If the latest Yahoo-Google deal that lets Yahoo use Google ads in their search results comes through, that’ll give Google ads a reach to over 90% of the netizens, making them the undisputed leaders in the online advertising domain. No wonder, the government regulators have took note of the new deal that favors Google enormously, and now the US Department of Justice is planning to launch a formal antitrust investigation on the deal, probably because they had found some cause for concern in at least some of the clauses of the deal. However, Google and Yahoo had exuded confidence that their path breaking deal will eventually come through, and had given 100 days to the antitrust authorities to draw their conclusion before they begin implementing the program.
It is official now! The long wait for SQL Server 2008 is over! At the Worldwide Partner Conference held in Houston on July 9, Bob Kelly, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Infrastructure Server Marketing, told the invited guests that SQL Server 2008 will be part of the price list for August 2008. Regarding pricing, he said that the new release will be priced the same as that of its earlier version SQL Server 2005. Microsoft had released the near-final Release Candidate (RC) 0 test build of SQL Server 2008 in early June this year.
Microsoft had actually ‘launched’ SQL Server 2008 in February 2008 itself, alongside Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, but they have not released it to the market yet. If no further delays occur, the SQL Server 2008 should be up for sale this August middle.
Microsoft has released XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) through it automatic updates starting July 10, 2008. Earlier company official were quite vague in their responses, when asked about the possible date of release of SP3 to XP users worldwide. Also, the release was stalled a couple of times earlier owing to compatibility issues and performance glitches.
However, not all users might get to download XP SP3 straightaway as Microsoft opens it to select users only initially. According to Microsoft spokeswoman, ‘As with all service pack releases, Microsoft will carefully monitor the release to ensure that all customers have a good experience’. But for the existing users of Windows XP, who doesn’t want SP3 to be downloaded into their computers now, need to deploy the Microsoft Service Pack blocker toolkit (or modify the update settings) to delay the pushed-delivery of SP3.
iPhones now include ActiveSync support for Exchange Server. According to its makers Microsoft, “ActiveSync is a data synchronization service that facilitates mobile users to access their e-mail, calendar, and contacts and retain access to this information while they are offline.” In fact, Apple had licensed ActiveSync from Microsoft more than a year back, but did not acknowledge it in open until as recently as March 2008.
Interestingly, Microsoft was not amongst the vendors who rolled out new apps to the new iPhone store this week. There was no word from the software behemoth as to if or when they might do so. Apparently Microsoft was not happy with the 30% cut Apple had demanded from vendors in order to make them part of the iPhone store.