Microsoft Technology Adopter Challenge

Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. invites you to put your genius to test to create the next Killer Application using the forthcoming development tools and mobile platforms in Visual Studio 2005 (Whidbey) and coming up with the most ingenious Tips-and-Tricks for Windows Server 2003 deployment.

THINK OUT OF THE BOX...
... and come up with solutions - Applications and Tips-and-Tricks - that will put you in position to win a series of fabulous prizes.

The Microsoft Technology Adopter Challenge is an umbrella program that comprises of two parallel Contests specifically dedicated to the Developer and IT Professional communities respectively:

YOU OWN YOUR APPLICATION
Microsoft will not own the Intellectual Property associated with your application. It's yours to keep and market as you choose.

So Enter Now! You could be the next superstar in the Developer or IT Professional community, and on your way to fame and fortune.

CONTEST LAUNCH: 25 April 2005

CONTEST ENDS: 17 June 2005

For Details Visit :- http://www.microsoft.com/india/connections/mstac/

Microsoft Windows Longhorn

After the release of Windows XP Professional x64 on April 25, 2005, Microsoft's next major upgrade to the Windows family will be the much-anticipated release of Windows Longhorn.

The new Windows OS will feature Avalon, a new graphics and presentation engine, and Indigo, a Web services and communication architecture. Longhorn will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions, since 64-bit-enabled hardware has only just started shipping from both AMD and Intel. Initial betas of the operating system are expected in the summer of 2005, with the final release set for late 2006.

Upside: Like Windows XP, Longhorn will offer a choice of interfaces, such as the current Windows XP look and feel or the fancy new Aero Glass interface, in which translucent windows come to life when maximized or opened. Icons will show the contents of a file, such as the first page of text, rather than the Microsoft Word logo.

Longhorn offers a faster start-up for laptops, with an option to display a calendar or play music without booting the entire OS. Other changes will make it easier for laptop users to access networks at home or at work, yet be protected when connecting to public Wi-Fi. You will also be able to tailor the operating system to remember your preferences when watching a DVD, such as always displaying the image at full screen.

Networking capabilities are still under development; however, Microsoft is striving to make it easier for businesses to install custom-corporate versions of Longhorn on fleets of machines. For home users, Longhorn promises to make file sharing easier, perhaps displaying all music and digital image files together, even if the individual files reside on different machines within the home network.

Finally, there are security enhancements worth waiting for. Microsoft says Windows Longhorn computers will run at the least-possible permission level, as opposed to the all-access administration level now used in Windows XP. The Longhorn version of Internet Explorer will also lessen access given to external Web sites. Both, in addition to hardening the file system to buffer overflow attacks, should reduce the number of malicious attacks by criminal hackers. Toward that end, Microsoft has not announced whether it will bundle its new antivirus protection software with Longhorn or provide it separately.

Downside: As with any new OS, there are increased hardware requirements, which may be beyond most current Windows users. While not nailed down, Microsoft says that Windows Longhorn is likely to require at least 512MB of RAM, a recent microprocessor, and the latest graphics card for all of the features to work properly. There are no plans at this time to make a Media Center or Tablet PC edition of Longhorn.

Outlook: Most people will probably wait until they purchase a new PC to get their copy of Windows Longhorn, so that the hardware and the operating system sync properly. Microsoft admits that it's not expecting people to camp out overnight to get their hands on Windows Longhorn when it becomes available late in 2006. Check back for more details as Longhorn moves toward completion. We'll have a full review once it's available.

Why Longhorn matters

Getting time with Microsoft's Jim Allchin used to be as easy as gaining an audience with the pope. But these days Microsoft's No. 3 executive is popping up all over the place--even reworking his busy schedule to sup with (gasp!) bloggers.

It's not a role that comes naturally to the normally reclusive Allchin. A brainy but reserved uber-geek, Allchin would much prefer hashing over code questions with developers than sit down with a bunch of infernally annoying reporters. But the company''s future depends on his transformation into a veritable Mr. Accessible--and a persuasive Mr. Accessible, at that.

Can he do it? More than Bill Gates, more than Steve Ballmer, it's Allchin who must convince opinion makers and the all-important OEM community that Longhorn, the code name for the next major operating system from Microsoft, is worth the wait. And then the rest of us have to be convinced that Longhorn is the next must-have product in their lives.

Mac owners--yours truly among them--will no doubt chuckle at the audacity of some of the coming claims. Rest assured there will be no paucity of hyperbole in the remaining year-and-a-half run-up to the operating system's debut (assuming Microsoft hits its self-imposed deadline.)

It's going to be that way because every segment of the PC food chain is desperate for a megahit out of Microsoft. With memories of the go-go days a fading memory, they would like nothing better than a killer operating system that ignites a furious upgrade cycle--if not a mad spree of impulse buying.

The company, which plans to unleash a massive marketing blitz around Longhorn, needs to create a bigger stir than when it last rolled out a "major" OS upgrade in 2001 with Windows XP. Through no fault of its own, Microsoft's launch coincided with a tech spending slowdown and an accompanying economic recession. The bigger problem: XP was only marginally more interesting than Windows 98 and no amount of marketing hoopla could convince otherwise.

Microsoft began publicly discussing the Longhorn project in 2002, but its engineers were already tinkering before then. Work on some parts of the OS (like the recently excised WinFS) actually dates back more than 10 years (roughly coinciding with Allchin's stewardship of Windows).

When Allchin came to town last week, he was in prime demo form. One thing Microsoft does well--Allchin, in particular--is demonstrate its products. (The one time that wasn't the case happened to take place in inconvenient public view at the company's antitrust trial in Washington.)

At this early juncture, Longhorn leaves a positive impression. Groundbreaking? I'll reserve judgment for later. Some of the features bore similarities to Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month. (One critic by the name of Steve Jobs went even further. "They are shamelessly copying us," he declared during the company's annual meeting on Thursday.) Whatever its intellectual origin, the new OS clearly marks an improvement over XP and, if you believe Allchin, will go a long way toward answer lingering user complaints about ease-of-use and computer security. In the same breath, I should point out that Microsoft has created many of those same ease-of-use and security issues, but better late than never.

Two big challenges remain. Microsoft has rarely shipped its operating systems on time and Longhorn is no exception. Allchin's final legacy at the company rests on his ability to pull this one over the goal line on time. Without getting into details, he suggested that Microsoft would make sure OEMs have copies in hand well before the December 2006 product debut. An entire industry will be planning around that promise. If that date slips, you're talking about disaster.

