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After King County Superior Court Judge Gregory Canova awarded Microsoft an $8.7 million judgment in a 2008 lawsuit involving unpaid software licenses, he might have been surprised to learn that Microsoft isn’t actually in the software licensing business in Washington – or at least that’s what it reports to the state Department of Revenue. For tax purposes, Microsoft reports that it’s earned its estimated $143 billion in software licensing revenue in Nevada, where there is no licensing tax. However, for legal purposes, Microsoft executes its licensing contracts so they are governed by and rely on the protections of Washington law...

I think the saying goes that those that don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it. This is likely to point with Apple this month as they sit stunned that Windows 7 is doing so well and they are left looking foolish with products priced out of the segment. Their big news this week was a couple of PCs, a new keyboard and a multi-touch mouse. This last will likely go down in history as one of the lamest devices yet as they should know, given the iPhone, that touch is connected to the screen and not anything else....

Computer Weekly, in association with ResearchNow Business, surveyed 500 users to discover which web browser they use at work and at home. Over half of the panellists predicted IE 8+ was the browser that they will be using by the end of 2010, both personally and for their business.

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. has donated $100,000 to the campaign supporting more partnership rights for Washington state gay couples. That's the largest single donation in favor of Referendum 71, which asks voters to approve or reject a new law that expands domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples.

Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 7 computer operating system hopes to pull off a major trick with memory. Not computer memory, but ours. It's supposed to make us forget Vista. The Vista operating system, which Windows 7 will officially replace later this month, had a terrible reputation almost from the time it debuted in 2007. Because of Vista's technical foibles, sluggish operation and inability to play nicely with some other programs, consumers and professionals shunned it in droves, refusing to update from Microsoft's old, reliable XP operating system. Apple Inc. made fun of Vista in a set of hilarious TV commercials,...

Microsoft is promoting the release of Windows 7 by encouraging users to throw Tupperware-like house parties in celebration of the launch. The new campaign encourages participants to print out Windows 7 advertising banners for their home along with "host notes" outlining how to talk about Windows 7 in glowing terms. There's even a question and answer pamphlet, of which the official launch party web site recommends, "download and print this fun activity to keep the party going!" With the new security features in Windows 7, it's unlikely the parties will get too carried away. Interestingly, the quiz pamphlet has nothing...

I have recently switched to DSL and need to cancel my dial-up service (MSN). I've researched and researched, but I can't find a definitive answer to this question: When I cancel my dial-up service, what happens to my email account (msn.com address)? Will I still be able to access my old email account via Hotmail? How to proceed? Recommendations?

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...

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he was forced to give up on the social networking phenomenon Facebook after too many people wanted to be his friend. Gates, the billionaire computer geek-turned-philanthropist who was honoured Saturday by India for his charity work, told an audience in New Delhi he had tried out Facebook but ended up with "10,000 people wanting to be my friends". Gates, who remains Microsoft chairman, said he had trouble figuring out whether he "knew this person, did I not know this person".

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...

It takes an incredibly powerful company to threaten the U.S. government in hopes of impacting a significant decision, but that's precisely what Microsoft is doing. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made headlines when he publicly attacked President Barack Obama's plan to cut tax breaks on U.S. companies' foreign profits, a plan which is currently awaiting Congressional approval.

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."

With the murder of Dr. Tiller there will now be a full scale assault on pro-life advocates. I urge you not to be taken in by the mainstream media on this. Almost all of us who profess to be pro-life would never have advocated the murder of Dr. Tiller. Murder is murder and is wrong whether you are killing millions of unborn children of someone like Dr. Tiller. Now there will be a full scale effort to blame this murder on the entire pro-life movement instead of on the one person responsible. That one person should be prosecuted to the...

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft has been bloodied and repeatedly humbled in its battle with Google in online search. That explains why Steven A. Ballmer, the typically bullish and boisterous chief executive of Microsoft, is speaking cautiously about his company’s latest volley against Google, a new version of its search engine that Mr. Ballmer was scheduled to demonstrate publicly for the first time at a technology conference on Thursday.

The new law gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state's main business tax. http://www.butasforme.com/2009/05/10/obama-prepares-way-to-bailout-liberal-media/

When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news. His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked. They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia quickly caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it, but not quickly enough to keep some journalists from cutting and pasting it first.

