---

[NT News]

---

128-Way NT Coming Your Way
Times N Systems, a privately held start-up company in Austin, Texas, is promising 128-way Windows NT clustering technology, with 20 to 30 percent faster performance than traditional clustering technology for clusters of similar size.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

140GB CD-ROM to Debut Next Year?
A new company called C3D predicts that its first-generation CD-ROMs will store 140GB, 200 times more data than the current CD-ROM technology.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

1GHz Processor Explosion
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel have both released 1GHz processors. Although AMD was first to market with its 1GHz Athlon, Intel's 1GHz Pentium III tests slightly faster in the lab. However, Pentium IIIs are in short supply.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

3Com Leaves Enterprise Networking Space
3Com is changing direction radically, discarding its enterprise networking products to focus on consumer, small- to medium-size business, and network service provider products.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Adaptec Releases First 160MBps SCSI Cards
January 10 marks the release of the first 160MBps SCSI cards. Adaptec—-by many accounts, the industry leader in SCSI cards—-is the first company to bring them to market. Its Ultra-160 SCSI cards are twice as fast as Adaptec’s 80MBps Ultra-2 SCSI cards.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

All Roads Lead to Babylon
Very shortly, Microsoft plans to take the wraps off of the next generation of SNA Server (code-named Babylon), the company's network interoperability product.
 — Barrie Sosinsky

Alpha Gets a Gig
Alpha Processor, Inc. (API), of Concord, Massachusetts, introduces the first Alpha gigahertz microprocessor running on one of the company's motherboards.


An Analyst's View of the Microsoft Antitrust Case
Shortly after Judge Jackson's Conclusions of Law finding Microsoft guilty of monopolistic behavior, Giga Group released Rob Enderle's report "Planning Assumption: Strategic Implementations of Microsoft Conclusion of Law" with advice for its clients.


Analysts Debate ASP Market's Future
Recently, research firms International Data Corporation (IDC) and Forrester Research examined the application service provider (ASP) market and released reports that offer predictions about the industry's future.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Analysts Dispute the True Cost of Windows 2000
Last Thursday, the Gartner Group announced that Windows 2000's (Win2K's) total cost of ownership (TCO) will be sky high and might not provide a good return on investment (ROI).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Analyzing TCO as an Industry Tool
Last week, the Gartner Group and Arthur Andersen released very different studies regarding TCO and Windows 2000 (Win2K). Supposedly, the two groups looked at the same OS and the same issues, but you could have fooled Kathy Ivens.
 — Kathy Ivens

Attention: Lotus Notes Users
It appears the worm virus has invaded Lotus Notes shops, and that the virus is not Exchange/Outlook dependent.
 — Kathy Ivens

Back Orifice 2000: Admin Utility or Hacking Tool?
Cult of the Dead Cow releases new version of Back Orifice.
 — Mark Joseph Edwards

Banyan Becomes ePresence
Banyan, a long-time presence in the enterprise networking market, has reformed as a pure-play Internet services company. Banyan put its legacy products, such as Banyan Vines, on maintenance and acquired ePresence (a privately held e-services company).


Big and Hard: IBM at 72
IBM has introduced the world’s largest hard disk to date, a 72GB monster for the server and storage area networking (SAN) markets.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

BindView Buys Entevo in Bid for Market Dominance in Directory Management
BindView, a well-known Windows NT security and configuration administration company, will acquire Entevo, maker of the DirectManage directory administration suite, at the end of February for about $125 million.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Bristol Technology Loses Suit Against Microsoft
Last Friday, a jury of eight in the US District Court in Bridgeport Connecticut found in favor of Microsoft in the antitrust case brought by Bristol Technology against the software giant.


Build Your Own Digital Dashboard
Last Monday, Microsoft announced the release of three toolkits that will let developers custom build Office 2000-based enterprise portals. Microsoft has dubbed this project the Digital Dashboard.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Caldera’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft Will Go to Trial
In a legal entanglement that's completely aside from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, US District Judge Dee Benson has issued several rulings that will let Caldera’s antitrust suit against Microsoft go to trial on January 17, 2000.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Catch Windows NT Magazine's Mark Smith in London
Mark Smith will be at the Windows NT'99 conference in London to talk about Windows 2000 adn beyond.
 — Editors

Cisco Acquires Qeyton Systems
Cisco has announced it has acquired Qeyton Systems of Stockholm, Sweden. Qeyton develops the Metropolitan Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (MDWDM) technology, which uses multiple colors of light to increase the maximum load over fibre networks.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Cisco Releases NT Device Manager
Cisco Systems has released a major update of CiscoWorks Windows. Version 5.0 of Cisco’s integrated device manager for Windows NT networks provides one point-of-access and one format for managing all the Cisco devices on a network.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Cisco’s New Standards
Over the past 3 months, Cisco Systems has been behind two new standards in emerging areas of technology: one for wireless data transmission and the other for voice over IP (VOIP).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Columnist Mark Russinovich to Speak at LinuxWorld
Windows NT Magazine columnist Mark Russinovich will speak during a question/answer and debate session at LinuxWorld in February 2000.
 — Editors

Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive Coming
In February 2000, Toshiba will release the SD-R1002, the first combination CD-Recordable (CD-R)/CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) and read-only DVD (DVD-ROM) drive.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Compaq Suffers from Indigestion
Swallowing Digital Equipment was a big meal for Compaq. An analysis of the acquisition 1 year after Compaq-tion is a mixed bag.


