Microsoft Office

How Microsoft plans to weather the economic storm

Judi Hasson — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:18:32 -0400

Microsoft is projecting lower revenues and earnings for 2009, but has a plan to weather the current economic storm. Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said on a conference call last week that the software giant will focus on lowering customers' total cost of ownership, tighten its own spending, and choose its investments carefully in the near term.

"There's a high degree of uncertainty in outlook based on the state of the economy," Liddell said. "We can't control the economy, but we can control our overall performance in regard to [it]."

The company said it is concerned PC spending may be lower than expected and will negatively affect its Windows client business. Along with its Business Division, which includes Microsoft Office, the company derives the bulk of its revenue from its client business. To attract and keep customers, Liddell said Microsoft will focus on providing "high-value products at a low total ownership cost as a competitive advantage."

He cited products such as its Hyper-V virtualization software for Windows Server and its unified communications software as ways companies can use IT infrastructure to reduce business costs.

For more on Microsoft's plan:
- see this Computerworld.com article

Office for Mac achieves record sales

Paul Mah — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:42:19 -0400

Resurgent sales of Mac computers can't be making the folks over at Redmond comfortable. The ironic side effect is that Microsoft's Office 2008 for Mac product is doing extremely well as a result. Microsoft declined to disclose specifics, though it is understood that Mac 2008 is flying off the shelves at three times the rate of its predecessor--the highest in the entire 19-year history of the Mac unit. Sales figures aside, Microsoft also announced that the next full release of Office for Mac will see the re-introduction of Visual Basic scripts, which were pulled for re-working after the original introduction in Office 2004.

For more on Office for Mac:
- check out the CNETNews.com article

Office Open XML: Officially standard

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:05:55 -0400

It was a long and arduous road, but despite numerous objections, Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format has been standardized by the ISO. Oh, sorry did we just say "Microsoft's OOXML"? What we meant to say was the ISO's OOXML. You see, now that OOXML is a standard, it is now officially under the control of the ISO, more specifically, the same Joint Technical Committee that currently governs the OpenDocument Format. Over the course of the next few months, the ISO will establish working groups to improve and maintain the standard. The real test, however, may be how Microsoft behaves during this process. As Ars Technica duly notes, "[Microsoft] may well find itself in the position of making ISO-mandated changes to Microsoft Office as a result of the ISO's deliberations." For that reason, Ars thinks that, "ISO governance of the OOXML format may also serve as something of a litmus test for Microsoft's newfound explicit commitment to interoperability and open standards."

For more on OOXML:
- see this Ars Technica article

April Patch Tuesday cometh

Mehan Jayasuriya — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:18:44 -0400

Another month, another Microsoft Patch Tuesday. What's in store for us this month? Well, it looks like we'll be seeing eight patches total, five of which will be labeled as "critical". The critical updates will address code execution vulnerabilites in both Windows and Internet Explorer. Affected versions are as follows: Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and all versions of Internet Explorer. In addition to the critical fixes, the company will patch two "important" vulnerabilites relating to spoofing and unauthorized user privilege elevation attacks in Microsoft Office. More on the patches next week.

For more on the coming patches:
- see this Information Week story

Microsoft's OOXML standardized

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:38:08 -0400

Though the official word has yet to cross the wires, ZDnet is reporting that Microsoft's OOXML (Open Office XML) document format has been granted ISO approval. Allegedly, the format recieved 75 percent of the vote at the ISO's recent meeting. “While the final vote has not yet been announced formally, publicly available information shows overwhelming support for Open XML," Microsoft wrote in a press release. "According to documents available on the Internet, 86 percent of all national body members support ISO/IEC standardization, well above the 75 percent requirement for formal acceptance under ISO and IEC rules. In addition, 75 percent of the Participating national body members [known as P-members] support standardization, also well above the required 66.67 percent requirement for this group." The standardization of OOXML is a huge win for Microsoft, as it will encourage other developers to build OOXML support into their applications.