Microsoft also needs to turn out a "wow" product with as many useful bells and whistles as it can. This is part computer science, part guesswork, but Microsoft still hasn't produced a "wow" version of Windows. If Longhorn doesn't produce the goods, not even a gazillion dollars in marketing funds will make a difference. This is about more than managing the message.

Gates offers Longhorn appetizer

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates gave computer makers a brief look at Longhorn on Monday, but acknowledged that many of its key features will not be evident until much later test versions of the new Windows.

"Longhorn is our big investment," Gates said, calling up colleagues to show, among other things, the improved searching and printing capabilities that will come with the next version of Windows.

With search, for example, Gates said people wrongly assumed Microsoft would not make organizing files dramatically better after it delayed an all-new file storage system. But the company is able to get many of the same features by better indexing of files, rather than moving to a whole new database structure, he said.

Many of the features that Gates showed, however, are not reflected in the updated "developer preview" version that was given to attendees at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference here. A fraction of the new features will make it into an initial beta version this summer, but many may not show up until a subsequent beta. Microsoft wouldn't say when that beta version will arrive, but Gates said the company is still focused on trying to release the final version of Longhorn in time to make it on PCs sold for the holiday season in 2006.

"When I see those demos, I think, 'Gosh, let's get Longhorn done,'" Gates said. But he added that quality remains the top priority and warned that Microsoft could further change the timetable for the operating system if problems arise during testing.

Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty said Gates was too vague with the crowd of hardware makers about what is needed to fully take advantage of new OS features, including advanced graphics. For example, in describing which kinds of PCs will fit well with Longhorn, Gates merely reiterated recent recommendations that such systems should have 512MB of memory, today's level of processor and a graphics card with a Longhorn driver.

"It's not real guidance," Doherty said, adding that Gates also did not sufficiently motivate hardware makers to start doing things now to make Longhorn-based PCs a reality by next year's holidays.

"Where was the call to action?" Doherty asked.

Microsoft's effort to reduce the number of people who run with administrator privileges is one example of the features that are still being ironed out. Today, almost all users run with such privileges because they are needed to make even basic changes, but the company is reworking the operating system so that various settings can be altered while running as a standard user.

However, by this summer's beta, only the clock settings are likely to reflect the change, said Will Poole, the head of the Windows Client business. The ability to alter things such as power management and firewall settings won't come in until Beta 2, he said.

Microsoft officials said they still expect to meet their timetable for Longhorn. In an interview, Windows lead product manager Greg Sullivan noted that Microsoft added several features to Windows XP that came in only after the first beta, including the "Luna" shell interface that came in just before the second beta and the instant messaging advances that were added after Beta 2. Sullivan also noted that Microsoft released the first beta of Windows XP on Halloween 2000 and wrapped up final development in August 2001, a shorter time frame than it has laid out for Longhorn.

"Obviously, the proof will be in the pudding," Sullivan said.

Gates did promise that Microsoft's biggest-ever marketing campaign would accompany Longhorn's release. Microsoft recently announced plans for a precursor to that campaign, a "Start Something" blitz that will tout the abilities of current versions of Windows.

The company demonstrated a new XML-based document format, code-named "Metro," that it will use in Longhorn to both print and share documents. Printers that build in Metro support will be able to more quickly and faithfully render documents created in Longhorn, while users will be able to share files without needing the application that created them, Microsoft said.

The document format is likely to go head-to-head with today's most popular document-reading method, Adobe Systems' PDF format. Microsoft's announcement "should have a lot of folks at Adobe worrying," Doherty said.

But it also represents an "all or nothing" bet for Microsoft, Doherty said, in which Microsoft is attempting to displace a well-established competitor. "It's a big gamble," he said.

Among other features Gates discussed was the ability of PCs running Longhorn to take advantage of storage that combines traditional hard drives and non-volatile flash memory. By using flash for frequently accessed information, laptop PCs will be able to get much better battery life given that substantially less power is used accessing flash than is needed to spin a hard drive.

Also, he said, Longhorn will come in a single binary for all the different language editions. Apple Computer has done that in Mac OS X, but it's a first for Windows.

Mac fans will find continued similarities in Microsoft's changes. In Longhorn, the folder that was once "My Documents" will become simply "Documents," While "My Photos" and "My Videos" will become "Photos" and "Videos." Clicking on a document icon will bring up a preview pane with added information about the file, also a feature in Mac OS X. In addition, searching and virtual folder features are similar to what Apple has done with Tiger, the new version of the Mac OS that goes on sale on Friday.

But Gates said Microsoft is doing more than just improving search, noting the capability to organize files across multiple characteristics, such as sorting documents "created by brutus" into various categories based on keywords. Longhorn users will also be able to group a collection of files into a list that can be shared with many users, even automatically using an updated version of RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

In addition to previewing Longhorn, Gates presided over the official launch of the 64-bit versions of Windows and showed off several futuristic laptop PCs. One demo, a futuristic tablet PC that would be as thin as 10 sheets of paper, turned out to be little more than a mock-up. Gates acknowledged that significant hardware and software advances were still needed, but said a 1-pound, 6-inch device that combines all the power of a PC, phone and camera for around $800 is still possible a couple of years from now.

"We do believe this is achievable," Gates said.

Gates projected that while it took until 2002--two decades--for the industry to sell its 1 billionth PC, the 2 billion mark would be hit in just six years, by 2008.

"Compared to 6 billion people on the planet, 2 billion is starting to get somewhere," Gates said.

The software maker also announced it has continued to see a rise in sales of PCs with its Windows XP Media Center operating system. The company said it has now logged about 1 million new shipments since the latest iteration of the software began showing up on PCs last October. That's the same number sold for all prior versions of the OS, dating back to 2002.

"It's quite a good ramp," Gates said, adding that the current rate of sales is more like 500,000 Media Center shipments per quarter.

Microsoft to add 'black box' to Windows

In a move that could rankle privacy advocates, Microsoft said Monday that it is adding the PC equivalent of a flight data recorder to the next version of Windows, in an effort to better understand and prevent computer crashes.

The tool will build on the existing Watson error-reporting tool in Windows but will provide Microsoft with much deeper information, including what programs were running at the time of the error and even the contents of documents that were being created. Businesses will also choose whether they want their own technology managers to receive such data when an employee's machine crashes.

"Think of it as a flight data recorder, so that any time there's a problem, that 'black box' is there helping us work together and diagnose what's going on," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said during a speech at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference here.

