Stories by Carol Sliwa

Microsoft changing corporate sales strategy

Microsoft's sales force is adopting a significantly different approach to working with big corporate users, adding account management teams responsible for coordinating all Microsoft's products and services and setting plans to target more sales pitches at business managers instead of CIOs and IT managers.

Netscape releases preview of browser upgrade

Netscape Communication Corp. last week made available a preview version of an upcoming Web browser upgrade that's expected to address various problems associated with the Netscape 6.0 software released by the AOL Time Warner Inc. subsidiary last fall.

China: The Web's next frontier?

From the stately courtyards of the Forbidden City to the time-worn steps of the Great Wall, the buzzing and chirping of mobile telephones leave little doubt that the wireless craze is growing rapidly in the world's most populous country.

Users hold back on plans for .Net

Getting a firm grasp on the .Net initiative that Microsoft Corp. launched more than 10 months ago might be likened to catching a fish with one's bare hands. Even one of Microsoft's top executives, Jim Allchin, publicly acknowledged last week, "I know it's been confusing."

Chevron negotiating to buy oil industry exchange

Chevron is involved in negotiations to buy the PetroCosm online marketplace that it helped launch early last year along with other companies, an executive at the oil and gas industry exchange confirmed on Tuesday.

Microsoft to expand Windows source-code sharing program

Microsoft Corp. has formalized a promised expansion of its Windows source-code sharing program, detailing plans to give about 1,000 of its large corporate users in the US an opportunity to view the closely guarded code.

App Center 2000 ready to ship

Microsoft Corp. last week added to the foundation of its enterprise software array with the release to manufacturing of Application Center, the last of the 2000 generation of its .Net server family.

Microsoft Reschedules NT 4 Exams

IT professionals trying to take Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0 certification exam prior to the Dec. 31 deadline have been given a slight reprieve.

Microsoft Lays Out BizTalk Server Road Map

Microsoft Corp.'s long-awaited BizTalk Server will feature a heavy-duty enterprise edition and a more economically priced standard version when it ships early next year, a company official disclosed last week at Comdex/Fall 2000.

Microsoft Official Lays Out BizTalk Server Map

Microsoft Corp.'s long-awaited BizTalk Server will come out in standard and enterprise editions when it ships early next year, a Microsoft official said yesterday at Comdex Fall/2000 .

Ballmer: DOJ Case Barely Impacts MS Workers

At Gartner Group's Symposium/ITxpo 2000 conference in Florida yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed thousands of information technology managers on a wide range of topics -- from the federal government's antitrust case against the software vendor to the company's new .Net computing services strategy to Microsoft's bitter rivalry with Sun Microsystems.

Interview: Andreessen targets 'fundamental breakdown'

Loudcloud Inc, the latest venture of Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen, marks its first anniversary as a company this month. Thus far, Loudcloud has signed up 30 users of the Web infrastructure technology that it develops and then runs on an outsourced basis for large companies, e-commerce businesses and application service providers.
Andreessen, who is Loudcloud's chairman, spoke recently to Carol Sliwa about his new company - which has 250 employees and more than $US188 million in venture capital financing - and about the software business in general.

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