Compaq Takes a Hit
Compaq recently announced a second quarter loss of $184 million, less than analysts expected. However, Compaq’s new president and CEO unexpectedly announced that Compaq will also take a $700 to $900 million charge against earnings in the third quarter.


Coppermine's Troubled Debut
Intel’s release of its new Coppermine Pentium III chips brought an initial burst of elation, but as the chips rolled off the ore train, they promptly derailed.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Dataquest Publishes 1999 Database Market Analysis
GartnerGroup's Dataquest unit has released its findings on the 1999 database market. "Oracle and IBM are still virtually neck and neck for the top position in the overall database market," said Norma Schroder, senior analyst for Dataquest.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Daughters of Melissa Virus Trot the Globe
Learn about the new variants of the Melissa virus that began popping up earlier this month.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Dell Becomes Top PC Supplier in the US
Dell Computer is now the number one PC vendor in the US and ranks second to Compaq in global PC sales.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Dell’s New Strategy Includes Appliance Servers
On April 5, Dell announced a new comprehensive business strategy aimed at Internet specialization and including new business partnerships, Internet access pledges and initiatives, Internet business services, and the PowerApp line of appliance servers.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Directory Services Heats Up
The competition for managing the directory services of heterogeneous networks heated up yesterday as Novell, IBM, Lotus, Oracle, Data Connection Limited, and ISOCOR jointly announced the creation of the Directory Interoperability Forum (DIF).


Directory Synchronization Services Zooms to Beta 2
Last month, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Directory Synchronization Services and Zoomit VIA 2.1 metadirectory went to beta 2. These products provide bidirectional data synchronization of Windows 2000's Active Directory with other directory services.


Discovering Additional Derogatory Netscape References
The “Netscape engineers are weenies” reference in Microsoft Visual InterDev 1.0 earlier this month might not be just an isolated incident.
 — Editors

Dispatches from the Open-Source Front
The last few weeks have been pretty busy for open-source watchers, including announcements by Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, and speculation about Microsoft's and Apple's entry into this marketplace.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Do Microsoft Management Changes Signal the End of Millennium?
Microsoft President, Steve Ballmer, announced a thorough reshuffling of Microsoft’s upper-level management and some dramatic structural shifts. The most important structural change is the merger of the two Windows divisions into one.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

DOJ and States File Proposed Remedy
After the markets closed on Friday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 17 of the 19 states' attorneys general involved filed a proposal to split Microsoft into two separate companies.


Domain Name Registrars Named; Compaq CEO Steps Down
Windows NT Magazine UPDATE News Editor, Kathy Ivens, talks about AOL, domain name registrars, and Compaq CEO.
 — Kathy Ivens

Domino Gets Streaming Media, COM, and XML Support
Lotus Development Corporation has been busy beefing up Domino's streaming media support, adding the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) for developers, and adding support for the evolving Extensible Markup Language (XML) data interchange standards.


Dow Jones Goes High Tech
The venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average underwent a significant change on October 26 with the announcement of the addition of four new stocks, including Microsoft and Intel, and the subtraction of four mainstays.


DSML: An Rx for Directory Service Interoperability?
Analysts at Forrester Research and Giga Group recently spoke out in favor of Directory Service Markup Language. DSML is an extension of Extensible Markup Language (XML) that lets applications interoperate with a large number of directory services.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

eDoctor Is in the House
Trend Micro announced its new 24x7 eDoctor Global Network Internet virus detection and suppression program--virus monitoring for ISPs and active antivirus intervention.


EMC Acquires Data General
EMC Corporation announced today that it will acquire Data General Corporation in a stock swap valued at $1.1 billion.


EMC Unveils Several Upgrades
EMC recently made several announcements about its product line.


Energy Industry Gushes over Windows 2000
According to Pohlman International, an independent consulting firm specializing in information technology and the petroleum industry, the energy industry loves Windows 2000 (Win2K).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Exchange 2000 Server Versions and Licensing
On June 16, 2000, Microsoft announced details of Exchange 2000 Server licensing and packaging.
 — Tony Redmond

ExploreZip Virus Worming its Way onto Networks Worldwide
For the past 2 days, an ugly virus named ExploreZip has been destroying the contents of hard drives all over the world.
 — Kathy Ivens

FastLane Technologies Releases Windows NT WormKiller Virus Application
Yesterday, FastLane Technologies released an application to detect and disable the Worm.ExploreZip virus.
 — Warren Pickett

FileMaker Developer 5 Ships
FileMaker has shipped FileMaker Developer 5, completing the introduction of its workgroup server product line. Other products in this line include the FileMaker Pro 5 client, FileMaker Pro Server 5, and FileMaker Server Unlimited 5.


FileMaker’s Workgroup Push
FileMaker recently announced the release of FileMaker Pro 5.0, a new version of its desktop database that runs on Windows NT, Windows 9x, and the Macintosh.