For consumers, the choice of whether to send the data, and how much information to share, will be up to the individual. Though the details are being finalized, Windows lead product manager Greg Sullivan said users will be prompted with a message indicating the information to be sent and giving them an option to alter it, such as removing the contents of the e-mail they were writing when the machine crashed. Also, such reporting will also be anonymous.

"Our stance on this is that the user is in control," Sullivan said. "In the consumer environment, you will be presented with a dialog that clearly gives you the choice whether to share the information and then also provides exactly what the detail is so you can parse character by character what's being sent."

With businesses, however, IT managers typically set the policy. If they wanted total information, they could configure systems so that they'd know not only that a user was running Internet Explorer, for example, but also that he or she was watching a video from ESPN.com. Or, they might find out not only that a worker was running Instant Messenger but also that he or she was talking to a co-worker about getting a new job.

And consumers could have a tough time knowing just what information they were sending. Though they'll be able to see the contents of a document, they may not recognize the significance of the technical data--such as register settings--that's being sent.

Industry analyst Richard Doherty said he doubted Microsoft got enough feedback on how users might feel about such a feature. Even airplane pilots, Doherty said, have been able to keep from having their routine in-flight dialogue preserved. Microsoft's version of the black box, Doherty said "is begging for more real-world testing."

But Sullivan pointed out that businesses can already install third-party software to monitor workers' computer usage and some do.

He also said that in the present incarnation of Windows, companies have fairly fine control over what crash data they receive and what information gets sent on to Microsoft. With the new black box feature, he said, companies will simply have "more detailed management ability of the reporting infrastructure."

With the information it does get, Microsoft could, in theory, identify a problem the first time it appears and push down a patch so that no other person encounters the error. Microsoft also shares some data with other Windows developers to help them improve their products. However, Sullivan acknowledged that the day when an error only crops up one time and is fixed is still a long way off.

"Will we ever get to once? No," Sullivan said. "That will remain the goal."

Microsoft also plans to step up the amount of information Windows users get when they send an error report to the company. With Windows XP, the software leviathan has begun sending information back to consumers, though the data tends to be fairly generic. Microsoft is trying to get to a point where it can send back specific details on the problem and how to fix it.

"We're going to take steps toward that," Sullivan said. "It remains to see exactly how far down that path we get."

Microsoft: 'Trusted Windows' still coming, trust us

After nearly a decade, Microsoft's vision for how to protect especially sensitive information within Windows remains largely that--a vision.

For years, the software giant has promised to deliver a secure way to shuttle around key bits of information. Once known as Palladium and more recently dubbed the Next Generation Secure Computing Base, or NGSCB, the approach was once a key part of Longhorn, the next version of Windows. Although the first piece of that is arriving in Longhorn, it's only a thin sliver of what Microsoft has been working toward since describing its idea of "trusted Windows" a decade ago.

In the next version of Windows, which Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will show off on Monday at a company sponsored conference, Microsoft will use the concepts of NGSCB to ensure that Windows-based machines start up without interference. The primary benefit of such an approach is that if a laptop is lost or stolen, the data can't be accessed simply by booting the machine up using another operating system.

"If you lose your laptop in a taxi, no one is going to get at your data," Windows chief Jim Allchin said in a recent interview. "The hardware is not going to let you boot that software, and there is a way for us to do full-volume encryption."

That may indeed be a popular feature, but it's a far cry from Microsoft's broader plan, which was to use NGSCB systemwide as a secure vault for particularly sensitive information such as passwords or bank records. Such information would be kept in hardware and then securely transmitted between a computer's components, such as memory, hard drive and monitor.

The change, Microsoft says, is the result of customers telling the software maker that they didn't want to have to rewrite their applications.

"We revisited our approach," said Selena Wilson, director of product marketing in Microsoft's security unit, adding that the company's decision was to "give customers something that is easy to implement now and upgrade over time."

Microsoft's plans for NGSCB have been shifting for some time. The company demonstrated a prototype of the technology two years ago, but by that point there were already concerns that it could harm consumers or that it would give Microsoft too much leverage over businesses.

Although some of those concerns have eased as Microsoft has revamped the technology, more practical worries over the cost and hardware requirements involved have forced the company to again alter its plans.

The question now is when, or if, Microsoft's broader vision will see the light of day.

The chips that support the Trusted Platform Module standard have already reached the market, though a new version, TPM 1.2, will be the basis for Longhorn. HP, for example, plans to start shipping later this summer a new business desktop with a TPM 1.2 chip from Broadcom.

"As the first systems to feature an integrated TPM 1.2 security module, these new PCs will help to enable the recently announced Secure Startup feature in Longhorn," Microsoft Senior Vice President Will Poole said in a statement. "The delivery of these new systems represents a major milestone in achieving the vision of next-generation hardware-rooted security capabilities in the Microsoft Windows platform."

But Wilson would offer no road map for how Microsoft gets from its fairly narrow secure boot-up feature to its broad concept of a more secure way to run sensitive code within Windows.

"We are continuing to work on other aspects of the vision," Wilson said. "The timing schedule is still being worked out."

Microsoft, SAP strengthen alliance

Microsoft and Germany's SAP are joining forces to develop and market software to link SAP's business management systems more closely Microsoft's Office suite, according to an SAP representative.

The companies plan to discuss the joint effort--code-named Mendocino--on Tuesday at an SAP convention in Copenhagen. Although the companies are longtime partners, the Mendocino project represents the first time the software giants have created a new product together, SAP spokesman Bill Wohl said.

The relationship between SAP and Microsoft has grown cozier amid the recent upheaval in the business software industry caused acquisitions and flat demand. The companies briefly contemplated a merger last year--a fact that emerged during an antitrust trial over Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft.

Instead of buying SAP, Microsoft is collaborating with the company on the new joint product. The new program will enable Office workers to enter data into an SAP system via Microsoft's popular Outlook calendar and e-mail programs and via Excel spreadsheet. They plan to deliver Mendocino later this year and will both sell it, Wohl said.

The program will spare workers from redundant entry of data and keep the companies' systems in sync. For instance a business consultant could schedule a meeting with a client in her Outlook calendar program and it would automatically show up in SAP's project management application for budgeting and billing.

Can Longhorn improve laptops?

Microsoft's Bill Mitchell wishes consumers were as excited about buying laptops as they are about buying cell phones.

Unfortunately, says Mitchell, head of the company's mobile PC efforts, there are good reasons 700 million cell phones were sold last year, compared with about 50 million laptops. Portable computers are too bulky, too slow and too quick to run out of juice, he told a crowd of computer makers Tuesday.

