Microsoft and Google are among technology companies backing the ‘Next Generations Skills’ campaign which launches today in a bid to get computer science onto the curriculum in UK schools. The technology giants are calling on the Government to make changes to the education system to provide better IT skills.

Peter Barron, director of external relations at Google EMEA, said: “Google is a company built on, and still driven by, engineering. As we see increasing potential for growth in the creative, digital and hi-tech industries, we need to ensure that we are equipping the next generation with the skills they need to keep Britain at the cutting edge of technological and scientific innovation.” In August, Google chairman Eric Schmidt criticised primary and secondary education system in the UK, saying that it would “hold back” the country’s agenda to boost the economy through growth in digital media.

Steve Beswick, director of education for Microsoft UK, said: “Microsoft strongly supports the introduction of computer science as a rigorous school subject at every level from primary onwards. We need a step change that re-establishes computer science as a high-status school subject, valuable both educationally and economically.”

 Ed Vaizey, minister for culture, communications and creative industries, has said earlier this month that the internet economy will contribute to 10% of UK GDP by 2015.

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has launched Lumia 800 and Lumia 710- two new smartphones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. It marks the beginning of Nokia’s fightback against Apple’s iPhone and competitors using Google’s Android software. Nokia’s CEO said that the launched marked the “rebirth” of Nokia.

The flagship Lumia 800 (codenamed “Sea Ray”) gets the bold look of N9 while the Lumia 710 (aka “Sabre”) is the budget Nokia wit the the same perks as 800. The Lumia 800 is priced at 420 Euro, while the Lumia 710 is much more affordable at 270 Euro. To distinguish itself from other Windows phone makers Nokia is betting on  a range of services. Lumia 800 and 710 users will get to enjoy free apps and services out-of-box: the voice assisted navigational service Nokia Drive, Nokia Music’s MixRadio streaming app to discover local music around the world, and the ESPN Sports Hub for the latest news. Both phones will also include 25 GB of free SkyDrive cloud-based storage from Windows.

Software giant Microsoft has been struggling for years to break into the mobile phone market. The Lumia launch, with 35 network operators, will be accompanied by a campaign called “The Amazing Everyday” involving viral marketing stunts. Microsoft is reportedly supporting both Nokia with tens of millions of dollars to advertise new Windows Phones in the market.

Microsoft has come under fire after it turned out that Bill Gates’ firm paid £1m to silence Natalie Ayres, a female executive who was unfairly overlooked for the UK managing director role.

Natalie Ayes served Microsoft for 15 years, rising to become general manager of software giant’s Small-Medium Enterprises and Partners Group. Ayes was tipped to success Alistair Baker as Microsoft UK managing director in the summer of 2006. Instead the job was handed to Gordon Frazer, a general manager at Microsoft South Africa, allegedly before Natalie Ayres had completed the interview process. She then left the company with a ‘compromise agreement’ that ran into seven figures, sources at Microsoft revealed.

Mr Frazer, who succeeded Alistair Baker as MD of Microsoft UK, said at the time that Microsoft would miss her ‘dedication and intelligence’ but respected her ‘personal decision to move on’. Mrs Ayres’ departure was said to have angered the firm’s employees who felt that management stopped women from reaching more senior jobs. ‘It’s a boys’ club, the only way to progress beyond a certain point is to become a male in female clothing. They management do not follow procedure enough and if your face doesn’t fit, you suffer,’ said a source.

Mrs Ayres has said in the past that Microsoft was a good company was a good place for women to work: ‘Women can be more susceptible to self-doubt, but I’ve always found a natural place at the table for me at Microsoft at every level.’ A spokesman for Microsoft said: ‘As is standard practice for any responsible company, Microsoft does not comment about individual employees – current or former.  However, Microsoft places great importance on our core values of diversity and inclusion which is just one of many reasons why we are consistently ranked as one of the top 50 best workplaces in the UK.’

Microsoft announced that it s going to buy Skype for 8.5 billion US dollars (£5bn) and it is going to be the biggest takeover deal in giant’s history. As soon as the information appeared, it sparked mixed opinions and speculation. The question is whether the Microsoft has made the right move and if Skype is really worth $8.5 bn?

Skype was founded in 2003 by Nikklas Zennströms from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark. The Skype software was developed by three Estonians- Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu an Jaan Tallinn, people who were also behind famous peer-to-peer file sharing software Kazaa. On October 2005 Skype was purchased by eBay for $2.6 billion. In 2009 eBay announced the sell 70 per cent of Skype to Silver Lake Partners for approximately $2billion, valuing entire business at $2.75 billion.

Last year, Skype had revenue of $860 million, with an operating profit of $264 million. Overall, Skype made a loss of  $7 million and had a long-term debt of $686 million.