First Round of Windows 2000 Patches Released
Microsoft has already released its first batch of Windows 2000 (Win2K) patches, only days after the release of Win2K. The patches include one Critical Pack with several fixes and two non-critical patches.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Forrester Critiques IBM's WebSphere Everyplace
In March, IBM launched WebSphere Everyplace, a suite at the center of IBM's wireless Web effort, with technologies such as data synching and WAP functionality. This service delivery offering contains an app server with development and content management.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Gates Keynote Opens Fall Comdex ‘99
In his keynote address at Comdex '99, Bill Gates concentrated on Microsoft's technology and the role the Internet will play in next-generation businesses. See what he had to say.
 — Barrie Sosinsky

Gates Stepping Down, Names Ballmer CEO of Microsoft
Bill Gates announced January 13 that he is stepping down as CEO of Microsoft and named Steve Ballmer to fill that post. Gates acquires a new title, chief software architect, and will continue as chairman of the board of directors.
 — Kathy Ivens

Giga Group Weighs in on Windows 2000 TCO
The Giga Group recently released the results of its total cost of ownership (TCO) study, which comes down in favor of Windows 2000 (Win2K).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Hewlett-Packard Nimbly Forms Agilent Technologies
On July 28, Hewlett-Packard announced its new diversified technology company, Agilent Technologies, at what it called a historic brand-identity launch.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

HP Announces Storage Consolidation Offerings
In mid December 1999, HP released SureStore E, a package of storage platforms, services, and software for storage consolidation on Windows NT-based server systems. HP’s solution revolves around its XP256 storage platform and SureStore E SAN Manager LM.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

HP Releases Automated Security Product for NT Web Servers
On January 17 at the RSA 2000 Security Conference, Hewlett-Packard released Praesidium WebEnforcer for Windows NT, a new product for securing NT-based Web servers. HP claims that WebEnforcer fixes all known security holes in NT.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

I/O: The Next Generation
The Next Generation I/O (NGIO) recently released the 1.0 specification for its proposed replacement of the PCI bus architecture. Find out what this means for competing technologies such as Future I/O.


IBM and Sequent Computer Systems Merge
IBM announced today its completion of a merger agreement to purchase Sequent Computer Systems, a 2500-person company in Beaverton, Oregon.
 — Barrie Sosinsky

IBM Announces a New High-End Transaction-Server Suite
IBM unveiled WebSphere Application Server, Enterprise Edition 3.0 (WSASEE), a new edition of the integrated server suite that brings together several previously separate technologies, on July 20 at its Solutions ’99 conference in Las Vegas.


IBM Announces DB2 Universal Database Version 7
IBM announced DB2 Universal Database Version 7, which the company bills as “the world’s first fully integrated e-business database.”
 — C. Thi Nguyen

IBM Deploys Windows 2000 Professional Internally
Late last month, IBM announced that it will make Windows 2000 Professional its standard internal desktop OS. Learn more about their client-side strategy.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

IBM Hardens Its Servers, Adds SANs Connection
IBM continues to push into the Windows 2000 (Win2K) enterprise server space by announcing two new 4-way servers, the Netfinity 7100 and Netfinity 7600.


IBM Opens Two Enterprise Application Testing Centers
IBM has opened two new application testing centers: one in Raleigh, North Carolina, to test applications running on Netfinity equipment and another in Beaverton, Oregon, to test applications running on IBM/Sequent NUMA-Q architectures.


IBM Releases Enterprise Internet Print Server for Win2K and NT
On February 1, IBM announced Infoprint Manager for Windows NT and Windows 2000 (Win2K), a print server that lets you send and manage print jobs over the Internet with the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP).


IBM Reorganizes; Lotus’ Head Resigns
On December 29, IBM reorganized its software units in Somers, New York, into line-of-business initiatives and reshuffled its upper-level general managers. Shortly thereafter, Jeffrey Papows, head of IBM’s Lotus Development division, resigned.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

IBM Reveals Edge of Network Strategy
IBM has begun to articulate its Edge of Network (EON) strategy, which joins servers, desktops, and laptops with the next generation of portable, wearable, and multifunction devices that will interoperate with modern PC networks.


IBM’s Windows 2000 Roadmap
Earlier this month, IBM held a press conference to discuss the company's plans surrounding the impending Windows 2000 (Win2K) launch.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

IDC Declares: Post-PC Era Starts Now
The post-PC era is coming straight at you, says the latest report from IDC, which predicts that information-appliance shipments will exceed consumer PC shipments by 2002, and that by 2004, the information-appliance market will reach $17.8 billion.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

IDC Publishes High Availability Survey
International Data Corporation (IDC) has issued its annual high-availability (HA) server marketplace survey by category for 1997 through 2003. IDC projects that the HA server market grew 30.2 percent in 1999 and will reach 35.5 percent growth in 2003.


Intel Cuts Pentium III Prices
Intel recently announced that the company is significantly cutting prices on its consumer line of Pentium III processors to protect the company's market share from rival microprocessor manufacturers.


