Microsoft

Microsoft plans to start pushing its Internet Explorer 8 ( IE 8 ) browser to consumers who have Windows Automatic-Update feature turned on. Last month, Microsoft released IE 8 for download and said it planned to start notifying users of IE 6 or IE 7 ... on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 through Automatic Update beginning on or about the third week of April this year. It's worth noting that new versions of software are inevitably buggy and prone to incompatibility problems with other software that has not been discovered and/or documented. Therefore it is not ... (view more)

Microsoft may end up needing to keep Windows XP -- support for which has recently ended -- around a little longer. According to a recent study, the vast majority of corporate IT departments won't think about implementing Windows 7 until at least ... 2011. Despite early enthusiasm for Windows 7 by beta testers, a new survey reveals that 83% of responding IT professionals have no plans to upgrade their existing Windows systems to Windows 7 in the next year. (Source: zdnet.com ) Additionally, 42% said their organizations plan to deploy Windows 7 within 12 to 24 months of its release, 24% plan to ... (view more)

Recognizing how profitable the concept could be, Microsoft recently planned to build a pub right in the center of their Redmond campus. The idea: happy employees work hard throughout the day, unwind at the Microsoft-owned pub at night, and come to ... work happy again the next day. The reasoning: ask any number of people what is the best way to relax after a hard day at work -- and you'll probably get an answer that suggests kicking back with a few "adult" refreshments is a great idea. That said, it came as a shock when Microsoft decided to call off all plans to have a pub on their main campus ... (view more)

Microsoft has cut the price of Windows by almost 80% for the special netbook edition. However, the price is for manufacturers, meaning consumers won't necessarily see all of the savings. Until now, computer makers normally had to pay around $70 to ... include Windows on their machines. Microsoft has now started offering Windows for just $15 to firms making netbooks. Of course, there's no guarantee manufacturers will pass all of those savings on; depending on how competitive the market is, they may attempt to keep back some of the $55 reduction for themselves. Microsoft feels the price cut is ... (view more)

A federal court has fined Microsoft $388 million for breaching the copyright of a rival software company. Ironically, the firm concerned was a producer of anti-piracy products. The court found Microsoft breached a patent belonging to Uniloc and ... involved the copy protection used on Windows XP and some parts of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft had not licensed the technology used in the activation process by which a product can be installed repeatedly on a single machine but can't be shared with other people or copied to another computer. Award Among All-Time Highs The sum is believed to ... (view more)

In a recent Security Intelligence Report, Microsoft revealed that scareware threats are steadily climbing. The report, which covers the second half of 2008, finds that fake security software is becoming more and more prevalent as people head online ... in greater numbers. Scareware isn't your traditional malicious software. It's not simply a virus or malware, but can lead to those kinds of infections. Instead, scareware is a more sinister kind of threat -- it pretends to be security software willing and able to "repair and protect" a user's system, but is in fact just a farce. Most ... (view more)

A day after Microsoft revealed that it would make Windows 7 downgradeable all the way back to XP, a new poll suggests it's unlikely anyone will really want to do that. Apparently, Windows 7 is gaining popularity after all. The poll is courtesy of ... ChangeWave Research, which has been keeping tabs on Microsoft's operating systems for a while now. Two years ago it polled users shortly after Vista's much-anticipated launch, only to find that just 10% of all users felt "very satisfied" with the OS. A couple years of serious griping later, and here we are with what most hope will completely redeem ... (view more)

At this point, Windows 7 represents Microsoft's best hope for regaining the confidence of business and home users disgruntled with its much-maligned Windows Vista operating system. Just in case Win7 doesn't satisfy, however, the company is making it ... downgradable all the way to Windows XP. Downgrading a Windows system is hardly new, but prior to Vista the demand for such retroactive steps was actually quite rare. As Vista's popularity began to wane only a few months after its launch in early 2007, computer makers and retailers began marketing certain systems that had XP instead of the newer, ... (view more)

Microsoft recently announced that April 14, 2009 will mark the beginning of its "phase out" process for the Office 2003 productivity suite and the Windows XP operating system; two cornerstone programs that will be forced into semiretirement so that ... more resources can be used towards newer products. The lifespan of a Microsoft product is dependent on the amount of time and involvement the company allocates when implementing security updates, patches, and similar. Microsoft Product Life Cycle: Mainstream Support Office 2003 was released in November 2003 as a successor to Office XP. At the time ... (view more)

A Texas senator is trying to make it illegal for any government agency to buy Windows Vista without prior approval. Juan Hinojosa says simply "Don't buy it because it's not worth it." If the law passes, all state agencies in Texas would need written ... approval from the Legislative Budget Board before buying Vista itself or any machine with the system pre-installed. The only exception would be for places of higher education. Anti-Vista Amendment Rides State Budget The proposal is not a separate law. Instead it's a rider to the budget: one of 800 amendments added during the legislative process. ... (view more)