Microsoft Archive

2000-2009: Microsoft’s Decade of Shattered Dreams

Kroc 2009-12-31 Microsoft 94 Comments

BetaNews writes: "Microsoft executives and product managers -- Chairman Bill Gates, above all of them -- showed great technology vision for the new millennium. The company was right about so many trends to come but, sadly, executed poorly in bringing too many of them to market. Microsoft's stiffness, perhaps a sign of its aging leadership, consistently proved its foible. Then there is arcane organizational structure, which has swelled with needless middle managers, and the system of group competition".

Microsoft Strips Infringing Feature from Word

Thom Holwerda 2009-12-23 Microsoft 13 Comments

It seems like Microsoft is accepting the outcome of the appeal case yesterday. The company has released an update for OEMs in the United States that strips the infringing feature from the ubiquitous word processor. "The following patch is required for the United States."

2010: The End for Steve Ballmer?

Thom Holwerda 2009-12-22 Microsoft 33 Comments

With the end of the year in sight, the great list-making time has come upon us. Newsweek makes ten predictions for 2010, and at number 9, they predict the end of the road for Steve Ballmer at Microsoft. I never really thought about it that much, but if you line up Microsoft's failures over the past years, it's actually a miracle his head hasn't rolled yet.

Microsoft Merges Windows Server, Azure Divisions

Thom Holwerda 2009-12-09 Microsoft 10 Comments

"In a much anticipated move, Microsoft has created the Server & Cloud Division within the Server & Tools Business that merges the Windows Azure and the Windows Server & Solutions groups. The move shows that Azure isn't just an advanced development project for the software giant, and the company is ready to make money from it. Microsoft says its strategy is to create 'a single organization focused on delivering solutions for customers that span on-premises data centers and the cloud'. Windows Server, Windows Azure, SQL Server, SQL Azure, Visual Studio, and System Center are all part of this strategy that includes both on-premises and cloud solutions. Microsoft notes it is the only company in the industry that can offer its customers the choice to tap into a server platform, a cloud platform, or both."

Falling PC Prices Pit Microsoft Against PC Makers

Submitted by shaneco 2009-12-02 Microsoft 29 Comments

Plummeting prices of PCs are great news for consumers, but are a disaster for hardware makers. Microsoft isn't cutting them any slack with Windows pricing. Will PC price drops catch up with Microsoft in other ways?

Microsoft: Office 2010 To Ship in June 2010

Thom Holwerda 2009-11-30 Microsoft 11 Comments

"After several Web sites today claimed to having seen a possibly inadvertent notice from Microsoft claiming June as the release month for its forthcoming Office 2010 (we looked hard and couldn't find it ourselves), a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Betanews this afternoon that June is indeed the ship month."

Microsoft on Silverlight vs. Standards

Submitted by poundsmack 2009-11-24 Microsoft 143 Comments

During Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference the company's President of Server and Tools, Bob Muglia, and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie talked to a select group of reporters and bloggers about a variety of topics - including Silverlight.

Microsoft Delays Open Source Release Windows 7 Tool

Thom Holwerda 2009-11-24 Microsoft 18 Comments

Microsoft has delayed the open source release of their Windows 7 USB/DVD tool, which contained GPL code. "As you know, Microsoft recently committed to making the source code as well as binaries for the Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool available this week, under the terms of the General Public License v2 as described here. While we worked extremely hard to try and get the code ready for release by today, we still need to test and localize it. Our goal is now to release the tool in all languages on the same day in the next few weeks. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to make the Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool available once again."

Microsoft To Open C#, VB.Net Compilers

Submitted by AlexandreAM 2009-11-19 Microsoft 9 Comments

"Microsoft, which has been pursuing concurrent improvements for its Visual Basic and C# programming languages, plans to open up compilers for the languages and add capabilities for asynchronous programming and immutability. Discussed at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, the blueprint for the two languages will feature compilers as services and accommodations for multicore processors, said Luca Bolognese, program manager for the languages group at Microsoft."

Microsoft Makes Big Azure Announcements at PDC 2009

Thom Holwerda 2009-11-19 Microsoft 2 Comments

"Microsoft's Ray Ozzie significantly blew past the basic Exchange, SharePoint and SQL database hosting services with the Azure announcements at PDC 2009 yesterday. The announcements also blow right past Amazon EC2 and targets Microsoft at Google, Force.com (Salesforce.com's cloud), OpSource and others offering hosting on demand, web services and bus interconnection services in the cloud. Microsoft peeled back last year's Azure onion, showing us how Microsoft wants to do much more than just offer computing platforms or hosted Microsoft products."

