Friday, November 20, 2009 5:09 PM/CST
Microsoft released a host of betas during its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles Nov. 17 to 19, including Office Mobile 2010. In addition to offering features such as the ability to cut and paste across applications, Microsoft's smartphone productivity suite offers integration with Windows Mobile 6.5's improved touch screen interface--but with Microsoft offering mobile productivity software on Nokia, and possibly other phones, the actual market-share benefit to Mobile 6.5 may be negated.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 2:50 PM/CST
Microsoft's share of the U.S. search-engine market gained incrementally in October, reaching 9.57 percent, according to new figures released by Experian Hitwise. Google maintained 70.60 percent, while Yahoo stood at 16.14 percent. New Bing features, including local weather, a boosted video page of Wolfram Alpha search results, could allow Microsoft to maintain or gain its share before the end of 2009.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 5:27 PM/CST
Microsoft rolled out a revised version of its MSN home page on Nov. 4, embracing in the process the same ethos of personalization and streamlining that governed Yahoo's own home page redesign in September. Microsoft also cut down on the number of hyperlinks and seeded the interface with in-line connections to Twitter and Facebook.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 5:12 PM/CST
Microsoft executive Eric Ligman responded in a new Microsoft SMB Community Blog posting to criticism from the Windows community, after he suggested last week that using Windows 7 upgrade discs to install a full version of the operating system on a blank hard drive was ultimately an illegal "hack." Ligman's new missive suggests some commenters to the original post were making pre-determined conclusions about some of his words.
Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:40 PM/CST
Microsoft and Yahoo have announced a delay in their search-and-advertising partnership deal, as both sides continue to work out "finalizing the definitive agreements." Despite the agreement to have Microsoft's Bing powering Yahoo's search once the deal is complete, Yahoo is attempting to assert its online identity by rolling out new features for its front-end applications, including Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 5:14 PM/CST
Microsoft's Technical Preview of Office Web Apps allows Windows Live subscribers to test out browser-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. While Word documents can only be viewed and downloaded, users can perform online edits to Excel and PowerPoint documents ... but only if those uploaded documents have certain file extensions.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 2:26 PM/CST
Microsoft has expanded the technical preview of its Office Web Apps, which allows Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to be viewed and sometimes edited via the browser. However, users of older Office platforms may find some issues with the Excel Web App, which doesn't seem to allow certain Excel formats to be edited.
Friday, October 23, 2009 5:25 PM/CST
As Microsoft rolled out Windows 7 for general release on Oct. 22, Apple stepped up its anti-Windows ad campaign. During the same week, Apple also released new hardware. Although Steve Jobs' company fought to claim some mind share from Microsoft leading up to the Windows 7 launch, the sheer size of Microsoft's customer base--and the rare event of a new Windows operating system--guaranteed Redmond the lion's share of attention.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 2:03 PM/CST
Microsoft used its Windows 7 launch to brand itself as a warm and fuzzy software conglomerate, running its family-friendly ads and having 5-year-old Kylie, the star of some of those spots, introduce Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer re-emphasized that Microsoft's ultimate strategy is to create a cloud-based environment for consumers, centered on Windows 7-powered devices.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:38 PM/CST
Microsoft is pulling in a number of partners for the launch of Windows 7, including up-and-coming PC manufacturer Acer. While Acer grew its market-share off ultra-portable, inexpensive netbooks, Microsoft has publicly voiced its intention to persuade its manufacturers to produce ultra-thin notebooks at a higher price point.
