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Archive for October, 2011
Microsoft posts record quarter but says tablets have “cannibalized” netbooks
Oct 21st
Enterprise customers are flocking to Windows, Office, SQL Server but PC sales are weak
Despite weak consumer demand for PCs, Microsoft posted record first quarter revenue of $17.37 billion for the period that ended Sept. 30. This beat analysts’ reported expectations of $17.2 billion. Revenue increased 7% percent over the year-ago period. Microsoft credited the increase to enterprise demand for Office, server and development tools.
OPINION: Microsoft execs get pay raises, bonuses, and club memberships
The Microsoft Business Division reported $5.62 billion in revenue, an 8% increase from the prior year period when Microsoft launched Office 2010. Revenue from server products like Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange grew double-digits, and the Dynamics business grew 17% in the quarter. Lync revenue grew by over 25%. Plus, Office 365 has already signed as many customers as its predecessor did, Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), said Peter Klein, chief financial officer, during the company’s earning webcast.
The Server & Tools unit posted $4.25 billion in revenue, a 10% increase over the prior year period. This unit is responsible for Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Azure, Visual Studio, System Center, embedded platforms and enterprise services. Microsoft says the unit saw its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth that was driven by demand for SQL Server, Windows Server, System Center and Enterprise CAL Suites – the client licenses Microsoft requires for its server products.
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Despite weak consumer demand for PCs, Microsoftposted record first quarter revenue of $17.37 billion for the period that ended Sept. 30. This beat analysts’ reported expectations of $17.2 billion. Revenue increased 7% percent over the year-ago period. Microsoft credited the increase to enterprise demand for Office, server and development tools.OPINION: Microsoft execs get pay raises, bonuses, and club memberships The Microsoft Business Division reported $5.62 billion in revenue, an 8% increase from the prior year period when Microsoft launched Office 2010. Revenue from server products like Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange grew double-digits, and the Dynamics business grew 17% in the quarter. Lync revenue grew by over 25%. Plus, Office 365 has already signed as many customers as its predecessor did, Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), said Peter Klein, chief financial officer, during the company’s earning webcast.
The Server & Tools unit posted $4.25 billion in revenue, a 10% increase over the prior year period. This unit is responsible for Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Azure, Visual Studio, System Center, embedded platforms and enterprise services. Microsoft says the unit saw its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth that was driven by demand for SQL Server, Windows Server, System Center and Enterprise CAL Suites – the client licenses Microsoft requires for its server products.
Profits increased as well. Microsoft reported that operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.20 billion, $5.74 billion, and $0.68 per share. This represents increases of 1%, 6%, and 10%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period.
NEXT UP: Windows Server 8 First Looks
Xbox was another high spot. Xbox was the top-selling gaming console in the U.S. for the ninth consecutive month, Microsoft says. The Gears of War 3 game sold over three million copies in the first week, although this didn’t compare to the success of Halo Reach, which was released in the year-ago period and earned $200 million on its first day. Microsoft also took on the Roku and Boxee consoles of the world when it announced plans to roll out TV entertainment on Xbox LIVE starting this holiday season with about 40 content providers.
In all, Microsoft shipped 2.3 million Xbox 360 consoles in the quarter, compared to 2.8 million in the year-ago period. The Entertainment and Devices Division garnered $1.96 billion in revenue, a 9% increase. Interestingly, this unit is where income from royalties on its Android license agreements is credited, said Klein.
There were brown spots. The tablet has all but killed netbooks, Klein said, admitting to “some cannibalization of netbooks” when reporting the results of the Windows and Windows Live Division. Revenue was $4.87 billion, a mere 2% increase over the prior period, again, hurt by soft netbook sales. Note that Apple sold 11.1 million iPads during this period – a record for the tablet.
Analysts say that about 91.8 million PCs total were shipped in the period. Windows PC sales to enterprises grew at about 5% while sales of PCs to consumers were flat, Microsoft says. Klein believes that the company is in the “middle innings” of Windows 7 adoption in the enterprise. Windows 7 now accounts for about 50% of all Windows users, according to Statcounter. Microsoft said that Windows 7 licenses have reached 450 million since its launch.
