Microsoft Blunder Leaks Information About Vista

[grayhat]

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest software maker, prematurely posted information about its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system on one of its Web sites, the company said on Tuesday.

Microsoft disclosed information about a plan to release eight different editions of the new operating system on a company help page that was under development. The company has not made any official statements about the different versions of Windows Vista it plans to offer.

The company has since taken down the Web site and declined to confirm the information and said it will offer more details about the Vista launch, targeted for the second half of 2006, in the coming weeks.

"Microsoft recently posted a web page designed to test the Windows Vista help system that included incomplete information about the Windows Vista product line up," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement.

"This page has since been removed as it was posted prematurely and was for testing purposes only."

The five-year gap between the upcoming Vista launch and the current Windows XP marks the longest-ever gap between upgrades for Microsoft's flagship product and the company's largest cash cow.

Various media organization saw the Web site before it was taken down and reported that Microsoft plans to offer six primary editions of Vista and an additional two variations for Europe that do not include Windows Media Player to comply with the European Union's past antitrust rulings.

Included in those listed offerings was Windows Starter 2007, a stripped-down version for emerging markets to offer an alternative for pirated software. There was also a basic and premium edition for the home as well as versions for both businesses and large corporations, according to the reports.

The Web site also listed a high-end product named Windows Vista Ultimate that targets gamers and heavy multimedia users, reports said.

Shares of Microsoft fell 26 cents to $26.44 in afternoon trade, in line with a near 1 percent decline on the Nasdaq.

[grayhat]

Google says mistakenly put old ad outlook on Web

Tue Mar 7, 2006 10:47 PM ET

By Eric Auchard

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Google Inc. inadvertently published outdated revenue and profit projections on its Web site after last week's meeting with Wall Street analysts, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. But it stood by its refusal to issue financial projections.

The previously undisclosed presentation notes stated that Google's core advertising business was expected to grow by nearly 60 percent to $9.5 billion in 2006 but that profit margins in its mainstay AdSense business could be squeezed this year and beyond.

Google, a provider of Web search technology, said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the notes stated: "To really get down to brass tacks, we're going to: Execute well on our core ads projects to help us exceed the $9.5bn target (and backfill any AdSense partner loss) and drive advertiser satisfaction."

It said in the filing that the notes had been presented early in the fourth quarter of 2005 for an internal product strategy presentation.

"These notes were not created for financial planning purposes, and should not be regarded as financial guidance. Consistent with past practice, Google is not providing revenue guidance," Google said in the filing.

Google also described as inaccurate notes that said: "AdSense margins will be squeezed in 2006 and beyond."

AdSense is an advertising program through which Google offers its pay-per-click Web search advertising system to Web publishers such as America Online or Ask.com to sell search-based advertising on their own sites.

Following its annual "Analyst Day" presentation for Wall Street at its Silicon Valley headquarters last Thursday, Google published, then retracted, a massive document containing slides with "speaker's notes" on product plans and financial targets.

The document came to light when blogger Greg Linden of Seattle picked up details from it. According to a number of bloggers who captured the original presentation, it also described an unannounced plan to offer online storage to Web users, creating a mirror image of consumer hard drives.

His original post is located at: http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/03/in-wor...te-storage.html

The bloggers said the original presentation stated: "With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc)."

Jordan Rohan, an analyst with RBC Capital in New York, calculated in a note to clients that, assuming the internal targets were made before Google signed a $450 million advertising contract renewal with AOL, then the company's internal targets are for around $10 billion in gross revenues.

That's in line with his 2006 estimate of $9.97 billion, the current high prediction on Wall Street and ahead of consensus Wall forecast of $9.65 billion, according to Reuters Estimates data.

"We believe Google management is creating unnecessary volatility by refusing to issue financial targets (intentionally). Issuing guidance is not 'evil,'" he said.

"They are certainly demonstrating a hypersenstivity to what information they do disclose," said David Garrity, director of research at brokerage Investec in New York.

Google spokeswoman Lynn Fox said on Tuesday that the company did not have any further comments on this topic. However, on Monday Fox confirmed the existence of the notes that were on the company's Web site but declined to comment on details contained in them.

Google replaced the withdrawn notes with a 94-page version of the slides in another format that had been cleansed of the notes.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Privacy fear as Google plans 'super database'

JOHN INNES

GOOGLE, the internet giant, is planning a massive online facility that could store copies of users' hard drives - a move set to spark alarm among civil liberties campaigners.

Plans for the "GDrive", previously the subject of rumour among computer experts, were revealed accidentally after notes in a slideshow were wrongly published on Google's site.

The device would create a mirror image of data stored on consumers' computer hard drives, letting users search data stored on other computers via Google accounts.

While offering more convenient access to data, the service will stoke debate about the dangers of storing so much personal data on Google systems. Google recently squared up against the United States Justice Department, which has subpoenaed a limited set of data on Google search habits, drawing an outcry from privacy advocates.