The link goes to the story page. I couldn't link directly to voting page since I already voted, wasn't sure if it would "work" then. Scroll down, you'll see the link written in red font, "Vote: Did Sykes' dinner performance go too far?"

As Washington prepares for President Barack Obama’s first White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, members of the White House press corps are grumbling about a spate of background briefings by “senior administration officials” who can’t be quoted by name. But will they do anything about it? After a “senior administration official” briefed reporters on a conference call about Chrysler last week, the Associated Press’s Jennifer Loven circulated an email among her colleagues suggesting some kind of joint action to protest the use of not-for-attribution sessions. “We’ve been concerned about the needless use of ‘on-background’ briefings when it comes to sharing straightforward...

We're still in the first hundred days of the joyous observances of Barack Obama's first hundred days, and many weeks of celebration lie ahead, so here are my thoughts: President Obama's strongest talent is not his speechifying, which is frankly a bit of a snoozeroo. In Europe, he left 'em wanting less pretty much every time (headline from Britain's Daily Telegraph: "Barack Obama Really Does Go On A Bit"). That uptilted chin combined with the left-right teleprompter neck swivel you can set your watch by makes him look like an emaciated Mussolini umpiring an endless rally of high lobs on...

It looks like Microsoft is working on a top-secret smartphone deal with Verizon to take on Apple's iPhone. The project's code-name is "Pink." The goal...

As Apple celebrated, Microsoft canceled the company picnic. As Apple announced results that beat expectations, Microsoft had its first ever year-over-year dip in sales . As Apple announced a billion app downloads, Microsoft gritted its molars with a view to finally shaking a little of the smugness from Apple's chops. So you might be wondering, as you sip your weekend cocktail and ponder why the NBA playoffs are even longer than the regular season, just how much each company's advertising might have contributed to these slightly diverse results. In recent weeks, Microsoft has turned to a strategy of death by...

April 25, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. will unveil an add-on to Windows 7 that lets users run applications designed for Windows XP in a virtual machine, the company confirmed Friday -- the first time Microsoft has relied on virtualization to provide backward compatibility.

theodp writes "Just three days before the Spitfire pub was to open on Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division campus, TechFlash reports that Microsoft got cold feet and pulled the plug on the project, leaving the bar's owner and his 22 employees in the lurch. 'I am completely stunned and disappointed by the decision,' said now lease-less owner Jonathan Sposato, who's stuck with space built out as a pub, complete with a giant bar, a fireplace, and eight beer taps. (He says it wouldn't be economically viable to refit it as a restaurant.) Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed the company's sudden...

It's official, Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system gets the prize for being the most overhyped, underperforming information and communication technology (ICT) project. Windows Vista garnered 5,222 of 6,043 votes (86 percent) entered via the Web to snag top honors in the first-ever Fiasco Awards announced in Barcelona, Spain, today, beating out other contenders, including Google's Lively virtual world, the One Laptop per Child computer (developed by the Nicholas Negroponte-chaired One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc.) and Second Life. Second prize went to SAGA, the oft-malfunctioning administration and academic management system developed by Spain's Catalan Education Department for public school teachers...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has dropped an attempt to recoup some severance money from 25 recently fired workers it mistakenly overpaid. The Redmond, Washington-based company, which announced a plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs in January, acknowledged on Sunday that it had tried to get the overpaid workers to return the extra money. But late on Monday, it reversed course. "This was a mistake on our part," said a Microsoft spokesman

Microsoft Corp. said it hired a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to help the company open its own retail stores, a strategy shift that borrows from the playbook of rival Apple Inc. The Redmond, Wash., company said it hired David Porter, most recently the head of world-wide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG, as corporate vice president of retail stores for Microsoft. In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them. A Microsoft spokesman said...

French fighter planes grounded by computer virus French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims. by Kim Willsher in Paris Last Updated: 11:43AM GMT 07 Feb 2009 The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand. At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers. Microsoft had warned that the "Conficker" virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but...

The Best E-Mail Program Ever How Gmail destroyed Outlook. By Farhad Manjoo Posted Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, at 5:52 PM ET As of this week, Gmail has reached perfection: You no longer have to be online to read or write messages. Desktop programs like Microsoft Outlook have always been able to access your old mail. There is a certain bliss to this; if you've got a pile of letters that demand well-composed, delicate responses (say you're explaining to your boss why you ordered that $85,000 rug), unplugging the Internet can be the fastest way to get things done. That's why...