Intel Reorganizes
In late April, Intel announced plans to merge its Microprocessor Products and Architecture Business groups, combining its chipset research and development group with its more platform-oriented division to form the Intel Architecture Group (IAG).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Intel Spouts Dual-Speed Laptop Chip
On January 18, Intel announced its SpeedStep chip for laptops, previously code-named Geyserville. The idea behind SpeedStep is that your laptop will run longer if your processor steps down its speed when you’re running off the batteries.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Intel’s Merced Gets Branded Itanium
Intel has formally named its long-awaited, next generation chip Itanium (formerly code-named Merced), the first in Intel’s line of IA-64 processors.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Intergraph Loses Antitrust Suit Against Intel
On Friday, November 5, the US Court of Appeals decided in favor of Intel in the Intel-Intergraph antitrust case—an outcome that was largely overshadowed by Judge Penfield Jackson's findings against Microsoft that same day.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Is Neptune a Sea of Change for Windows?
See what's behind Microsoft's next generation consumer Windows OS, code-named Neptune. This next generation will offer tremendous networking power to the at-home consumer.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

It's Official: Windows 7 Available Oct. 22
Microsoft has officially announced that Windows 7 will be released to manufacturing in July and generally available on October 22
 — Zac Wiggy

Jim Allchin Addresses Windows NT's Reliability
Microsoft Senior Vice President Jim Allchin met with the press at Comdex to expand on Microsoft's efforts to address Windows NT 4.0's reliability problems.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Judge Issues Conclusions of Law
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued his Conclusions of Law on the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ), 19 states' attorneys general, and the District of Columbia 48 hours after mediation talks broke down.


Lotus Announces Knowledge Management Server
Lotus Development announced its forthcoming knowledge management (KM) server, code-named Raven, at IBM's Lotusphere conference held in Orlando, Florida, January 16 to 20. Raven is automated content-indexing software that creates content and skill maps.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Lotus Notes Outships Exchange Server in 1999
In a year of tremendous growth, Lotus Notes outshipped Microsoft Exchange Server by 3 million seats in the fourth quarter of 1999, according to Messaging Online. This surge in shipments puts Notes about 1.8 million seats ahead of Exchange for 1999.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Lotus Phasing Out cc:Mail
Lotus is retiring cc:Mail, its early LAN messaging platform. The company will stop selling cc:Mail on the last day of October 2000; online technical support will continue for 1 year, ending on October 31, 2001.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Love Letter Virus – An Update
Variations of the newly discovered Love Letter virus, a Visual Basic (VB)-based script that arrives with a message subject of "ILOVEYOU," are already spreading.
 — Mark Joseph Edwards , et al.

MetaFrame for UNIX Rises with Sun Solaris
Citrix, which leads the pack in providing thin-client solutions in the Windows 2000 (Win2K) and Windows NT space, released MetaFrame for Solaris 1.0, the first release in its MetaFrame for UNIX line. MetaFrame is Citrix's thin-client/server solution.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft and Andersen’s Billion Dollar Baby
Avanade is a joint venture between Microsoft and Andersen Consulting to start a company that provides enterprise services for Windows 2000. At the moment, Avanade consists of a Web site, a staff of 20, and a lot of cash—$385 million from Microsoft.


Microsoft Announces BackOffice 2000 Server
On April 3, Microsoft announced that it will release BackOffice Server 2000 later this year and that it will provide pricing information as the release date approaches.


Microsoft Announces Exchange 2000 Server Beta 3
The Microsoft messaging faithful met at the Microsoft Exchange Conference ’99 (MEC99) in Atlanta this week to view the progress of the next generation of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Platinum and now officially known as Exchange 2000 Server.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Announces Exchange 2000 Server RC1 and Conferencing Server
On Tuesday, February 22, Microsoft announced the availability of Exchange 2000 Server Release Candidate 1 (RC1) and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server, the newest member of the Exchange 2000 family of messaging server products.


Microsoft Announces New Windows 2000 MCSE Track
Microsoft announced a new MCSE track on September 20 for individuals seeking Windows 2000 (Win2K) MCSE certification.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Announces Office 2000 Service Release 1
Microsoft has announced the release of Office 2000 Service Release 1 (SR1), a free upgrade for Microsoft’s flagship application suite.


Microsoft Announces Windows 2000 Certification
Microsoft recently announced a new program to certify select software applications for Windows 2000 (Win2K). Software applications that meet the program’s stringent specifications can display the “Certified for Microsoft Windows” logo.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Cancels Plans for a Split Windows 2000
Microsoft has confirmed that it will combine its efforts on Neptune, the consumer version of Windows 2000 (Win2K), with Odyssey, a professional version of Win2K, to create a single version for the next release of Win2K.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Criticized for Outlook Love Bug Patch; Changes Tune
Microsoft announced late Wednesday, May 24, that it will delay the Outlook patch until the week ending June 2. Microsoft now plans to include the ability to modify the list of restricted files.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Dances with ASPs
Last week, Microsoft announced the general availability of its Complete Commerce Program for Application Service Providers (ASPs).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Demos Its Next-Generation Internet Tools
At Developer Days 99, Microsoft revealed more of its ongoing strategy to deliver tools to build leading-edge e-commerce sites with Microsoft technologies.