"Customers are not really getting the value out of mobile PCs that they find in mobile phones," Mitchell said during a speech at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, or WinHEC, here.

Microsoft plans to address some of these shortcomings in Longhorn, the new version of Windows that's scheduled for release next year. To address the power issue, Microsoft is pushing laptop makers to add features such as flash memory-equipped drives, reducing the number of times a computer must spin a power-hungry hard drive.

Other planned changes include the addition of a "mobility center" that will serve as a single control panel for all manner of laptop-related settings. The concept is similar to the Security Center Microsoft added to Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Microsoft showed off its ideas for the mobility center last year, but Mitchell said the idea has advanced much further.

"Mobility Center is (now) much more real," Mitchell said in an interview. "It has to be real because it has to be in the beta, right?"

Mitchell wouldn't say for certain that the laptop-related features would be in the initial beta version that ships this summer, but he did say that "the mobility group is one of the most schedule-conscious groups in the whole Windows development team."

This week Microsoft also detailed a broader effort to add touch-screen abilities to Longhorn-era laptops. Mitchell demonstrated the way that finger-based input could be added to traditional laptops as well as to Tablet PC machines that allow for stylus input.

Inspired by the clamshell
Yet another Longhorn feature was, in fact, inspired by the cell phone. For years, clamshell-style phones have had a second, smaller screen on the outside so basic information, such as a clock and caller ID, can be viewed without opening the phone. Microsoft, along with Intel, has been working to translate the same capability to the laptop.

With Longhorn, Microsoft is adding support for such devices, although the approach is somewhat inelegant. Either the PC will be off, and the calendar or e-mail information on the secondary display risks being out of date, or, when accessing functions such as playing music, the laptop will be fully turned on. Down the road, Mitchell hopes to do the engineering work so information can remain updated with only needed parts of the computer being powered up. The company also hopes laptops will someday even be able to use a nearby watch or cell phone as an additional display.

On the responsiveness side, Microsoft is inching toward its goal of replicating the "instant-on" experience customers have become used to with consumer electronics. When a laptop user pushes the power button in Windows XP, it goes into a near-shutdown "hibernate" state in which all information is saved onto the hard drive. With Longhorn, the default will be to keep the same information in memory, a so-called "suspend" state that uses somewhat more battery power, but allows for quicker resume times.

IDC analyst Roger Kay noted that efforts to improve power are popping up at all levels of the PC food chain, including considerable efforts by chipmakers such as Intel and AMD. "I'd want to see a high degree of coordination with existing (efforts)," Kay said.

The longer-term part of Mitchell's strategy centers on enabling laptops that are physically smaller--ideally not much bigger than a cell phone.

Microsoft showed off its concept for such a computer this week, saying it hopes to see a mini-tablet device with a small screen, a camera, a cellular modem and all-day battery life for somewhere between $500 and $800. However, today Microsoft has only a mock-up of such a device and acknowledges that a practical device is years away.

Not all small laptops will have to wait that long, though. Mitchell said he expects to see some tablet PCs with smaller, 8-inch screens soon.

One thing that remains unclear is just how Microsoft will sell the Tablet PC OS in the Longhorn time frame. More and more, tablet features are being added to mainstream laptops, and Microsoft said the cost difference between a tablet-capable PC and a similarly equipped laptop has declined to about $100, from $250. However, computer makers currently still have to buy Microsoft's higher-priced Tablet PC edition of Windows XP in order to offer those features. Microsoft has not said how it will package Longhorn.

IDC's Kay said he anticipates that tablet features will still command a premium price in Longhorn, but he expects the added price to be less in Longhorn than it is in Windows XP. Kay noted that Microsoft has seen a significant increase in sales of Windows XP Media Center Edition since it cut the price premium on that product last fall.

It does appear that consumers may at least be able to combine the features of Microsoft's premium operating systems.

"Our grand goal is to provide as much feature richness as any particular customer segment wants," Mitchell said. "Right now we have arguably artificial separation between things."

Today, for example, consumers can buy a laptop that has either the pen-based abilities of the Tablet PC OS or one with the TV recording abilities of the Media Center OS, but not both. In Longhorn, computer makers may be able to combine the two capabilities.

"There's no reason that you shouldn't be able to do that," Mitchell said.

Gates wants to scrap H-1B visa restrictions

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates slammed the federal government's strict limits on temporary visas for technology workers, saying that if he had his way, the system would be scrapped entirely.

"The theory behind the H-1B (visa)--that too many smart people are coming--that's what's questionable," Gates said Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Library of Congress. "It's very dangerous. You can get this idea that the world is very scary; let's cut back on travel...let's cut back on visas."

Federal quotas on H-1B visas, capped at 65,000 last year, have long been a sore spot for Microsoft and other technology companies. But, Gates said, the increased caliber of research institutions in China and India means that curbs on immigration and guest-workers will pose a greater threat to America's competitiveness than ever before.

Gates' comments verged on sarcastic. He said that "it's almost an issue of a centrally-controlled economy versus" and then trailed off. "I'd certainly get rid of the H-1B visa caps," he added when asked what he would do if he could write U.S. laws. "That's one of the easiest decisions."

Princeton University's president, Shirley Tilghman, also warned of increased competition from abroad--and took aim at the federal government's aggressive denials of visas to foreign students after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Students are "not coming in the numbers they used to," Tilghman said.

The number of foreign students dropped in 2003 for the first time in more than 30 years, the Institute of International Education estimated last fall. It attributed the decline to increased competition from foreign universities and far stricter visa rules.

"I think there was a post-9/11 effort to cut down on visas," added Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. "I think this was a mistake."

Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican, was left defending stricter immigration rules. "We can't be so naive as to think there is not a very serious problem" with terrorists entering the country, he said.

Microsoft Research head Rick Rashid gave the example of a Microsoft employee in China who was barred by the U.S. government from attending a meeting in the United States after she got married. Gates said even Canadian employees have received similarly poor treatment: "It doesn't make any sense. We'll have Canadians sitting on the border until some bureaucratic thing happens."

Microsoft discloses some IE 7 plans

Microsoft finally told Web developers what they've wanted to hear for years, promising support for graphics and style sheet standards.

In a blog entry posted Friday, a member of Microsoft's Internet Explorer development team said the company plans to support key elements of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations Portable Network Graphics (PNG), an image format, and Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), a Web page styling standard.

