Microsoft

Research firm IDC -- which recently made headlines by predicting that Android tablets will brush aside Apple iPads in 2013 -- has indicated that Microsoft's two-pronged approach to Windows 8 has failed. The company says it's time for Microsoft to ... dump Windows RT. In a recent interview, IDC research director Tom Mainelli (whose specialization is the tablet market) said that Microsoft has only confused consumers by releasing two versions of Windows 8 for tablet computers. Different Tablets, Different Windows Windows RT was released on Microsoft's standard Surface tablet computer. The new ... (view more)

Microsoft's Hotmail email service was unavailable earlier this week. The company says an overheated server was responsible for the service being out-of-action for many users. The problems affected Hotmail and its successor, Outlook. Microsoft says ... the problem could be linked to a firmware issue. Firmware is software built into a specific device; in this case, a part of the equipment at a Microsoft data center. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) Software Bug Causes Overheating According to Microsoft, an attempt to update the firmware went awry and resulted in the temperature in the data center spiking in a ... (view more)

Microsoft says students can try the online edition of Office 365 free of charge for up to six months. It's also offering a one month trial to people who aren't students. The student offer is for a three-month subscription to Office 365 University ... that allows students to install copies of Office software on two different computers (including PCs or Macs). The University edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. The subscription also means you can use online editions of this software on any computer with an Internet connection. Although the standard ... (view more)

Microsoft recently stirred up a hornet's nest by introducing and then retracting rules that prevented a buyer of Office 2013 from transferring the software to a new computer. Many experts have suggested that the policy change was designed to push ... people towards Office 365, the cloud-based version of the popular software suite. Unlike Office 2013, Office 365 can be accessed from up to five different computers. (Source: engadget.com ) Now, one company's chief information office (CIO) says that making the switch to Office 365 saved his firm time and money. Saving Time and Money in the Cloud ... (view more)

Microsoft caused quite the stir when it unveiled its Surface tablet computer last year. It's rumored the move angered the firm's traditional hardware partners, including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Samsung, and Acer, who didn't like having to compete with ... Microsoft for customers. Now, it appears Microsoft may be preparing to ruffle feathers in another sector of the consumer technology industry. Windows Phone 8 to Suffer: Nokia Mobile phone maker Nokia, which produces handheld devices running Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system (OS), has reportedly filed a complaint with the ... (view more)

A major executive at one of Microsoft's most important hardware partners has slammed the Redmond-based firm's newest operating system (OS), Windows 8. In a recent meeting with reporters, Samsung memory chip division president Jun Dong-soo said ... Microsoft's new OS had done nothing to stop the decline of PC hardware sales. "The global PC industry is steadily shrinking despite the launch of Windows 8," Dong-soo said. Samsung Exec: Windows 8 No Better Than Vista The Samsung executive then slammed Microsoft's newest OS by saying, "I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows ... (view more)

Microsoft is in the process of making technological breakthroughs with their Kinect hands-free technology. The company has now introduced simple, real-time hand gestures that replace mouse commands. Microsoft recently held its own 'TechFest' ... festival, an annual research and development showcase. At the show Microsoft unveiled a Kinect-based update to the pre-existing software development kit that will allow developers to add more hand-gesture features to their products. Mouse Movements, Hand-Controlled Gameplay A Reality And while Microsoft hopes that developers will introduce their own ideas ... (view more)

Microsoft has agreed to drop a rule forcing Office 2013 buyers to re-purchase the software if they bought a new computer. The change follows a hostile response from Microsoft customers. The controversy arose because of the way Microsoft's Office ... 2013 software licensing works. Microsoft has always taken the approach that you don't buy software outright but pay for the right to use it under specified conditions. In the past, most Microsoft licenses were transferrable. This meant that as long as you only ran the software on one machine at a time, you could reinstall the software if you changed ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly planning to release seven security fixes as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday update. The update includes fixes for four "critical" security flaws. The March Patch Tuesday's seven fixes, four of which are marked "critical" -- ... Microsoft's highest security rating -- represents a decrease from February Patch Tuesday , when Microsoft issued roughly a dozen fixes designed to address almost sixty vulnerabilities. Internet Explorer Vulnerable to Drive-By Attacks Nevertheless, there are some important fixes for Microsoft users this time around. The most important is being ... (view more)

Microsoft's failure to offer European Windows users a clear choice of Internet browser has proven very costly. The European Union has fined the company a shocking 561 million euros, equivalent to US $732.2 million. Microsoft had agreed to provide ... new Window users with a browser choice screen (or "browser ballot" as it was popularly known). The deal was designed to settle claims that Microsoft's own browser, Internet Explorer, had an unfair advantage over other browsers because it came pre-installed on all Windows machines. Under the agreement, Microsoft began adding the choice ... (view more)