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Microsoft late Tuesday warned of "massive disruptions" to sales of Office, as well as to partners such as Best Buy, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, if the injunction that prevents it from selling Word 2003 and Word 2007 in the U.S. after Oct. 10 is not set aside. In an emergency motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals, Microsoft asked that the injunction imposed last week by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis be stayed, or temporarily put on hold, while its appeal is heard.Artwork: Chip TaylorMicrosoft's move was expected, as it had previously said it would appeal the verdict and...

If you have worked in an office in the Western world in the past 25 years, you will probably have sat through a PowerPoint presentation. But there's a problem. They're often boring, writes presentation expert Max Atkinson. In the past 25 years, I've asked hundreds of people how many PowerPoint presentations they've seen that came across as really inspiring and enthusiastic. Most struggle to come up with a single example, and the most optimistic answer I've heard was "two". So what are the main problems?

Now, I am not a lawyer. But, I've been reporting on IP (intellectual property) law issues for years now, so I know something about how these issues are resolved, and when I see that one attorney thinks there's an "easy technical work-around" for Microsoft's patent violation in Word, my alarm bells go off. There is no easy fix here, and, short of waving the white-flag, Microsoft may very well have to stop selling Word, and thus Microsoft Office, this fall. Here's why the "easy" solutions really don't work. First, there's the suggestion from the attorney that "All Microsoft has to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private philanthropy fund, sold off almost all of its pharmaceutical, biotechnology and health-care investments in the quarter ended June 30, according to a regulatory filing published Friday. The Seattle-based charity endowment, set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife, sold its total holding of 2.5 million shares in health-care giant Johnson & Johnson in the quarter, according to the filing.

Turns out the official recipe for fun and the way to create an Internet sensation are the same: Start with a megacorporation, add in a group of Germans on a hillside, liberally take advantage of slick editing software and let the power of the Web do its thing. If you spend any time online, have a TV or know anyone who does, you've probably heard about the latest craze blasting its way through cyberspace. In case you haven't, a recap: A guy in a neoprene suit goes barreling down a waterslide, flies off the end and through the air, traveling...

A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement. Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML", according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i. Microsoft did not immediately reply to request for comment but said in a statement that it planned...

Just as Bing is gaining popularity, some disturbingly pro-Microsoft and anti-Apple search results rear their ugly heads. Oh Microsoft, just when we were starting to believe in this thing called Bing, you go messing with the search results. Case in point: a search on Bing for the phrase, "Why is Windows so expensive?" returned this as the top link.... "Why are Macs so expensive." That's right. You're not hallucinating. That was the top response on Bing to a question about the price of Windows.

For more than a year now, rumors of a potential deal between Microsoft and Yahoo have ebbed and flowed. And it looks like the denouement of this epic tale may finally be upon us. A search and advertising deal between the two tech giants is expected to be announced within the next 24 hours, according to All Things D's Kara Swisher, who cites multiple unnamed sources.

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Everyone knew the day would come when the fortunes of Microsoft Corp. would reverse. The company might now be in actual decline. If it's true, it brought it on itself by ignoring its core competencies, because it exhibits signs of what can only be described as Corporate Attention Deficit Disorder -- CADD. Try to remember all the crazy directions Microsoft has gone in over the past few years. Note the dizzy remarks by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who recently insisted that online advertising would soon account for the majority of Microsoft's income. This is a software...

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Everyone knew the day would come when the fortunes of Microsoft Corp. would reverse. The company might now be in actual decline.If it's true, it brought it on itself by ignoring its core competencies, because it exhibits signs of what can only be described as Corporate Attention Deficit Disorder ... Try to remember all the crazy directions Microsoft has gone in over the past few years. Note the dizzy remarks by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who recently insisted that online advertising would soon account for the majority of Microsoft's income. This is a software company making...

So, Microsoft submits 20000 lines of code to the Linux kernel, all licensed under the GPL. Microsoft, who considers Linux a great threat, and once called the GPL a "cancer". Opinions on this one are flying all around us, but what does Linus Torvalds, Linux' benevolent dictator, think about all this?