"We have certainly heard the clear feedback from the Web design community," Chris Wilson, lead program manager for the Web platform in IE, said in reference to support for the PNG standard. "Our first and most important goal with our Cascading Style Sheet support is to remove the major inconsistencies so that Web developers have a consistent set of functionality on which they can rely."

While Microsoft and critics of its Web browser have focused most of their attention on IE's security liabilities, the issue of standards support remains crucial to Web developers.

Glitches in IE's standards support mean that developers have to code separately for IE and for browsers that hew more closely to the standards. IE enjoys about 90 percent browser market share despite losing some points to the Mozilla Foundation's open-source Firefox browser.

Last month, Microsoft was reported to have been planning better PNG and CSS support, but Wilson's blog entry Friday is the first public word to developers that the next version of IE--pegged as a security-focused release--would feature these improvements.

One standards proponent and Microsoft competitor said he looked forward to the proof of IE 7's standards support in the new release.

"The blog says they have fixed a few bugs. Great, but we expect more than that," said Opera Software's chief technology officer, Hakon Lie, who co-authored CSS. "The big question is: Will IE 7 pass the Acid2 test? I proposed the Acid2 challenge in a CNET article, and it has later been published by the Web Standards Project."

Other improvements said to be on tap for IE 7, currently code-named Rincon, include tabbed browsing and support for IDN (Internationalized Domain Names).

For years, developers have complained about IE's CSS bugs, and have called IE's rendering of certain PNG images "ugly."

Microsoft for safer software

Microsoft Corporation India is currently on an assurance drive that its products were increasingly hack proof and corporate and home users alike could use them safely, with enhanced safety being delivered through patches.

Companies were told at an awareness creation seminar organised by Microsoft here that it had also taken up writing hack-proof software that would not need patches after purchase.

"This initiative from 2004 has resulted in Microsoft shipping fewer patches," explained Abhijit Das, Microsoft's manager for platform strategies.

Every time a critical patch was written, Microsoft called up as many as 1,300 customers to provide information and support for upgrading products, and sent mailers to all.

Microsoft will alert customers in remote locations as well through newspapers and other media. A large number of camps and programmes to educate corporate and individual users will be held, Das said.

Microsoft feels patches were needed only is a programme was loosely written and therefore exposed to security breaches.

Figures supplied by MCIPL showed that for Windows Server 2003 Microsoft released 12 security bulletins fixing 17 (16 unique) vulnerabilities, with an average days-of-risk of 19.65 days.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Advanced Server, Red Hat released 42 security advisories fixing 101 (95 unique) vulnerabilities, with an average days-of-risk of 34.35 days, while for Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9, Novell has released 24 security advisories fixing 137 (130 unique) vulnerabilities, with an average days-of-risk of 32.30 days.

Microsoft launches 64-bit Windows

After revving the engine for quite a while, Microsoft is hoping to take 64-bit computing into the fast lane.

The software maker, which has been tooling around with the 64-bit version of Windows for the better part of two years, is announcing the general availability of the long-awaited product later on Monday. The company will start selling 64-bit editions of both Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional.

The new Windows won't be showing up on retail shelves, though. Customers who buy a desktop or server with a 64-bit chip will have the option of getting the new operating system, while people who own an existing 64-bit machine will have the option of trading in their old 32-bit Windows for the 64-bit upgrade.

Microsoft's announcement is welcome news, particularly for chipmaker AMD, which has had 64-bit server chips on the market for two years and 64-bit desktop processors for 18 months. The software maker issued a test version of 64-bit Windows in the fall of 2003, when AMD released its first Athlon 64 processors. A final version was planned for early last year, but encountered a number of delays.

"With today's release of Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, customers can now fully realize the power of the AMD Opteron processor," AMD CEO Hector Ruiz said in a statement. Of course, while AMD has been waiting, rival Intel has come out with similar chips of its own.

The so-called x64 versions of Windows support chips from Intel and AMD that have added 64-bit instructions to the existing Pentium and Athlon architectures. Microsoft already has a version of Windows for Intel's high-end 64-bit Itanium chip, which uses a completely distinct instructions set.

Drivers wanted
Now that Microsoft has finally finished its 64-bit work, the company is doing all it can to get others to follow suit. Having the hardware and software isn't the only thing that is needed. In order to effectively work in 64-bit environments, computer users also need updated drivers for their hardware add-ons, which are things like scanners and printers.

That is the one area where Microsoft still needs help--a message Microsoft executives have stressed for some time and are likely to reiterate at this week's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle. So far, about 16,000 drivers have been rewritten to support the new operating system.

Already, PC makers are hopping on the bandwagon, particularly on the server side. Hewlett-Packard, for example, plans to announce support for the 64-bit version of Windows Server across its ProLiant line of servers.

"It's not quite there on the client," said Greg Sullivan, a lead product manager in Microsoft's Windows unit. Sullivan said that for now, the desktop 64-bit Windows version is likely to appeal mainly to the hardest of the hard-core enthusiasts--people doing video rendering, or game development, for example.

Dell said it will install the 64-bit operating system on its Precision workstation line and on its PowerEdge servers. Orders for the Dell Precision 470 and 670 workstations can be placed starting Monday, while the server OS will be available on Dell systems starting in June, the computer manufacturer said.

While right now it is the game developers that are likely to run 64-bit Windows, the gamers themselves won't be far behind.

"In the Longhorn time frame, we think it (64-bit computing) will be mainstream." Sullivan said. Microsoft has said that Longhorn--the next version of Windows--will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

Long and winding road
Although the road to 64-bit Windows has taken longer than Microsoft once hoped, Windows Chief Jim Allchin said in a recent interview that the shift is now inevitable. Intel and AMD aren't charging significantly more for chips with the added abilities, nor is Microsoft charging more for its operating system.

"I see it as preordained," Allchin said. By the end of the year, Allchin said it will be quite difficult to find a server with a 32-bit processor. Desktop PCs will move slower, but 64-bit PCs should make up a significant chunk of shipments by next year.

When computing does make the leap, Allchin said the benefits will be significant, even if many of them are not yet apparent.

The clearest impact of 64-bit computing is the ability to deal with more than 4GB of physical memory. However, only the most sophisticated applications and databases are bumping up against this limit today. Down the road, though, Allchin said whole new ways of computing will open up. Imagine, how fast searching might be if all of one's e-mail, for example, were loaded into memory.

But Allchin said there are performance gains that many types of programs can today get if companies are willing to slightly rewrite their applications. He pointed to Cakewalk, a music program that got a 40 percent gain by moving to a 64-bit system.

