Posted: Mar. 24, 2008

[The articles below were posted between Mar. 3, 2008 and Mar. 24, 2008 and appear in the April 2008 hardcopy edition of Update. One or more are available below for free to non-subscribers.]

Business Applications & Services

Free! Online Business Services Aim at Broad Market

Microsoft's Business Online Services will offer hosted Exchange, SharePoint, Communications Server, and other products directly to customers of all sizes, but pricing and partner margins have not been determined

No Course Change for Dynamics Line

Microsoft will update each of its Dynamics ERP products and Dynamics CRM by 2010, but opted out of discussing product consolidation at Convergence 2008

Live@edu Shows Path to Services

Live@edu, which offers hosted versions of Windows Live services to students of educational institutions, hints how partners may be able to capitalize on Microsoft's move to hosted services

Systems Management and Security

Free! Management, Security Products Need Updates for New OS

Windows Server 2008 has been released, but several System Center server management and Forefront server security products will gain compatibility only later in 2008

Service Manager Slips to 2010

The Service Manager help desk application, a key System Center product, has been delayed until 2010, with a beta refresh in late 2008

Credentica Acquisition Adds Privacy Technology

Acquisition of Credentica could enhance privacy solutions for Windows application developers and make CardSpace more attractive for electronic commerce

Windows & Mobile

Hyper-V Changes Server Virtualization Options

A feature-complete release candidate of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft's first-generation hypervisor-based hardware virtualization platform, marks Microsoft's entry into data center virtualization

IE8 Improves Standards Support, Web Browsing

Internet Explorer 8 improves support for Web display standards and incorporates many new features for developers and users

Auto Platform Gets Traction

After nearly a decade of trying to apply Windows technologies to the automotive market, Microsoft appears to have finally hit upon a winner with Auto 3.0

Retail Vista Price Reductions

The price for stand-alone consumer versions of Windows Vista will decrease when SP1 enters the retail channel, but as OEMs sell the most licenses, the effect will be muted

Kidaro to Aid Desktop Virtualization

The acquisition of Kidaro's desktop virtualization technologies may offer a workaround for application compatibility issues and help spur Vista deployments

Flash Lite Coming to Windows Mobile

Licensing Flash Lite and Reader LE could help Windows Mobile-based phones compete with Apple's iPhone, which supports PDF but not Flash

Application Platform

SQL Server 2008 Feature Complete

The fourth community technical preview of SQL Server 2008 rounds out the product's feature set, but final delivery will be delayed several months

Silverlight 2 in Beta

A beta of Silverlight 2 with support for the .NET Framework marks Microsoft's continuing push to replace Adobe Flash

Adapters Connect to Oracle, SAP, and Siebel

The BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0, a new software integration product, allows .NET Framework applications to integrate with non-Microsoft line-of-business systems

Sales, Marketing, and Services

Pre-Owned Licenses for Transfer

A new approach to transferring licenses gets around Microsoft rules prohibiting the resale of volume licenses and could open a substantial market for pre-owned licenses

Corporate and Legal

Ongoing EU Threat Spurs Interoperability Pledge

After paying more than US$2.3 billion in European antitrust fines over the last four years, Microsoft hopes to stave off further fines by releasing more interoperability information about its products

Class-Action Suit Over Vista

A lawsuit over marketing for consumer versions of Windows Vista has gained class-action status, and other legal news from the first quarter of 2008

Online Organization Shuffle Continues

Organizational fallout continues from Microsoft's offer to acquire Yahoo, which has triggered reorganization and strategy shifts in its consumer online services business