Microsoft’s Gates gets Indira Gandhi Prize Foundation has committed nearly $1 billion to India for health projects NEW DELHI - Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Saturday received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development from India's president, a government statement said. The prize recognizes his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is awarded annually to individuals or organizations for creative efforts that promote peace, development and a new international economic order. As of this month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had committed nearly $1 billion for health and development projects in India. Most of...

New Version Reflects Lowered Price on Mac Notebook NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Following a complaint from Apple, Microsoft has quietly tweaked at least one of the ads in its "Laptop Hunters" campaign to reflect its rival's lower pricing on its Mac notebooks. In the new version of the ad, Lauren doesn't talk about how much the Mac costs, but she does say: 'It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand.' 'Greatest single phone call' Just last week Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner was ecstatic about a phone call from Apple lawyers, who demanded that Microsoft stop showing...

Microsoft Can’t Evade Downturn’s Tight Grip By ASHLEE VANCE July 23, 2009 Microsoft, the once-swaggering giant of the personal computer industry, has been humbled, both by the recession and by problems of its own making. On Thursday, the world’s largest software company reported its worst fiscal year since it initially sold stock to the public in 1986. Year-over-year revenue and full-year sales of Microsoft’s flagship Windows software dropped for the first time. “Clearly, Microsoft is not immune to the economic downturn,” said Brendan Barnicle, a software analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. Many prominent companies tied to the PC industry have...

Yahoo's (YHOO) board is meeting today to talk about a search deal with Microsoft (MSFT), the WSJ reports. The meeting follows a series of conference calls, held as Microsoft and Yahoo grow closer to signing a deal. Sources tell the WSJ some Yahoo board members remain wary of a deal, and that even if it were to be signed, it would not be announced today.

Great virtualization-driver giveaway Microsoft is embracing cancer to help ensure Windows survives server-room consolidation. The company has released 20,000 lines of Windows kernel code under version two of the GPL. Microsoft called the license it once hated "the community's preferred license".How things have changed. Back in 2001, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie described the GPL as a threat to users' intellectual property and the independent commercial software sector. The great majority of Linux is licensed under GPL, and about the same time as Mundie was sounding off, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer called Linux a "cancer". Linux...

Editorial The Moon landing was not the only world-changing event in the summer of '69. An international, cross-disciplinary survey by Nature on page 314 reveals just how powerfully the Apollo programme motivated young people to become scientists 40 years ago — a fact today's space scientists ignore at their peril (see pages 325 and 327). Yet other events in the summer of 1969 would lead to a far deeper empowerment of scientists — and, indeed, many others. Even as Apollo 11 was putting the first humans on the Moon, Ken Thompson at AT&T's Bell Labs was working to get Space...

The world’s richest man has joined the battle against the world’s most destructive weather. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is backing inventors and climate scientists who claim to have devised a technique for diminishing the power of hurricanes. Gates was named last week among a group of weather experts who have applied for patents on a system for lowering ocean temperatures. Using a fleet of barges equipped with pumps, Gates and his team believe a hurricane can be slowed by cooling the tropical waters that fuel its progress. American scientists agreed last week that the system was theoretically feasible...

Apple to Microsoft: Stop with the ads Posted by Sharon Pian Chan Seattle Times Microsoft said it received a call from Apple saying Microsoft needs to stop running the laptop-hunter TV ads that harp on Apple for expensive computers. Why? Because Apple has lowered its prices. That's according to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, who said he took a call from an Apple attorney. two weeks ago. He initially thought it was a practical joke, then said he found out Apple had cut prices on its computers. "It was the greatest single phone call that I’ve ever taken in...

Microsoft and Yahoo! are close to finalising a deal on search and display advertising. The deal which just won't die isn't over yet, but senior executives have flown from Redmond to Silicon Valley for final discussions. If the fine print can be settled, a deal could be announced within a week, All Things Digital reports. So much for Bing then. The deal would allow Microsoft to take over Yahoo!'s search business in exchange for several billion dollars while Yahoo! would sell display ads for both firms. One source told the website the deal is "down to the short strokes" which...

