Search

As the computer industry's reliance on component software increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to integrate complex component systems. Modern development environments take a variety of approaches to simplifying this programming problem. This article describes how three programming language implementations provide access to Microsofts Corp.'s component object model (COM) and how they attempt to reduce the complexity of writing and using COM objects. Using COM is complex for two reasons. COM semantics may not match the object semantics of the language and hence require glue code between COM and the application. In addition COM itself is very complex, with a large API and many special cases. Many development environments can provide access to services such as COM. Though COM reflects the linguistic heritage of its creators, it was designed to be accessed from all languages, and it can be. Such access can be straightforward, at least initially. It is also clear, though, the work required to support COM differs greatly from language to language and from environment to environment. Visual C++ and Visual J++ depend on extralinguistic features. INSETS: Using IDispathc from Dylan.;Abstract Server Pages..

The article focuses on Microsoft Rewards, a program launched by technology company Microsoft to encourage people to use its products by offering rewards. Topics covered include the opportunity to collect points when browsing through Edge or buying items at Microsoft Stores, the difference between Bing Rewards, which focused on the search engine Bing, and Microsoft Rewards, and how Microsoft Rewards will work on Edge.

The article examines the reasons underlying the slow migration of users to Windows Vista, a computer operating system from U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. that was released in November 2006. Among the reasons underlying the slow adoption of the operating system by customers are its expensive hardware requirements, incompatibility to other applications, high installation trouble for limited benefits over its predecessor Windows XP and the upcoming launch of Service Pack 1. Another cited barrier to Vista's adoption is its increased complexity, which Microsoft users complained about its User Account Control feature as nuisance and intrusive.

The article examines the competition between operating systems. In 2001, Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP dominated the market and was tagged as the only desktop operating system in the U.S. Today, OpenOffice.org has grown into a viable competitor to Microsoft Office. Moreover, the author claims that OpenOffice.org can force Microsoft toward a more open file format strategy. In the field of operating systems, Microsoft's newest client operating system, Windows Vista, has been overpowered by Linux operating systems.

Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange 2003 definitely delivers more value to administrators than previous versions of the messaging server. However, the hurdles of Active Directory and system migration still remain high at upgrading from Exchange 5.5. Exchange System Manager, the snap-in for MMC (Microsoft Management Console), has a number of improvements that allowed us to quickly navigate to controls and resolve problems. On the reliability side, Microsoft has improved the Mailbox Recovery tool to support disaster recovery scenarios in which Active Directory user account information and Exchange mailboxes no longer synchronize.

Presents news briefs on the computer industry in the United States (US) as of January 2000. Capabilities of Wireless Personal Trust Agent software from VeriSign company; Legal arguments filed by Microsoft Corp. in its antitrust trial against the US Department of Justice; Earnings of Microsoft Corp. for second quarter of fiscal 2000; Decline in net income of Lucent Technologies Inc. for first fiscal quarter of 2000.

The article reports on the release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 by Microsoft Corp. The company is expecting a wave of upgrades from users seeking the latest functionality. Some users want to keep their old operating systems running for as long as possible. Office 2007 and Zune music player will not install on Windows 2000.

In April 2004, the European Commission in Brussels took bold steps to curb Microsoft's control of the computer software market by slapping the company with tough sanctions aimed at its treasured "bundling" strategy and crafted to influence its future behavior in the market. In the landmark ruling drafted by Mario Monti, the European Union's competition commissioner, Monti called Microsoft an abusive monopolist and issued a set of far-reaching penalties. If the decision stands up to appeal, Microsoft will be required to offer a version of its desktop Windows operating system software without the Media Player application built into it. It must also share "interface documentation" so that competitors can more readily design servers to interact with the company's software, and it must pay the European Commission a 600 million U.S. dollar fine, the biggest fine ever imposed by EU competition regulators.

With broad new support for XML, expanded collaboration capabilities and a raft of usability improvements, Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2003 is better in every way than the version it replaces. What's more, the emergence of lower-cost, multi-platform alternatives to Office gives companies a viable option when moving from older Office installations. During extended tests of Office 2003, which will be available this month, "eWEEK" Labs found many improvements in the way Office handles core productivity tasks.

