The Microsoft Hit List
The respected analysts at Directions' pinpoint vulnerabilities for the software giant going forward, including its still-under-performing business solutions group (MBS). Security remains a huge concern as the software giant seeks to assure customers that its offerings are, in fact, safe and sensible for use in even the most critical of applications.
But, number one on the list is the lack of a credible roadmap for such crowd favorites as Office XP and Exchange Server. Barely a day after the Directions hit list hit mailboxes, Microsoft came clean about what many had already expected: that Exchange Edge Services promised for 2005 ain't gonna happen that way. Instead, the company is working on a more complete, and probably later, full upgrade to Exchange Server 2003. The reason? As usual customer input was cited.
"To ease planning, testing and deployment for customers, the company has decided to ship most Edge Services components, including the new messaging policy functionality, as part of the next version of Exchange Server," according to the statement sent Wednesday.
Some piece parts of Edge Services will ship with Exchange Server Solution Pack 2 due in the second half of next year, Microsoft said. They will include the SenderID framework, e-mail-authentication technology that takes on spoofing and phishing by verifying the sender's domain name.
In one sense, this is back to the future. Microsoft had, pre-exchange Edge Services, promised a massive upgrade to Exchange, code-named Kodiak. Only Kodiak was to be based on a relational data store based on the promised WinFS subsystem. And as we all know, WinFS continues to be out of sight. So this planned Exchange upgrade won't be Kodiak. But then again, who knows?
None of this is a big surprise. One Web site reported on this latest re-re-re-reconfiguration of Exchange in mid-December. But it's also not good news for Microsoft which is seeing increasing competition for Exchange from low-cost mail competitors, even some open source rivals. Netline's Open-Xchange 5, the follow-on to SUSE LINUX Open-Exchange Server is due in the first quarter of 2005. Long time Microsoft nemesis Novell will sell and support the offering, as will its channel.
The Directions' roadmap bullet item, by research director Rob Helm holds that the Windows Server group has done a much better job than the other Microsoft fiefdoms in outlining its plans several years out. The flip side, however, is that these servers are so far out and Microsoft has delayed so many promised key technologies so many times, it's hard to find anyone who believes the roadmap at all. Oh well. I guess skepticism, cynicism come with the territory.
(If you want to register your opinion on whether Microsoft's product rollout strategy is aces or for the birds, go to CRN's talkback on the issue.)