Microsoft

A mix of dwindling profits and fussy consumers is causing Microsoft Corp. to take extra precautions when planning the release of their forthcoming Windows 7 operating system. The current economic meltdown presents a dual challenge for Microsoft: on ... one hand, the company knows that consumers are likely to flock towards the less expensive netbook computer models that offer only the most essential features. When the consumer opens their new netbook computer for the first time, Microsoft wants to ensure that one of their operating systems is running on it. On the other hand, Microsoft wants to ... (view more)

Apple recently made its first public comment on ads from Microsoft depicting shoppers that reject Mac computers in favor of PCs . Surprisingly, Apple agrees with some of the ads' conclusions. Bill Evans, a spokesman for the company, told ... BusinessWeek that "The one thing that both Apple and Microsoft can agree on is that everyone thinks the Mac is cool." However, he rejects the implication that PCs are better value, arguing "A PC is no bargain when it doesn't do what you want." (Source: businessweek.com ) The PC Price Is Right The Microsoft campaign involves 'ordinary shoppers' who are tasked ... (view more)

The next edition of Microsoft's Office software will include an online version which doesn't need to be installed on computers. It's a clear rival to other cloud services , such as Google Docs. There aren't many official details available on the ... online version yet, but it appears the system will work on several browsers: not just Internet Explorer but also Firefox, Safari and the iPhone browser. Users who want to do more than simply edit a simple document at once will likely have to install Silverlight, Microsoft's take on Adobe's Flash. This will allow users to upload and collaborate on ... (view more)

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday came and went yesterday, bringing 23 fixes for a number of issues with its popular Office programs Excel and Word. At least several of these have been marked critical and most users should certainly consider the download. ... (Source: theregister.co.uk ) The most critical of the patches fixes an Excel flaw that could potentially allow a hacker to take remote control of an unpatched system. If an unprotected user opens a malicious and specially crafted Excel file, they could find their computer controlled by someone else effectively exploiting something called an ... (view more)

Microsoft plans to start pushing its Internet Explorer 8 ( IE 8 ) browser to consumers who have Windows Automatic-Update feature turned on. Last month, Microsoft released IE 8 for download and said it planned to start notifying users of IE 6 or IE 7 ... on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 through Automatic Update beginning on or about the third week of April this year. It's worth noting that new versions of software are inevitably buggy and prone to incompatibility problems with other software that has not been discovered and/or documented. Therefore it is not ... (view more)

Microsoft may end up needing to keep Windows XP -- support for which has recently ended -- around a little longer. According to a recent study, the vast majority of corporate IT departments won't think about implementing Windows 7 until at least ... 2011. Despite early enthusiasm for Windows 7 by beta testers, a new survey reveals that 83% of responding IT professionals have no plans to upgrade their existing Windows systems to Windows 7 in the next year. (Source: zdnet.com ) Additionally, 42% said their organizations plan to deploy Windows 7 within 12 to 24 months of its release, 24% plan to ... (view more)

Recognizing how profitable the concept could be, Microsoft recently planned to build a pub right in the center of their Redmond campus. The idea: happy employees work hard throughout the day, unwind at the Microsoft-owned pub at night, and come to ... work happy again the next day. The reasoning: ask any number of people what is the best way to relax after a hard day at work -- and you'll probably get an answer that suggests kicking back with a few "adult" refreshments is a great idea. That said, it came as a shock when Microsoft decided to call off all plans to have a pub on their main campus ... (view more)

Microsoft has cut the price of Windows by almost 80% for the special netbook edition. However, the price is for manufacturers, meaning consumers won't necessarily see all of the savings. Until now, computer makers normally had to pay around $70 to ... include Windows on their machines. Microsoft has now started offering Windows for just $15 to firms making netbooks. Of course, there's no guarantee manufacturers will pass all of those savings on; depending on how competitive the market is, they may attempt to keep back some of the $55 reduction for themselves. Microsoft feels the price cut is ... (view more)

A federal court has fined Microsoft $388 million for breaching the copyright of a rival software company. Ironically, the firm concerned was a producer of anti-piracy products. The court found Microsoft breached a patent belonging to Uniloc and ... involved the copy protection used on Windows XP and some parts of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft had not licensed the technology used in the activation process by which a product can be installed repeatedly on a single machine but can't be shared with other people or copied to another computer. Award Among All-Time Highs The sum is believed to ... (view more)

In a recent Security Intelligence Report, Microsoft revealed that scareware threats are steadily climbing. The report, which covers the second half of 2008, finds that fake security software is becoming more and more prevalent as people head online ... in greater numbers. Scareware isn't your traditional malicious software. It's not simply a virus or malware, but can lead to those kinds of infections. Instead, scareware is a more sinister kind of threat -- it pretends to be security software willing and able to "repair and protect" a user's system, but is in fact just a farce. Most ... (view more)