Discusses how Gary Kildall, the inventor of the CP/M operating system, turned down IBM executives who wanted to use the software for IBM's first personal computer. Role of Bill Gates, who was working with IBM to develop the computer; Reason why Kildall turned down the deal; How IBM bought QDOS from Microsoft instead, later named MS-DOS.

Focuses on monopoly exercised by Microsoft Corp. and America Online Inc. View of the author that both these companies are arrogant monopolies unresponsive to consumers; Problems encountered by the author with software of Microsoft; Involvement of Microsoft in an anti-trust lawsuit; Suggestion that judge Thomas Penfield Jackson break Microsoft into two independent companies, one for producing operating systems and the other for designing applications; Criticism of online services of America Online.

Reports on the benefits of Microsoft Corp.'s Window's Explorer to desktop musicians in the U.S. Basis of Microsoft's remodeling of Windows; Role of personal computers in professional media production; Impact of fine-tuning systems on the satisfaction of an audio performance.

Provides information on the software applications and standards being developed by computer companies Symbian and Microsoft for wireless device manufacturers. Plans of Symbian; Preferred device platform of Microsoft; How manufacturers or carriers decide which platform to use. INSET: Predicting the Future.

Presents news briefs on computer-related issues in the United States. Details on the negotiation of Microsoft Corp. and the Department of Justice over the anti-trust case of the company; Vulnerabilities on Cisco Systems Inc.'s Secure PIX Firewall; Replacement programs offered by Enterasys Networks for 3Com's CoreBuilder products.

Looks at how Microsoft Corporation's decision to eliminate concurrent-use rights in its shrink-wrap licensing foreshadow will affect future licensing terms for computer vendors in the United States. Claims that few publishers of desktop software have followed Microsoft's example; Customer beliefs that Microsoft has made the Select 3.0 software easier to understand. INSETS: Managers caught off guard.;Concurrent licensing 101..

The article reports on the introduction of Microsoft Office 2007 to information technology (IT) industry from Microsoft Corp. IT professionals are facing a great challenge towards their approach on weighing the benefits and features of the new user interface. According to the survey conducted, 46 percent of respondents expressed no change in productivity with the use of the application while 24 percent indicated the benefits offered by the new software. The Office provides new resources which include Office Migration Planning Manager, the IT Resource Kit, and various electronic learning features available for users. However, training should be provided to users to gain knowledge on the features offered by the application. INSET: THE LOWDOWN on Office 2007.

The article reports on the negative reactions of corporate customers to U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s license checks. In 2005, the company visited about 1,200 corporate users it suspects may be not licensed properly. Microsoft is also trying to persuade corporate customers to participate in its Software Assessment Management program which it claims is not a license compliance audit. Under the program, Microsoft pays for its consulting partners to educate customers on the merit of asset management, help inventory installed software and make recommendations on policies and procedures.

Presents an update on issues related to the computer industry in the U.S. as of June 2005. Threat posed by drive-by spyware; Information on a software released by Microsoft Corp.; Release of the computer game Pirates!.

The article evaluates two computer software including the Apps for Business from Google Inc. and the Office 365 from Microsoft Corp.

The article reports on the nonprofessional programming tools being marketed by several computer companies in the U.S., including Microsoft. Accordingly, Microsoft is in the track of penetrating the nascent market for development tools to enable nonprofessionals to create applications. In this connection, the company has organized the so-called Non-Professional Tools Team, aimed to concentrate on the new trend. With John Montgomery as the team's program manager, the group's primary project is code-named Tuscany which has been reported to bring a software as a service spin to the Visual Studio platform. Moreover, aside from the formation of the team, the company has likewise issued a new Web site strictly for beginners.

The article presents the author's views on Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Vista version of Windows operating system. Microsoft has added the User Account Control (UAC) feature that will be of immense help to average users. Under UAC, both administrators and standard users will be able to operate with the standard user security token.

