Microsoft launches server system
Microsoft Corp. launched a new version of its server operating system with fanfare Wednesday, but analysts said Windows Server 2008 is an incremental update rather than a leap forward.
At a Los Angeles event that opened with a speech by former news anchor Tom Brokaw, Microsoft also unveiled a new edition of Visual Studio 2008, used by computer programmers to create desktop and Web applications. The event also promoted a third program, Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 database system, which won’t be available until the third quarter of this year.
The three franchises are part of Microsoft’s lucrative server and tools division, which brought in $3.28 billion in revenue in the three months that ended Dec. 31, 2007 – a fifth of the company’s total revenue in the period.
Notably absent from the server launch was a final version of “Hyper-V,” a software layer that allows information technology people to turn a single-server computer into many virtual machines. While a beta version is available, Microsoft has said that component won’t be complete for six months, even as chief executive Steve Ballmer touted virtualization as one of the key trends addressed by Microsoft’s new generation of programs.
•Chrysler LLC lost about $2.7 billion in the two months after Daimler AG sold controlling interest in the U.S. automaker to a New York private equity firm, Daimler said in its annual report Wednesday.
The figure, for the period from Aug. 4, 2007, to Sept. 30, was calculated under international financial reporting standards used in Europe and not under U.S. accounting standards, Daimler said.
The net loss also includes about $466 million in expenses incurred in the fourth quarter of last year, including Chrysler restructuring costs and costs related to a new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers, Daimler said in its report, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Daimler reported that for the full year in 2007, Chrysler lost 870 million euros, or roughly $1.2 billion.
•Jewelry retailer Zale Corp. announced Wednesday that it would close stores and cut 20 percent of its headquarters staff to save more than $65 million a year.
The company said it would close 23 stores, bringing to 105 the number it expects to shutter by the end of July. That would leave about 2,145 stores and kiosks under several brands including Zales Jewelers and Piercing Pagoda.
Zale added that it would lay off 140 people and eliminate 85 unfilled positions at its headquarters in suburban Dallas.