Microsoft Archive

The Singularity team at Microsoft has recently published a new article concerning their research OS. It is a concise introduction to the Singularity project. It summarizes research in Singularity 1.0 and highlights ongoing research for Singularity 2.0.

Microsoft planned this week to announce that it was broadening the virtualization rights for Windows Vista, but decided at the last minute to reverse course and stick with existing limits. The software maker had briefed reporters and analysts on plans to allow the Home versions of Vista to run in virtual machines, addressing criticisms from virtualization enthusiasts and Mac users who had chafed at having to buy one of the two priciest versions of Windows in order to run Vista in a virtual machine.

In its second such agreement this week, Microsoft has struck a deal under which it will extend amnesty to a company that's using what the software maker claims is patented Microsoft intellectual property embedded in the open source Linux computer operating system. Under a deal with LG Electronics, disclosed late Wednesday, Microsoft will forgo any Linux-related patent claims against the South Korean electronics manufacturer. In return, Microsoft will gain access to certain intellectual property produced by LG.

Microsoft, shrugging off licensing moves to prevent it from repeating its controversial patent deal with Novell, has signed a set of broad collaboration agreements with Linux provider Xandros that include an intellectual property assurance under which Microsoft will provide patent covenants for Xandros customers. In the meantime, Microsoft's covenant not to sue users of Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise will be extended to all General Public License v3 users as soon as Novell includes GPLv3 code within its Linux distribution, according to the Free Software Foundation.

Microsoft is launching a slew of initiatives to help Web sites identify visitors. First, the company is kicking off four open-source projects to support the development of ID cards for online users. Microsoft is also releasing one of its identity management specs, Identity Selector Interoperability Profile, under its OSP, meaning the specification is clear of licensing fees or patent worries.

Craig Mundie is trying to fill Bill Gates shoes. Well, at least one of them. Keenly aware that no one person can replace Microsoft's cultural icon, the company has divided his responsibilities among two top executives. Ray Ozzie has taken over as chief software architect, but Gates' role overseeing technical strategy and policy has gone to Mundie.

Microsoft has released patches for 19 vulnerabilities, 14 of which are critical, hitting at holes in Excel, Word, Office, Exchange, Internet Explorer, cryptographic technology and the whopper of them all, the zero-day vulnerability in the DNS Server's use of RPC. The DNS remote code execution vulnerability affects server-grade operating systems, including Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and only those that have the DNS service enabled, such as Domain Controller, DNS Server or Microsoft Small Business Server configurations.

Microsoft today announced the release of Windows Live Hotmail, the much anticipated upgrade to their widely deployed Hotmail web-based email platform. Windows Live Hotmail launches in 36 languages and is one of the first large-scale Microsoft applications to fully support a non-Microsoft browser. In addition, Microsoft has announced the release of a free Microsoft Outlook connector application, which allows management via MS Outlook, and a long awaited mobile version of Windows Live Hotmail.

Microsoft plans to extend its mainstream development tooling to Silverlight, its Flash challenger, and add support for dynamic languages. At the Mix '07 Web developer and designer conference, Microsoft executives said the company will allow .Net developers to create applications for Silverlight, its alternative to Adobe Systems' Flash format. Microsoft on Monday released an alpha version of Silverlight 1.1 that will allow people to write applications using .Net applications such as C#. Version 1.0 of Silverlight will be available this summer.

"It's amazing how many people who have Microsoft Windows everywhere look flummoxed when asked whether Windows is their "standard" for desktop computing. The reason they are thrown by this question is typically because they haven't thought about it that way before. In all likelihood, they never actually made a proactive decision to select Windows, in the sense of looking at alternatives and making a conscious objective choice. So how did they end up with it?"

"Microsoft Corp. posted a 65 percent rise in quarterly profit Thursday, topping Wall Street estimates thanks to better than expected demand for its new Windows Vista operating system." More here.

""Microsoft is dead", wrote Paul Graham late last week in one of the silliest columns I've seen in a while. Graham is a smart guy, and probably the one most responsible for you not getting entirely inundated by spam. His 'A plan for spam' outlined the method now used by most anti-spam software. In this latest message, 'Microsoft Is Dead', Graham argues that the Redmond giant was killed by Google, which showed people that the desktop wasn't nearly as important in the age of Web-based applications. Plain and simple, Graham is wrong. There's no way anyone could argue that Microsoft is dead. Just look at the numbers. When a software runs more than 90% of the desktops on the planet - and will for the foreseeable future - it's simply not dead." Update: Paul Graham has clarified some of his statements and explicitly has stated that Microsoft is not in danger of going out of business.

"At first glance, the FSF and the Commission attacks on Microsoft appear to be unrelated. But the common thread is this: the attacks are based on a lack of faith that consumer demand will lead a market to where consumers want it to be. It is based on a faulty assumption that a company can use its intellectual property to harm competition rather than fuel it."

In a spat over royalties, the European Commission has declared war on accepted global conventions regarding intellectual property rights.