This eWEEK: April 21, 2003

If you havent already, you should make your companys privacy policies your business. As Cameron Sturdevant reports in eWEEK Labs Special Report on privacy, you should get involved in privacy efforts and help mold them using your technology expertise. Adhering closely to strict policies can build a unique competitive advantage: trust. In a Face to Face interview with Sturdevant and Anne Chen, IBMs Chief Privacy Officer Harriet Pearson says she uses a score card to measure how well IBM adheres to its own policies.

Microsofts Windows Server 2003 rolls out in a version finely tuned by its maker to entice broad upgrades. According to eWeek Labs analyst Tim Dyck, its a logical and incremental upgrade for Windows 2000 Server users. But in contrast to previous Microsoft upgrades, the company is competing against more than just previous versions of its own products. The choice represented by Linux and open-source alternatives has by now become compelling enough to invite comparison. As Tim notes, the Web Edition is a direct answer to Linux and BSD Web servers.

Although it is the core component, Windows Server 2003 is only a base on which to add a number of key services. Microsoft is performing a difficult balancing act in putting in or leaving out features. Real Time Communication Server, Active Directory Application Mode and Windows Rights Management are all critical, but as Peter Galli reports, Microsoft is playing its cards close to the vest on how it will price these add-ons. The user base is watching closely.

Microsofts Bill Veghte, VP of the Windows Server group, shows sensitivity to user concerns when he tells Peter in a Face to Face interview that Microsoft is committed to letting customers run NT 4.0 applications in a virtual machine alongside Windows Server 2003 using Connectix virtual technologies, recently acquired by Microsoft.

The Intel part of the Wintel duopoly will receive its most serious challenge ever as AMD rolls out the Opteron, a 64-bit microprocessor that attacks the most criticized quality of Intels 64-bit Itanium—the need to rewrite applications. AMD CEO Hector Ruiz told Eric Lundquist and me its his companys most important rollout ever. At stake is the huge installed base of Windows server applications. At stake also is microprocessor choice. As John Taschek says in his Scaling IT column, though, it may be a new chip, but it is unfortunately the old AMD as far as marketing skills are concerned.

Till next eWeek, send your comments to stan_gibson@ziffdavis.com.