Microsoft's inherently-ironic Songsmith software is such a goldmine. Here, some jokester has turned those stock market frowns upside-down by setting them to Songsmith's relentlessly upbeat Casiotone beats. If this doesn't put a smile on your face, you're probably not closing your eyes shut enough. For the video mentioned in the article above, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-BZfFakpzc For those not aware of Songsmith, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGFogwcx-E 

Back in 2002, as Roy Schestowitz calls out, Microsoft was desperately trying to figure out a response to Linux. The problem wasn't Linux as a product-level competitor. The problem, as its Windows chief, Jim Allchin, told a small gathering of Microsoft partners (PDF), is that Linux changes the nature of software competition with odd things like "community" and "GPL licensing," the latter of which Microsoft didn't like one bit : We feel a huge threat from Linux. Maybe we shouldn't, which is a question you could answer from your perspective...There's Linux the community. We're going to learn from Linux the...

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has predicted it will take up to 10 years to weather the current global economic storm. "The financial market and economic conditions that have developed this past year are truly unprecedented," Gates wrote on Monday in his first annual letter about his work at the philanthropic foundation that bears his name. "I hope two years from now when I write this letter I can look at this section as a reflection of something that was short-term and that has passed," wrote Gates in a section of the 20-page letter devoted to the economic slump.

Senator Asks Microsoft to Lay Off Foreigners Ahead of Americans Jason Mick (Blog) - January 26, 2009 11:07 AM A prominent Republican Senator has some controversial suggestions for Microsoft on its job cuts Faced with the wrath of its shareholders after missing its earnings targets badly, Microsoft announced that it would be laying off 5,000 employees, a sharp reverse of years of hiring and growth. The layoffs are starting to be announced this week. Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, where Microsoft has a significant presence, wrote a letter to Microsoft with suggestions about the layoff. In his letter,...

"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement. The layoff, however, would not be impacting the Indian operations. "It's not going to impact us. No job cuts in India," a Microsoft India spokesperson said in New Delhi.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) has selected the company’s Silverlight technology to enable live and on-demand video streaming of the official inauguration swearing-in ceremony on the PIC Web site at http://www.pic2009.org. As part of its efforts to hold the most open and accessible inauguration in history, on Saturday, Jan. 17, the PIC will also stream video of a Baltimore event on the Whistle Stop Tour that will take President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to Washington, D.C., from Philadelphia. “Microsoft is proud to be part of this event by helping to bring the...

Obama's Billionaires Claire Obusan President-elect Barack Obama has had a slew of billionaire backers with him on his journey to the White House--plutocrats who provide economic and political advice and help to raise money. Lots of money. Obama's Billionaire Buddies Obama's national finance chairwoman during his presidential campaign was Penny Pritzker, one of 11 members of the famous Chicago family that appear on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans (combined net worth as of September: $21.6 billion). As of Nov. 24, 2008, Obama's campaign had raised a record-breaking $742 million during the election, according to the Center for...

The European Union charged Microsoft Corp. with new antitrust violations, reanimating a pursuit of the software giant that has already led to more than $2 billion in fines and has defined Europe's approach to policing big business. In the charges, delivered Thursday to Microsoft, the EU accuses Microsoft of "tying" its Web browser, Internet Explorer, to its Windows operating system in a move that allegedly stifles competition from other makers of browsers. The action, which revives issues at the heart of a U.S. antitrust case a decade ago, comes more than a year after Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer effectively...

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said Friday that Microsoft’s practice of selling the Internet Explorer browser together with its Windows operating system violated the union’s antitrust rules. It ordered the software giant to untie the browser from its operating system in the 27-nation union, enabling makers of rival browsers to compete fairly. “Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between Web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice,” the E.U. said in a statement. It gave Microsoft eight weeks to respond, adding that the company could defend its position in a hearing...

Who will run Apple after its visionary CEO and product guru Steve Jobs leaves? The question has been hanging over the company since last summer when Jobs appeared onstage at a conference looking terribly ill. Jobs, 53, underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer four years ago, and now says he's suffering from a "hormone imbalance." He appears determined not to groom a successor, saying last week in an open letter that he intends to remain in charge, and if at some point he can't do his job, he'll make that known, thank you very much. He grumbled that he has "given...