Microsoft Direct Access Unveils Free Phone Support for VAPs
Microsoft Direct Access (MSDA) officially unveiled a free support program for value-added providers (VAPs) and Microsoft Certified Solution Providers (MCSPs).
 — Joshua Feinberg

Microsoft Integrates FastLane Migration into Services for NetWare 5.0
Microsoft has announced that it will integrate parts of FastLane Technologies' migration software into its NetWare to Windows 2000 (Win2K) migration package. This package is called Microsoft Services for NetWare 5.0.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Issues Response to DOJ’s Findings of Fact
On January 18, Microsoft responded to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) accusations of monopolistic behavior with its Proposed Conclusions of Law. The response argues that the DOJ doesn’t have enough evidence to show that Microsoft is a monopoly.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Joins Bluetooth
In a major event for the wireless world, Microsoft has joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Bluetooth is a specification that lets various smart units communicate via a radio signal.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Offers Free Y2K Virus Protection
Microsoft has partnered with several software vendors to offer free antivirus software to help ameliorate expected Y2K virus problems.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Offers Hosted Office 2000
Making good on its promise to participate in the application service provider (ASP) revolution, Microsoft, along with several business partners, will offer Office Online, a hosted version of Office 2000.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Offers Training Courses at Win2K Launch Event
February is Microsoft's Training Month for Windows 2000 (Win2K). The official release of Win2K on February 17 kicks off several training and certification programs for the IT community.


Microsoft Outlines New Win2K Security Strategy
On January 18, Brian Valentine, Microsoft’s senior vice president in charge of Windows 2000 (Win2K) and Windows 98, outlined Microsoft’s new Win2K security strategy in an address at the RSA 2000 security conference.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Personal Support Center Offers SBS 4.5 Support
If you're looking for information on the upcoming Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 4.5 upgrade, Microsoft has created or updated nearly two dozen Support Online articles regarding SBS or BackOffice 4.5.
 — Joshua Feinberg

Microsoft Phones Home
Microsoft has closed a deal with Ericsson, a major player in the wireless. The deal puts Microsoft’s newly announced Mobile Explorer, the palmtop version of Internet Explorer (IE), on Ericsson phones and smart phones.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Project Released, Certification Announced
Microsoft has announced availability of Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central.


Microsoft Pushes for Y2K Compliance While Some Efforts Lagging
Microsoft launches massive effort to remind customers to complete Y2K compliance testing now, while the government reports that Y2K efforts are lagging in certain sectors.
 — Kathy Ivens

Microsoft Reinstates MVP Program After General Outcry
Last night, Microsoft informed its MVPs that the company is reinstating the MVP program. Microsoft decided to reconsider its original decision in response to a tremendous outcry from both MVPs and non-MVP customers.
 — C. Thi Nguyen , et al.

Microsoft Releases A Bear of a Workflow Designer
Microsoft has released what is arguably its first tool in the knowledge-management realm. Access Workflow Designer for SQL Server, formerly code-named Grizzly, is available for free to licensed users of Office 2000 Developer.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Releases Service Pack 5
Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 (SP5) today. This latest update includes software patches and several Year 2000 (Y2K) fixes that didn't make it into SP4.
 — Warren Pickett

Microsoft Releases Smart Card Toolkit
On November 15, Microsoft released the Windows Smart Card Toolkit. This toolkit lets developers create Windows-based OS installation systems using smart cards and applications that interact with smart cards.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Releases SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 2
On March 30, Microsoft released SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2), which fixes bugs in both SQL Server 7.0 and Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) 1.0.


Microsoft Releases Windows 2000 RC2
Microsoft releases Windows 2000 (Win2K) Release Candidate 2 (RC2), and everyone's left to speculate on Win2K's ultimate release date.


Microsoft Releases Windows 2000 RC3
Microsoft announced via email to its beta testers on Thursday, November 18 that Windows 2000 (Win2K) Release Candidate 3 (RC3) is now available for download.


Microsoft Releases Windows 2000 Readiness Kit for BackOffice 4.5
Microsoft has released the Windows 2000 Readiness Kit for BackOffice 4.5. This kit provides patches for all Microsoft BackOffice components to ensure their Windows 2000 (Win2K) compatibility.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Releases Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6
Windows NT Magazine has learned that Microsoft has released Service Pack 6 (SP6) for Windows NT 4.0.
 — Editors

Microsoft Releases Windows NT Embedded 4.0
Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows NT Embedded 4.0 OS, which the company hopes will open up a huge new market to Windows programmers.


Microsoft Responds to the DOJ
Calling the government’s breakup proposal unjust, unprecedented, and excessive, Microsoft called for a dismissal of the proposal, and offered its own proposal yesterday.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Revs Windows CE
Microsoft recently released version 2.12 of the Windows CE OS and Platform Builder to manufacturing. Microsoft plans to release the next major upgrade for Windows CE in the first quarter of 2000.


Microsoft Sets Windows 2000 RTM Date
Microsoft has set an internal date of October 28, 1999, for the release to manufacture (RTM) of Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows 2000 Advanced Server.


Microsoft Sets Windows 2000 Ship Dates
Windows NT Magazine has learned through confirming sources inside Microsoft and close to the Windows 2000 (Win2K) project that Microsoft plans to stage its release of the Win2K OS over the next 4 months.


