Microsoft: First Month Vista Sales Double XP
Responding to media reports that initial adoption of Windows Vista has been slow and news that certain government agencies are holding off on upgrading, Microsoft announced Monday that it sold more than 20 million copies of Vista in the first month - double the copies of Windows XP sold in its first month.
The figure includes Vista licenses sold to PC manufacturers, in addition to upgrades and full versions of the new operating system sold via retail outlets. Microsoft says the "strong sales" reflect positive consumer response, and put Vista on track to becoming the quickest-adopted version of Windows.
Microsoft Awkwardly Refreshes Windows Defender
4:50 pm March 16, 2007 - For largely unexplained reasons, an edition of Microsoft's Windows Defender anti-malware package numbered 7.0 - way out of sequence - was made available for a brief period late Thursday, and continues to make the rounds through cached databases, including our own FileForum. Late this afternoon, BetaNews located an active link to it on Microsoft's downloads section.
While "version 7.0" appeared to be a legitimate version of Windows Defender, in fact, it's just a refreshed build. Many press sources, including BetaNews, were informed it was a significant update, and we reported it as such. But knowledgeable readers after having downloaded it from us and elsewhere spotted something fishy, and once again, they were right: The "new" Defender is really just a new build, version 1.1.1593.
'Slacker' Takes on iTunes, Satellite
A small San Diego startup has big plans for an online music service that, if successful, could compete with industry giants like Apple and XM Satellite Radio. Slacker, which launched in beta Wednesday, aims to take Internet radio beyond the Web.
Founded by former CEOs in the online music industry, including Dennis Mudd from MusicMatch, Jonathan Sasse from iRiver and Jim Cady from Rio and Altec Lansing, Slacker is taking a new approach to an old idea: personalized streaming radio stations. The company plans to launch a software application, a hardware player and even a car kit.
3M Sues Sony, Lenovo Over Batteries
3M filed suit this week in Minneapolis, Minn. against computer makers Sony and Lenovo, along with a handful of other firms, for allegedly infringing on its patents related to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The company also asked that imports of the batteries be blocked.
At issue is the cathode materials used inside the batteries, which 3M claims makes them last longer and give off less heat. The company says it spent 10 years developing the technology, and says it is a $700 million business.
Struggling MovieBeam Sold for $10mn
MovieBeam, a spin-off from Disney that became one of the first movie download services, has been acquired by Hollywood Video owner Movie Gallery for under $10 million. That number is a fraction of the $50 million it was recapitalized with last year after Disney spent a reported $70 million on the project.
Much of MovieBeam's struggle to establish itself can be blamed on its architecture. Instead of relying on broadband to deliver movies on demand over the Internet, MovieBeam receives the content over the air with an antenna connected to a set-top box. A phone line is also required for billing and ordering purposes.
Vonage Loses in Verizon Patent Case
A federal jury has found that Vonage has infringed on three patents owned by Verizon and ordered the Internet telephony company to pay damages of $58 million, in addition to a 5.5 percent royalty on all future Vonage sales.
The award was far smaller than Verizon's requested amount of $197 million, but potentially more damaging to Vonage's business is whether a permanent injunction will bar it from further use of the technologies. Immediately after the verdict, Verizon requested the injunction, and a hearing has been set for March 23.
Adobe to Debut Photoshop 'Extended'
Although it won't officially announce Creative Suite 3 until March 27, Adobe said Thursday that it will deliver not one, but two editions of Photoshop CS3, the company's tool for professional graphic and Web designers.
The standard Photoshop CS3, which has been available in beta for Macintosh users since December, will be joined by Photoshop CS3 Extended. The new edition brings integration of 3-D and motion graphics, image measurement and analysis. It also adds new workflow capabilities designed for professionals in architecture, engineering, medical and science.
Google Desktop Mimics Vista Sidebar
Google on Wednesday rolled out a beta version 5 of its Desktop product, which includes a desktop search, sidebar and Google Gadgets. It could be said that Google Desktop 5 has been "Vista-fied," with a new design that better blends into the background.
