Business

With the release of Windows 7 mere weeks away, Microsoft and House Party are helping their chosen hosts plan their launch parties with an instructional tutorial. Oddly enough, the video is getting plenty of attention -- but for all the wrong ... reasons. Unfortunately, the "celebration concept" comes off looking much tackier than anyone could have ever anticipated. Windows 7 Party Details The idea of throwing a party where the honored guest is an operating system did seem very peculiar from the start. People in 12 countries, including the U.S., India and Mexico were able to apply for the role of ... (view more)

Just in case you pay for Microsoft's upcoming operating system (OS) Windows 7 and don't like it, the Redmond-based company is making an optional 'Windows XP Mode' available for download the same day as the new OS' launch, October 22. Microsoft ... yesterday revealed that it had released Windows XP Mode to manufacturing, and that this would make it available for download when Windows 7 hits stores in three weeks. Why Bother with XP Mode? If there's one thing Microsoft appears to have learned from the Vista debacle, it's that people hate change -- especially when change means "upgrading" to an ... (view more)

Just a few months after being slammed by a Texas federal judge for infringing on the patent of a Canadian company, a similarly critical lawsuit has, in this instance, gone Microsoft's way. Earlier this week a Rhode Island judge overturned a ... Singapore company's $388 million victory against the Redmond-based software giant. MS Accused of Piracy, using Antipiracy Software First filed in a Rhode Island federal court in 2003, the case involved Singapore-based Uniloc, which accused Microsoft of illegally incorporating its antipiracy technology with Windows operating system (OS) and Microsoft's ... (view more)

With Microsoft's highly-anticipated Windows 7 less than a month away from its much-publicized release, it's not all that surprising that company CEO Steve Ballmer has begun to tout the new operating system as the "best... [they] have ever built." ... What is surprising, however, are the decisions by Ford Motor Company and Continental Airlines to make the leap to Win7 almost immediately. New Standard for Operating Systems In a note released to the media early yesterday, Microsoft CEO Ballmer bragged that "Windows 7 is the best PC operating system we have ever built." In naming the reasons why, ... (view more)

If you buy a standalone copy of Windows 7 or a PC shipped with the operating system (OS) by a big-name manufacturer, it's unlikely you'll get your hands on the highly-anticipated Microsoft OS before October 22nd, 2009. But firms selling custom-built ... PCs will now be able to ship Windows 7 machines from October 13th. Jon Bach, president of Puget Systems, recently revealed that Microsoft told him in writing he has permission to ship the machines nine days before the official release. Microsoft has noted the scheme does apply to all such "system builder" manufacturers, but says the advantage ... (view more)

Microsoft has struggled to make room for itself in the digital media market since the days of iPod -- but now critics are today calling Microsoft's Zune HD the "best portable media player released by any vendor." Early Revisions Lackluster Released ... in time for Christmas 2006, few techies found the Zune hanging in their stockings. Despite wireless capabilities that allowed one user to swap tunes with a friend, the Zune's drab colors (black and brown, mostly) and few other features failed to shake the Apple tree. Experts: Zune HD Put iPod to "shame" But now it seems, Microsoft may ... (view more)

In a remarkable piece of frankness, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer says the firm has "screwed up" in past efforts to bring Windows to mobile devices. He also reiterated that the firm is not planning to develop its own handsets. Ballmer's comments ... about the Windows Mobile operating system came at an event for venture capitalists. Though journalists were not allowed to attend, one delegate, Paul Jozefak, wrote on his Twitter account: "Ballmer says they screwed up with Windows Mobile. Wishes they had already launched WM7. They completely revamped the team." (Source: twitter.com ) Windows Mobile ... (view more)

High-end digital media device-maker Archos, which has made a name for itself in an iPod-dominated market by selling "entertainment products," is taking a big leap forward with tablet technology by introducing an 8.9 inch machine capable of running ... Microsoft's highly anticipated operating system (OS), Windows 7. The device, dubbed the "Archos 9PCtablet," will feature an on-screen keyboard and a 1.2 GHz Intel Atom Z515 processor. The tiny tablet will also boast high definition video, stereo audio, and non-3G wireless. However, the feature getting most of the attention is its ... (view more)

While the odds of Microsoft forming a corporate partnership with Google are slim-to-none, their respective software is proving just that. According to Computerworld, Internet Explorer 8 running with Google Chrome Frame plug-in runs 9.6 times faster ... than IE8 on its own. Chrome Frame was released earlier this week and is an open source plug-in that seamlessly brings Google Chrome's open web technologies and high-performance JavaScript engine to Internet Explorer. (Source: google.com ) Kind Gesture or Smear Campaign? Instead of taking the high road and leaving the "helpful plug-in" as a kind ... (view more)

Microsoft's new search engine Bing continues to take small but steady steps towards chipping away at Google. Since its release in June, Bing has inch by inch racked up increasing market percentages each month, with August being no exception. Last ... month it was reported that Microsoft's short but impressive gains for July moved to 8.9 per cent of the total market, according to research firm ComScore. That was up nearly an entire percentage point from the days of Live Search, the name bequeathed to Microsoft's search engine before the arrival of the more cutting-edge Bing mid-summer. Bing ... (view more)