microsoft

A new report suggests Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer will introduce major restructuring plans as early as this week. It's expected the reorganization scheme will involve giving some of the company's core units more independence. The ... report, which comes from The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD technology blog, says Ballmer could unveil the restructuring plans in a meeting with company leaders this Thursday, July 11, 2013. Rumors of an impending Microsoft restructuring have been buzzing for some time. It's likely this upcoming announcement is designed to give investors a boost ... (view more)

One of Microsoft's leading executives has been acquired by a social media game company. Don Mattrick, who until recently headed Microsoft's Xbox division, will receive a $5 million signing bonus and stock awards totaling $40 million from Zynga. The ... 49-year-old Mattrick has been a major presence in the video game industry for many years now. He started his own game company at the age of 17 and subsequently sold the firm to Electronic Arts, where he worked until 2007. Xbox One Mired in Controversy Mattrick then made the jump to Microsoft, where he became a Senior Vice President and oversaw the ... (view more)

The Windows chief Microsoft fired just a month after the launch of Windows 8 is getting a big stock payout from the Redmond, Washington-based firm. The only condition: he can't say bad things about his former company. Steven Sinofsky was President ... of Microsoft's Windows division from 2009 until late last year. Prior to that time he had contributed to the development of several other Microsoft products, including the Office software suite. Sinofsky was also partly responsible for Microsoft's Surface tablet computer, the SkyDrive cloud storage service, and Outlook.com. He originally joined the ... (view more)

Another Patch Tuesday, another 'critical' update for Internet Explorer. This month's Patch Tuesday provides fixes for a total of seven security issues, the most important of which involves Microsoft's popular web browser. Microsoft says its Patch ... Tuesday fixes affect most versions of the Windows operating system, the .NET Framework, Silverlight, the Office software suite, Visual Studio, and Internet Explorer (IE). Each of these security bulletins is marked 'critical,' which is Microsoft's highest security rating. A seventh bulletin has been marked 'important' and is associated with Microsoft' ... (view more)

Microsoft officially unveiled its first major update to Windows 8, Windows 8.1, at the recent Build 2013 developer conference in San Francisco, California. Leading the presentation was company chief executive officer Steve Ballmer , who also ... discussed Internet Explorer 11 and new Windows 8.1-based hardware. Although there was much for Ballmer to talk about, the focus was clearly Windows 8.1 , otherwise known as 'Windows Blue.' The first big update to the Windows 8 platform will bring back the Start button and also offers users the option of booting directly to the desktop. Microsoft Sets Out ... (view more)

It's expected Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer will introduce a major shakeup at his firm. According to a new report, layoffs of prominent Microsoft officials could be at the heart of that makeover. AllThingsD blogger and Microsoft ... insider Kara Swisher says she's learned Ballmer will officially unveil his plans to restructure Microsoft in a meeting with company executives sometime between now and July 1, 2013. Swisher suggests a key component of that restructuring plan will involve layoffs and that "many top managers" are "worried" this could result in the end of their tenures ... (view more)

Analyst firm Gartner has both good and bad news for Microsoft. The good news: Gartner thinks Windows 8.1 (otherwise known as 'Windows Blue' ) represents a major improvement for the firm's Windows 8 operating system (OS). The bad news: PC sales ... continue to slump, and it's unlikely Windows 8.1 will do much to right the sinking ship. In a recent report called "Windows 8.1 Could Become What Windows 8 Should Have Been," Gartner says Windows 8.1 effectively addresses all of the problems preventing the new OS from becoming a runaway success. Analysts Appreciate Windows 8.1's New Features What did ... (view more)

Microsoft says it's willing to pay security researchers $100,000 for helping them discover and prevent attacks on the firm's upcoming Windows 8.1 (otherwise known as 'Windows Blue' ). The reward is part of a new campaign designed to beef up the ... security defenses of Microsoft products. One part of this new campaign is being called "BlueHat Bonus for Defense," which is based on a 2011 contest where Microsoft rewarded security researchers with a "BlueHat Prize". The new BlueHat Bonus for Defense project will offer up to $50,000 for new security ideas related to Microsoft products. (Source: ... (view more)

You can now access the Microsoft Office software suite on your Apple iPhone. However, Microsoft doesn't appear to have any plans to extend that support to Apple's iPad tablet computer. Starting late last week Microsoft made Office Mobile for iPhone ... available through Apple's app store. A subscription costs $100 per year and gives users access to the cloud-focused Office 365 . Excel, Word, PowerPoint Now Available to iPhone Users Using the new Office 365 app, iPhone users can create, read, and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. They can also create slide presentations using PowerPoint ... (view more)

Security experts say they're upset with Microsoft after the Redmond, Washington-based firm recently took actions to disable botnets associated with the 'Citadel' malware. The problem: Microsoft also disrupted important research being carried out by ... security experts. Citadel is a form of keylogging malware used by hackers to steal login information and passwords, thereby giving cybercriminals access to banking accounts and other web services. It's estimated that more than one thousand botnets were using the Citadel malware to carry out cybercriminals' attacks. At the time Microsoft acted on ... (view more)