Microsoft Settlement Talks Break Down
Last Friday, it became apparent that the talks aimed at settling the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft by 19 states and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had reached an impasse and broken down.


Microsoft Settles DR-DOS Antitrust Lawsuit
On January 10, Microsoft and Caldera settled the DR-DOS lawsuit 2 weeks before it was slated to go to trial. According to Microsoft, the settlement amount is worth about $155 million. Industry insiders speculate that the settlement is much higher.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft to Acquire Visio
Microsoft has announced plans to acquire Seattle-based Visio, a noted developer of graphics applications and visual programming tools.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Microsoft Windows 2000 Embedded Doesn’t Stick Around
Microsoft has formed a 500-person development group to focus on the embedded OS space, deployment strategies, and strengthening the Powered by Windows brand name. The new development group will deliver an embedded OS based on the upcoming Whistler OS.


Microsoft Windows 2000 Security Test Goes Awry
Recently, Microsoft put a Web server running Windows 2000 beta and Internet Information Server (IIS) outside its firewalls and challenged the public to hack it. Almost immediately, site visitors reported problems with the code.
 — Kathy Ivens

Microsoft's Authorized Academic Training Program
Kathy Iven's, Windows NT Magazine UPDATE news editor, gives her view of Microsoft's new education program for high school students.
 — Kathy Ivens

Millennium: “It Will Just Work”
On Monday, July 26, Microsoft’s new Consumer Windows division unveiled the next generation of the consumer Windows OS meant to replace Windows 9x.


More Microsoft Support Online Articles Discuss SBS 4.5
Josh Feinberg highlights a few more SBS 4.5 articles that might affect how you install and support the upcoming network operating system (NOS) suite upgrade.
 — Joshua Feinberg

More Small Business Server Support Bulletins
The final segment of a three-part series on SBS resources.
 — Joshua Feinberg

Most Dangerous Variant of VBS/Loveletter Yet
A new variant of the VBS/Loveletter virus is loose today. Officially dubbed VBS.NewLove.A or VBS.Loveletter.FW.A, this virus disables Windows systems by replacing all files not in use.
 — Sue Mosher

NEC to Ship 16-Way Itanium Server in 2000
NEC will ship a 16-way Itanium server in the second half of 2000. Itanium is the brand name for the next-generation Intel processor code-named Merced. A prototype of this powerhouse server is up and running at an NEC lab in Fuchu, Japan.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Netscape 6 Preview Available
On April 5, AOL Chairman Steve Case introduced Netscape 6 Preview Release 1, Netscape's next-generation Internet browser. After 3 years of incremental upgrades to version 4.x, Netscape 6 is an entirely new product.


NetWare 5.1 Goes Beta
On Monday, Novell made its NetWare 5.1 beta publicly available.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

New Back Orifice Virus May Threaten NT
An update to an old threat is slated for release on July 10, 1999, and may be coming to a Windows NT computer near you.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

New Compaq Enterprise Storage Offerings
Compaq’s Storage Product Division has announced new software and hardware offerings in the Storage Area Network (SAN) arena. The software announcements include Compaq’s Enterprise Volume Manager (EVM) and Data Replication Manager (DRM).


New Love Packs a Wallop
As expected, several variations of the Love Letter worm are making their way around the Internet. However, the latest rendition, named New Love, is far meaner and trickier than the rest.
 — Mark Joseph Edwards

New NT-Specific Infis Virus
Learn about WinNT.Infis, a unique Windows NT-specific virus, and see just how much of a threat it is to your systems.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

New Virus Loves You
A new virus is spreading rapidly through email as a file attachment targeted at Outlook and Internet Explorer users. The newly discovered virus comes in the form of a Visual Basic script that contains a message with a subject line that reads "ILOVEYOU."
 — Mark Joseph Edwards

Novell Creates New NDS Offerings
At Fall Comdex on November 16, Novell announced a new set of packaging options for Novell Directory Services (NDS) called eDirectory and NDS Corporate Edition.


Novell Earnings Below Expectation
Novell announced the results of its second financial quarter 2000, which ended April 30. Earnings are lower than expected at $300 million or $0.08 a share. Analysts had expected Novell to earn $0.17 a share--creating a major disappointment for investors.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Novell Introduces Net Services
On February 8, Novell unveiled Net services, a suite of products aimed at establishing NetWare as the infrastructure platform of choice for e-commerce. Products in the suite include iChain, ZENworks for Servers, ZENworks for Networks, and Novell eGuide.


Novell Open Sources Directory Toolkit
Novell is open sourcing an LDAP directory toolkit to let developers create applications that interoperate with a variety of directory services. The company plans to release the Novell LDAP software developer kit (SDK) in early March.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Novell Ships NetWare 5.1
On January 10, Novell shipped NetWare 5.1. This updated version delivers four main enhancements: improved infrastructure; additional Web-based tools and resources; version 8 of NDS eDirectory; and enhanced Windows 2000 and Windows NT interoperability.