There are also ways that Microsoft can use the added bits to enhance security, he said. Specifically, Allchin said Microsoft will make better use of the no-execute chip feature, which helps prevent overflow errors.

"It doesn't make things perfect," Allchin said. But, he added, "it is another way of preventing mischief from taking place."

An early peek at Longhorn

After months of keeping its prized cow in the barn, Microsoft is beginning to let Longhorn out of the corral for public viewing.

Beginning with brief demonstrations to reporters this week, the software maker is starting to shed light on just what the next version of Windows will offer when it hits the market next year. High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

"This is going to be a big deal," Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president, told CNET News.com on Thursday. While he acknowledged that Microsoft is unlikely to get throngs of people to show up outside retail stores on launch day as happened with Windows 95, he did say the company expects Longhorn to drive PC sales. "This product has something for everybody."

In a brief demonstration, Allchin showed off several key features that make the new OS stand out from prior versions. A "quick search pane," for example, allows users to type queries and instantly see matching files.

In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month. Search results can be saved as virtual folders that are automatically updated to include all items that fit a particular query, such as "authored by Mary" or "containing the word 'Cleveland.'" Documents, pictures, music and even applications can also be given a rating or keywords to add further criteria for searching.

But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.

Allchin said that Longhorn also goes further than Tiger when it comes to what one can do with search results, saying it offers new ways to organize and view the information. While the look of the OS hasn't been finalized, the translucent windows and other graphics tricks are expected to find their way into the finished software.

Microsoft clearly has a lot of work to do with Longhorn. Although the company has added Tablet and Media Center versions, as well as the Service Pack 2 security enhancements, a lot has changed since XP debuted five years ago.

What's in a name?
As for timing, Allchin said development is basically on track for the schedule outlined by the company last fall. An updated developer preview version will be given out at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, or WinHEC, set to take place at month's end in Seattle. The company is still shooting for an initial beta around midyear, though it could be July, as the new official schedule is "early summer." A second beta is planned, though no final date has been given, with the goal of having the OS broadly available on PCs by next year's holiday season. Longhorn will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, Allchin said.

While many details about Longhorn have been nailed down, others, including its name, are still up in the air. The company is close to deciding which different versions will be available, but it's not ready to announce that yet. It is too soon to say, for example, whether there will be separate Media Center or Tablet PC editions, Allchin said.

"We are moving features around," he said.

Microsoft talked fairly early about Longhorn, with company Chairman Bill Gates first demonstrating it at a developer in October 2003. At the time, the company focused largely on the "under the hood" features of the OS--in particular, a new file system, Web services architecture and the presentation system.

Since then, Microsoft has significantly reshaped the OS. Last year, the company announced that it would pull out the new file system and that the Web services and presentation pieces would also be made available for Windows XP.

Got to know when to hold 'em
Allchin said his priority is making sure Longhorn meets quality standards, followed by getting the product out on schedule. Packing it full of features is a third priority, and the one most likely to give. As a result, Microsoft would delay Longhorn over quality concerns, but is unlikely to let individual features hold up its release. That could mean some further trimming around the edges if things fall behind.

As with Windows XP Service Pack 2, security remains at the forefront of Microsoft's development efforts. With Longhorn, Microsoft isn't focusing as much on building in antivirus software as it is changing the behaviors that leave computer systems vulnerable to attack. For example, most computers today are run in administrator mode, making it easy to add new programs and make other changes, but also allowing major fundamental changes to a computer to be made by malicious software.

With Longhorn, Microsoft is trying to change that so a computer runs with the least possible permission level. Only those programs that truly need administrator privileges would run at that level. Microsoft plans a similar change to Internet Explorer that would reduce the level of access given to external Web sites in an attempt to lessen the possibility of malicious attacks.

Microsoft also has focused on improving the experience when using a laptop computer. A fast-start option, combined with support for external displays, will make it easier to create computers that can display calendar information or play music without having to start up the whole PC, including the OS. Another change will make it easier for a person's PC to join a network at work or at home, while remaining invisible to other machines when getting Wi-Fi at a coffee shop.

In the category of making sure things "just work," Allchin cited enhancements such as making sure that a laptop that connects to a projector displays correctly without having to press any keys. In addition, he said, are settings tailored for specific tasks, such as watching a DVD. The computer will just assume that the user doesn't want the movie muted and probably wants to watch it full-screen.

Getting down to business
If there is more than one PC in a home network, Allchin said, it will be easy to allow sharing of files and easy to get at those files. For example, a PC with Longhorn might show all the music files together, whether they are on the local PC or another machine on the network.

There are also features designed to make it easier on businesses that use large numbers of Longhorn machines. Microsoft has created a new way for companies to put their custom installation of the OS onto a group of new machines.

Allchin said those enhancements--along with a reduction in the number of times customers have to reboot their machines and other features--will mean that companies that move to Longhorn will be able to cut their operating costs. Of course, he added, "that's up to us to prove."

Microsoft is also crafting its preliminary list of which capabilities a computer will need to run Longhorn. Allchin said the company is recommending that systems have 512MB of memory, as well as "today's level" of processor. There will be different levels of display quality depending on how much graphics horsepower a computer has.

The richest view, code-named Aero Glass, sports the fanciest bells and whistles, such as translucent windows that come to life when opened or maximized. That's where the heftiest graphics requirements come in, but Allchin said recent tests show it might not require as much horsepower as originally thought.

Another view, Aero, will have slightly lower requirements and offer many, but not all, of the features. Finally, a minimal user interface will look fairly similar to current versions of Windows.

Allchin said the company is continuing to tinker with different interfaces and their requirements, "but clearly we want as many machines as possible to have Aero Glass because there is a lot more we can do in that."

Microsoft Hyd Centre plans to file 70 more patents

Microsoft India Development Centre (MIDC) is betting big on its Hyderabad operations.

In 2005-06, it is planning to file applications for 70 patents for various projects that are underway at its centre. MIDC filed for 40 patents in 2004-05.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Srini Koppolu, managing director of MIDC, said, "The teams at MIDC will be filing for an additional 70 patents in the current fiscal as compared to 40 in the previous fiscal."

MIDC is working on various projects ranging from data protection manager, office mobile to visual studio and office live meeting.

The 2,60,000-sq ft Microsoft India Development Centre currently employs 500 people, and according to Koppolu, the centre is always looking out for the best talent available in the industry.

"Although we have not set a target for increasing our employee-strength, all the heads of various teams at our centre are constantly hiring people from across the country," he added.

