But Wait, There's More

Microsoft Posts Download Blocker for Windows Server 2003 SP1

Windows 2003 users who aren't quite ready to upgrade to Service Pack 1 (SP1) will be able to install a piece of code that prevents automatic downloading of SP1 when SP1 goes live on Microsoft's Automatic Update service in July, Microsoft announced this week. The download blocker, similar to the one Microsoft made available for Windows XP SP2 last summer, allows organizations to test the updated operating system for compatibility with existing applications before putting SP1 into production. The piece of code, which will function until March 30, 2006, (one year after SP1 was released to manufacturing) only blocks SP1, allowing other updates to be installed. However, most Windows Server 2003 shops manage updates via SMS and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft says. The SP1 download blocker can be downloaded at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FC145B0B-C148-445A-82BA-9B2F3AEF6E60.

New Monad Scripting Environment Goes to Beta 1

Happy with your Windows Server 2003 overall, but wish it had something like the AS/400's rich Control Language (CL) environment, which lets you quickly accomplish all kinds of operator tasks with a few tactically typed characters? Then you might be a candidate for Monad, the new command line shell for Windows that Microsoft is developing. When it finally ships, Monad will have several components, including a scripting language called Msh Script, an interactive shell called Msh.exe, a software development kit for creating commands (or "commandlets"), a set of domain-independent utility commands, and a mechanism to do remote scripting. Yesterday, the software giant was expected to release the first beta for Monad, according to the blog of a Microsoft developer working on the project. To register for the download, go to beta.microsoft.com.

CA Introduces Five 'Protection Suites' for Windows Desktops, Servers

Companies of all sizes need security. With this in mind, Computer Associates this week launched its new Protection Suite line of security products to help small and mid size businesses (SMBs) shore up their Windows desktops and servers against network threats. Next month, CA will ship five security packages for SMBs, including the Desktop Protection Suite, the Server Protection Suite, the Business Protection Suite (which protects both desktops and servers), and standard and premium versions of Business Protection Suite for Windows Small Business Server. These packages, which will range from $325 to $1,099 for a five-user license, will include scaled-down versions of CA's enterprise-strength security products, including eTrust Antivirus, eTrust Pest Patrol Anti-Spyware, and its BrightStor ARCserve Backup, as well as a newly created product called Desktop DNA Migrator, which will also be sold separately. CA developed the new solutions because SMB customers are often under-protected compared to their larger brethren, says David Luft, senior vice president of SMB product development at CA. "This will help protect our SMB customers against a full range of diverse data-loss and business-interruption threats," he says.

Interest is High for Data Protection Manager Beta, Microsoft Says

More than 100,000 copies of the System Center Data Protection Manager beta have been downloaded since the software became available two months ago, Microsoft said this week. The software, which shipped in public beta form on April 13 following a private beta program, enables companies to implement disk-to-disk backups and recoveries for desktops and servers, from a Windows Server 2003 infrastructure, including Active Directory and Windows Storage Server 2003. Microsoft is also hosting a Web cast on its Microsoft DPM Web site that details how Microsoft's internal IT organization expects to save $2.7 million over the next two years by using DPM to centralize back ups for 130 remote offices. Microsoft DPM is expected to become generally available in late 2005.

Microsoft Moves Top European Executive, While EU Judge Sits On the Hot Seat

Power is being shifted at the upper echelon of the Microsoft-versus-European Union struggle. On Monday Microsoft announced it is moving its top executive in Europe, Jean-Philippe Courtois, to a newly created position heading international sales and marketing. As president of Microsoft International, Courtois will have overall responsibility for Microsoft operations in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, public sector and emerging markets, and EMEA. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hubert Legal, the judge handling Microsoft's antitrust appeal before Europe's second highest court, could be dismissed from his post for an article he wrote in the French legal journal Concurrences, in which he attacked legal clerks. In that piece, Legal reportedly called the clerks "ayatollahs" and accused them of using their power to influence the outcome of cases. Bo Vesterdorf, president of the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, is seeking to dismiss Legal, the newspaper reported, citing people close to the case.

Gentoo Linux Founder Hired By Microsoft

In April 2004, Daniel Robbins, the creator of the Gentoo Linux distribution and its notable Portage system for keeping that Linux distro updated, decided he didn't want to do Gentoo any more. So he set up the Gentoo Foundation a year ago to start shepherding the project, and that process is now complete. According to the foundation, Robbins has taken a job with Microsoft, which as you can imagine caused much spouting and flaming out there in cyberspace.

The job Robbins has taken is to help Microsoft understand open source. This is clearly a company that wants to understand open source--but it is hard to believe it wants to adopt the practice. But, Microsoft is also a practical company, and it needs a hard-headed open source advocate to make Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer hear truths that they may not want to hear, and if Microsoft thinks open source is inevitable--as it decided the Internet was in 1995 after Netscape went public--you can bet it wants some smart people to help it figure out how to make money with open source. Who knows what Microsoft is really up to--Robbins probably is not entirely sure, either. But Microsoft needs something like Portage for its software--particularly if it does opt to go open source with some of its products.

Still, you can't help but laugh at posts like this one, which appeared on Slashdot: "In a related story, Anakin Skywalker is serving as an aid to Senator Palpatine to help him understand the Jedi council."

Virtualization Software Maker SWsoft Gets Finding from VCs

While VMware's GSX Server and ESX Server, the open source Xen project, and Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 get most of the press for their virtualization software for X64 and X86 platforms, there is another game in town: SWsoft's Virtuozzo hypervisor and partitioning software. While Virtuozzo has been used by service providers that need to partition servers into a very large number of machines and manage them, it has not taken off in the same way in the corporate computing arena.

This may change, now that SWsoft has pocketed $12.4 million in first-round venture capital from Insight Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Intel Capital. SWsoft is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, and has 500 employees located in the United States, Japan, and Europe. To date, some 100,000 servers have been virtualized with its Virtuozzo product, which initially ran on Linux but which was ported to Windows last year.

In addition to the funding, SWsoft and Intel said they had inked an agreement to do cooperative marketing and development, particularly on the future Virtualization Technology due in Intel's Itanium chips later this year and in Pentium and Xeon chips early next year. Intel also needs someone to step up to the plate and support virtualization on the Itanium processor, and it will be interesting to see if this is why Intel is pumping money into SWsoft.