But Wait, There's More

Virus for Monad Reported by F-Secure

The public beta has only been out for a short time, but the world's virus writers have already made quick work of the new Microsoft Shell (MSH) that goes by the codename "Monad." Antivirus software vendor F-Secure reported last week the public release of five "proof-of-concept" viruses that have been developed for Monad. The viruses, which F-Secure dubbed Danom, are apparently not the result of any security vulnerability in Monad, a Microsoft representative was quoted as saying, but rather are the result of the nature of scripting environments themselves. The report of the Monad viruses immediately caused a stir among Windows watchers, who said they were the first virus for Windows Vista, the next version of Microsoft's desktop operating system, which also just entered beta tests. However, Microsoft says that conclusion is incorrect because the company has not decided yet whether Monad will be included with Windows Vista, which is due to ship by the end of 2006. Monad will almost certainly be included in "Longhorn" Server, the codename for the next release of Windows Server due in 2007. It may also be included in the next version of Exchange Server.

Microsoft Picks Former Wal-Mart CIO to Fill COO Spot

Microsoft again went outside the company to fill its executive ranks last week when it announced the appointment of Kevin Turner, a former Wal-Mart executive. to the position of chief operating officer (COO). Turner, who had served as chief information officer (CIO) of Wal-Mart and was most recently the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sam's Club, one of Wal-Mart's subsidiaries, will oversee the day-to-day operations of Microsoft's global sales, marketing, and service operations, as well as the company's fulfillment and IT operations. Turner, 40, will start work September 9. During a three-week transitional period, Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's current group vice president of worldwide sales, marketing, and services, will work with Turner as he adjusts to the responsibilities of a Microsoft COO. Johnson will take another position within Microsoft, said CEO Steve Ballmer. Turner will be the first COO for Microsoft since 2002, when Rick Belluzzo left the company. Turner is the second outsider hired by Microsoft this year to fill a highly visible executive position. In April Microsoft picked Chris Liddell of International Paper to fill the chief financial officer (CFO) position that was vacated by John Connors.

Microsoft Combines Server and Middleware Divisions

In addition to gaining a new chief operating officer, Microsoft is shaking up its organizational structure, and has combined its middleware and server groups into a single software group, The Windows Observer has learned. The new Connected Systems Group (CSG) combines the elements of the old Distributed Systems Group (DSG) and the Business Process/Integration Division (BPID). The old DSG group was responsible for the Indigo communications "subsystem" in Longhorn, MSMQ, Active Directory, Microsoft Identity Integration Server, InfoCard, and the Web Services Enhancements (WSE), while the BPID was responsible for a variety of server products, including BizTalk Server, Host Integration Server, Commerce Server, RFID, Industry Standard Accelerators, and Windows Workflow Services. The move reflects the growing influence that service oriented architecture (SOA) is having on product development strategy in the software industry. Steven Martin, who was the group product manager for BPID, becomes the group product manager for CSG, and CSG becomes part of Microsoft's Server and Tools division, which is headed by Eric Rudder, a senior vice president.

Vendors Hold Their Positions in Middleware, Says IDC

The battle for control of the commercial middleware software market, which the analysts at IDC call the application deployment software market, has resulted in détente among the dominant players in 2004. This market is comprised of application, Web, and integration servers as well as message- and transaction-oriented middleware and various gateway and connector software for connecting ERP and other software, and even though the market grew by 6.4 percent in 2004 to nearly reach $7 billion in sales worldwide, IBM, BEA Systems, and Oracle had exactly the same market shares in 2004 as they had in 2003: 37 percent, 12 percent, and 7 percent, respectively.

IDC said Big Blue had the lead in middleware software in 2004 for its own mainframe and OS/400 platforms as well as on Microsoft's Windows platform, while BEA had market share leadership on Unix and Linux platforms in 2004. While IDC is projecting a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent between 2005 and 2009 for this market, the company's analysts say it is not necessarily the case that application deployment middleware remains a separate feature of operating system platforms and ERP suites, and the tight integration of middleware components within the operating systems and/or ERP suites could affect what sells and what does not.

Trusted Computing Group Serves Up Secure Server Specification

The Trusted Computing Group standards body, which is made up of major platform and component suppliers IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Intel, and AMD, have announced the first specification for what will be called a trusted server. This specification, which is available to all server makers free of charge, aims to make all server platforms more secure, and the consortium of sponsor vendors as well as dozens of contributors (including the likes of Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, NEC, and Hitachi) are working toward making PC, server, and other platforms more secure by specifying and then certifying what features are necessary for such a system to be deemed trustworthy.

The trusted server specification is following fast on the heels of the trusted client spec, which has been adopted by PC suppliers and which accounts for 15 million PC shipments to date. The group is also working on specs for networks, storage, mobile systems, and other peripherals and has the goal of creating specifications that will outline what components and features are necessary to build a trustworthy IT infrastructure. The server specification spans X86/X64, Itanium, Sparc, and MIPS platforms, with Power platforms being notably--but surely temporarily--absent. The heart of the proposed Trusted Server platform is the Trusted Platform Module (TPM, and I like that acronym more than I like transactions per minute), which is a microchip that plugs into a server that securely stores digital certificates and passwords. By having the TPM unit, makers and users of software that is used to configure, change, and access servers can rest assured of who has the right to access what assets in the server farm. The first servers that adhere to the Trusted Server spec are expected to be delivered before the end of the year.

Music Company Picks Attunity to Help Connect Bricks with Clicks

EMI Music North America had considered writing its own adapter to connect its OS/400-based warehouse management system and logistics applications with its Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 implementation, which forms the hub of its digital content distribution system. But after seeing Attunity's adapter for IBM's venerable midrange server, it decided to buy instead of build, according to Attunity, which announced EMI Music as a customer last week. "We wanted an AS/400 adapter that would work with BizTalk 2004, so we selected Attunity because it also enables us to automatically capture DB2 data changes on the AS/400, which helps us to pass key data to BizTalk," says Len Leach, director of application services for EMI Music North America. "Rather than developing a solution in-house, we were able to integrate and deploy the Attunity solution rapidly. It also gives us a migration path for future BizTalk-AS/400 deployments." Several years ago, EMI Music launched a new digital content distribution system that enables consumers to use the Internet to preview its catalog of more than 6,000 CDs, and then place their order. While that system is based on Microsoft digital rights management technologies and infrastructure products, including Windows Server, SQL Server, and BizTalk Server, its existing infrastructure for moving CDs across the country is largely based on the iSeries server.