Advertisement (Why?)
Microsoft has signed two agreements intended to deepen the company's ties with the Chinese government, even as the country's officials embark on programs meant to entrench rival open-source systems within the state infrastructure.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, was in Bejing on Thursday to sign a deal that will partner the software giant with the state-owned China National Computer Software & Technology Service (CS&S), the country's largest domestic software development and systems integration firm. The two companies are set to co-develop products based on Microsoft's .Net and Office System platforms. Another focus of the agreement is IT training, with plans for the companies to jointly train 200 CS&S developers and 120 IT architects within one year, according to a press statement from Microsoft. "CS&S will not only strive in its current position as the largest IT solutions and service provider in China, but to be one of the top IT outsourcing companies in the world," said Tang Min, president of CS&S.
Microsoft and CS&S have jointly developed security products based on the Chinese versions of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In February, the government-run China Information Technology Security Certification Center signed an agreement with Microsoft to participate in the company's Government Security Program. In September, CS&S signed a source code agreement with the IT security center and Microsoft, and it will have controlled access to Windows source code. Separately, Ballmer signed an agreement under which Microsoft will contribute $10 million to bring IT services to primary schools, especially those in poorer, more remote parts of the country. Microsoft China will partner with the Ministry of Education to upgrade teachers' IT training and support activities, the company said.
News source: C|net
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, was in Bejing on Thursday to sign a deal that will partner the software giant with the state-owned China National Computer Software & Technology Service (CS&S), the country's largest domestic software development and systems integration firm. The two companies are set to co-develop products based on Microsoft's .Net and Office System platforms. Another focus of the agreement is IT training, with plans for the companies to jointly train 200 CS&S developers and 120 IT architects within one year, according to a press statement from Microsoft. "CS&S will not only strive in its current position as the largest IT solutions and service provider in China, but to be one of the top IT outsourcing companies in the world," said Tang Min, president of CS&S.
Microsoft and CS&S have jointly developed security products based on the Chinese versions of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In February, the government-run China Information Technology Security Certification Center signed an agreement with Microsoft to participate in the company's Government Security Program. In September, CS&S signed a source code agreement with the IT security center and Microsoft, and it will have controlled access to Windows source code. Separately, Ballmer signed an agreement under which Microsoft will contribute $10 million to bring IT services to primary schools, especially those in poorer, more remote parts of the country. Microsoft China will partner with the Ministry of Education to upgrade teachers' IT training and support activities, the company said.
News source: C|net
Changes:
- feature: implemented ringtone manager
- feature: implemented 'block user' feature
- feature: "delete" key works in address bar dropdown
- feature: friends list hints show username and Fullname
- feature: improved voice quality and call setup
- feature: added check for audio hardware presence on startup
- feature: added application-wide hotkeys and keyboard tab under options
- feature: "Esc","N" and "H" act like the hangup button on the calltab, "Y" and "A" act like the green button on the calltab if there is an incoming call
- feature: "F1" key anywhere in main window opens the help url
- feature: autocompletion in send contacts form
- feature: users can set global hotkeys for using main features of Skype under options
- feature: added view text message history items to Friends List and call-log context (right-click) menus
- change: faster online presence updates
- change: new Estonian language file
- change: new English language file
- change: calltab context menu (right-click) has mute/unmute item
- change: picking up usbphone focuses Friends List tab now
- change: space key is disabled on call tab (some users were inadvertently answering calls)
- change: call and search results tabs can be closed with Ctrl-F4
- change: some minor changes in Dutch translation
- bugfix: echo cancellation is enabled even when little echo is detected (fixes version 0.94 echo problem)
- bugfix: confirm dialogs are unicode enabled now
- bugfix: usbphone support - several bugfixes, more error handling
- bugfix: fixed problem with detection of multi line hyperlinks
- bugfix: sound streams are now always correctly closed after they are played
- bugfix: friend is now marked as offline when message or call fails with "user not online" message.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.