Microsoft Corp's chief executive attempted to laugh off the challenge of Google Inc's planned computer operating system on Tuesday, conceding only that it was "interesting". "I will be respectful," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said to laughs from the audience at a conference for the company's technology partners in New Orleans, which was broadcast over the Internet. Industry gets feverish after Google action ATF prices slashed, but will airfares drop? Are FII dealings outside market substantial? "Who knows what this thing is? To me, the Chrome OS thing is highly interesting," said Ballmer, choosing his words carefully and drawing more amusement...

Everyone predicted Microsoft Corp. wouldn't take long to fire back against Google Inc.'s latest foray into its home turf. It took less than a week. On Monday, Microsoft said it would offer a free version of its popular Office software suite that would run on the Internet. The Redmond, Wash., company didn't mention its archrival by name, but analysts saw Monday's move as a strategy by Microsoft to protect one of its most profitable businesses against Google, which already dominates the Internet search market. The Web-based version of the Office suite will be available next year. "Microsoft was forced to...

Google’s announcement last week concerning its plans to bring out a fully fledged operating system was inevitably going to put the cat amongst the twitterati. “Let’s see,” asked the pundits, “who else makes operating systems?” Of course the intention was to have the Microsoft marketing monster shaking in its boots, not least to stave off a similar intent by the latter as it launches a number of online services of its own. That’s the top line, but is GoogleOS – sorry, Chrome – really any more than a Google-branded Linux derivative? The answer, in true Vicky Pollard style, is “Yes,...

Microsoft Corp will release a free version of its dominant Office software that users can access over the Web, catching up with products that arch rival Google Inc launched three years ago. The world's largest software maker will offer a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and a note-taking program with the same look and feel of their counterparts in the Office suites that it sells for personal computers. It is the latest salvo in an intensifying war between the two technology giants. Google announced plans last week to challenge Windows with a free operating system. Microsoft introduced a new search...

Software giant comes under more pressure from Google's free servicesSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Microsoft Corp. on Monday made the latest edition of its Office software suite available for testing and plans to make key applications such as Word and Excel available over the Web -- acknowledging burgeoning competition from Internet giant Google Inc. and others.Office is a dependable cash cow that Microsoft is leaning on as it increasingly shifts toward a business model partly based on the Internet. The company said at its Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans that "tens of thousands" of people will now be able to...

As usual on the upcoming Patch Tuesday next week, Microsoft will be issuing a series of critical patches to fix security vulnerabilities for its popular Windows computer operating system. But this time, the company is getting a bit more attention than it's used to for its patch release schedule

With Chrome OS, Google aims to make the Web the primary platform for software development. Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s plan to release its own operating system based on its Chrome browser is at once audacious and laughable. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Windows represents slightly less than 90% of the personal computer operating system market, a position it has held for years. Google's industry ally, Apple, has managed to steal a few percentage points of market share away from Microsoft in the past twelve years under the singular leadership of CEO Steve Jobs. But Windows remains the dominant operating system, more dominant even...

Microsoft was aware of a critical vulnerability in an Internet Explorer component at least 12 months before attackers started targeting it in lethal exploits that take full control of end-users' PCs, a member of its security team said Wednesday. The disclosure comes as attacks targeting the MSVidCtl ActiveX control vulnerability have increased exponentially. On Monday, online ads distributed by through the Giant Realm network on popular gaming websites began including code that exploits the bug, according to security firm ScanSafe. The ads mean that anyone using IE to browse sites such as diii.net and incgamers.com are risk if they run...

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Is the Google OS a bluff? f anyone thinks that the recent attention being paid to Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, and the sudden announcement of a free OS from Google is a coincidence, then you haven't been following the tech business closely. Everything is strategic. See release here. Here are some factors to note before you take this too seriously: Telltale sign number one is that this Google Chrome OS has nothing to do with Google's real OS, the Android. Why doesn't it? The second telltale sign is the supposed release date. This thing is...

Microsoft Windows has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the global computer operating systems market for the last 30 years. But one Korean company has dared to challenge the software giant. TmaxSoft launched Tmax Window in an attempt to create viable competition in the OS market. More than 300 researchers have developed the system over almost five years. The company claims that Tmax Window has a high rate of compatibility with Microsoft software titles and the chairman of the company says the system is more stable and suitable for many users. Microsoft has been criticized for unfairly stifling competition by packaging...

