Peter Galli

Microsoft has implemented a significant change in its licensing for Windows Server System products that are used in virtual machine environments. New servers licensed with Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition now have the license rights to run an unlimited number of virtualized Windows Server instances and can buy the product directly from Microsoft and […]

The new anti-piracy and validation tools that Microsoft plans to ship starting with Windows Vista and Longhorn Server will help ensure that there will be little corporate uptake of these operating systems in 2007, according to analysts. That is because when Windows Vista is released to manufacturing in the next month, it will include the […]

Microsoft will unveil Oct. 4 a new software protection platform and accompanying technologies that it plans to incorporate into a variety of products, starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server Longhorn, in hopes of combating piracy. The new technologies will be included in all of Vista versions, and over time every Microsoft product will use […]

Microsoft has acquired DesktopStandard, a developer of group policy-based enterprise desktop management products, in a move designed help customers leverage the value of policy-based management and their investments in Active Directory, the two companies said Oct. 2. Larry Orecklin, general manager, Microsoft’s Windows Enterprise Management division, said that the acquisition enhances the company’s ability to […]

PHOENIX—The focus on return on investment as an indicator of IT value is actually bogus and is increasingly not being seen as the best way to measure technology decisions, Stephen Walli, a former employee of Microsoft and Optaros, said at the Gartner Open Source Summit here September 28. In an address entitled “Enterprise Open Source: […]

REDMOND—The reason Microsoft Research exists is so that Microsoft will still be here in 15 years time, Rick Rashid, the senior vice president of research, said here on Sept. 26. “I hope that fifteen years from now there will still be the same vibrant environment we have now, where we have been able to build […]

Virtualization technology has gone “prime time” and is being deployed in application server and Web server environments in addition to test and development scenarios, said a research report by Enterprise Management Associates released August 31. More than two-thirds of the 126-page report, which was written by EMA senior analyst Andi Mann and titled “Virtualization: Exposing […]

Microsoft and the Department of Justice have formally requested that the final judgment issued in the U.S. antitrust litigation against the software giant be modified. The proposed changes will reflect the two-year extension of the provisions related to Microsoft’s licensing program for communications protocols in the Windows desktop operating system. A joint motion in this […]

Microsoft appears to be on track to release Windows Vista for sale at retail outlets in January 2007—that’s if the information posted on Amazon.com is correct. Online retailer Amazon.com is accepting preorders for Windows Vista software, which it says will be available on Jan. 30, 2007. Microsoft is still aiming to launch Vista and Office […]

Microsoft seems to have finally cottoned onto the fact that it can drive revenue from the use of legacy software by some of its largest customers, announcing on Aug. 28 a new Custom Support Agreement program. The new CSA plan extends Microsoft’s current product support program, which offers five years of mainstream support followed by […]

Open-source software has clearly entered the mainstream and is being strongly adopted within the enterprise, which is underscored by the fact that many CIOs are now implementing it as policy within their organizations, Raymond Zachary, a senior analyst and open-source practice head at The 451 Group, said Aug. 8. In a media conference call ahead […]