Access Licenses (CALs).
And last but not least, Microsoft: Vista’s Secure, Not Perfect. Of course, but the question is whether it is secure enough to get Microsoft out of the emergency patch rut and live up to its advance billing to customers.
