Reseller Selling Standalone Windows Media Center Software
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At least one vendor is selling OEM copies of Microsoft&#39;s new Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system online, possibly exploiting a loophole in Microsoft&#39;s contracts.
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How about a $269 server? PC maker turns on rebates, special offers to breathe life into its direct-sales efforts.
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(InfoWorld) - Two years after creating a division that offers managed services, MicrosoftÂ has signed three more pilot customers and continues to expand its datacenter investments to pave the way for more deployments. In addition to its flagship customer, battery maker Energizer Holdings, Microsoft now is providing managed services for XL Capital in Bermuda as well two other customers that do not wish to be named, said Ron Markezich, vice president of Microsoft managed services. He discussed the business in an interview on Monday at the TechEd 2007 conference in Orlando. The company has received a lot of feedback from its initial deployment with Energizer and is using that information as it expands its offering to other customers, he said. Microsoft hosts and manages only its own software products for customers, though those products often run in heterogeneous IT systems. Microsoft manages a deployment of Exchange Server, SharePoint, and Live Communications Server, as well as runs a remote desktop service through its System Management Server product for 8,000 Energizer desktop users, Markezich said. The software runs in Microsoft's datacenter outside of Seattle, where Microsoft also runs the back end for its Windows Live services. Microsoft entered managed services later than many of its competitors, such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and a diminishing group of independent managed services providers that have found it hard to compete with large vendors or have been acquired. However, Microsoft considers hosted services -- including both online consumer services and enterprise services such as its managed offerings -- as a top priority for the next several years. Two years ago, Microsoft purchased e-mail managed services provider FrontBridge Technologies. The company recently opened a new datacenter in Quincy, Wash., a location chosen for its energy prices, Markezich said. Cost is only one reason customers find managed services an attractive option, Markezich said. He declined to comment specifically on how much Microsoft charges for its services, since it is different depending on the customer. He also wouldn't say how much customers stand to save by having Microsoft manage IT assets rather than host and deploy them on premises. But he said there are other perks to going the managed services route. Unlike many other providers of managed services, Microsoft does not charge customers for rolling out a software update, so customers can get the latest software from the company without having to purchase it and deploy it themselves. "We don't say, to roll it out you have to pay us more," Markezich said. "It just comes as part of the standard service fee." Microsoft is currently deploying the newest version of its Office suite, Office 2007, at Energizer, he said. Markezich said customers also like having Microsoft host and manage their software for them because it frees up IT employees and resources that can be used in another area of the business.
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So-called FairUse program breaks copy protection on Windows Media Player.
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Company hopes to attract users who will later upgrade to its small business software.
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The label thinks about selling its downloads without restrictions.
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Microsoft Windows users need to watch out for several flaws in non-Microsoft media players.
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It&#39;s a market that could use a shake-up. Backup and recovery still can be too expensive and complex for many small and midsize companies that rely on Windows, but the software is vital to their businesses.
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Portable Media Center -- a new, Microsoft-conceived handheld device that presents video, photos and music -- would be a decent idea if there weren't such things as lampposts. Or street signs. Or trees. Or other cars. -Rob Pegoraro
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Microsoft's Media Center edition of Windows XP -- a special layer of software designed to let people enjoy their digital photos, music and videos from across the room -- has to rank as one of the company's bigger disappointments in a while. All the money Microsoft has thrown into promoting Media Center has yet to lend it any momentum in the market.
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The software maker creates a single business unit to handle its IP television, Media Center PC and HD-DVD efforts.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft continues to tweak its volume licensing programs to make it easier for business customers to purchase the company&#39;s software in bulk.
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Partner to sell technologies that will allow users to operate and manage telephone calls from their desktops.
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Tek-Tools Software, Inc., the leading developer of proven resource  management software solutions, announced today that it has signed a  premier reseller agreement with Cambridge Computer, a national  integrator specializing in data storage and data protection solutions.
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Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 supports DVD burning, HDTV, and more mobile devices.
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GamePC have thrown up their review of Microsoft&#39;s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005! Here&#39;s a snip. Windows XP Media Center Edition was originally launched roughly two years ago, and was the first variant
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Microsoft&#39;s new Windows XP Media Center 2005 operating system has new features that help a PC compete with consumer electronics devices in the living room, and that turn a PC into a home server capable of feeding audio and video to multiple devices on a