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Longhorn to Sport New 'Metro' Document Format, Microsoft Says at WinHEC

Microsoft this week provided a sneak peek at a new document format that it plans to debut with the Longhorn release of Windows due out next year. Dubbed "Metro," the new XML-based document format will utilize vector graphics to reproduce in printed material nearly 100 percent of the fidelity users see on the screen, Arvind Mishra, a Microsoft product manager, said Monday at the WinHEC 2005 conference in Seattle. Mishra said Metro will be included with the second beta release of Longhorn client due out this summer, and that it will be the default spool file format for Longhorn when it ships prior to the holiday shopping season in 2006. Microsoft will place the specifications for Metro into the public realm, enabling users to build Metro interpreters or drivers for their software applications and printers, Mishra said. It's unknown what impact Microsoft's strategy of placing the new Metro format in the public realm could have on Adobe, whose popular PDF format has become the defacto standard for documents.

Microsoft to Ship New Patch and Updating Software in June

Microsoft is planning a June release date for Windows Software Update Services (WSUS)--formerly WUS--the company's free patch and update software, according to reports. WSUS is the low-end choice of tools for automating the roll-out of patches and updates for Windows and other Microsoft applications, but it doesn't offer the same level of capabilities as Systems Management Server (SMS) or Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. A release candidate of WSUS was made available to testers in March, and a final production version is now expected to be available within a two months. In addition to WSUS, Microsoft is also gearing up to ship its Microsoft Update (MU) software patching service. Microsoft Update will function as a superset of Windows Update, and will provide a single place for consumers and small businesses to find, download, and install patches and updates for a variety of Microsoft products, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Office 2003, and Exchange Server 2003.

Microsoft Names Chris Liddell as New CFO

Microsoft yesterday named Chris Liddell, a company outsider, as the new chief financial officer (CFO). Liddell will take over the CFO post, which was vacated by John Connors. Prior to taking the Microsoft postition, Liddell worked at International Paper. And before that, he was the chief executive of Carter Holt Harvey, a forest products company that is one of the biggest companies in New Zealand. Liddell, who has an engineering degree from the University of Auckland and a master of philosophy degree from Oxford University in England, will be responsible for helping Microsoft shape its strategy as a mature company entering its fourth decade. Connors, who left Microsoft after 16 years to become a partner at a venture capital firm near Seattle, helped guide Microsoft through a tumultuous period of expansive growth and antitrust lawsuits during the 1990s. Liddell will have his first public appearance in the next week or so, when Microsoft announces financial results for its third quarter, which ended March 31.

Microsoft Office to Become Interface for SAP's ERP Software

SAP and Microsoft yesterday announced that they are co-developing a new product, called "Mendocino," that will allow SAP users to access the company's mySAP ERP application and data through Microsoft's Office productivity applications. Officials from both companies say Mendocino will benefit users by making it easier to find corporate information and reducing the need to train users on disparate systems. The partners have also agreed to resell each other's software as part of the agreement. This is the first time the two partners have co-developed software, the companies say. Last year, during the discovery phase of a lawsuit brought by the government to block Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft, it was revealed that SAP and Microsoft had held meetings to discuss a possible merger of the two companies. The merger never happened, executives say, due in part to the tremendously difficult task of integrating their respective software products. The companies made the announcement at SAPPHIRE '05, SAP's international customer conference, which is being held in Denmark through today.

Microsoft and Co-Authors Submit New WS-RM Spec to OASIS

Microsoft has teamed up with BEA Systems, IBM, and TIBCO to co-author a new Web services specification, called Web Services ReliableMessaging (WS-RM), which the companies submitted to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) for ratification last week. WS-RM is important, the companies say, because it ensures that an exchange of messages between two or more systems has been completed correctly, with no messages lost or duplicated, even if the network fails during transmission. "We look forward to refining and finalizing the reliable messaging specification with OASIS and our industry partners in order to best meet the needs of our customers," said Ari Bixhorn, director of Web Services Strategy for Microsoft.

Vision Bolsters Data Replication Software with New Wizards, Performance Increases

DB2/400 and DB2 UDB, Sybase Adaptive Server, and Oracle database management systems. With version 2.1, Vision has changed its user interface to make it look and feel similar to Windows XP, and it has also built many new wizards, including a new mapping wizard that can automatically build replication definitions between source and target databases. Transferring large amounts of data is also easier with Integrator 2.1, Vision says, thanks to new mass transfer options and support for table level replication control, which allows users to activate individual mappings for replication. All in all, replication performance has been improved by 250 percent, according to Vision. The Irvine, California, company will be demonstrating Integrator 2.1 around the country with the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Roadshow, which opened April 19 in Boston, and will make five more stops, including Anaheim, California, April 26; San Francisco, April 28; Chicago, May 12; Houston, May 17; and Dallas, May 19.

VCs That Bought WRQ Acquire Competitor Attachmate

Back in December 2004, a group of venture capitalists got together and bought host connectivity software maker WRQ, of Seattle, and now, they have eaten rival Attachmate, of nearby Belleview. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, because WRQ is a privately held company and is owned by three venture capitalists: Golden Gate Capital, Francisco Partners, and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners. The deal is expected to close next month, and it will create a company with approximately $200 million in sales. After the deal is done, Frank Pitt, Attachmate's founder, will retire. Jeff Hawn, currently chairman of WRQ, will become chairman, CEO, and president of the merged firm. How the two firms will merge their product lines and personnel remains a bit of a mystery, thanks to WRQ being a private company. By the way, Doug Walker, the W in WRQ, retired after he sold his company to the VCs as well. This is a tough business, and these guys have been at it for decades.