Matt Berger

Support for Bluetooth will pave the way for Windows CE-powered computing devices to communicate with a variety of other wireless devices, according to Microsoft.

Thursday marks a pivotal point in the history of Microsoft Corp., when the world's largest software maker officially launches Windows XP at a string of high-profile events around the world and Windows expands its reach from the desktop to the Internet.

Microsoft Corp.'s vision of distributed computing, a wide-reaching computing effort called .Net that will allow users to access data on a variety of Internet-connected devices, is nothing without the tools to build it.

Programmers are increasing the time they spend developing for the Internet and building Web services, according to a study released Monday.

When Greg Milliken, vice president of marketing at Richardson, Tex.-based Alibre Inc., signs onto his company's Web-based design software, he can also check his Hotmail account, send instant messages over Windows Messenger and visit various password-protected Web sites without having to reenter his login and password.

Programmers are increasing the time they spend developing for the Internet and building Web services, according to a study released by Evans Data Corp.

More desktop and notebook computers sporting Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system hit the market Friday from a pair of PC makers, less than two weeks before the operating system is set for its official launch.

Microsoft Corp. released a tool kit Monday that enables users of Exchange 2000 server software to build and access Web services as the company continues to further integrate its .Net initiative into its product line.