Microsoft

White collar crime may not always pay, but it sure doesn't result in heavy prison sentences, either. Last week a former Microsoft accountant found guilty of stealing $1.1 million from the Redmond-based firm received just a two-year jail term. Ray ... Seal, a 54-year-old resident of Shoreline, Washington, was recently found guilty of stealing more than a million dollars from Microsoft while working as an accounts analyst for the firm. Seal was indicted late last year and finally plead guilty to the charge in May 2011. (Source: thenextweb.com ) Accounting Loophole Exploited During the trial, ... (view more)

After months of waiting, developers have finally got their first peek at Microsoft's next operating system (OS), Windows 8. The major difference between Windows 8 and any other version of Windows, for that matter, is that it embraces tablet ... computing and tablet technology from the ground up. The demonstration came Tuesday during Microsoft's first BUILD developers conference in Anaheim, California (the show runs until September 16). About 5,000 developers are expected to attend the event. (Source: pcworld.com ) Sinofsky: Windows 8 is "Reimagined" According to Microsoft Windows ... (view more)

It may be another year before Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system (OS) officially hits retailers, but that doesn't mean hardware companies aren't already using it for new devices. In fact, it's expected that Samsung will unveil a new ... tablet PC running Windows 8 at the Microsoft BUILD conference this week. BUILD is a developers conference being held by Microsoft for the first time this fall. The conference will be held in Anaheim, California from September 13-16. Attendees May Receive Free Copies of Tablet Now, everyone expected that Windows 8 would be a hot topic at the event, but ... (view more)

There are reports that Microsoft is about to hand out an ultra-portable computer running Windows 8 and containing a quad-core processor. If true, it could serve as a very effective way of promoting the new system on portable devices. The rumors ... center on BUILD, a Microsoft event that takes place in California in September designed to help both hardware and software developers work better with Windows. The event also serves as a source of feedback for Microsoft about how it could improve the operating system (OS), including those still in development. This year's event is going to be built ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8 will include support for a smartphone-like "app store". But it's not yet clear what the implications will be for app developers. The app store is simply a central marketplace through which users can purchase ... software and then have it automatically installed on a device like a PC. The term app store was made popular on smartphones, most notably the Apple iPhone. (Source: sfgate.com ) Although leaked screenshots of Windows 8 suggested such a feature was on the way, Microsoft has now all but made that certain. It's published a list of the teams it has ... (view more)

The PC is 30 years old this month. But IBM, the company that established the system, believes the PC will soon be outdated. Until 1981, the "personal computer" was simply another term, like microcomputer, for any machine that was small enough and ... cheap enough that consumers could own one at home rather than it being a purely business tool. At the time, there were many different architectures for computers, meaning rival models weren't just different in design, but were largely incompatible. IBM's 5150 machine, however, changed all that. Also known as the IBM Personal Computer, the ... (view more)

Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday will be relatively moderate, though it does address 22 flaws. According to Microsoft, 13 of the patches addressed in August Patch Tuesday will address 22 flaws in a number of different programs, including Windows, ... Internet Explorer (IE), Visio and Visual Studio. Compared to last month's Patch Tuesday , the one set for release next Tuesday (August 9th) is only slightly larger: there are more patches offered, but the number of vulnerabilities remains the same. The number of fixes released this month is somewhat unusual as historically, Microsoft doles out fixes ... (view more)

A recent study suggested that Internet Explorer user IQs are lower than those who do not use Internet Explorer. Now, those responsible for the post are informing the public that everything from the results of the study to the company itself (called ... "AptiQuant") was a hoax. The report went viral in large part due to the attractive headline used to describe the report: "Is Internet Explorer for the Dumb? A New Study Suggests Exactly That." The news should provide some semblance of relief for Microsoft as the results of the fake study claimed that users of the aging Internet Explorer 6 browser ... (view more)

Microsoft's online services division, which includes the Bing search engine, has lost more than $2.5 billion in the past year. But the company is continuing to fight to attract search users by adding special features for mobile users. In its press ... release covering financial performance, Microsoft proudly announces that revenue from the online services edition grew by 17 per cent in the last three months of the year, and 15 per cent over the year as a whole. Bing Revenue Still Far Below Expenses Unfortunately, what it doesn't mention in the main release, but is detailed in the full financial ... (view more)

For the first time in years, Microsoft's Windows XP operating system has sunk below a majority share of the operating system market. The report comes just as a new study finds that Microsoft Internet Explorer users are slightly less savvy than users ... of other web browsers. According to Microsoft, Windows XP is now used by 49.84 per cent of all Internet users world-wide. Although the operating system (OS) is still the most widely-used system in the world, that percentage of the total market represents its lowest point in several years. Luckily for Microsoft, the damage hasn't been done by ... (view more)