NSTL Benchmarks Show NTFS Performance Improvements After Defragmentation
National Software Testing Lab (NSTL), in conjunction with Executive Software, has released the first independent tests showing the benefits of defragmentation for NTFS drives.
 — Michael Otey

Office 2000 SR-1 Troublesome to Some
Sporadic reports indicate that Microsoft's recent upgrade to Microsoft Office 2000, Service Release 1 (SR-1), is causing some problems. The problem isn't widespread, but it's showing up as people install new versions of Office 2000 and related software.


Oracle Announces New XML Components for Developers
Oracle has announced several new components that let developers read and write XML-formatted data to and from an Oracle database.
 — Karen Watterson

Oracle Penetrates ERP Market
Oracle posted strong earnings for the second quarter of 1999 before a period of lock-downs on ERP investments due to Y2K. ERP is a new growth area for Oracle, which is best known for its database product.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Oracle Ships Portal-to-Go
Oracle recently announced Portal-to-Go, a content and service integration platform that the new wireless devices can use to communicate with existing Web servers to provide access to Web content, database applications, and secure e-business applications.


Outlook Patched After Recent Viruses
Microsoft plans to release an Outlook security patch in the wake of the devastation wrought by the Loveletter (aka Love Bug) virus, a Visual Basic (VB) Script bug that propagated by exploiting Outlook's address book feature to pass itself along.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Pocket PCs Launch in Grand Central Station
Times are good in New York where the Yankees are winning. Microsoft hoped to capture some of that pinstripe magic on Monday, April 17, when it introduced Pocket PC, the second iteration of its Windows CE OS for handheld devices, in Grand Central Station.


Project 2000: Emphasis on Collaboration
Microsoft has announced Project Central, a companion product to Microsoft’s recently announced Project 2000. The new software introduces collaborative capabilities into the Project product line.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Prominent CEOs Jumping Ship to Start ASPs
Industry leaders from companies such as Novell and Microsoft are leaving to take their chances with application service provider start ups.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Red Hat’s Wall Street Success Continues
Amid a downturn in the stock market that hit technology stocks—particularly Internet offerings—hard, Red Hat Software hit a home run with its initial public offering (IPO) on August 11, 1999.


Rescuing the Exchange Server on SBS
Read about one consultant's experiences with a misbehaving Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 on his customer’s Small Business Server (SBS) 4.0 system.
 — Joshua Feinberg

Rumors Fly About an Exchange Server 2000 Release Date
According to industry insiders, Microsoft plans to release Exchange Server 2000 next April.
 — Editors

SCO’s Tarantella to Host Applications on NT
For SCO, the lure of moving its application-hosting product, Tarantella, to the Windows NT/Windows 2000 (Win2K) platform has proven irresistible. By intercepting RDP, Tarantella can display multi-user NT applications on thin clients.


Server Bus Standards Merged
Future I/O and Next Generation I/O (NGIO), the two groups behind competing specifications for the next generation of I/O bus architecture, have merged their standards into one unified industry architecture.


Service Pack 6 for Windows NT 4.0 Goes Beta
This week heralds the release of Service Pack 6 (SP6) Beta 1 for Windows NT 4.0. SP6 will include an updated set of fixes for NT Server 4.0, NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition, and NT Workstation 4.0.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

SGI Cuts and Pastes
SGI, the company known by most as Silicon Graphics, announced last week that it was restructuring, laying off up to 3000 jobs, and spinning off some of its businesses and technologies.


SHYM Ships Application Security Server
SHYM Technologies began shipping PKEnable V2, a server-based middleware security system that authenticates transactions between applications on different servers. PKEnable offers a snap-in PKI security model that lets you build PKI solutions quickly.


Small Business Server 2000 to Appear Third Quarter 2000
Microsoft is readying the next version of Small Business Server (SBS), called SBS 2000, which the company expects to release in the third quarter of 2000. SBS is the central component of the networking strategy for many small businesses and workgroups.


SMS 2.0 Service Pack 1 Released
Microsoft has just released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0.


SPECweb99 Benchmark Released
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has released a new benchmark to test Web server performance. This new benchmark, SPECweb99, measures the number of simultaneous connections a Web server can support against a predefined server load.


SQL Server 2000 Announced
Microsoft has announced the coming of SQL Server 2000, the latest version of the company's flagship enterprise database product. Microsoft plans to ship the product, code-named Shiloh, during the first half of 2000.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

SQL Server Scales By Two
Microsoft has announced that it has achieved world record performance results with SQL Server 7.0 running on Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition using new 8-way systems from Unisys and Compaq.


Stratus Readies Mission-Critical Win2K Servers
Stratus Computer plans to enter the Windows 2000 (Win2K) market in July with low- to mid-range servers. The project, code-named Melody, consists of two servers, 2-way and 4-way systems that Stratus claims will set a new standard for reliability.


Sun Abandons Java Standard
Sun Microsystems is walking away from the attempt to build a Java standard. Sun explains its actions as a need to preserve Java’s integrity. Industry observers attribute Sun’s abandonment to disagreements over intellectual property ownership.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Sun Microsystems Offers Free Office Suite
Sun Microsystems recently acquired Star Division Corporation, makers of StarOffice 5.1 office productivity software. Following its acquisition, Sun announced plans to publish the StarOffice APIs and to distribute the software for free over the Internet.


