http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:08:34 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/25514/Trustworthy_Computing_Memo_Marked_Microsoft_s_Turning_Point/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25514/Trustworthy_Computing_Memo_Marked_Microsoft_s_Turning_Point/ "Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of Bill Gates's trustworthy computing memo, which made securing applications from the ground up a key priority at Microsoft for the first time. The directive followed a period during which Redmond took a sustained shelling over the instability and insecurity of its software, especially in Internet Explorer and Outlook, highlighted by the damage caused by high-profile malware outbreaks such as the rampaging Love Bug, Melissa and Nimda nasties." Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:45:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Microsoft 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News lucas_maximus http://www.osnews.com/story/25333/Microsoft_s_Social_Network_Unveiled_Socl/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25333/Microsoft_s_Social_Network_Unveiled_Socl/ OSNews writing about social networks? Yes, it happens, and today is one of those days. We all know Facebook is king here, with a massive userbase and a seemingly unbreakable hold over the market, with Twitter covering the more public side of social networking. Google does some stuff in a fringe somewhere with something called Google+ which tries to combine Facebook and Twitter, but it's effectively a ghost town with a confusing interface. So, if you're Microsoft, what are you going to do? Well, build your own social network, of course! Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:11:57 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 36 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25285/The_Inside_Story_of_How_Microsoft_Killed_its_Courier_Tablet/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25285/The_Inside_Story_of_How_Microsoft_Killed_its_Courier_Tablet/ "Steve Ballmer had a dilemma. He had two groups at Microsoft pursuing competing visions for tablet computers. One group, led by Xbox godfather J Allard, was pushing for a sleek, two-screen tablet called the Courier that users controlled with their finger or a pen. But it had a problem: it was running a modified version of Windows. That ran headlong into the vision of tablet computing laid out by Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft's Windows division. Sinofsky was wary of any product - let alone one from inside Microsoft's walls - that threatened the foundation of Microsoft's flagship operating system. But Sinofsky's tablet-friendly version of Windows was more than two years away." I'm still mad at Microsoft for this one. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:55:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 45 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25253/Microsoft_Praises_Its_Own_Patent_Troll_Behaviour/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25253/Microsoft_Praises_Its_Own_Patent_Troll_Behaviour/ I'll just link to this. Microsoft chest-thumping about being a patent troll. Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:47:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 66 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25080/Microsoft_Patent_Covers_Streaming_OS_Plans/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25080/Microsoft_Patent_Covers_Streaming_OS_Plans/ Though the patent has only surfaced now, Microsoft has been working on this concept for quite some time. As far back as 2009 similar systems have been discussed on various Microsoft blogs. There was also the Midori OS project that had bloggers buzzing about its post-Windows potential and integration with Microsoft's cloud platform, Azure. Steve Ballmer himself has called Windows 8 Microsoft's riskiest bet yet -- could this streaming tech make make an appearance in the upcoming OS? Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:51:56 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Microsoft 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25058/Microsoft_Downgrades_Linux_To_Threat_Level_Green/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25058/Microsoft_Downgrades_Linux_To_Threat_Level_Green/ Microsoft no longer thinks Linux poses a threat to its desktop Windows business. Directions on Microsoft's Wes Miller pointed out via Twitter how Microsoft has changed the boilerplate "Competition" section in its last two annual financial filings with the SEC. Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:50:02 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Microsoft 57 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24978/Microsoft_Posts_Record_Quarterly_Results/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24978/Microsoft_Posts_Record_Quarterly_Results/ "Microsoft Corp. today announced record fourth-quarter revenue of $17.37 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, an 8% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $6.17 billion, $5.87 billion, and $0.69 per share, which represented increases of 4%, 30%, and 35%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, Microsoft reported record revenue of $69.94 billion, a 12% increase from the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the year were $27.16 billion, $23.15 billion, and $2.69, which represented increases of 13%, 23%, and 28%, respectively, when compared with the prior year." Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:24:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 10 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24948/Why_Microsoft_s_Cloud_Bribes_Are_the_Right_Idea/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24948/Why_Microsoft_s_Cloud_Bribes_Are_the_Right_Idea/ "InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard uncovered the fact that Microsoft is paying some organizations to adopt its Office 365 cloud service, mostly in funds that Microsoft earmarks for their customers' migration costs and other required consulting. Although this raised the eyebrows of some bloggers - and I'm sure Google wasn't thrilled - I think this is both smart and ethical. Here's why." Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:39:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Microsoft 12 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News Jennimc http://www.osnews.com/story/24930/Microsoft_ETH_Zurich_Publish_Barrelfish_s_Source_Code/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24930/Microsoft_ETH_Zurich_Publish_Barrelfish_s_Source_Code/ "The Microsoft and ETH Zurich research teams have published the source code of Barrelfish, a multikernel operating system for the multicore heterogeneous hardware of the future. Today's operating systems have been adapted to work on multiprocessor and multicore hardware, but they were not initially designed with multicore in mind, and they are not ready for heterogeneous hardware with hundreds of cores that is to come in the following ten years. The main problem is the concept of shared-memory and the contention arising from accessing the same data protected by locks. This is the problem that Barrelfish wants to address." Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:50:36 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 37 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News moondevil http://www.osnews.com/story/24924/Microsoft_Demands_15_for_Every_Samsung_Android_Phone_Sold/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24924/Microsoft_Demands_15_for_Every_Samsung_Android_Phone_Sold/ Well, paint me red and call me a girl scout, I totally did not see this one coming at all. This is so utterly surprising it made my brain explode. Hold on to your panties, because this will rock your world. After pressuring several smaller Android vendors into submission (and yes, HTC is still relatively small compared to other players), Microsoft is now moving on to the big one: Redmond is demanding $15 for every Samsung Android device sold. Samsung's choices are simple: pay up, or face another epic lawsuit. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:00:39 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 178 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24923/Microsoft_s_Extortion_Campaign_Against_Android_ChromeOS/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24923/Microsoft_s_Extortion_Campaign_Against_Android_ChromeOS/ "One of Microsoft's hottest new profit centers is a smartphone platform you've definitely heard of: Android. Google's Linux-based mobile operating system is a favorite target for Microsoft's patent attorneys, who are suing numerous Android vendors and just today announced that another manufacturer has agreed to write checks to Microsoft every time it ships an Android device. Microsoft's latest target is Wistron Corp., which has signed a patent agreement 'that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for Wistron's tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome platform', Microsoft announced." That's the reality we live in, folks. This is at least as criminal - if not more so - than Microsoft's monopoly abuse late last century. After the Nortel crap, it's completely left the black helicopter camp for me: Microsoft, Apple, and several others are working together to fight Android the only way they know how: with underhand mafia tactics. Absolutely sickening. Hey Anonymous, are you listening? YES I WENT THERE. Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:12:14 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 158 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24918/Microsoft_to_Partner_with_China_s_Leading_Search_Engine/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24918/Microsoft_to_Partner_with_China_s_Leading_Search_Engine/ "A year and a half after Google pulled its popular search engine out of mainland China, partly over concerns about censorship, its rival Microsoft has struck a deal with the biggest Chinese search engine, Baidu.com, to offer Web search services in English. Baidu, previously primarily a Chinese-language search engine, made the announcement Monday afternoon, saying Microsoft's search engine, Bing, was expected to appear on Baidu's Web pages by the end of this year." Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:18:19 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24824/Microsoft_Has_Acquisition_Deal_with_Nvidia/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24824/Microsoft_Has_Acquisition_Deal_with_Nvidia/ "Microsoft and Nvidia have an agreement in place that spells out terms relating to a possible acquisition of the graphics and mobile processor manufacturer, regulatory documents indicate. The deal gives Microsoft the exclusive right to match any offer for 30% or more of Nvidia's outstanding shares by a third-party." The agreement appears to be over 10 years old, dating back to the time of the contract for the GPU of the original X-Box. It has likely gained relevance again now that Microsoft allegedly wants to more closely control hardware of tablets running its upcoming Windows 8 OS. Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:25:20 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Microsoft 30 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News timl http://www.osnews.com/story/24800/Microsoft_Earns_More_from_Android_than_Windows_Phone_7/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24800/Microsoft_Earns_More_from_Android_than_Windows_Phone_7/ It turns out that a lot of people haven't been paying attention. Over the weekend, a story about how Microsoft is earning more from HTC's Android devices than from its own Windows Phone 7 sales spread all across the web, with surprised reactions everywhere. Anyone who has been paying attention to Microsoft's recent patent trolling regarding Android could've seen this coming. Sun, 29 May 2011 21:29:21 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Microsoft 79 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News teigetje http://www.osnews.com/story/24731/The_Ballmer_Days_Are_Over/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24731/The_Ballmer_Days_Are_Over/ In business school the first thing they teach you about CEOs is: it is the CEO’s job to increase the shareholder value of the company. Since taking the position Ballmer has decreased shareholder value, as reflected by stock price, by -56.63%. That. Is. Not. Good . . . Microsoft should be searching for a new CEO right now. Fri, 13 May 2011 04:54:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Microsoft 73 http://www.osnews.com/topics/23 News