14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, the giant said that it will use the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in Boston to announce that it is making its Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition software available as a free download from the Microsoft Web site. Since the release date - December 2005, Microsoft has sold the program at a suggested retail price of $199. The Standard Edition, which used to cost $99, is being dropped and will no longer be available.
"Over the years, customers have been getting the virtualization capability as part of the operating system. After getting that feedback from customers, Microsoft decided that this was the "perfect time to make virtual server available for free, as this is what they expect and want from us and we are just reacting to that," said Jim Ni, a group product manager for Microsoft's Windows Server team.
Microsoft released on Tuesday a new version of a wireless optical mouse developed for laptop users and plans to introduce two new desktop mice: one laser and one optical, by this summer. According to a statement, Microsoft has sold more than 1 million devices from the High Definition line since its debut in September.
The Wireless Optical Notebook Mouse 3000, which sells for $29, is created as an upgrade to the company's best-selling Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse. Microsoft described the product as a more portable, easier-to-stow option for laptop users and said it will include features like improved "mousing" in cramped spaces such as airplanes or small cafe tables.
In June, the giant will release the Wireless Optical Mouse 2000, another desktop-oriented gadget. At $29, the three-button, silver-accented product is created as a more affordable alternative to the laser mouse.
On Wednesday, Microsoft has won its biggest contract this year for the use of its Windows Mobile operating system, in a deal with the U.S. Census Bureau. Microsoft will receive about $600 million, in a five-year deal with Harris, a Florida company running the data collection project, that involves the automation of field data collection. The move is aimed at shorting the time, labor costs and errors involved in manual data collection and input.
Between 2004 and 2005, the software giant received double profit, from 3 million to 6 million, for devices loaded with its mobile OS. But it remains one of the smallest vendors in the sector by market share. The Symbian operating system is the sector's current heavy-hitter, with more than 60 percent market share, according to figures from research firm Gartner.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch a Web site to share the activities of its internal Linux departments, an effort to sample feedback from customers who combine Microsoft and open-source applications.
Bill Hilf, general manager of platform technology strategy at Microsoft, is expected to present the Web site, called Port 25, at conference on Thursday at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in Boston. The site is scheduled to go live at 6 a.m. PDT Thursday. "The goal of Port 25 is to foster more communication with Microsoft customers that use open-source software. We're opening the doors to what we do in the Linux labs. The most important opportunity is to get feedback," Hilf said.
On Thursday, Microsoft Japan said that Xbox 360 users in Japan will have more than three times as many game titles available by December as they do now. "Microsoft expects 15 games to be launched by the summer for the machine, boosting the number of titles to 40. That will rise to around 80 by the end of the year," Takashi Sensui, general manager of the Japanese unit's Xbox division, told a briefing. The 15 game titles to be launched by summer include Hudson Soft's "Bomberman" action game and Capcom's "Dead Rising" survival horror.
Microsoft is estimated to have sold 123,000 units of Xbox 360 in Japan between its early December launch and March 26. Sony sold almost a million units of its PlayStation 2 console in the first three days of its March 2000 launch in Japan.
Same day, Microsoft has acquired Lionhead Studios, whose founder, Peter Molyneux, is one of the best-known independent video game developers in the business. "The idea is that Lionhead will begin creating games exclusively for the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms. And that makes sense, say industry observers, because Lionhead and Microsoft Game Studio already had a close working relationship, what with the Xbox and Windows-only "Fable" selling more than 2 million copies to date," the companies said.
Now, Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead will try to repeat the success of "Fable" and Molyneux's team's other successes. The two sides would not say what games they will work on next, but it is likely that the much-rumored "Fable 2" is in the works.
On Friday, Microsoft released five security bulletins with fixes for flaws in Windows and Office, as part of its monthly patching cycle.
Some alerts are deemed "critical," Microsoft's highest risk rating, the giant said in a notice posted on its Website. It tags as critical any security threat that could allow a malicious Internet worm to spread without any action required on the part of the user.
Also, Microsoft plans to release an updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. The application detects and removes common malicious code placed on computers.