The article presents an interview with Corey Thomas, group product manager for SQL Server for Microsoft Corp., about the rationale behind the decision why the company did not pursue the separate delivery of WinFS or the second beta for the product. The announcement during the TechEd conference about the release of the products was made in good faith, however changes in the shipment were made just recently after a series of discussions made. One of the things considered for the changes was the data platform and the couple of pillars behind it.

The article focuses on the cancellation of the delivery of the WinFS file system by Microsoft Corp. The company first announced that it is no longer pursuing the separate delivery of WinFS, as well as the second release of the product, which it had long been promising. Peter O'Kelly, an analyst at Burton Group PLC said that the decision was necessary and pragmatic. Microsoft cut WinFS out of both operating systems, Vista and Longhorn, releases so it could ship them in a more timely fashion. Microsoft officials said WinFS would be made available as a stand-alone technology after Vista and Longhorn Server shipped.

The article examines the new operating system, Vista, developed by Microsoft Corp. The computer software company is set to deliver a broad-scale build of Vista to 2 million testers. It is also projected that in concurrence with the launch of the Vista builds shall be the introduction of the Office 2007. As recalled, the two Vista builds, including two interim community technology previews released in the past couple of months to beta testers known as technology adoption program. It was found out that the new operating system has suffered as variety of performance and compatibility problems. INSET: Vista: What you need to know.

The article features the Systems Management Server Beta 1 developed by Microsoft Corp. The product has enhanced configuration monitoring, operating system deployment and endpoint security management capabilities. It will be released in the first half of 2007 bearing its new name, System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The results of the test of SMS v4 Beta 1, indicated a renewed focus on Windows system configuration, user access and compliance reporting. New users of the software will need significant amount of time development policies to regulate how operating systems, applications, and policies are maintained throughout the enterprise.

The article presents a discussion on Windows' GPMC or Group Policy Management Console. Windows Vista will provide more power to Microsoft's Group Policy. Some changes are obvious, but all are significant and could cause some refocusing among third-party vendors that have sprouted up in the Microsoft ecosystem to deal with various deficiencies in previous iterations of Windows and Group Policy. Unlike previous Microsoft Group Policy management tools, the GPMC coalesces all GPO (Group Policy Objects) into a single interface and allows administrators to easily link the objects to Domains, Sites or OU (Organizational Units) in Active Directory.

The article reports on the confirmation of the future release dates of Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) components from Microsoft Corp. The release includes Team Foundation Server (TFS) and a preview of another key piece of VS technology. According to the corporate vice president of developer tools at Microsoft S. Somasegar, the Redmond, Washington company will make the first Community Technology Preview drop of Visual Studio Tools for Applications. TFS would provide a collaboration platform that allows the tools of VSTS to come together. The other key piece of VS technology is the Orcas, in which they are currently planning to develop. Orcas was referred to as the codename for the successor of VS 2005.

The article discusses Microsoft Corp.'s competitions in the computer software market. The first competition comes from the open-source operating system Linux. Some organizations are pushing the use of Linux in personal computers of their employees. One reason is that licensing costs are low. Another is the ability of Linux to run on old hardware that would spurn Microsoft Windows. Also, Linux is more convenient than Windows for managing a large number of computers from a remote location. The second challenge to Microsoft comes in the form of a 15-centimeter box called the Mac Mini developed by Apple Computer Inc. The third competition comes from the open-source browser, Firefox developed by Mozilla Foundation.

This article reports that by announcing plans to maintain its current per-processor server software licensing, Microsoft Corp. has pleased customers and, in the process, put serious pressure on competing software developers to do the same. There had been concern among some customers that Microsoft would adopt a per-core licensing plan that based fees on the number of cores running within a single processor, effectively doubling or quadrupling the fees. Kristin Hollins, an Oracle Corp. spokesperson, in Redwood Shores, California said that their license policy has not changed in this regard, they charge per CPU. If an eight-way box has 32 CPUs, customers pay for 32 CPUs. Both Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have plans to deliver dualcore processors for server hardware, and both vendors' road maps include plans for multicore chips. As the chip development moves apace, customers such as James Holt, director of server development at Townsend Analytics Ltd., a financial services software developer in Chicago, are shunning Oracle's approach.