In the presentation notes, the chief executive, Eric Schmidt, made a cryptic comment that one goal of Google was to "store 100 per cent" of consumer information".

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on any specific service, but confirmed that the presentation containing the notes had been mistakenly released on the internet. "We deleted the slide notes because they were not intended for publication," she said.

"We are constantly working on ways to enhance our products and services for users, but have nothing to announce at this time."

The new service could save computer users from loss of data by keeping a "golden copy" on Google's centralised computers. However, the plan could be thwarted by privacy concerns.

Recently, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocate, issued a similarly stern warning to consumers to not use such facilities because it would reduce their level of privacy protection.

Google has been at the centre of privacy row in the United States. Last August, Google rejected US government efforts to access its search logs to prop up a contested 1998 law designed to protect minors from objectionable material on the internet.

Microsoft, Yahoo, and America Online have all since admitted that they have provided the government with some of that data from their logs.

The revelations triggered a privacy rights row in Washington that has placed the administration of the president, George Bush, on the defensive and has sparked at least two investigations in Congress.

[Mumbo Jumbo]

Ive just seen this in a US news paper...

As for Vista being one version, you're only off by five. That's right, there will be six versions — the consumer editions are Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate; the business editions are Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise.

It promises to be vastly different from any other version of Windows — much more Mac-like and Linux-like. So get ready to learn everything you already know all over again.

...Mumbo

[Wallalai]

Ive just seen this in a US news paper...

It promises to be vastly different from any other version of Windows — much more Mac-like and Linux-like.

...Mumbo

Do you mean it will be as stable as Mac and as free as Linux ? Please don't compare Win$ with GNU/Linux. It's not fair.

[troll]

I think there will be 6 different versions of Vista: -release -current -testing -unstable -veryunstable and -donttrythis. [/troll]

[astral]

It is called "vapourware".

Software that does not yet exist!

[Mumbo Jumbo]

Hi Wallalai, the part .... It promises to be vastly different from any other version of Windows — much more Mac-like and Linux-like. So get ready to learn everything you already know all over again.

was taken from the newspaper article, and I agree with your comment also.

thanks ............ Mumbo

[Wallalai]

Hi Mumbo Jumbo,

much more Mac-like and Linux-like

so why not simply buy a Mac or use a GNU/Linux distribution ? M$ always promise a lot but finally the user will always be a free beta tester. I am also a beta tester on Linux because I use a current version and it's in a perpetual evolution, but I accept it. And when problems occurs I can file a bug report and it's corrected very quickly.

Microsof Windows (all versions) are just crap IMHO. Too much problems, bugs, too much restrictions due to stupid licenses, no software included apart the usual ones (IE , OE , MediaPlayer , the Paint thing , and so on).

I use a 2 GNU/Linux distributions, Archlinux my prefered one, and Slackware on another harddisk. I've found a lot of free softwares that can do everything that proprietary softwares can do. I don't need antivirus or spyware utility, my disks are never fragmented, and I don't need to re-install my OS every 4-6 month as windows users usually do. That's the comfort and liberty I need.

I think also that many articles are influenced by M$ (because websites or newspapers get money from them to write positive comments).

Edited March 12, 2006 by Wallalai

[wolf5370]

Microsof Windows (all versions) are just crap IMHO. Too much problems, bugs, too much restrictions due to stupid licenses, no software included apart the usual ones (IE , OE , MediaPlayer , the Paint thing , and so on).

You are kidding right? Do you not remember the amount of grief MS got through the courts and the press from other software suppliers for giving away too much free and making it difficult for them to sell similar products?

Just a few years ago you would pay a small fortune for a video editor, now a basic version comes with XP (Movie Maker). You get a photo editor as well as a paint program. A text editor (don't laugh I remember the Dos days where you had to buy them or stick to EDLIN). A sound recorder. A movie player. Picture viewers. Document viewers. etc etc etc. It makes financial sense to MS to give a basic version of software with their OS because then you may want to upgrade to a pro version from them (as you will be used to it). One thing MS does do is give away a lot of software that we had to pay for before.

As to Vista being MAC like. I think this comes from the Vista critics. I was sent early screen shots of Vista along with a zillion other people in the industry to have a peek at it. Cosmetically (i.e. graphically) it looks MACish - with OSX like icons etc. It is not designed to copy the MAC any more than Windows 1 was a direct copy of the original MAC OS - it was a concept, rather than code, copy and was the concept of Xerox , not Steve Jobs' Apple.

I do have gripes with Vista though - mainly in that most of what was promised has (how was it put) become 'vapourware' and it seems to be now mostly a cosmetic upgrade.

By the way - MAC is dropping their processors in favour of Intel!

PS: I don't work for, or represent, MS, I am in the industry though and sometimes get to have an inside lookie.

[Wallalai]

Up to you wolf5370 and anybody who want to use M$ OS's. M$ need beta testers.