Here is a whole pile of news. Thanks to chris for some of it!
Bill Testifies
ah... memories of ratm....
Bill Gates is testifying today in the Microsoft antitrust case. Here"s the 5 page executive summary (pdf) and here"s the 163-page full version (1.1 MB pdf). Bill waxes on about the early days, talks about .NET, xml, and why Microsoft should not be penalized for its role as 800 lb. Gorilla. (Developers, Developers, Developers)" Other readers point to the BBC story on Gates" testimony, as well as a similar one at Yahoo!.
Ms roadmaps Updated
The Windows .Net Server operating system probably will reach customers" hands sometime next year, and its successor will go "beyond 2003," Jim Allchin, Microsoft Corp."s group vice president of platforms, said yesterday. Allchin told attendees to the company"s Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2002 in Seattle that he expects Windows .Net Server to be released "later this calendar year, from at least a manufacturing perspective" -- in line with the company"s most recent predictions issued early last month.
But Allchin"s statement that the server software product probably will be in customer"s hands sometime next year could represent a "big slip," according to Tom Bittman, an analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. Bittman said he expects Windows .Net Server to be released to manufacturers in September or October, meaning the shipped product could be in customers" hands by the end of the year.
Ms cramping wi-fi"s style?
Lets hope we dont go down the "winmodem" route...
Wireless operators want to complement their 3G strategies using Wi-Fi. Vendors want to develop solutions that will allow seamless roaming between the two kinds of networks. Microsoft stands in the way. Efforts to facilitate roaming between Wi-Fi wireless LANs and 3G networks are stuck in neutral because of Microsoft""s indecision on supporting mobile IP in its Windows operating system.
Lucent Technologies, convinced that a huge data roaming market exists for wide area wireless service providers, is developing ways to integrate Wi-Fi networks based on the 802.11b standard with CDMA 1X and UMTS networks so that carriers can authenticate and bill customers. But before laptops and PDAs can switch between Wi-Fi networks and 3G networks, Microsoft needs to support mobile IP within its Windows operating system. The software giant is stonewalling on doing that, and Lucent officials are getting impatient.
"We have a surprising disconnect between [Microsoft] and the mobility community," said Paul Mankiewich, chief technology officer for Lucent"s mobility solutions group. Sources said Ericsson is having similar troubles with Microsoft, but an Ericsson spokeswoman declined to comment.
Getting support for Tablet PC
its a pc, on a tablet. a tablet pc. right.
ALEX LOEB, AS vice president of the Tablet PC division for Microsoft, will be very much in demand this week as she tries to gain more support for Microsoft"s vision of the future of notebooks. In an interview with InfoWorld Editor in Chief Michael Vizard and Test Center Director Steve Gillmor, Loeb talks about how Microsoft expects to redefine the mobile computing experience.
Enjoy.