Other features in version 5 include a "Preview" feature in desktop search that enables users to quickly glance at documents without opening them fully. Security has also been bolstered such that Google will now warn users when they click on links from documents, e-mails or IM logs that may lead to a malicious Web site.
Gartenberg Quits Microsoft, Returns to Jupiter
Noted analyst Michael Gartenberg has decided that evangelizing Microsoft products just isn't for him, and is quitting less than a month after joining the Redmond company in a high-profile move that brought both criticism and praise.
Gartenberg will return to his post at JupiterResearch, where he worked for five years and was a vice president before his departure in February. Prior to Jupiter, Gartenberg worked for seven years as an analyst for Gartner.
Amazon Unbox Launches on TiVo
Exactly one month after announcing a partnership to deliver Amazon's Unbox movie download service to TiVo users, the two companies have put the service live for TiVo customers with a broadband connection.
Amazon and TiVo are billing the service as the first to offer both recorded television content and broadband content in a single interface. Service activation is done through Amazon.com, where the subscriber must enter information about their TiVo Series2 or Series3 set-top boxes.
Windows Live Vice President to Resign?
In a move that could signify more trouble for Microsoft's seemingly confused Windows Live group that has seen a number of products revert back to MSN branding, Corporate Vice President Blake Irving is resigning his post, according to Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley.
Foley writes that sources say Irving, who handled the behind-the-scenes infrastructure for Windows Live, will likely remain at Microsoft for several months before parting ways with the company. Irving joined Microsoft in 1992 and has worked on the Redmond company's Messenger and e-mail products, along with its popular blogging platform, Windows Live Spaces.
Microsoft: Office Format War Over
Microsoft Office program manager Brian Jones, whose work has centered around the Open XML document format, now says the so-called format war with OpenDocument is officially over. The winner, he says, is both.
Jones made the statement in a blog post over the weekend following the release by Novell of an Open XML translator for OpenOffice. The plug-in enables the free, open source productivity suite to open documents created in the Microsoft format, as well as saving OpenDocument (ODF) files into Open XML.
Microsoft Updates Preview of 'Orcas'
Microsoft late Wednesday released the March Community Technology Preview of "Orcas," the code-name for the next release of Visual Studio. Orcas will focus on development for Windows Vista and Office 2007, and the March CTP is available with or without VS Team Foundation Server.
Microsoft says it is looking for "early feedback" on the technologies it is planning to include in Orcas, which the Redmond company began talking about in late 2005. "Orcas will make it a whole lot easier for people to build Vista applications through easy to use designers and the like," said Soma Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division. With Vista already out the door, Microsoft is working hard to complete Orcas and will surely discuss the release at its MIX '07 conference next month.
MS: $4,000 for Daylight Saving Fix
Customers using Microsoft products that have entered their "Extended" support phase will need to fork over $4,000 for a patch that makes the software compatible with the new March 11 date for Daylight Saving Time (DST), according to Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley.
Among the products affected that have left "Mainstream" support are Windows 2000, Exchange Server 2000 and Outlook 2000. Foley learned of the cost in a PowerPoint presentation distributed to analysts, which explains that due to the number of customers affected by the DST change, Microsoft will not be charging the standard, pricey fee to join its Extended Support Hotfix program. Instead, customers can simply purchase the DST hotfixes they need for a flat $4,000 USD fee.
Opera Mini 3.1 Released for Phones
Opera on Wednesday updated the Java-based version of its Web browser for mobile phones, improving connectivity and adding support for more handset models. Opera Mini 3.1 offers one new feature: the ability to better manage RSS feeds.
Newly supported devices include T-Mobile's popular Dash and IDEN-based Motorola phones. Rendering fixes were also made for Samsung's BlackJack. Opera Mini 3.1 is a free download available from the company's Web site. Separately, Google recently released a Windows Mobile based version of its Google Maps application, removing the requirement of Java on Microsoft smartphones.
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