Ann Coulter Responds to Media Matters Attacks Wednesday, January 7, 2009 7:50 AM By: Phil Brennan The far left attack dog Media Matters for America is obviously unhappy with Ann Coulter’s new book “Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America.” published a 6,000 word compilation of a dozen alleged lies contained in her book which unmasks some of the left’s sleaziest tactics. Media Matters, according to widely respected pollster Frank Luntz is “one of the most destructive organizations associated with American politics today … They are vicious. They only understand one thing: attack...” Newsmax asked Ms. Coulter to respond...

nandemoari writes "It seems not even Microsoft is impervious to the effects of this increasingly painful recession. According to reports, the Redmond-based company is preparing to lay off about 17 per cent of its entire workforce in the coming months. Despite its portfolio diversity — including operating systems, antivirus software, and video game consoles — Microsoft is clearly feeling the pressure applied by a tightening global economy. In fact, there seems to be a sense of emergency to the massive cuts (about 15,000 workers out of 90,000), which rumors suggest should be made official by January 15."

Second record loss in two months for Microsoft; Apple posts record gainWindows lost nearly a full percentage point of market share for the second month in a row in December, pushing Microsoft Corp.'s operating system to a new low, an Internet measurement company reported yesterday. Meanwhile, Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X posted a record gain that brought it close to a 10% share for the first time since Net Applications Inc. began tracking operating system use. In December, 88.7% of the people who browsed the Web sites that Net Applications monitors did so using machines powered by Windows, a 0.94...

In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school's 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. "It was like Russian roulette," says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man's steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout....

Bill Gates: I'd Work in Obama Administration Microsoft founder Bill Gates has met with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and said he's open to a role aiding the incoming Barack Obama administration. Gates is in Washington this week to promote the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's education and global health agenda. "Certainly my full-time job is being chairman of the foundation," he told The Washington Post. But he added: "If there was some committee or pretty focused task where I could contribute, I'd be glad to consider that, and I hope that the things we've learned about education, including the mistakes...

Yahoo Inc. said Monday that its co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Yang, will step down after the company finds a replacement, following a tumultuous and short tenure that included the company's rejection of an offer by Microsoft Corp. to buy the company.

Windows Vista, Office 2007 Planned For 30,000 U.S. Military PCs It might not be the most popular operating system with civilians, but that's not stopping the U.S. Department of Defense from embracing Windows Vista. Military IT technicians on Friday will start the process of upgrading about 30,000 personal computers used by Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine personnel on the Korean peninsula from Windows XP to Windows Vista, according to an official military publication. The servicemen and women also will get their hands on Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Office 2007 for the first time. The computers must be upgraded in order...

Buchanan : "Suppose we had a clan bomber who had bombed black churches in the 1960s and was unrepentant and said I wish I has done more” ….. “ and if I had started one of my campaigns in his home Chris, it would be an issue" . Matthews: "Because one guy was anti-war and the other was anti-black, it's a difference in values there", Buchanan : " You would not let me get away with that without ramming it home saying what are you doing hanging around with trash like that."

The other big battle on Nov. 4 is over wireless airwaves, and it pits tech stalwarts against TV stations, evangelical preachers—even Dolly Parton ### Besides the Presidential election, there's another big political battle brewing in Washington on Nov. 4. This one is over the airwaves that are used to deliver communications signals to consumers across the country, and like the race for the White House, this contest has created a big divide. The same day that the country is picking its next President, the Federal Communication Commission will decide whether to make available a large swath of airwaves for wireless...

October 3, 2008 Joe Biden's Alternate Universe In Thursday night’s vice presidential debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin, Biden said the strangest and most ill-informed thing I have ever heard about Lebanon in my life. “When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, “Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.” Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.” [Emphasis added.] What...

The carefully crafted ecosystem of tech companies built around Microsoft's Windows operating system is showing signs of strain. Hewlett-Packard, a longtime Microsoft ally, has quietly assembled a group of engineers to develop software that would make Windows Vista easier to use, or bypass some of its more onerous features. A Skunk Works of engineers at the company is even angling to replace Windows with an HP-assembled operating system, sources say.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s new Windows ad, featuring Jerry Seinfeld, is outdated and not very funny -- but it's highly revealing of all that's wrong out there in Redmond. The background: Windows is losing market share to Apple's Mac OS and even Linux. And Vista, the latest version, has been a big fat dud. Businesses have shunned it outright, and many consumers find it unintuitive and difficult to use. So, Microsoft hired "award winning" agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky -- at a reported cost of $300 million -- to give Vista, and the Windows franchise in general, an image makeover. The...