The perennial weak spot of Microsoft’s Online Services Division remained so. The unit lost $494 million which was less money than it lost in the year-ago quarter, at $558 million. Microsoft says that Bing now owns 15% of the search market and this includes the boost it got from becoming Yahoo’s search engine. Speculation that Microsoft will still buy Yahoo never seems to die, but Steve Ballmer recently went on record saying Microsoft was “lucky” that the deal fell through in 2008.
Klein offered a little guidance, too. The first quarter has been traditionally Microsoft’s weakest and the company expects its next quarter, which maps to the holiday season, to be another exceptional one, he said.
Julie Bort is the editor of Network World’s Microsoft Subnet and Open Source Subnet communities. She writes the Microsoft Update and Source Seeker blogs. Follow Bort on Twitter @Julie188.
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Verisign wants power to shut sites down upon law enforcement request
Oct 11th
In a request made yesterday to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Verisign outlined a new “anti-abuse” policy that would allow the company to terminate, lock, or transfer any domain under its registration jurisdiction under a number of circumstances. And one of those circumstances listed was “requests of law enforcement.”
The request, submitted through ICANN’s Registry Services Evaluation Process on October 10, proposes a new malware scanning service for domains as well as a new Verisign Anti-Abuse Domain Use Policy. In the request letter, Verisign stated that its policy would help the registrar align with requirements ICANN is placing on new generic top level domains. “All parts of the internet community are feeling the pressure to be more proactive in dealing with malicious activity,” Verisign explained. “ICANN has recognized this and the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook requires new gTLDs to adopt a clear definition of rapid takedown or suspension systems that will be implemented.”
In part, the policy is aimed at empowering Verisign to act quickly to take down sites that are harboring malware, launching phishing attacks, or otherwise being used to launch attacks across the Internet. The scanning service, which registrars can opt into voluntarily, would scan sites on all .com, .net and .name sites for “known malware,” and inform the registrar and the site owner when malware is detected. Verisign has been soliciting domain registrars to participate in a pilot of the program, derived from the company’s Verisign Trust Seal program, since March.
But the request also asks for authority to take down sites quickly for a number of reasons beyond malware, including “to protect the integrity, security and stability of the DNS; to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement or other governmental or quasi-governmental agency, or any dispute resolution process; (and) to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of Verisign, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees… Verisign also reserves the right to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute.”
Verisign said it has been piloting takedown procedures with US law enforcement agencies, cybersecurity experts, US government Computer Emergeny Readiness Teams, and domain registrars to establish baseline procedures, and has begun planning pilots with European government agencies and registrars. Just what those baseline procedures are—and what recourse domain holders who run afoul of them have—hasn’t been spelled out. Verisign says it “will be offering a protest procedure to support restoring a domain name to the zone.”
Aden Fine, senior attorney with the ACLU, said in an interview with Ars Technica that the “protest procedure” is cause for concern. “The default shouldn’t be ‘take down first’,” he said. “Any time the government is involved in seizing websites, that raises serious First Amendment issues. It doesn’t matter if it’s a private company pushing the button.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation media relations director and digital rights analyst Rebecca Jeschke told Ars Technica that Verisign’s proposal is “an extraordinarily bad idea.” “We’ve already seen how problematic domain seizures are through the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shutdowns,” she said. “It’s similar to things the US government is trying to get through congress with the Protect IP Act, though there’s a little more oversight in Protect IP. The key is if you’re going to do something as drastic as taking a whole site offline, you at least need some meaningful court review. “
Ubuntu will power HP’s new cloud service
Oct 11th
By Jon Brodkin | Published October 10, 2011 10:44 AM
Ubuntu Linux will be the primary operating system powering HP’s upcoming cloud service, Ubuntu maker Canonical said last week. HP recently opened a private beta program for an infrastructure-as-a-service cloud that will offer both compute and storage capacity, using the OpenStack open source cloud platform. More >
How to become a hacker
Oct 3rd
You’ve read about the exploits of groups such as LulzSec, Anonymous and AntiSec. You’ve read my Kevin Mitnick interview with great interest. You’ve followed such famous programmers as Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Marc Andreesen and Dennis Ritchie. And, now you want to become a hacker. But, how does one become a hacker? Is there some secret society with blood rites that tests your willingness to exploit and deliver malicious payloads to unsuspecting computer users? Or, do you have to sell your soul and pledge allegiance to an organized crime boss to break into this mysterious field? More >
