Channel Insider Staff

Western Digital said Wednesday it would enter the 1-inch disk drive market later this year, crowding an already congested market. Western Digital said that the drive will ship in the second calendar quarter of 2005. The 1-inch hard drive will spin at 3,600 RPM and will be available in capacities up to 6 gigabytes, within […]

At the end of last year, rumors were flying that Microsoft was rethinking its commitment to its MVP (Most Valuable Professional) program. But on Wednesday, Microsoft ended that speculation by naming a pool of independent technology experts as MVPs and announcing plans for a 2005 summit for them. MVPs are experts with knowledge about one […]

Who would have thought that we information technologists are a superstitious lot? You’d expect that those whose field is based on precise procedural logic to be hardheaded realists. In IT, we routinely measure things to several places to the right of the decimal point. When something doesn’t work, we do traces and study event logs […]

The Windows team likes to pride itself on holding its cards close to the vest. But sometimes that strategy backfires, as it did this week on the Longhorn front. Microsoft execs have been making a concerted effort not to talk publicly about Longhorn. But that hasn’t stopped others from doing so. And this week, there […]

Microsoft is readying two new releases of its BizTalk integration server in the pipeline, the first of which is expected to ship this year. Microsoft is working on BizTalk Server 2006 (code-named “Pathfinder”) and the Longhorn Server wave BizTalk release (known as Beyond BizTalk Server 2006), according to company insiders. Microsoft shipped its most recent […]

Publicly, Microsoft continues to be cagey about packaging and pricing plans for its anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions. But privately, Microsoft has begun informing partners of its plans for a security subscription service code-named “A1,” according to developers who requested anonymity. Microsoft bought anti-virus vendor GeCAD in the summer of 2003, and anti-spyware maker Giant Company […]

Some folks seem to think Microsoft was humbled by its legal and technology challenges in 2004. But I disagree. I don’t see a kinder or gentler Microsoft emerging in 2005. More transparent, maybe. Down for the count? Heck, no! After watching the Softies for two decades, I can tell you they are hardly ready to […]

Microsoft officials have said little about the company’s intentions in the grid-computing space. But that doesn’t mean Microsoft is ignoring the evolving arena of grid/distributed computing. Microsoft is working on a skunk-works project that is code-named Bigtop, which is designed to allow developers to create a set of loosely coupled, distributed operating-systems components in a […]

Just because Microsoft has said it will comply immediately with a European Court judge’s order to follow specified antitrust remedies doesn’t mean life will be a bowl of cherries for Microsoft’s partners, developers and even its competitors. Industry watchers said they will be watching exactly how Microsoft makes good on the court-ordered removal of Windows […]

David Kirk has an insatiable need for power. Graphics rendering power, that is. He’s fond of saying, “Why use a screwdriver when you can use a sledgehammer?” As nVidia’s Chief Scientist, Kirk has overseen development of architectures including the original GeForce, GeForce 2, GeForce 3, GeForce 4, GeForceFX, and most recently, the GeForce 6 series. […]

Not so long ago, Microsoft’s OEM division was seen as the dark heart of the “Evil Empire.” During the Department of Justice (DOJ) vs. Microsoft antitrust trial that dragged on throughout much of the 1990s, the business practices of Microsoft’s OEM unit and its then-chief Joachim Kempin came under tough scrutiny. When the government declared […]

Microsoft Corp. didn’t waste any time in trying to win over ERP customers who might be unhappy with Oracle Corp.’s recent purchase of PeopleSoft Inc. On the heels of the announcement of the Oracle-PeopleSoft merger, Microsoft attempted to swoop in. On Dec. 15, the head of Microsoft’s sales and marketing for North America, Corporate Vice […]