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Sep. 04 2000

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TV Top Plans Crumble; Windows ME Roadshow Underway; Office Middleware for Linux; Word Lets Authors Track Files; Bristol Wins Afterall

As you already know, over the last two years Microsoft has invested billions upon billions of dollars into telecom companies around the world. The recipient companies, including United Pan-Europe Communications, Deutsche Telekom, Cable & Wireless, NTL, TV Cabo, Rogers Communications, Telewest, Comcast, AT&T, and dozens of others almost unilaterally agreed to use Microsoft software on their TV-top cable and Internet access devices. But so far Microsoft has failed to deliver any usable software for such equipment, forcing the telecoms to either delay the launch of their 'interactive TV' services until next year, launch the boxes with limited functionality, or abandon Microsoft in favor of another provider.
United Pan-Europe Communications has already announced that it is looking into using software from Liberate or Sun Micro spinoff OpenTV until the Microsoft software is ready. While UPC's decision could mean 30,000 fewer devices running a Microsoft OS, that's only the tip of the iceberg. The 10 million devices AT&T agreed to as part of its investment deal are now also at risk, with the US telephone and cable giant preparing to launch its TV Internet access service with devices running software produced by Excite@Home.
ALSO SEE: Wired News, WinInfo, The Register, C|Net

For the launch of Windows 95, Microsoft famously spent millions of dollars on a blowout party at its corporate headquarters, complete with celebrity spokesmen and a carnival. This time around, for the launch of Windows ME on the 14th, Microsoft is going on the road to demonstrate the product in 25 malls across the country with an event known as the "Meet ME Tour." That method of promotion is designed to make the product appear less intimidating for the kinds of consumers who ordinarily would be uninterested in an operating system upgrade.
Microsoft is also trying to promote the product by giving away 50 copies of Windows ME "personally autographed by Bill Gates" from a contest Web site that required only that a customer enter his name and e-mail address onto a form. However, violating state and federal laws about such matters, the site has been down more than up, and so far it would appear that no more than 10 people have actually won the coveted prize. After several rounds of bad publicity over the site, Microsoft ended the contest and vowed to start it again on September 14, the day ME finally launches.
ALSO SEE: WinInfo, The Register, C|Net, The Register

For the tenth time in four or five years, rumors are circulating around the computer industry saying Microsoft is working on a port of Office that will run on Linux. According to an Israeli programmer who reportedly has some involvement in the project, Microsoft and a small French company called Mainsoft have spent the last year developing an interface that would allow Office to run on Linux by emulating Windows APIs and interfaces on the open source operating system. This version of the rumor has a bit more weight than the last ones, since Mainsoft and Microsoft have worked closely together in the past to develop Unix versions of Internet Explorer and Unix.
Also adding weight to the rumors, the existence of Office for Linux would certainly help Microsoft's .NET strategy by drawing more people into using proprietary .NET Internet standards. The suites would certainly require application servers to be Windows-based, resulting in networks of Linux users needing Windows to run their software. As more and more people used Office and .NET services, the combination could turn into a 'middleware' product that entirely replaces the operating system - putting us back under Microsoft's opressive thumb.
ALSO SEE: The Register, InfoWorld, WinInfo

Late last month Microsoft sent manufacturers 'gold code' for Office:Mac 2001, the first update for Microsoft Office on the Macintosh in nearly three years. Unlike earlier Macintosh versions of the suite, 2001 flaunts differences between itself and the Windows edition by looking like it belongs on a Macintosh. The program dumps Outlook in favor of a more usable program, and adds a startup 'portfolio' for choosing document type - emulating AppleWorks. Overall the program is miles above its predecessors and Windows-restricted relatives. Microsoft has, apparently, given the Office Macintosh development team freedom to develop a high quality program independent of what the Windows group does - perhaps to draw more users into the Office.NET future Microsoft is planning for them. It would appear that Office is becoming the monopolistic middleware product Windows once was - making millions of people dependent on Microsoft no matter what operating system they actually use.
ALSO SEE: AppleInsider