The article discusses whether Microsoft is finally about to face real competition in desktop-computer software. For years, many in the computer business have hoped that Linux, a freely available computer operating system, would become a viable alternative to Microsoft's Windows, the near universal standard for the world's personal computers. Within the past month, some of the world's most powerful technology firms have pledged considerable support for Linux on the desktop, including Dell and Sun Microsystems. By the end of the decade, Linux's share could grow, reckons Al Gillen, an analyst at technology consultancy IDC, displacing Macs as the main alternative. That would still fall far short of Linux's growing popularity in the market for powerful server computers. Linux aficionados, however, say its chances on the desktop should be better. However, despite improvements Linux faces obstacles. Some of Linux's main backers have relatively modest ambitions for the operating system. Linux's main appeal is likely to be to companies rather than home users. But the future is uncertain, and Linux still might yet represent another kind of threat to Microsoft.

Features Microsoft Corp. Willingness of Microsoft to supply developers with high-quality tool to make writing software for its platforms; Inventions; Launch of the .NET initiative.

In Addition to its Office 2003 suite, slated to launch next week, Microsoft Corp. has a pair of notable new applications in the works: Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003. By themselves, neither of these applications will be enough to persuade sites to upgrade to Office 2003, of course. However, InfoPath and OneNote will streamline some Office 2003 tasks, particularly at large organizations that need to fully exploit Office 2003's XML integration or companies that are deploying fleets of Tablet PCs.

The user interface changes in Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook 2003 consolidated view elements greatly simplify the overall user experience and eliminate a good deal of dead space. The biggest change in Outlook is that the Outlook Bar has been consolidated with the Folder List into a single Navigation Pane. This change simplifies the interface, saving space and, at least with managing e-mail, potentially saving a mouse click or two. The filter allows some user control via save and block lists, but a little more control over the rules determining how e-mail is filtered would be nice. Outlook also provides content filtering that blocks content from outside sources and can block Web beacons and links that verify e-mail addresses to spammers.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is as serious about auditing its computer systems as it is about tax returns. So when the W.32Blaster worm and subsequent attacks wreaked havoc on computer systems across the world, the federal agency was prepared: The IRS used autonomic computing software to distribute the appropriate Microsoft Corp. patch to more than 5,000 servers and 125,000 desktops and laptops across the nation. The project, which took a week, saved the IRS more than $1.5 million in tech staff labor costs, according to Jim Kennedy, program manager of IRS Enterprise Systems Management, in Austin, Texas.

Computer software developer Cryptography Research Inc. has developed a technology that would enable companies to control digital content. The technology associates security measures with each piece of content instead of using a generic protection scheme for all copies.The concept, which the company calls self-protecting digital content, grew from research to uncover a digital rights management solution amenable to everyone in the debate over mandating copy protection. Redmond, Washington-based computer software developer Microsoft Corp., meanwhile, is taking a more traditional approach with its upcoming RMS, which will be a part of Windows Server 2003. INSET: Bill of rights.

This article focuses on the industrial competition between Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc., related to the computer industry. RealNetworks released the underlying recipe, or source-code, of its RealPlayer software and will soon do the same for its other programs, giving away a big chunk of its intellectual property. Individual developers, universities and other non-profit organisations can modify the software as they please, and even redistribute it for free, so long as they also publish the source-code for their changes. The software's development community already has 2,000 members. And several hardware makers back the effort. Even Microsoft recently announced that partners can now look at-but not modify or re-use-the source-code for Passport, its controversial digital-identity service.

The article presents information on the market competition among Web browser providers. Microsoft made it impossible for other browser developers to compete with it when the software behemoth included its own browser with Microsoft Windows and prevented computer companies from including competitive browsers if they wanted to be able to offer Windows on their personal computers. Internet Explorer was able to reach a peak of 96 percent of the browser market in 2002, but Microsoft was found guilty of monopolization and violation of the Sherman Act in the U.S. v. Microsoft. The leading commercial browser, Opera, controls a scant 0.7 percent of the market, though browsers based on Opera are used on a number of smartphones and video game consoles because of the browser's small footprint.

