The reports misstated Microsoft group product manager Scott Woodgate's comments about the company's upcoming RFID software working on - and not in - Windows, said Steven Martin, a Microsoft group product manager who works with Woodgate. While Microsoft's RFID software is being developed for a Windows environment, it would be distributed either as a stand-alone product or as an application for independent software vendors to embed into their own platforms, Martin said. After outlining its RFID software intentions last month, Microsoft has begun sharing early versions of its software with customers and ISVs in closed trials, as part of its technology adopter program, he said. Later this year, this company expects to launch beta trials and have product to market during the first half of 2006, according to Martin. Specifically, Microsoft is working on Windows and SQL Server software that could simplify the transference of data from RFID tags into databases, and make the data accessible to the enterprise. Built on the .NET framework, Microsoft's RFID software may capture, interpret and manage data from sensors. The software would include an event management layer with a business rules engine, to enable context- or rules-based processing on RFID data, which would directly dovetail into enterprise applications or processors through web services integration.