"Our India development centre plays an important role in contributing to future innovations at Microsoft. Going forward, there will be increased focus on generation of new ideas and cutting-edge technology. We want to leverage our position in India and play a leadership role in future," Koppolu said.

"The Hyderabad centre is the second biggest centre of Microsoft outside Redmond. In fact, India is one of the few countries outside the US where Microsoft has its own campus. At this centre, we will continue to grow not only in numbers but also in driving multiple businesses that are of strategic importance to various product lines of Microsoft," he added.

Microsoft to expand low-cost Windows to Brazil

Microsoft plans to expand its low-cost Windows XP Starter Edition program to Brazil, the company confirmed Monday.

"On April 13, Microsoft is going to announce the expansion of its five market program to include Brazil," a Microsoft representative told CNET News.com. The company already offers the software in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, and has announced plans for India and Russia. The effort in India was pushed back slightly, but the company has said it expects to have Starter Edition launched there by June.

Microsoft declined to offer details on the Brazilian version or when it will launch, though it is expected to be similar to other versions of Starter Edition. In its current form, Starter Edition is not sold on store shelves, but only as part of low-cost PCs. There are other restrictions on the software itself, such as the ability to open only a maximum of three programs at a time.

The move comes as Brazil, a noted supporter of open-source software, seeks to offer a low-cost PC program. There have been reports that the government will use Linux, but Microsoft says it is unaware of being out of the running.

"We will continue to work closely with the government to explore how Microsoft can help address the challenge of enabling digital inclusion through programs such as PC Connectado and other innovative programs," the software maker said in a statement. The company said it "shares the Brazilian government's desire to see a local vibrant IT industry."

Word of Microsoft's plans for Brazil started spreading after the company began demonstrating a localized version of the operating system to Brazilian journalists. The briefings were earlier noted on Microsoft-tracking site Microsoft Watch.

Although some have said Starter Edition is off to a slow start in the countries where it has launched, Microsoft said it's pleased with the results, though it would not say how many PCs have shipped with the operating system.

"We have a tremendous amount of input from first-time PC users in developing technology markets," Mike Wickstrand, director of Windows product management, said in a recent interview. "The feedback that they are giving us is that Windows XP Starter Edition is a valuable product. We're committed to learning and evolving to meet the needs of those customers."

Microsoft's SP2 gets pushy

Microsoft is disabling its software tool that prevented Windows XP Service Pack 2 from automatically downloading itself onto business computers.

This means that people who wanted to avoid adopting SP2 may now be forced to incorporate it into their systems.

An e-mailed statement from Microsoft said: "On April 12, a tool blocking the download of Windows XP SP2 via Automatic Updates will expire and SP2 will automatically be downloaded."

The company added that small businesses and home users will not be affected by the change.

SP2 was released last year to bolster the security functions built into Windows XP. The main concern of the forced installment is that SP2 automatically enables the operating system's firewall. For many users and system administrators this makes more sense than having it disabled by default, but it also means that if the firewall fails to recognize an application, it could prevent that program from working smoothly.

"Taking away that option could be time-consuming for administrators," said Alan Phillips, director of training company 7Safe. "One would have thought that Microsoft would have performed sufficient testing for this. It will be interesting to see if there are any stories that come out of this."

Microsoft advised companies still looking to prevent the rollout of SP2 to use a patch management tool such as System Updates Services. But some members of the IT industry were concerned that Microsoft had not provided enough information on this.

"It would have been nice to see Microsoft properly clarifying how this works with SUS," said Paul Simmonds, a global information security director at ICI. "So far, I've yet to see any clarification."

But one ZDNet UK reader believes the move will cause few problems: "I have been installing SP2 on many different machines for some time now, in both business and home environments, and have not experienced any problems. I think the scare stories have put people off, but really, in most cases there is nothing to worry about. The benefits far outweigh the possibility of something going wrong."

Microsoft plugs critical holes in Windows

icrosoft on Tuesday released a slew of security patches, five of them critical, as part of its monthly update.

The updates include "critical" fixes to Windows' TCP/IP networking, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Office and Exchange Server. "Critical" is the company's highest severity rating. Three other Windows security holes are rated as "important," the next highest rating.

In each case, Microsoft said the flaws, if exploited, could enable an attacker to take remote control of a vulnerable machine.

In general, Microsoft said it is making progress on security issues. Stephen Toulouse, security program manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center, noted that many of the flaws that were rated critical had lower ratings for those running the latest versions of Microsoft's software.

With the vulnerability in the Exchange Server software for managing e-mail, contact lists and calendars, for example, Toulouse said that it is rated only "moderate" for those running Exchange Server 2003. Similarly, no immediate attention was needed on the Windows flaws for those running the just-released Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

Worming into Exchange?
Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems, which was credited for discovering the Exchange vulnerability last year, said it is concerned that now that the details of the Exchange fix are out there, a worm could be created that exploits the flaw, and such a bug could quickly do damage.

"There is no user interaction required to exploit the vulnerability," said Neel Mehta, team leader of advanced research for ISS' X-Force unit.

Toulouse said it is difficult to say whether the Exchange vulnerability could lead to a new worm.

"It's really hard to speculate on what an attacker might do," he said. He noted that he has not seen any discussion of such a bug, nor has there been any so-called "proof of concept" code that is often a precursor to an actual worm. "What we are doing right now, and what we do after every release, is to watch."

ISS also found the flaw in TCP/IP networking, the standard behind the Internet and other networks. Mehta said it appeared to be more difficult to exploit, but the danger is greater if it were since it is so widely used.

"Every networked Windows computer is using this," Mehta said. "It's not something you can disable. It's not something you can turn off."

With the Internet Explorer bug, Toulouse said that someone who visits a specially configured Web site could then have malicious code executed on their machine. As for the Office vulnerability, Toulouse said that any attack would have to involve someone receiving and opening a maliciously constructed Word file.

Higher risk
In response to the new flaw disclosures, Symantec raised its overall "ThreatCon" security level for the computer industry.

"It is important that both home users and enterprises take proactive steps to deploy these patches," Oliver Friedrichs, senior manager at Symantec Security Response, said in a statement. "The vulnerabilities announced by Microsoft today can result in broad exposure to blended threats and worms, as well as denial-of-service attacks."

In addition to those patches, Microsoft is releasing two high-priority upgrades unrelated to security. One is for the Windows Installer and the other is for the Background Intelligent Transfer Service, which Microsoft uses to allow piecemeal downloading of software updates.