Google's revelation that it will create its own operating system will bring just one reaction from operating system enthusiasts worldwide. "Not another Linux distribution," they'll cry. They'll say this because if there is one problem that the Linux and open-source community has suffered repeatedly over the past two decades, it's been fragmentation. It was bad enough that the Unix operating system fragmented repeatedly through the 1980s and 1990s. Systems administrators (like myself, earlier this decade) were forced to learn several different platforms: Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, FreeBSD...the list was always growing longer. But the hojillion different directions Linux has taken over...

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be. Google...

Microsoft's new search engine has made some gains, but not nearly as dramatic as the buzz might indicate, PC World reports, citing new researchHave you heard the news? Microsoft's Bing is taking a bite out of Google, boasting first-month market share gains while the competition's stronghold slips away! At least, that's what some headlines around the Web might lead you to believe this week. The truth, though, is that the change is not nearly as dramatic as it appears at a glance. While Bing has, according to certain data, minimally increased Microsoft's search market share, Google's position has not significantly...

I know a girl who gets somewhat uptight when she's in the passenger seat of a car going any more than 70 mph. However, put her on some insane roller coaster, and she's just fine. The driving dangers are real, you see. Whereas the roller-coaster ride just feels wonderfully stomach-turning. And so it is with this charming new online ad for Internet Explorer 8 from Microsoft. In most of its advertising, Microsoft has rarely reached 70 mph. But someone, somewhere deep within Microsoft, finally had the craving for the roller coaster. Here we have a couple at the breakfast table....

Microsoft: We're not gouging Europe on Windows 7 pricing Company exec denies that higher EU prices stem from antitrust action A top Microsoft executive today denied reports that European users will pay more for Windows 7 because of the company's wrangling with antitrust regulators. In a statement first posted as a letter to the Financial Times Web site, Bill Veghte, the senior vice president for the Windows business group, said "nothing about this [case] will mean higher prices for Windows 7 in Europe." Today, Microsoft's public relations firm forwarded the same Veghte statement to Computerworld. Veghte was countering a Financial...

A trial version of Microsoft's free anti-virus software has been launched in the US, China, Brazil, and Israel. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) promises to provide people with basic protection against viruses, trojans, rootkits and spyware. The software giant has been criticised in the past for failing to include free security software with Windows. Its first security package, Windows Live OneCare, failed to attract many customers and will be discontinued. Microsoft is hoping that MSE, available as a free download from its site, will prove more popular. It has said it will automatically update it for users. However, rival security vendors...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqPTOb31S8 "and the last thing Bernard saw was not the BLUE sea but the Bl..."

Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Carol Bartz told shareholders Thursday that the Internet company had "nothing to say" about any possible deal with software giant Microsoft Corp., and urged investors to remain patient as she attempts to turn the company around. "If we ever have a deal with Microsoft, it will be announced publicly and until we do, we have nothing to say," said Ms. Bartz at Yahoo's annual shareholder gathering in Santa Clara, Calif., her first stockholders meeting since she was appointed CEO early this year. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US software giant Microsoft launched a free online home energy monitoring tool on Wednesday that allows consumers to gauge their usage and reduce consumption. Microsoft Hohm, available as a beta, or test, version in the United States at microsoft-hohm.com, lets users "better understand their energy usage, get recommendations and start saving money," Microsoft said. "We believe technology will play a pivotal role in tackling the global energy issues we currently face," Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, said in a statement. "Microsoft Hohm demonstrates how a combination of advanced software and Internet-based services can...

What is WGA Notifications? Genuine Microsoft Software Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is a program that helps Microsoft fight software piracy and helps you validate that the copy of Microsoft Windows XP installed on your computer is genuine and properly licensed. By confirming that your copy of Windows XP is genuine, you can take advantage of all the capabilities, support, and continuous improvements—as well as the peace of mind—that come with using genuine Windows. If your copy is not genuine, WGA Notifications will provide periodic reminders to help you take the appropriate action. It's part of Microsoft's commitment to fight software...

