Peter Galli

NEW ORLEANS –Microsoft Corp. as expected today launched its first commercially available Web service, MapPoint .Net, a programmable platform for mapping and location-based services. The company will host and maintain this SOAP/XML-based Web service, which allows independent software vendors, solution providers, carriers, portals and enterprises to embed maps, driving directions, distance calculations, proximity searches and […]

In another coup for Linux distributions in the enterprise, Compaq Computer Corp. last week announced a $20 million deal with Web hosting company RackShack. RackShack, a dedicated hosting subsidiary of Everyones Internet Ltd., an Internet and digital subscriber line service provider based in Houston, agreed to equip its data centers with some 1,000 ProLiant DL320 […]

Industry partners and Microsoft Corp. insiders were not surprised by the announcement last week of the planned departure of President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Belluzzo, who will leave the software company as part of a restructuring. Belluzzo, a former executive at two hardware companies, Silicon Graphics Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., was considered an odd […]

Microsoft Corp. will take to the streets of New Orleans this week to drum up support for its forthcoming Web services and storage initiatives. At its TechEd conference, the Redmond, Wash., company will release its Commerce Server 2002 e-commerce site-building software, and it will address storage and the treatment of data in its next version […]

Microsoft Corp.s newfound security zeal is shaping up to become one of the companys main weapons in its ongoing antitrust battle. The Redmond, Wash., software maker launched its Trustworthy Computing initiative in January, claiming security would trump all other development concerns—including functionality and backward compatibility—going forward. The move came just as nine states and the […]

Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Belluzzo will leave the software company as part of a company restructuring. In the announcement, Microsoft said Belluzzo will “transition out of his role as president and chief operating officer on May 1, although he will continue to work at the company through September […]

In another coup for Linux, Compaq Computer Corp. on Wednesday will announce a $20 million deal with Web hosting firm RackShack, which will equip its data centers with Compaq ProLiant servers and offer its clients a tier-one, Linux-based Web hosting solution. In terms of the $20 million deal, RackShack—the dedicated hosting subsidiary of Everyones Internet, […]

As Sun Microsystems Inc. readies its StarOffice 6.0 suite for a May release, some enterprises are already planning to rip out existing desktop productivity suites for the new product. Eric LeSatz, vice president of IS administration for A.B. Watley Inc., a stockbrokerage on Wall Street in New York and a current user of StarOffice 5.2, […]

Open-source software company Ximian Inc. last week released two products to help integrate Linux into the enterprise, Ximian Connector for Microsofts Corp.s Exchange and Red Carpet CorporateConnect. Connector is a proprietary product that bridges Linux desktops and Exchange back ends. Red Carpet CorporateConnect is a Web-based service that gives customers centralized software maintenance and version […]

In a sea change of philosophy, Microsoft Corp. is working to put security ahead of not just features and functionality, but also legacy application compatibility. In a meeting with eWEEK last week, several Microsoft executives responsible for security software development said the company is also changing the way it ships some products to make them […]