The software maker said last week to expect the eight security patches, as well as the other updates, but did not offer details.

In March, the company took a break from its monthly routine of security releases and did not issue any patches. The prior month, Microsoft had a dozen fixes in its regularly scheduled release and later plugged a hole in the digital-rights technology within Windows Media Player.

Microsoft also revamped its technology for removing malicious code, a sort of basic antivirus tool for cleaning up infections. The software now removes Hacker Defender, Mimail and Rbot, as well as new variants of the Berbew, Bropia Gaobot, MyDoom and Sober worms, the company said.

People can get the patches at Microsoft's Web site or set their systems to automatically update.

MSN to mix advertisers with blogs

Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled new versions of its instant messaging and blogging services with beefed up community, video, search and advertising features.

In partnership with Logitech, MSN Messenger now offers full-screen video-conferencing capabilities with new technology that promises to establish connections between two people more easily, including across firewalls. MSN Messenger users can now share search results powered by Microsoft's proprietary search technology in the IM window. And MSN Messenger subscribers can send wireless SMS (short message service) messages to any cell phone subscriber, regardless of whether they use MSN Messenger.

On top of features for consumers, Microsoft has added advertising tools for both MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces. Here, Microsoft hopes to tap into the blogging community, to create marketing vehicles for customers such as Volvo, its first guinea pig.

"This is the beginning of the inevitable monetization of social networking tools," Forrester analyst Charlene Li said. "Microsoft is putting more interactivity in its ads. They are saying to users, 'Come and tell us about your Volvo and how much you like it.'"

Social networking and blogging share many characteristics of earlier self-publishing tools, which failed to evolve much past the vanity-publishing stage. Still, online media executives have concluded they are sufficiently different from past community publishing experiments to warrant their current status as the new, new thing.

Turning unruly mobs into well-behaved marketing tools could be a hard trick to pull off, given the Internet's notoriously flame-prone culture. Microsoft has already faced a mini-rebellion among the ranks over its language-monitoring tools.

Still, the numbers seem to provide at least some evidence that Microsoft may be onto something. Since it launched MSN Spaces in December, it has signed up some 4.5 million members, according to Microsoft Product Manager Brooke Richardson, mostly from its popular MSN Messenger service. A key draw to date, he said, has been photo sharing.

Microsoft isn't alone. Rival Yahoo last week launched a test version of Yahoo 360, a service billed as a way to stay in touch with people who matter and to easily share bits of your life, from photos to music to schedules. In a similar vein, Yahoo acquired photo-sharing site Flickr last week.

"Similar things have been around for a while, but it's often the little nuances that make the difference" between success and failure in technology, Richardson said. "We've added some things that may seem like a nuance, but may be what it takes to reach a tipping point."

Microsoft delays supercomputer version of Windows

Microsoft said late Tuesday that it has pushed back the expected launch of a version of Windows designed for high-performance computer clusters.

A Microsoft programmer said last month that the company was aiming to have Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition ready in time for a launch at the SC2005 supercomputing conference in November, with a beta or test version coming this summer. However, Microsoft said Tuesday that the launch will be delayed as the company responds to early customer reactions.

"To ensure this feedback is incorporated, Microsoft is now planning to deliver the first beta to customers in the second half of 2005 and the final release is scheduled for first half 2006," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail.

Microsoft also cautioned that it is not aiming as much for the type of supercomputer that makes the annual list of the 500 largest supercomputers. Rather, Microsoft said it is focused on the kinds of clusters that a department or even a single researcher might put together.

"Enterprise customers are increasingly in need of HPC (High Performance Computing) solutions for personal and departmental use, which is causing HPC to move from the traditional supercomputing centers found in academic and government sectors into the commercial markets, including engineering, life sciences and finance organizations," the Microsoft representative said.

Microsoft's plans for a supercomputer version of Windows were first reported by CNET News.com last May. In June, Microsoft confirmed its intent to deliver the specially tailored Windows version.

Microsoft has not announced how much it will charge for the Compute Cluster edition, but did say last month that additional computers, or nodes, of a cluster will be priced at some discount. The initial version is designed to replicate many of the features that would be offered if someone were clustering machines using Linux. In future versions, Microsoft plans to incorporate support for the company's .Net programming infrastructure as well as allow for so-called "cycle harvesting" in which clusters can take advantage of the processing power of unused PCs on a network.

Microsoft Working on New ID System for Windows

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will build software for managing identities into Windows in order to beef up security by giving users more control over their personal information, the world's largest software maker said on Tuesday.

The ID technology called "info-cards" will give users more control over their own personal information in order to shop and access services online, said Michael Stephenson, director in Microsoft's Windows Server division.

Microsoft is currently working on a new Internet Explorer Web browser and version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, but Stephenson declined to say whether "info-cards" would be built into the current Windows XP version or Longhorn.

"We're trying to make the end-user experience as simple as possible," Stephenson said, adding that Microsoft's "goal is to make sure that this is as broadly accessible as possible."

The initiative is the latest effort by the software giant to improve the reliability and security of its software. Identity theft has become a growing concern in the United States as personal data is increasingly used to make purchases, and log into Web sites for vital information and services.

The U.S. government is considering greater regulation of data brokers following a rash of break-ins and other data losses that have heightened concern about identity theft -- a crime that costs consumers and businesses an estimated $50 billion annually.

The technology proposed by Microsoft is reminiscent of two software tools detailed by the Redmond, Washington-based company in 2001 called Passport and Hailstorm.

Hailstorm was quietly shelved after privacy advocates said it put too much sensitive information into the hands of a single company and partners expressed similar reservations.

Passport, used to provide a single log-in for multiple Web sites and store basic personal information, did not gain the wide audience that Microsoft hoped for. Online marketplace eBay Inc. (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , an early Passport adopter, stopped using the service for its users in January.

While Microsoft's earlier plans involved the use of centrally stored information beyond computer desktop, the "info-card" system will keep data stored on a personal computer, Microsoft said.

"It's going to put control of digital IDs into the hands of an end-user, the end-user will be in full control," Stephenson said.

ChoicePoint Inc. (CPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which maintains personal profiles of nearly every U.S. consumer for companies that need to conduct credit and security checks, said earlier this year that it inadvertently gave criminals tens of thousands of consumer records, sparking fears of widespread identity theft and government probes.

On Monday, the University of California, Berkeley, said that a laptop computer containing the names and Social Security numbers of nearly 100,000 graduates, graduate students and applicants, was stolen earlier in March and that police were investigating the theft.