Microsoft Rides Windows 7 To Another Solid Quarter

By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

Microsoft didn't do badly in its fiscal 2010 third quarter, certainly a lot better than it did in last year's Q3 when it reported the first quarterly revenue decline in company history. But in the eyes of investors at least, Microsoft's results were less than stellar.

As expected, Microsoft's results were buoyed by Windows 7. The Windows and Windows Live division reported revenue of $4.4 billion, up 28 percent from the $3.4 billion it reported in last year's quarter. Given the Microsoft's OEM channel accounts for about 80 percent of total Windows revenue, this jump is linked to sales of new PCs.

"Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong," Kevin Turner, COO, Microsoft, said in a statement.

For the quarter ended March 31, Microsoft's net income rose 35 percent to $4.01 billion, or 45 cents per share, compared to $2.98 billion and 33 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Overall revenue during the quarter was $14.5 billion, up six percent from the $13.6 billion the company pulled in during the year-ago quarter.

Despite the strong numbers, Microsoft investors were apparently not satisfied, as Microsoft shares were trading down 40 cents at $30.98 in after-hours trading.

Microsoft's Server and Tools division revenue was $3.5 billion, up two percent from last year, while Microsoft Business Division revenue dropped six percent to $4.2 billion during the quarter, which the company attributed to $305 million in deferred revenue for its Office technology guarantee program, which allows customers that buy Office 2007 in advance of the Office 2010 launch to upgrade to the new version.

Online Services division revenue grew 12 percent to $566 million due to a 19 percent jump in online advertising revenue, according to Microsoft. This number includes a $154 million charge for transition expenses stemming from Microsoft's search partnership with Yahoo. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division revenue was up slightly at $1.66 billion.

"Windows 7 continues to be a growth engine, but we also saw strong growth in other areas like Bing search, Xbox LIVE and our emerging cloud services," said Peter Klein, CFO, Microsoft, in a statement.

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SPTechCon focuses on 2010, embraces MOSS 2007

By David Rubinstein

New features and functionality in SharePoint 2010 will be the focal point, but SharePoint Server 2007 instruction will be plentiful at SPTechCon—the SharePoint Technology Conference—being held Feb. 10–12 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, Calif.

SPTechCon, produced by BZ Media LLC, which owns SD Times, will feature more than 80 workshops and technical classes spanning three full days. The 39-member faculty features some of the brightest minds in SharePoint today, including a Microsoft Certified Master in SharePoint as well as numerous Microsoft MVPs and a host of experts with very specific knowledge about all aspects of SharePoint.

The first day will feature full-day workshops for people just getting started with SharePoint. “SharePoint 101” sessions will be offered for developers, IT administrators and business users. Other workshops include “Become a SharePoint 2010 Power User,” "SharePoint Site Planning: Get it Right the First Time,” and “15 Things Developers Should Know About Migrating to SharePoint 2010.”

The opening keynote will again be presented by Tom Rizzo, Microsoft’s director of SharePoint. Rizzo, who delivered the keynote address at the two SPTechCon events in 2009, will speak on the delivery of SharePoint 2010. A second keynote will be given by Ted Pattison, a SharePoint consultant who recently founded Critical Path Training.

A special session called “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (About SharePoint)” gives Microsoft’s SharePoint partners an opportunity to present important information to conference attendees in an entertaining, lightning-talk style, while “Pizza and Answers” gives attendees a chance to talk to our expert faculty members in a very informal setting

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Silverlight, WPF at forefront of DevExpress plans

By David Worthington

.NET component and application framework maker Developer Express will place a greater emphasis on Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) this year, according to its 2010 road map, announced on Tuesday.

DevExpress' Silverlight components will deliver full design-time support for Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend 3. Upcoming Silverlight 3 controls will include charting, data editing and a scheduler. A Silverlight 4 printing control will also be introduced.

"We feel we are late to the party, but then again, Silverlight is changing a lot," said DevExpress CTO Julian Bucknall. Aside from controls, the company is integrating Silverlight into its eXpressApp Framework, he added.

Some of its upcoming WPF controls will include final versions of DevExpress' pivot grid and layout manager, data editor, ribbon, report view, and scheduler.

DevExpress' embrace of Silverlight and WPF comes at the expense of Windows Forms development. Bucknall said that WinForms controls are being deemphasized, but development will continue with more chart types, VS 2010 and Client Profile support for controls, as well as new user interface styles to match the appearance of Windows 7 and Office 2010.

VCL (Visual Component Library) controls will be likewise updated with additional views and similar user interface options for the Microsoft stack.

DevExpress will continue to forge ahead to update its existing ASP.NET controls, and it will begin to deliver new controls that exploit the new capabilities that will be introduced by .NET 4.0, Bucknall said. He is being more circumspect about developing components for ASP.NET's Model-View-Controller pattern, but the company will introduce a navigation bar and tab control nonetheless.

Lastly, new editions of the company's next IDE productivity tools, including CodeRush and Refactor Pro, will be released later this year around the time that VS 2010 ships, Bucknall said. "There were big changes in Visual Studio 2010," he added.

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