Mary Jo

The tester count for Office 2007 Beta 2 is now at more than three million. Given “how dramatically the beta 2 downloads have exceeded (Microsoft’s) goals,” the company has decided to start charging $1.50 per download for Office Server 2007 to help the company recover costs, officials said on July 28. Microsoft will continue to […]

Microsoft is recalling — primarily from its OEM and system builder partners – the Windows Small Business Server R2 bits the company released in mid-July, Microsoft officials said on July 28. Microsoft is recalling approximately 3,000 SKUs that included old code modules. As a result, general availability of SBS 2003 R2 will now be September […]

From Microsoft Watch: Microsoft has made it to prototype stage with a technology that it is calling FonePlus. FonePlus is WebTV running on a cell phone. Microsoft is investigating whether this kind of a product might be more useful to potential customers in developing nations than, say, a stripped-down version of Windows or some kind […]

REDMOND – Add to Microsoft’s lower -cost computing alternatives designed for the developing world a new cell phone operating system, known as FonePlus. Microsoft officials showed a prototype of the platform at the company’s day-long Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) here on July 27. Microsoft has been dabbling with a number of different platforms with which […]

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie provided Wall Street analysts attending Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting with a high-level, theoretical look at Microsoft’s online services business. Bottom line: Microsoft doesn’t see Live as just a bunch of disconnected online services. Windows Live is also a development platform. Windows Live will be the hub for all of […]

From Microsoft Watch: Microsoft shared on Thursday at its Financial Analyst Meeting more details of its hopes and plans for Zune, its portable media player, that is due out this fall. The big-picture game plan is to try to recreate with Zune the online service/community success that it has built with Xbox Live. In fact, […]

REDMOND – Microsoft is planning to invest “hundreds of millions” and lose money through 2008 to make its recently announced Zune portable media player a success. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, shared more details about Microsoft’s vision for its iPod competitor with Wall Street analysts and press attending Microsoft’s annual Financial […]

Microsoft’s Chief Advertising strategist Yusuf Mehdi showed off Version 2 of Microsoft’s adCenter advertising platform during Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting on July 27. Mehdi told Wall Street and press attendees that the next rev of Microsoft’s platform will provide advertisers with better business intelligence data on keywords they buy; better demographic data on consumers; and […]

How does Microsoft plan to outgrow Linux in the coming years? There are three arenas, or workloads, where Microsoft is focusing especially strongly: security/edge computing; Web/hosting; and high-performance computing. That’s according to Server and Tools Chief Bob Muglia, who spoke at the company’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) on July 27. Muglia showed Wall Street […]

Sure, Windows Vista is still in beta. But Vista’s speech recognition seemed to be more than a little iffy, when Senior Director Shanen Boettcher put it through its demo paces during the morning session at Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) in Redmond on July 27. Vista recognized almost none of the words Boettcher spoke in […]

Is Windows Vista still on track for November business availability and a January 2007 launch? The word is yes, according to Kevin Johnson, the Microsoft executive in charge of platforms and services at Microsoft. There are no indications that Microsoft will fail to make its November/January targets, Johnson told attendees of Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting […]

Microsoft’s announcement on July 26 that it was purchasing a healthcare software company caught a number of Microsoft watchers by surprise. During his kick-off keynote address at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) on July 27, CEO Steve Ballmer shed some light on Microsoft’s thinking. Microsoft is planning to position the Azyxxi patient-record-management software it […]