You'd think nothing would get under the skin of search giant Google. But co-founder Sergey Brin is so rattled by the launch of Microsoft's rival search engine that he has assembled a team of top engineers to work on urgent upgrades to his Web service, The Post has learned. Brin, according to sources inside the tech behemoth, is himself leading the team of search-engine specialists in an effort to determine how Bing's crucial search algorithm differs from that used by the company he founded in 1998 with Stanford University classmate Larry Page. .. Microsoft prefers not to use the term...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it would ship the newest version of its Windows operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser, in a move to counter European regulators' concerns that the company unfairly forces out competition from other browser makers. The apparent climb-down comes shortly before the European Commission is due to rule on antitrust charges brought against Microsoft in January, claiming that the world's largest software company abuses its dominant position by bundling its Internet Explorer browser, shielding it from head-to-head competition with rival products. Until now, Microsoft has claimed that the browser...

Every time I checked the New York Times site today, a Microsoft ad for its near search engine Bing popped up. It says "you are defined by the choices you make" and shows a white guy with a mohawk, followed by a picture of a pretty Oriental girl surrounded by art. I would not mind such ads if all groups were skewered equally, but of course an ad where the white guy is smarter is never shown. Of course, many Freepers would avoid this situation by not visiting the NYT site. Is it a hate crime to say "Oriental" instead...

"The unemployment rate has hit a 25 year high, now standing at 9.4 percent and since President Obama has taken office the U.S. has lost 2.2 million jobs. How does the Administration and tax-writers in Congress plan to remedy this? Well, by implementing policies that will ship more jobs and capital out of the U.S. and into foreign countries.

The latest recipient of the Captain Louis Renault Award for shock,shock at the anti-business nature of Barack Obama and his administration goes to Steve Ballmer, Obama supporter and CEO of Microsoft. Ballmer provided substantial support for Obama’s presidential run, and also giving $100,000 to his inauguration, as did Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Now, however, Ballmer has balked at Obama’s tax positions and now says he’ll move Microsoft jobs overseas if necessary: Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes...

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steven Ballmer said the world's largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama's plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies' foreign profits. "It makes U.S. jobs more expensive," Mr. Ballmer said in an interview. "We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S."

Vanity - Need help with Microsoft / MSNBC boycott We're used to bias from news agencies, but MSNBC has gone several steps past just biased. They have become distributors of propaganda. A mouthpiece for the hard left and Democrats. This has caused their ratings to drop through the floor, but GE (NBC's parent company) doesn't seem to care. They seem to love the idea of losing money to promote a political agenda. A boycott would have little effect on them. There is one other player involved here though: Microsoft. The MS in MSNBC stands for Microsoft. The own 18% of...

Google's free mobile-phone operating system will begin running computers next quarter, entering a market dominated by Microsoft's Windows and deepening the rivalry between the two companies. Acer, the world's second-largest laptop maker, will release a low-cost notebook featuring Android in the third quarter, Jim Wong, head of information-technology products at the Taipei, Taiwan-based company, said Tuesday. Asustek Computer, pioneer of the sub-$500 laptops known as netbooks, also developed a model that runs on Google's software, Chairman Jonney Shih said. The development of Android netbooks indicates that the software is powerful enough to replace Windows, which runs about 90 percent of...

Back when the whole netbook thing started, Asus was king of the hill with a focus on netbooks with Linux pre-installed. Since they were kind of popular, it didn't take Microsoft long to start working together with Asus to 'port' Windows XP to the Asus line of netbooks, and with that, to other netbooks as well. The result was that Linux netbooks are now harder to find for many people. While Dell committed itself to Linux on netbooks, Asus has decided to just skip the first date and jump right into bed with Microsoft.

According to NetApplications, Windows XP is still the OS of choice for users out there in ComputerLand, with some two-thirds of users still making use of the aging OS. By comparison, Vista is struggling to capture a quarter of the market share. Vista’s “WOW!” failed to capture the attention of users, as many chose to stick with their older OS. If you are an XP user, has what you’ve seen of Windows 7 made you willing to ditch XP? The way I see it, Microsoft needs to be putting effort into marketing Windows 7 to those currently using XP. After...