Survey Says . . . CFOs and CIOs Don’t Always Agree on Business Intelligence Plans
What are businesses really doing with business intelligence? Windows NT Magazine, SQL Server Magazine, and Business Finance Magazine readers share their views.
 — Editors

Survey Says … Win2K Pro Is Reliable
Sunbelt Software, a provider of Windows NT and Windows 2000 (Win2K) systems management tools and publisher of a weekly e-zine, conducted a nonscientific survey of the IT community in January about the reliability of Windows 2000 Professional (Win2K Pro).
 — Stu Sjouwerman

The Heat of a Thousand Suns: Comdex, Day 3
Unified messaging, super-thin portables, and SCSI Ultra 160 cards round out our Comdex coverage.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

The Sun of the SEAS
Today, Sun Microsystems announced version 3.0 of its Solaris Easy Access Server (SEAS) product, Sun's solution to providing heterogeneous enterprise networking.
 — Barrie Sosinsky

Thrown to the Sharks: Comdex, Day 2
News reporter Thi Nguyen shares more news from the floor at Comdex.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Top US Tech Cities Named in Study
The Milken Institute, a nonprofit think tank, has announced the results of a study of US tech centers, and the San Jose, California, Silicon Valley remains number one.
 — Kathy Ivens

Transmeta's Crusoe Is One for the Road
On January 19, Transmeta announced that it's developing a family of high-performance, low-power microprocessors for the next generation of handhelds, laptops, mobile devices, and Internet terminals. The chips will run both Windows and Linux OSs.


Unicenter: The Next Dimension
Computer Associates (CA) announced the general availability of the first beta of Unicenter TND (The Next Dimension), the latest version of Unicenter TNG (The Next Generation), the company's flagship enterprise management software framework.


Unisys Scales New Heights with Windows 2000
In the most impressive demonstration to date of Windows 2000's (Win2K's) scalability, Unisys and a consortium of industry partners created a massive Web site for a hypothetical e-commerce company at Comdex.


VBS/Bubbleboy Email Worm Appears
A new threat dubbed VBS/Bubbleboy has appeared as the first in the next generation of email worms. This new worm is significantly different from earlier email worms, such as Melissa, that appeared as executable files attached to email messages.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Walking the Comdex Floor, Day 1
Our roving reporter Thi Nguyen wades through the crowds at Comdex so you don't have to. Find out what's new at the Microsoft Pavillion this year.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Will AMD’s K7 Scale New Heights?
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has developed the AMD Athlon processor, code-named K7 and based on a 0.25-micron line-width process, which has since June 23rd shipped to computer manufacturers in speeds of 500MHz, 550MHz, and 600MHz.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Will Janus Open Doors for Microsoft?
Microsoft has yet to shrink wrap Windows 2000 (Win2K), but it already has its next-generation Windows NT OS, code named Janus, well under development.


Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Beta 1
Microsoft releases Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Beta 1, the high-end of the new OS for large enterprises, to about 300 beta testers.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Windows 2000 Goes to Release Candidate 1
Microsoft's huge beta program for Windows 2000 (Win2K) goes from Beta 3 to Release Candidate 1 (RC1) on July 1, 1999.


Windows 2000 Launches—Finally!
Microsoft launched Windows 2000 (Win2K) on Thursday, February 17 at the 3-day Windows 2000 Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates, announced the OS's availability to an audience of 5000 in a keynote address.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Windows 2000 Passes the Million Unit Shipped Mark
Microsoft announced that Windows 2000 (Win2K) sales surpassed the 1-million-unit sales mark less than 1 month after its official ship date. That figure doesn't include large corporation Win2K use via site licenses.


Windows 2000 Server Will Support More Processors
Microsoft announced it will raise the bar for SMP support in each version of Windows 2000 Server (Win2K Server).


Windows 2000 Will RTM Today
Sources within Microsoft have confirmed that the company plans to release Windows 2000 (Win2K) to manufacturing today.
 — Editors

Windows 2000’s Hefty Price
Microsoft recently released estimated pricing schedules for Windows 2000 (Win2K), and Win2K's simple price tag might turn out to be more than many users would have expected.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Windows 98 Service Pack 1
Following the release of Windows 98 Special Edition (SE), Microsoft has quietly made available Windows 98 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
 — C. Thi Nguyen

Windows NT 4.0 Wins C2 Certification
On December 6, Microsoft announced that Windows NT 4.0 has qualified for the US Government’s C2 security certification. NT 4.0 received both Orange Book C2-level evaluation and FIPS 140-1 validation of cryptographic services.


Windows-Based Terminals Put on Weight
Microsoft has added a new member to its thin-client terminal family, Windows-Based Terminal Professional (WBT Pro). WBT Pro is based on Windows NT Embedded 4.0.
 — C. Thi Nguyen

World’s Largest Windows NT Cluster Goes Live
The Advanced Cluster Consortium (AC³ announced on August 12, 1999, that it had completed the installation of a 256-processor high-performance computer cluster using Windows NT 4.0.


Xerox and Microsoft Form Digital Rights Management Company
At WinHEC, Microsoft recently announced a joint venture with Xerox called ContentGuard, a startup Internet company that will provide digital rights management (DRM) software technology to protect and manage valuable content for distribution over the Web.