For more on the announcement:
- see this ZDnet article

Google Docs goes offline

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:42:53 -0400

In the ongoing war between Google Docs and Microsoft Office, there was always a clear line that seperated the two competing productivity suites: Internet connectivity. See, no matter how much you like Google Docs, it required an Internet connection to use, which proved to be a deal-breaker for many. Now, however, that line of demarcation is starting to blur: Google has announced that it is bringing offline support to Google Docs, courtesy of Google Gears. Google Docs applications will now have the ability to store data locally on your machine, until you reconnect to the Internet, at which point the application will sync up with Google's servers seamlessly. Best of all, the new functionality is rolling out next week and requries no additonal software. "I don't have to remember to save my documents locally before packing my laptop for a trip," writes Google software engineer Philip Tucker. "I don't have to remember to save my changes as soon as I get back online. And I don't have to switch applications based on network connectivity."

For more on the new feature:
- see this post on the Google Docs blog

Nortel, Microsoft sip unified communications products

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

This week, Nortel and Microsoft announced the fruits of their Innovative Communication Alliance, unveiling no less than four unified communications products. The four products are: the Nortel Converted Office, which integrates the selected models of Nortel Communications Server with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007; the UC Integrated Branch, for extending unified communications to remote offices; the Carrier Hosted Unified Communications Solutions, which is designed for service providers; and the Nortel Multimedia Conferencing 5.0 for an audio conferencing system. Already, there are more than 600 wins for the above products since the alliance's set up two years ago. Features planned for the future include fully hosted unified communications as well as Contact Center Integration.

For more on the unified communications products:
- check out the Network World article

ALSO NOTED: XP/Vista attack bypasses security via Firewire; Intel sees flash memory prices dropping;

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> Intel sees flash memory prices dropping. Article
> Is your desk a tangle of cables? Clean up the mess with these tips. Article
> XP/Vista attack bypasses security via Firewire. Article
> Testing the ODF converter for Microsoft Office. Article
> U.S. computer science drought finally coming to an end? Article

And Finally... The triumphant return of Steve "Monkey Boy" Ballmer. Video

Microsoft pledges interoperability again

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

The name "Microsoft" and the word "interoperability" generally go together like pigs and wings. Despite this fact, the company has just announced a new interoperability initiative, whereby it will publish protocols and APIs for products like Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Server 2008, allowing for increased interoperability between its products and other software on the market. The company also announced four new "interoperability principles" that it plans to adhere to:

Ensuring open connections
Promoting data portability
Enhancing support for industry standards
Fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open-source communities.

So, why the sudden change of heart? You'll probably recall that mere months ago Microsoft was threatening to sue anyone who used Linux. Has the company simply seen the writing on the wall and decided to get with the program? Perhaps. However, Mary Jo Foley, the web's foremost Microsoft watchdog, offers up a more cynical take. "Why is Microsoft going through the motions yet again? It's all about next week," Foley writes. "From February 25 to 29, ISO is slated to hold a long-awaited ballot-resolution meeting regarding whether or not Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format should be awarded ISO standards status."

For more on the change of heart:
- see this ZDnet article

Jeff Raikes retiring from Microsoft

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Jeff Raikes, one of three Microsoft corporate presidents, has announced that he'll be retiring in September of this year. Head of Microsoft's Business Division (Office, Exchange and Dynamics), Raikes left Apple in 1981 to join the then 100 person Microsoft team. He will be replaced with Stephen Elop, former COO at Juniper Networks. "It's been an incredible 26 years," Raikes told CNET. "I couldn't be more proud of my team and where we've been able to take the business...I've truly lucked out." The loss of Raikes will be significant for Microsoft, as the corporate president is seen as having been instrumental in the design of Microsoft Office, one of the company's best-selling products. His departure also comes at an odd time, with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates also set to step down later this year.

For more on the announcement:
- see this CNET article
- and this ZDnet blog post on other recent departures in Redmond