There’s not many Wan optimisation specialists out there. I’m only familiar with Cisco, Citrix Systems and Packeteer. So the market is not that crowded yet and now the big blue guys at Microsoft recent tie up with Citrix Systems is set to heat things up. Good luck going after this networking giant valued at USD$28.48Billion (2006).

Microsoft’s recent alliance with Citrix Systems to develop wide area network (Wan) optimisation technology represents a declaration of war on Cisco in the “critical battleground” of the branch office, Gartner has reported. According to the analyst firm, the Redmond giant’s tie-up with thin client firm Citrix is the culmination of a “long-simmering rivalry” with Cisco, and has the potential to transform the Wan optimisation market. The comments come after Microsoft and Citrix announced an expansion of their established partnership that will result in a jointly developed and marketed Citrix-branded branch office box. Gartner said that this product is scheduled to ship in the second quarter of next year and will be based on Citrix’s WANScaler product line gained through its recent acquisition of Orbital Data, and on Microsoft’s Windows Server and Internet Security and Acceleration Server.

Engadget has the scoop on the new Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000. Sure it looks bulky unlike the the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro that I bought for my wife, but 1.3 megapixel cameras with 30 fps, 1,280-by-1,024 resolutions are much better than lower end ones…You’ll never go back to them.. ….And to get the best voice quality, skip Live Messenger and use Skype…Its the best bet.

Our peeps over at PC Mag have gotten their hands on the higher-end of Microsoft’s two Live-optimized LifeCams announced last month and, for the most part at least, seem to have dug it, giving it a hefty 4/5 rating. True to Microsoft’s claims, they found that the cam was in fact, very easy to use and delivered some nice added features like face-tracking along with the standard pan, tilt, and zoom control.

Is it a marriage made in heaven ? Instead of choosing other “Cheaper” MP3 manufacturers, Microsoft is deciding to outsource the manufacturing of its Zune wireless music player to Toshiba. I guess other players like Creative or Iriver would have wanted to clinch this lucrative deal but its not for them to guess. Specs of the FCC approved Toshiba Zune model include a 3-inch display, 30 GB hard drive, 802.11b/g radio, FM tuner, USB 2.0 connection.

Let’s hope Toshiba comes up with a better looking model than the pics of Zunes I’ve seen. It’s too squarish for me but do have a look at Zune Thoughts that will keep you updated on this MS wonder.

“Toshiba has one of the better received portable media centers out there, so it makes sense that Microsoft would have chosen them,” said Jon Erensen, an analyst with Gardner. “If you look at the GigaBeat F, one of the new portable media centers that was introduced at CES last year, it was one of the better designed pieces of hardware that was out there, so it’s not too big of a surprise that Microsoft would try to work with Toshiba and take advantage of their expertise in that area.”

Microsoft is not too happy about an internal ‘Office’ Training Video that got out into the internet. It was supposed to be …

“The two videos that Ricky and Stephen recorded for us in 2004 were a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft and, through the character of David Brent, illustrate what not to do in the workplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. “These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public.”

I guess no videos are safe from being uploaded to popular Video sites like YouTube nowadays and its funny why they did not implement some sort of digital rights management on it. Goes to show you that even big dinosaurs like MS do bungle up sometimes.

Here’s the source - Microsoft Unhappy With Release Of ‘Office’ Training Video