Bucking recent trends, a California judge has permitted one Microsoft class-action suit to reach trial. The judge, San Francisco Superior Court's Stuart R. Pollak, refused to throw out the case because the abandonment of a class-action suit would leave action against Microsoft in the hands of individual consumers who would be unable to pay for an expensive court trial. The case itself accuses Microsoft of harming consumers by overcharging for various products like Windows 98, Word, and MS-DOS. Attorneys from both sides will meet on October 4 to work out details of the case, although the earliest time it could begin is March 2002. Other similar cases in Oregon, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, Texas and Rhode Island have been dismissed because of archaic federal laws concerning products distributed by secondary companies, but the California case survived because that state has its own laws addressing that issue.
ALSO SEE: InfoWorld, The Register

An advisory has been issued by Richard M. Smith's Privacy Foundation, warning Microsoft customers about a serious threat to their privacy hidden inside the last few versions of Word. The problem is due to a Word feature allowing the author of a document to link a remote image into the document through a link, similar to the way images are imbedded into a Web page. Then each time the document is accessed, the image loads from that server, leaving a record of the user's IP address inside the server log files. An IP address generally includes the Internet domain where the access originated (an ISP or network), which could reveal the names of companies or individuals who obtained the document. The server can also send Internet Explorer a cookie each time the file is accessed, making it much easier to positively identify a user by matching that cookie to ones issued by particular Web sites. Microsoft admits that the software would allow the document tracking to take place, but says that there is no evidence of such a thing occurring and has no plans to do anything about it.
ALSO SEE: The Privacy Foundation, The Register

Microsoft and its WebTV subsidiary are co-developing a new computer processor designed specifically for handling interactive television and graphic rendering tasks. The CPU, dubbed Solo2, will be built by Toshiba for use in a future version of the WebTV service, along with other devices like digital video recorders and game consoles (X-Box?). This is all well and good we suppose, but it puts more strain on Microsoft's on-again off-again relationship with Intel, since Microsoft's CPU could cut into that chip maker's high-margin sales. Microsoft has to be careful in that area, lest Intel tap into its large collection of system-level software that would make Windows irrelevant.
ALSO SEE: ZDNet, The Register

Back in mid-1999, Microsoft humiliated Bristol Technology when the former partner won its private antitrust case against the company - only to be awarded a single US dollar by the Connecticut jury [see NewsSource, July 19 '99 - http://ms-bc.com/news/99_07_19.shtml ]. The trial, long since forgotten by most people, came back into the spotlight on August 27 when the case's original judge awarded Bristol an additional $1 million in punitive damages. The judge, who admits the penalty will do little to discourage Microsoft from behaving badly in the future, is also considering Bristol's request to be repaid $6 million in legal fees.
ALSO SEE: C|Net

UNITED STATES V MICROSOFT COURT NOTES:After several more rounds of pointless filings, Microsoft and the DoJ were both waiting anxiously for a Supreme Court decision to hear or not hear Microsoft's appeal. Both sides were disappointed when a list of recent Supreme Court decisions was released without mentioning their particular case. That indicates that the Supremes intend to wait for their next session to start in October before making a decision about reviewing the massive antitrust case.
ALSO SEE: The Register, C|Net

HomeAdvisor, the MSN Web site Microsoft spun off as a separate company earlier this year, has received $100 million in investments from the Chase Manhattan Mortgage and GMAC-Residential Funding mortgage loan companies. In exchange for the cash infusion, both groups will now be using Microsoft and HomeAdvisor technology on their own sites.
Amazon.com and Microsoft are joining together to set up an e-book store inside Amazon's existing site. In exchange for Amazon's help selling its books, Microsoft will provide a customized version of its Reader software for the site's customers. An Amazon.com spokesman made clear that the deal will not be exclusive, with the site free to sell e-books from other companies. Microsoft has a similar deal with barnesandnoble.com.
On the 29th day of August Microsoft announced an investment in Big Huge Games, a small game publisher with no titles released to date. According to a press release, the unspecified equity investment gives Microsoft exclusive rights to publish and distribute any software released by BHG.
According to a Japanese media outlet, about 150 employees of Microsoft Japan have been ordered to pay some $28 million (US) in back-taxes on $65 million in undeclared earnings from stock options. The local government has refused to comment on the reports, while Microsoft Japan chose to simply say that it does not track gains or losses made on stock options, and the filing of tax documents is a responsibility held by individual employees.

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Saturday, 16-Nov-2002 17:22:42 EST