REDMOND, Wash. and MENLO PARK, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. and Facebook announced today a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will assign to Facebook the right to purchase a portion of the patent portfolio it recently agreed to acquire from AOL Inc. Facebook has agreed to purchase this portion for $550 million in cash.

In the initial AOL auction, Microsoft secured the ability to own or assign approximately 925 U.S. patents and patent applications plus a license to AOL’s remaining patent portfolio, which contains approximately 300 additional patents that were not for sale. As a result of today’s agreement, Facebook will obtain ownership of approximately 650 AOL patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft will purchase and own.

Upon closing of this transaction with Facebook, Microsoft will retain ownership of approximately 275 AOL patents and applications; a license to the approximately 650 AOL patents and applications that will now be owned by Facebook; and a license to approximately 300 patents that AOL did not sell in its auction.

“Today’s agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction,” said Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel, Microsoft. “As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.”

“Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” said Ted Ullyot, general counsel, Facebook. “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.” The parties are evaluating the accounting treatment for these transactions. These transactions are also subject to customary closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

About Facebook Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

KUALA LUMPUR , M alaysia — April 22, 2012 — MACROKIOSK, a mobile technology enabler for enterprises, today announced its deployment of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. The Malaysia-based company made the upgrade to improve performance of its relational database system and to position itself for continued business growth through enabling mobile technologies for enterprises.

Since opening its doors in 2000, MACROKIOSK has established relationships with global mobile operators and grown its etracker (Global Mobile Messaging Network) connectivity coverage to more than 2 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. With the move to SQL Server 2008 R2, MACROKIOSK will benefit from more effective tools for managing large amounts of data and providing customers with the most optimal services.

MACROKIOSK currently serves more than 2,000 clients in more than 37 countries and in 18 industries, including aviation, automotive, medical, hospitality, entertainment, banking and finance, telecommunications, and transportation and logistics. Through etracker, MACROKIOSK offers premium and bidirectional bulk messaging services that serve as the platform for end-user experiences, such as mobile banking transaction alerts, mobile airline flight booking and many other comprehensive mobile services.

“MACROKIOSK is a multicountry mobile technology enabler, and we constantly look for new opportunities for growth — whether through greater internal efficiency or expanded services for our customers,” said Joanna Hew, chief technology officer at MACROKIOSK. “We’ve been very pleased to see the breadth of features and tools in SQL Server 2008 R2, which have enabled our customers to get more done and positioned us to be more responsive to changes in the market.”

Employees and Customers Reap the Benefits

MACROKIOSK worked with Microsoft Premier Support to devise a migration plan and identify any known issues. Consequently, MACROKIOSK was able to complete the migration from SQL Server 2005 in just four hours. Since that time, MACROKIOSK has seen an increase in productivity and operational efficiency:

• Improved performance and availability. The Table Partitioning feature in SQL Server 2008 R2 has enabled MACROKIOSK to split each database table across multiple physical devices, increasing query execution speeds by up to 100 percent. And with a combination of Data Mirroring and a failover configuration, MACROKIOSK improved the availability of its databases.

• Reduced hardware requirements. SQL Server 2008 R2 performed fast backups, while producing compressed backup files that were smaller. MACROKIOSK currently manages about 3.8 terabytes of data and has up to 200 users querying this data simultaneously. The size of uncompressed in-production data remains the same, but the company has seen a 50 percent reduction in the size of compressed backup database files.

• Easier administration. The combination of an improved user interface, enhanced management tools and simpler maintenance procedures help database administrators increase productivity and efficiency. For example, IntelliSense is an auto-suggest/auto-complete feature that assists administrators when entering commands. And Data Collector identifies tables that are sluggish and offers configuration recommendations to improve their performance.

The enhanced database management features in SQL Server 2008 R2 have also improved the user experience for MACROKIOSK customers, many of whom must download data from the company’s servers to create a report. Features such as Table Partitioning have led to a noticeable reduction in how long it takes for customers to generate these reports.

More information about MACROKIOSK’s use of SQL Server 2008 R2 is available in the case study and the Microsoft Customer News Center.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — April 23, 2012 — The County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland, in collaboration with the European Refugee Fund, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Swedish Migration Board, the Swedish Public Employment Service, several local Swedish governments and IKEA, recently implemented Microsoft SharePoint 2010 as a first step in creating an integrated Web portal to give refugees access to information and resources, in five different native languages, for establishing themselves in Sweden.