Microsoft Roundup: Bugs, Holes, Patents and GPL Violations

Kroc 2009-11-14 Microsoft 40 Comments

Thom's down with flu, so to avoid moving a lot of interesting news to pg.2, I am creating a combined item here covering a number of Microsoft related news items submitted to us.

Microsoft Shows Off Another ‘Minority Report’ UI Concept

Thom Holwerda 2009-11-07 Microsoft 18 Comments

Whether you like Microsoft or not, the Redmond giant does have one thing going for it: the company's research division. Working together with several universities and other institutions, Microsoft Research works on the soft and hardware of the future, ranging from research operating systems to insanely cool things like what Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie showed off during the Microsoft College Tour '09 (more videos).

Click-to-Run: ‘Streaming’ Microsoft Office 2010?

Kroc 2009-11-06 Microsoft 14 Comments

Click-to-Run is a new technology Microsoft are introducing to allow you to test out Office 2010 quickly and easily, by literally streaming the app to your computer from the Internet into a virtualised space.

Microsoft’s Signature Initiative: Crapware-Free Computers

Thom Holwerda 2009-10-29 Microsoft 61 Comments

We all know that Microsoft doesn't actually make computers. It makes the software, and then lets an almost infinite amount of manufacturers build computers that can run its software. These manufacturers often make a mess of things, delivering computers filled to the brim with crapware. What would happen if Microsoft made computers? Well, for one, they would be void of crapware. Two, they would help users install the software they want before leaving the store - including software from competitors.

Microsoft To Open up Outlook .pst Format

Submitted by poundsmack 2009-10-26 Microsoft 39 Comments

Anyone who has ever dealt with Microsoft Outlook will know the .pst file format - it's the binary, undocumented file in which all data from Outlook is stored - emails, contacts, calendar, you name it, it's in there. Microsoft has announced that it will release detailed technical documentation on the Outlook .pst data format.

MS Sees Stronger Earnings than Expected, Revenue Still Declined

Thom Holwerda 2009-10-23 Microsoft 14 Comments

"Microsoft announces another quarter of revenue declines, but results were still stronger than expected, thanks to what Microsoft executives referred to as 'cost discipline' and a streamlining of business divisions. With the release of Windows 7 on Oct. 22, consumers and businesses may be in the mood to buy new PCs and Microsoft products."

Silent Install Firefox Plugin Backfires on Microsoft

Kroc 2009-10-17 Microsoft 47 Comments

Whilst it's not okay in Microsoft's eyes for Google to install a plugin into Internet Explorer, increasing the potential surface area of attack, when Microsoft do it to Firefox, it's a different matter. Now a security hole has been found in a plugin that Microsoft have been silently installing into Firefox.

Microsoft Sponsors Family Guy Episode

weildish 2009-10-14 Microsoft 21 Comments

Those who enjoy the popular television show will be happy to know that November 8, 2009 will feature a variety show from the makers of Family Guy, and it will play for its entire allotted time without any commercial interruption-- courtesy of Microsoft. The company has made a deal with Fox to have Windows 7 propaganda integrated into a special entitled "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," which will include varied live-action Family Guy musical performances, animated shorts, and celebrity guest appearances. Just how the show will be used to advertise Windows 7 is unclear, but the folks at Microsoft say that "you'll see us deeply integrated into the content... you'll hear a lot about how Windows 7 can help you simplify your PC -- it's simple, fast and easy to use." So sit back in the lazy chair on November 8th, take a bite out of your Windows-branded toast, and enjoy.

Microsoft Axes Works, Introduces Office 2010 Starter with Ads

Thom Holwerda 2009-10-08 Microsoft 61 Comments

Are you familiar with Microsoft Works? It's sort of a My First Office Suite kind of thing which includes support for Microsoft Word and Excel documents. It is usually not sold separately, but instead comes pre-installed on new OEM machines. Well, Microsoft has announced today that it will kill Microsoft Works, and replace it with Microsoft Office 2010 Starter - an ad-supported version of Office 2010.

EU Consults on Microsoft Pledges

Submitted by SReilly 2009-10-07 Microsoft 1 Comment

The European Union has begun an investigation to determine whether Microsoft is upholding pledges to curb anti-competitive practices. It is consulting PC makers, software firms and consumers on Microsoft's offer to allow users to pick different browsers when they install Windows.