Business

Analyst firm IDC suggests that a major economic upturn could spur in the near future and North Americans will benefit in large part from the sales of Windows 7 . The report even suggests that Microsoft's latest operating system has the potential to ... save us from the current recession all on its own. IDC estimates that Microsoft will sell about 177 million copies of Windows 7 all together, with 50 million of those sales coming from the European market. Windows 7 Stimulus Ripple Effect How will this help the rest of us? Looking at a sales snapshot from October 2009 (the expected release date of ... (view more)

Just a day after analysts predicted a dominant future for Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system (due this October), a new report suggests that up to 60 per cent of all companies might be hesitant to make the upgrade from Windows Vista and XP. The ... IDC Win7 forecast discussed yesterday painted a pretty picture indeed for Microsoft, suggesting that 75 per cent of all corporations would ditch XP and Vista for Windows 7 by 2011, just two years after its release. Given that most business users are XP users, that's good news for Microsoft. ScriptLogic Paints Different Picture However, another group ... (view more)

Microsoft is in some serious trouble after sources confirmed that the company had known about the recent IE6 and IE7 virus attacks (also known as the infamous " browse and get owned " attacks) for more than a year. Hackers have been exploiting a ... vulnerability in ActiveX by enticing innocent users to click on infected web pages while planting "drive-by" attack codes within legitimate sites. According to ScanSafe, the number of compromised sites has entered into the millions since the attacks first began. Attacks Predicted One Year in Advance If the viruses and malware weren't bad enough, Mike ... (view more)

As we near the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 in October, insiders are now trying to predict just how popular it will be amongst consumers. A recent report suggests it could be very successful indeed. According to industry analysts IDC, Windows 7 ... should account for approximately half of all client operating systems shipped to corporate users by the year 2010. IDC predicts that should mean about 58 million copies of the new OS, which is set to ship October 22, 2009. Vista's Eclipse on Horizon The prediction means a quick eclipse of Windows Vista and even the long-lasting Windows XP, the ... (view more)

Google made quite the controversial statement recently after attempting to shed some light concerning their new Chrome operating system . Google has raised eyebrows after promising that their customers will no longer have to worry about viruses, ... malware and security updates. In a recent blog entry, Google announced that the company was prepared to "go back to the basics" and redesign the essential security foundations of the OS in such a way so that users would never again have to deal with viruses, malware and the need for constant updates. It didn't take long for a number of security ... (view more)

New Microsoft search engine Bing had a pretty hot month in June, growing an average rate of 25 per cent each week. At the same time, Google too got bigger, increasing its dominance over the search market from the previous year. Bing was unveiled ... last month amidst plenty of buzz . The new search engine promises more accurate and detailed results than its rivals Google and Yahoo, and clearly many felt Microsoft's promises were genuine. According to reports, Bing owned about 5.25 per cent of the total American online search engine market last month, the first 30 day period of its release. Bing ... (view more)

Recently Google announced its Chrome operating system for netbooks, the mini laptops that have revolutionized computing in this pesky recession of ours. The slim, streamlined OS is intended to help the performance of these tiny systems, and it could ... solidify the search giant's place in the software universe. It's safe to say that netbooks are here to stay. Initially dismissed as PC-inspired toys that couldn't possibly replace more powerful 15.4" or 14" laptops, these systems, made by titanic hardware producers like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Acer, have cemented their place in the tech world ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly in talks with the European Union to settle a dispute over the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. It's a last ditch effort to stave off harsh disciplinary action from regulators. The talks are also said to involve ... complaints made in January 2008 that Microsoft hasn't shared enough technical details to allow rival firms to produce software compatible with Office components such as Word and Excel. (Source: bloomberg.com ) The discussion appears designed to not only find a negotiated resolution before the EU resorts to imposing penalties, but also to allow the ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed that thousands of legitimate web sites have been compromised by hackers and are now targeting innocent users through a critical unpatched vulnerability in Windows' DirectShow, part of DirectX . This is the second time in just ... six weeks that hackers have been exploiting the unpatched bug. This time, however, it appears as though Internet Explorer (IE) has been chosen as the weapon of choice when trapping innocent users. Browse and Get Owned Attacks: Drive-By Hackings The new wave of attacks is being referred to as "browse and get owned attacks" or "drive-by hackings". ... (view more)

As Microsoft nears the fall release date of its next operating system Windows 7, anticipation continues to mount. However, insiders warn that there are steep challenges ahead for an OS many hope will wipe the bitter memories of Windows Vista away ... for good. According to reports, pre-release sales of Windows 7 are, thus far, quite strong. The new operating system, which will be available after October 22, has been made available for reservation via online super-retailer Amazon.com, which is selling the upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium for just $49, less than half the suggested retail price. ... (view more)