“With the SharePoint deployment, our aim is to promote broader inclusion and democracy in our society as part of the overarching EU Digital Agenda,” said Kirsten Brogaard, process leader, County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland. “The goal of the agenda is to ensure all people in Europe experience the benefits of technology, and that technology is leveraged in such a way to ensure those most often marginalized or disenfranchised in society are included.”

In Sweden, there are 290 local governments, as well as 21 county administrative boards and the national government. Inevitably, this creates challenges both for the public looking to access services, as well as for the civil servants seeking the information they need to do their jobs. Refugees in particular must often work with multiple government agencies to set up life in Sweden. This can include finding a job, applying for permits, accessing benefits and applying for asylum. The portal has been designed as a one-stop shop for all the information a citizen or potential new citizen of the country could need. The benefit is twofold: Refugees gain access to an improved and centralized source of information, and civil servants have a better work experience, with greater collaboration and increased effectiveness.

After the portal went live in early February, the board now plans to introduce Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Lync to support upcoming summer activities and events, as well as improve collaboration between government agencies and help refugees communicate with Swedish government representatives.

“The establishment process for incoming refugees is a long one that can be fraught with challenges,” said Crister Molander, industry market development manager, SE-Central Government, Microsoft Corp. “To propel the EU Digital Agenda forward, this project focuses on how cross-collaboration between national, regional and local governments, together with nongovernmental organizations and businesses, improves an individual’s chances for a more seamless implementation of his or her new life.”

More information about Microsoft customer success stories can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/customerspotlight. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

DA-SOFT Technologies announces the immediate availability of "AnyDAC for Delphi" Spring 2012, v 5.0.7.2333.

Version Highlights

• Delphi XE2 and Mac OS X support;
• FPC 2.6.0 / Lazarus 0.9.30.4 and Windows x86/x64, Linux 86/x64 and Mac OS X support;
• UpdateOptions.UpdateJoinedFields and TADMapRule.NameMask added;
• auto-inc fields improvements;
• SQLite v 3.7.11 support;
• SQLite native Array DML support;
• SQL Server 2012 support;
• Advantage DB TADADSUtility service component;
• Advantage DB support for aliases;
• major documentation update;
• many driver and addon improvements. And more.

Please, check the detailed change log at http://www.da-soft.com/anydac/anydac-for-delphi-v-5.0.7.2333-released.html

AnyDAC for Delphi

AnyDAC is an unique set of Universal Data Access Components for developing applications on Delphi, C++Builder and Free Pascal. With its powerful common architecture AnyDAC enables native high-speed direct access to PostgreSQL, Firebird, SQLite, MySQL, MS SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, SQL Anywhere, MS Access, Informix, Advantage Database and more. For complete list of features and availability, please check:

• AnyDAC home - http://www.da-soft.com/anydac/
• AnyDAC shop - http://www.da-soft.com/anydac/order.html
• AnyDAC trial - http://www.da-soft.com/anydac/download.html

AnyDAC Core Features

• Native access to PostgreSQL, Firebird, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite, DB2, InterBase, SQL Anywhere, Informix, Advantage Database and more. Including latest DBMS versions.
• Generic access to any database supported through dbExpress or ODBC data sources.
• Optimized for best possible performance. 2 times faster than dbGo, 25% faster than dbExpress.
• Reach API with 50 Delphi VCL components, including TADConnection, TADTransaction, TADQuery, TADStoredProc, TADTable, TADMemTable.
• Unified API for cross-database access, including unified data type mapping, SQL dialect abstraction, connection aliases.
• First-class support for many database-specific features, including backup, restore, validation, SQL scripting.
• Advanced Data Access Options, including Array DML, Live Data Window mode, full Unicode support.
• Delphi 5 to Delphi XE2, C++ Builder 5 to C++ Builder XE2, Lazarus / Free Pascal on Win32, Win64, Linux32, Linux64, Mac OS X.
• Perfect integration as back-end driver for TMS AdvGrid, RemObjects Data Abstract, Fast Report, C4D kbmMW and more.

AnyDAC Natively Supported Databases

• Workgroup - PostgreSQL, Firebird, MySQL, SQL Anywhere, Interbase, Advantage DB.
• Enterprise - Oracle, SQL Server, IBM DB2, Informix.
• Database in clouds - SQL Azure.
• Desktop - SQLite, Access, Advantage DB, BlackFish SQL, SQL CE.
• Embedded - SQLite, Firebird Embedded, MySQL Embedded, Berkeley DB.
• Bridges - dbExpress, ODBC.

-- With best regards, DA-SOFT Technologies Team