Business

Microsoft has announced that it will be offering a subscription-based version of Office 2007 in South Africa. The announcement signifies an extension in Microsoft's current operations. The company has already been offering a pay-as-you-go option for ... Office 2003 in South Africa, as well as Mexico and Romania. (Source: betanews.com ) A three month subscription of Office 2007 will cost 199 rand, which equates to about $28.54 US. First time users are also given an additional three months free of charge. The subscriptions work in a way similar to Office trials; when the subscription expires, users ... (view more)

About a month ago, Carlo Orlando reported on Toshiba's plan to combat falling revenue by doubling production of its NAND flash memory chips. Not a bad idea, although one wonders if the company should be fixing its foundation before building a new ... rec room. Once again, Toshiba is recalling a significant number of laptop batteries, representing just another chapter in a long and painful customer service manual. Thankfully, the numbers continue to decrease. This time, Toshiba is forced to call back just 10,000 of its potentially dangerous batteries. Of course, as has been the case for most of ... (view more)

Talk about leaving one evil gaming empire for another. After announcing his decision to abandon his post as the key executive behind Xbox 360 (and prior to that, Xbox) development, Peter Moore has decided to join Electronic Arts' Sports division. In ... many gamers' eyes, it's like morphing from the Darth Vader of hardware to the Montgomery Burns of software. Jokes aside, some reports are suggesting that Moore's decision has something to do with the Xbox 360's troubled reliability. Although the console currently retains top spot amongst next-gen systems and boasts the most impressive game library ... (view more)

Microsoft became the most widely-used search engine last month, rising from their third spot in May and surpassing both Google and Yahoo (the long-standing most and second-most used search engines respectively). What was Microsoft's recipe for ... success? Playing a deceptive game of chicken! Microsoft's shares climbed to 13.2% in June, an increase of 3% compared to May's figures. Microsoft's recent success came at the expense of rival search engine providers Google and Yahoo. The shares of both companies fell 1% that same month. (Source: usatoday.com ) To induce the influx of users, Microsoft ... (view more)

Vista Compatibility and Vista Certified seem to mean many different things to both Microsoft and other manufacturers of software applications. It would be nice to get a clearer definition of each, if that's at all possible. One of the latest fiascos ... involving Vista compatibility involves Roxio's Easy Media Creator. In September 2006 when Sonic Solutions introduced the program, Vista compatibility was a point of emphasis. Roxio was touted as a "Windows Vista Premier Launch Partner" when Vista was rolled out. Sonic bragged that their DVD burning technology was being incorporated by Microsoft in ... (view more)

In a move that will surely please many privacy campaigners, Google has changed its cookie policy dramatically. How so? Instead of having cookies expire in the year 2038, they will expire two years after the page has last been viewed. (Source: ... betanews.com ) The announcement comes shortly after the search engine giant revealed that it will erase search logs after 18 months, a reduction from the previously uncapped time limit. The cookie reduction announcement came via an official Google blog entitled "Cookies: Expiring Sooner to Improve Privacy." In the post, Global Privacy Counsel Peter ... (view more)

Paul Thurrott, a well known Windows expert and advocate, posted an article titled "Microsoft Ignoring Customer Needs with Continued Silence on Future Windows" in which he refers to Microsofts behavior as paradoxical, almost diabolical. When you read ... a short, sweet and to-the-point article from a well-known Microsoft Windows expert regarding company behavior, it's a relief knowing that you're not losing your mind. I'm not constantly bashing Vista because I enjoy it. I just don't like seeing newbie computer users taken advantage of, or seeing large monopolies playing games. According to ... (view more)

Fellow Infopackets blogger Carlo Orlando recently reported on Intel's interest in supplying the world's poorest children with $100 laptops . Despite such a charitable goal, the company appears ready to retain its hold on the premium processor ... market. That's why Intel has already released an ultra-powerful chip, called the Core 2 Extreme X7800. Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, has been nothing but a thorn in the side of Intel in recent years. AMD beat Intel to the $100 laptop campaign, and over the course of the last twelve months or so, has effectively challenged for the top spot in next-gen ... (view more)

So, we've read all about Windows Vista in North America. Despite selling some 40 million plus copies, it's generally considered a work in progress (with many consumers avoiding the new Microsoft product altogether). But, what's the mood in other ... parts of the world? In Australia, Queensland Purchasing, part of the Queensland Department of Public Works, procured bids to purchase desktop computers, portable computers and servers for 26 agencies. All the computers are required to be supplied with Windows XP SP2 licenses, Microsoft Office 2003 and media. (Source: InterGovWorld.com ) The department ... (view more)

Many people have turned to Google to answer various questions, like how to loop a necktie or how to change a tire. As it turns out, the helpfulness of Google is not limited to law abiding citizens; two robbers in Colorado used Google to help them ... crack a safe and take off with $12,000. Here's how the heist goes: The burglars had broken into an indoor amusement center known as Bigg City. Although the robbers knew the codes for the safes, they were unable to get them open after several tries. To solve their problem the bandits consulted a computer in the next room and searched "how to crack a ... (view more)