Microsoft

According to reports, a Los Angeles woman is suing Microsoft because she was charged an extra $59.25 to downgrade the operating system of her new Lenovo laptop from Windows Vista Business to Windows XP. Emma Alvarado filed the lawsuit in U.S. ... District Court in Seattle. She reasons that Microsoft has used its market power to take advantage of consumer demand for the Windows XP, requiring consumers to purchase computers pre-installed with the Vista operating system and to pay additional sums to downgrade. (Source: nwsource.com ) The complaint goes on to say that most consumers prefer to ... (view more)

A reward of $250,000 has reportedly been offered by Microsoft to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus. Since its inception last October, the Conficker worm has infected millions of computers worldwide. Microsoft is offering a cash reward ... because they view the Conficker as a criminal attack and believe the people responsible for writing it have to be held accountable. As noted by Sophos, Microsoft's reputation is badly shaken whenever a computer virus causes widespread problems for its users, so it's not surprising that they would offer a reward. (Source: sophos.co.uk ) George ... (view more)

Microsoft and Red Hat recently signed an interoperability deal designed to please both Windows and Linux users. Red Hat, the largest corporate contributor to open source development, is a powerful ally for Microsoft due to their position as "the ... most trusted" Linux distribution vendor. (Source: redhat.com ) The two-part deal will maximize the potential for virtualization via each company's "hypervisors" (software that gives users the ability to run multiple operating systems on the same computer at once). It will also ensure that both Windows and Red Hat (Linux) software will be compatible ... (view more)

Many users are planning to skip Windows Vista and move straight into the more promising Windows 7 next year. However, the move from Windows XP to Windows 7 might prove to be a daunting hassle. With Windows 7, Windows XP users won't be able to make ... an easy "in-place upgrade" which allows one operating system to overwrite an old one while maintaining already installed applications and settings. Rather, Windows XP users will have to jump through several additional hoops, including a "clean install" involving the backup of their old data, the deletion of everything XP, the installation of Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft is launching its own dedicated retail stores in hopes the move will allow them more scope for hands-on demonstrations of products. David Porter, a former executive from Wal-Mart and DreamWorks, has been hired to oversee the project. Porter ... will not only be in charge of the design and operation of stores, but must find suitable locations for the 'small number' of stores which Microsoft plans to open at first. The firm says "The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy." (Source ... (view more)

What's the problem with introducing a new operating system? When it comes to Microsoft, the upgrade makes your last operating system pretty much obsolete, even if it took almost ten years to construct and a lot of hassle to promote. A recent survey ... from industry analysts Gartner found that about 30 per cent of large businesses were seriously considering skipping Windows Vista altogether, a significant blow to Microsoft which has spent the last year and a half trying to convince home and corporate users alike that the operating system is worth the software and training costs associated with ... (view more)

Time's up for users hoping to test run the Windows 7 beta , as today Microsoft blocked the ability to download the preview edition. "Sorry," the website has been telling users since midnight, February 9, "Windows 7 Beta downloads are no longer ... available." Anyone with interrupted downloads will be able to complete them, and those with a copy will still be able to access their product keys. No new downloads will be possible at this time. The beta edition, which had been open for download by the general public since January this year, will no longer be on Microsoft's website ... (view more)

A hole allowing hackers to take control of Microsoft Exchange was just one "critical" issue the Redmond-based company promises it has fixed with a patch correcting a total of eight vulnerabilities in its programs, including the Internet Explorer ... browser, Office, and its SQL Server . Three of the eight vulnerabilities patched yesterday were marked "critical". The most concerning is an issue with Exchange that would allow attackers to take over an Exchange server by simply forwarding a carefully crafted message to a corporate mail server. Microsoft has admitted that the vulnerability can be ... (view more)

The makers of the Firefox browser have officially joined the legal battle being waged by European regulators against Microsoft's tactics over Internet Explorer. But the man behind the latest Firefox edition says there's no need to include rival ... browsers in Windows. The European Commission has formally accepted a request from Mozilla to submit documents to its investigation over Microsoft's potential antitrust violations in bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The move comes at a very late stage: the Commission has already made a ruling in principle against Microsoft and is currently ... (view more)

Microsoft has again changed its position on the User Account Control (UAC) interface for Windows 7. However, the company might be due some credit for the decision, given that they're being made in direct response to protests from common beta ... participants. More details are beginning to emerge about the proposed UAC, which has been at the center of significant controversy for several weeks. Earlier last week, rumors swirled that Microsoft had decided to ditch the UAC altogether. Users of Vista know UAC as the prompt that demands confirmation of just about any action in the operating system, ... (view more)