Next version of Microsoft Office coming in 2010
Microsoft's next version of its Office desktop programs will reach consumers next year, though not likely in conjunction with the Windows 7 operating system.
Microsoft is set to announce today that Office 2010 will be finished and ready to send to manufacturers in the first half of next year.
From there, it can take six weeks to four months or more for the programs to reach PC users, said Chris Capossela, a senior vice president in the Microsoft group that makes Office. The timing will differ for big businesses and individual consumers, and for people who buy packaged software versus those who download it.
Capossela declined to be more specific about a launch date. Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, is scheduled to reach consumers by the end of January 2010.
Office 2010 — previously known by the code name "Office 14" — will include slimmed-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that let people create and edit documents in a Web browser. Consumers will have access to a free, ad-supported version, and Capossela said the company is still hammering out what to charge businesses that want a version without ads.
Microsoft plans to let hundreds of thousands of people test a technical preview of the new Office portfolio starting in the third quarter of 2009, Capossela said. The company did not say whether average PC users will have a chance to test a more polished beta version.
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Pirate Bay 4 convicted; keelhauling delayed pending appeal
In a closely watched trial, a Swedish judge today found four men associated with the popular Pirate Bay file-sharing clearinghouse guilty of contributory copyright infringement, sentenced each to a year in jail and ordered them to pay $3.6 million in damages to a group of entertainment companies, including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros, EMI and Columbia Pictures. Defendants Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi and Carl Lundström were the targets of a joint criminal and civil action for their roles in running The Pirate Bay, a site that hosts a directory of torrent trackers, guides to the location of music, movies and games that have been made available by file sharers. Lawyers for the four argued that they bore no liability for any abuses because the site does not actually host copyrighted content or participate directly in the file transfers. That didn’t fly with the judge, who ruled that the men had knowingly assisted in “severe” infringements. However, the ruling did not include any order to shut the site down.
With all defendants planning to appeal and a long litigation road ahead, reaction from the entertainment industry was one of tempered satisfaction. “The trial of the operators of The Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community,” said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. “Today’s verdict is the right outcome on all three counts. The court has also handed down a strong deterrent sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed. This is good news for everyone, in Sweden and internationally, who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will protected by law.” From the other side, Magnus Eriksson, co-founder of the group that spawned The Pirate Bay, scoffed at the industry’s calculations of piracy-related losses and said it was fighting a losing battle: “Piracy does not have a head that you can cut off, and The Pirate Bay is just a technology allowing communication, a part of the Internet infrastructure.” Forrester analyst Mark Mulligan said the verdict may not put a dent in the trade, but it was still good PR for the industry. “There’s a lot of value out of it, even though its value is not going to be a meaningful reduction in file sharing,” he said. “They have to be seen to be doing something, in the same way that customs fights drug trafficking — as a deterrent.”
The defendants themselves accepted the verdict with their customary insouciance. Through Twitter posts. Sunde reassured supporters: “Stay calm — Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing whatsoever. This is just a theater for the media.” He also revealed that the verdict had suffered the same fate as some popular films: “According to leaked information from the court we lost (got the news last night). Trustworthy source as well. … Really, it’s a bit LOL. It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release.” Less amused may be Internet service providers and search engines like Google, who so far have positioned themselves as neutral conduits, not responsible for policing the content that users post or swap, and would just as soon not have anyone press the issue.
With all defendants planning to appeal and a long litigation road ahead, reaction from the entertainment industry was one of tempered satisfaction. “The trial of the operators of The Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community,” said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. “Today’s verdict is the right outcome on all three counts. The court has also handed down a strong deterrent sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed. This is good news for everyone, in Sweden and internationally, who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will protected by law.” From the other side, Magnus Eriksson, co-founder of the group that spawned The Pirate Bay, scoffed at the industry’s calculations of piracy-related losses and said it was fighting a losing battle: “Piracy does not have a head that you can cut off, and The Pirate Bay is just a technology allowing communication, a part of the Internet infrastructure.” Forrester analyst Mark Mulligan said the verdict may not put a dent in the trade, but it was still good PR for the industry. “There’s a lot of value out of it, even though its value is not going to be a meaningful reduction in file sharing,” he said. “They have to be seen to be doing something, in the same way that customs fights drug trafficking — as a deterrent.”
The defendants themselves accepted the verdict with their customary insouciance. Through Twitter posts. Sunde reassured supporters: “Stay calm — Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing whatsoever. This is just a theater for the media.” He also revealed that the verdict had suffered the same fate as some popular films: “According to leaked information from the court we lost (got the news last night). Trustworthy source as well. … Really, it’s a bit LOL. It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release.” Less amused may be Internet service providers and search engines like Google, who so far have positioned themselves as neutral conduits, not responsible for policing the content that users post or swap, and would just as soon not have anyone press the issue.
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