There have been reports that Facebook and Google were interested in partnering with or even buying Skype, for the price around $3-4 billion. Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase price is a huge premium over other deals. Skype’s purchase would be Microsoft’s biggest to date.

Many believe that Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer highly overpaid for Skype acquisition. The question is why Microsoft decided to buy a business that has changed owners so many times and never made money and on top of it has a substantial debt. The price tag is three times what Skype fetched 18 months ago. Ballmer defended the purchase in an interview, saying that it will make Microsoft “more ambitious, do more things”. Microsoft explains that they want to reach professional users.

Microsoft has already developed a software that is considered to overlap with Skype. Windows Live Messenger has around 330 million active users each month and offers free instant messaging and voice- and video chat. Microsoft also has an equivalent corporate-oriented communicator, Lync 2010, allowing the companies to create private networks.

Skype has around 700 million users and 124 million active users each month, its features are broadly similar to those found ion Windows Live Messenger. Although the Skype user base is significantly smaller than Windows Messenger’s one, it has one big advantage- about 8 million users pay for the service. Skype integrates telephone connectivity and is able to make inbound and outbound calls and those are paid services, its online services are all for free.

The Skype telephony infrastructure would be a valuable addition to Windows Live Messenger/Lync platform. Its functionality could also be deployed in Windows Phones, revolutionising the mobile phones market. However, the purchase price is phenomenal and many believe that Microsoft could build equivalent telephony infrastructure for much less. According to Peter Bright from Ars Technica, even the access to paying customers doesn’t justify the $8.5 billion deal, “The terms of the deal mean that for each Skype customer, Microsoft is paying about $1,000. And on average, those customers are worth a profit of about $30, presuming most of Skype’s income comes from subscriptions and call charges. That’s a huge disparity,” said Bright.

It is also believed that Microsoft bought Skype just to keep it out of reach of Google and Facebook. Skype technology and user base may not be worth $8.5 billion, but time will reveal whether it was a good move from strategic point of view and whether Microsoft will gain a competitive advantage.

Microsoft has changed the rules.

As I am sure you know it used to be the case that licensing for Microsoft Exchange was based on the number of outgoing mail boxes you had within the business.  What I mean by this is that firstname.surname@managednetworks.co.uk needs an Exchange CAL as does info@managednetworks.co.uk – if you want to send emails from info@.

For Microsoft Exchange 2010 this is no longer the case.

If you use a lot of generic email addresses and wish to reply from them, you only need to provide CALs for the number of users you have.  This does not mean that the 3^rd party software vendors have followed the same model. Sophos for instance is licenced on the basis of highest number of user or workstation/server or email user i.e. 40 users, 42 workstations, 4 servers with 75 outbound email addresses will need a 75 user license to be compliant. GFi works exclusively on unique out bound email addresses, the preceding example would require 75 licenses.

Another change is that Microsoft Exchange 2010 no longer provides an Outlook Licence as part of the User CAL.  You will need to buy an extra license, either separately or as part of Microsoft Office.

I hope this helps your licensing calculations

Earlier this month at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, held at Washington, USA, two new ‘preview releases’ were announced, which will shortly be made available by download, for its Windows Small Business Server (SBS) product suite. Code-named “SBS 7″ and “SBS Aurora”, respectively, the releases, are aimed principally to serve the Proactive IT service needs of SMEs and smaller organisations.

Essentially an upgrade of all its former components, the SBS 7 is designed to support employees needing “file-and-print, email and Internet services at companies with up to 75 users. Planned inclusions are “Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 SP1, SharePoint 2010 Foundation, Windows Server Update Services 3.0 and SQL Server 2008 R2.

The second release, SBS Aurora will be good news indeed for businesses operating with less than 25 staff but who require remote data access. Capable of delivering both traditional and cloud capabilities, it is being highlighted as a “first server” option for small businesses, and will also feature automatic backup and restore capabilities as well as enabling file and print sharing.

Microsoft Gold Certified Partners and IT support specialists for SMEs will be ideally placed to give an authoritative first review. Small business owners and IT Managers will almost certainly wish to obtain advice and insight, in the form of an IT Audit, into their options for their remote access working needs at their most cost effective.

Windows Small Business Server (SBS) is technically not an ‘edition’ of the Windows Server operating system but an integrated server suite, designed for running intranet management and Internet access for a small and medium enterprise network operating no more than 75 PC terminals.

Providing vital management benefits such as integrated setup, enhanced monitoring, a unified management console, and remote access, the application servers are seamlessly integrated to enable small businesses to operate a fully remote access workplace.

Even smaller SMEs who require less than a maximum possible of 10 users, can enjoy the benefits, albeit limited, of a Windows Home Server, code-named “Vail,” introduced Spring 2010. Unlike SBS Aurora, the Windows Home Server Vail beta version, currently lacks printer support and is without terminal server support for remote access.