Peter Galli

Microsofts ubiquitous word processing program, Microsoft Word, celebrates its 18th birthday in 2007, having successfully wended its way through the growing pains of childhood and challenges of adolescence. Word essentially started as a product known as “Bravo,” which was brought to Microsoft in 1981 by Charles Simonyi,who is regarded by many as the father of […]

Microsoft is using a Web-based comic strip to try to reach a broad set of consumers and convince them that they can benefit from the new Ribbon-based user interface found in Office 2007. While much of the hype leading up to the consumer release of the 2007 Office system later in January has focused on […]

As Microsoft heads into 2007, the company faces a number of ongoing threats and challenges, most notably getting its large installed base to upgrade to the latest wave of products. “The larger the installed base gets, the harder it is to move, and the longer it takes to transition,” Al Gillen, vice president of research […]

For Microsoft, 2006 may have started off as a casual walk in the park, but it ended as a sprint to the finish line. Over the year the company faced product delays and the resultant unhappy partner and developer ecosystems, as well as a change in leadership at the very top, with Bill Gates announcing […]

A number of enterprise customers have already signed up for 16,000 of the 70,000 annual SUSE Linux enterprise subscription certificates Microsoft is offering under its recent, controversial deal with Novell. Heading the list of customers taking advantage of those certificates are Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse and AIG Technologies, all of whom have welcomed the […]

Microsoft officials are hoping to let numbers make the argument for them. The company is using positive findings from several surveys it sponsored to offset the open-source communitys vocal criticism of the patent provisions in its recent deal with Novell and to tout the benefits of its upcoming Windows Vista operating system. However, critics continue […]

Scalix and SugarCRM have teamed up to offer integration that allows their mutual Linux customers to move between their primary Microsoft Outlook desktop e-mail client, SugarCRM software and Scalixs Linux-based Mail Server. Customers will now be able to integrate their Linux-based messaging from Scalix with their CRM (customer relationship management) system from SugarCRM, using multiple […]

Microsoft has released an update to Windows Vista that is designed to prevent a type of piracy of the operating system in which files from various test and final versions of the software have been mixed so as to bypass the product activation technology, an approach the company has dubbed the “Frankenbuild” monster. The Frankenbuild […]

Microsoft will make its new enterprise voice communications server available to 2,500 companies under a private beta program on Dec. 11. The product, which will be known as Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, brings with it the ability for companies to integrate VOIP (voice over IP) technology into existing telephony infrastructure, Chris Cullin, the director […]

Technology decision makers are very upbeat about the recent agreement between Microsoft and Novell to improve interoperability between Windows Server and SUSE Linux, a survey commissioned by the two companies has found. Some nine out of 10 of those polled said they approve of the collaboration agreement between the two companies as they feel this […]

A Microsoft-commissioned study that looks at the economic impact of Windows Vista in the United States in its first year of shipment estimates that for every dollar of Microsoft revenue from the new operating system, the ecosystem around it will reap $18 in revenues. That would result in about $70 billion in hardware, software packages […]

Microsoft has taken pains to demonstrate that Windows Vista will have ample application support, particularly in the fields of anti-virus and security, so as to give businesses more incentive to upgrade to the latest version of Windows. The Vista development team made a special effort to get anti-virus vendors involved early in the design program, […]