The article reports on the introduction of Live Mesh hybrid cloud-and-desktop software technology by U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. Dave Rosenberg, chief executive officer (CEO) of MuleSource, suggested the Quizzical Katt that Live Mesh could not be considered part of the cloud because there are no plans for it to support Linux. It is hard to work with someone who constraints you from doing something, chief technical officer of Etelos (CTO) Danny Kolke said, referring to the policy of Google Inc. once a programmer build their applications with the company.

The article offers information on the donation of DreamSpark computer development tool from Microsoft to the students at Stanford University in the United States. Bill Gates approved the donation in an effort to encourage creative programming among the students, and possibly introducing the young minds of students to careers in software engineering. The strategy in Microsoft's move could mean a long-term result, when the students are in the workplace. DreamSpark features open-source tools for software programming.

This section offers news briefs concerning the computer industry. Carnegie Mellon's University Digital Library has scanned a total of 1.5 million books. The web site of "The Wall Street Journal" goes free allowing its subscribers to gain access on the journal's archives. Microsoft Corp. tweaks the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), an anti-piracy system enacted by the company that enforces Microsoft Windows online validation of the authenticity of several recent Microsoft operating systems when accessing several Microsoft Windows services.

The article reflects on a single solution that will give Microsoft Corp. the edge against Google Inc. According to the author, Microsoft wins or loses on the Web 2.0 platform depending on how it embraces hardware. If the company can understand that it lacks hardware services, it would haave three pillars upon which to build a Web services strategy. Meanwhile, the Web 2.0 platform has presented a quandary for Microsoft as informational relevance shifted from the personal computer to the cloud. In connection, the author concludes that the company that best delivers on the software plus hardware plus services equation will have the edge compared to other companies.

The article offers information on virtual application streaming, which involves streaming of application into a virtualized application environment. It discusses the idea of virtual application streaming and describes its implementation, as well as its advantages and drawbacks. Among the virtual applications currently available in the market are Thinstall and SoftGrid from Microsoft Corp. and Altiris from Symantec. Virtual application streaming can work from any Internet-connected computer and is always patched and current.

The article reports on Microsoft's Windows Vista. According to the author, many businesses have decided they won't migrate to vista as they are content with Vista's predecessor, Windows XP, and have decided that switching to the new operating system aren't worth it. According to the cover story reports, Vista has only increased the number of license shipments, but its unclear how many licenses actually have been deployed. Vista's hardware requirements and incompatibility with some applications remain a problem. He said that another common complaint of Vista is slow processing.

The author reflects on the inability by low-cost laptops to run the Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system. He reveals that cheap laptops have no resources to run the Vista operating system because it requires 2 gigabyte. He believes that most personal computer vendors prefers to shift to Windows XP it is more stable and works with more software and equipment than Vista.

The article reports on the release of the Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 by Microsoft Corp. in the U.S. According to the company officials, the Visual Studio 2008 supports enhancement capabilities in every edition and provides more than 250 new specifications as well as render consistent solution for development application platform. Microsoft .Net marketing director Dino Chiesa stresses that the development and improvement of web based applications manifest the demand for Web 2.0 infrastructure platforms. In addition, .Network 3.5 provides several features which includes service-oriented architecture capabilities and software-plus-services-based applications.

The article offers information related the computer industry in the U.S. The new version of Free Software Foundation's affero general public license gives protection to software as a service vendors to tap the developer area. Avnet Inc.'s chief information officer Steve Phillips provides 10 ways to gain a successful outsourcing transaction. Meanwhile, service-oriented architecture approach by Microsoft Corp. aims to incorporate applications.

The article reports on U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s launch of Titan, a true software-as-a-service product. This is the company's first attempt at a multitenant architecture, where customers access a single instance of the application while their data is partitioned into a secure environment. It is also Microsoft's attempt to roll over Salesforce.com.

The article presents news related to the information and computer industry in the U.S. compiled as of October 2007. Analysts suggest that despite its better screen and improved wireless capabilities, Microsoft Corp.'s revamped Zune still lacks the necessary innovation to dethrone Apple's iPod. Garmin Corp.'s Mobile XT software turns Smartphones into GPS devices.