Microsoft

It seems the troublesome Microsoft Word injunction is finally unearthing some real emotion from the Redmond-based software giant. In a recent court filing, Microsoft, sounding a bit desperate, warned that if the injunction continued to move forward ... it could inflict "irreparable harm" on the company. Some of you will recall that late last week a Texas federal judge ordered Microsoft to halt the resale of its very popular Microsoft Word because several of its functions -- those involving XML (.XML, .DOCX, or DOCM) -- infringe on Toronto-based i4i's patent . Issue More Serious Than Expected ... (view more)

Those who made the upgrade to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) will be pleased to learn that the browser has proven to be the most effective at blocking malware, following a recent study by NSS Labs . However, some experts question the validity ... of the results. Five Browsers Tested NSS tested a total of five Windows-based browsers including: IE8, Firefox 3.0.11, Safari 4.0.2, Chrome 2.0.0.172.33 and Opera 10 beta. The browsers were to defend their users against more than 2,100 malware sites in 69 tests run over a 12-day period. The malware peddled on the infected sites is "socially ... (view more)

A Bing webmaster representative has come forward admitting that Microsoft is guilty of utilizing a MSNbot to click onto adCenter ads. A MSNbot is basically a web-crawling robot issued by Microsoft to supplement the Bing search engine. This is how ... documents and web pages are collected to sustain a searchable index. Google and Yahoo both have their own versions of web-crawling bots, named Googlebot and Slurp respectively. One of the areas of concern for Microsoft's Bing has always been advertising. Because the "decision engine" is still a relatively new search medium, Microsoft is under ... (view more)

After experimenting with the "Cashback" concept for its new search engine Bing, not only does Microsoft intend on continuing with the program, the company will now offer double the cashback rewards. When Microsoft first released Bing, discount ... shoppers rejoiced at the thought of reclaiming a portion of their online retailing expenses thanks to the "Cashback" promotion launched in conjunction with the new "decision engine". The Cashback idea offers loyal users financial incentives for making purchases with advertising retailers found through Bing. Yes, Microsoft will actually refund ... (view more)

Just a day after it was reported that Microsoft's Word could be pulled from store shelves due to a copyright snafu, there's now word that such measures could be prevented -- and that the initial decision may not be as catastrophic as we were led to ... believe. According to reports, Microsoft will almost surely be able to find an "easy technical work-around" to the injunction by a Texas federal judge earlier this week ordering the Redmond-based company to stop selling its popular Word software due to a copyright mix-up with Canadian firm i4i. Headlines "not really true" New York judge ... (view more)

Microsoft has some bad news for those who signed up for the Office Live Small Business service before February 2008. These people will now have to pay an additional fee to renew all web domains acquired through the service. This is not the first ... time that Microsoft has requested payment for domain renewals. In February 2008 the company started charging new customers $14.95 USD for each new web domain. Up until now, those who signed up for the Office Live Small Business service before February 2008 were exempt from paying any additional fee. In the Interest of Fairness... Now, all Office Live ... (view more)

Microsoft might just be readying a (very) early Christmas gift from 'ol Saint Nic. Rumors are that the Redmond-based company will soon announce a major price cut to its Xbox 360 Elite console, to a rather reasonable $299. The rumor is due to a ... catalog page posted on game blog Kotaku showing the 120 GB version of the console for just under $300. The ad belongs to Meijer, a popular Midwest grocery chain in the same market as Wal-Mart. According to reports, the Meijer catalog should ship around August 30, meaning that the Elite could be available for the low price shortly after the beginning of ... (view more)

Microsoft has been ordered to pay over $290 million for willfully infringing on a patent by Canadian firm I4i. The Redmond-based firm has also been told by a Texas judge to stop selling its Word program. The patent in question relates to the use of ... the XML programming language that makes files readable across different programs and allows the formatting of text. XML is an integral part of Microsoft's Word. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) XML Patent Filed by I4i in 1998 The $290 million fine and sales ban of Word are the result of Microsoft's use of Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) documents. Other word ... (view more)

It has been rumored for some time that netbooks, the slim-sized and under-powered notebooks sold for under $500, might not be able to handle Windows 7. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently dismissed that, and went on to discuss exactly how certain ... hardware restrictions define which version of Windows 7 a netbook can manage. Ballmer outlined the special edition of Windows 7 for low-powered processors and small screens at Microsoft's annual financial analyst day. Netbook owners will receive a version of Win7 called Starter, which will not be sold directly to any consumers or businesses. Instead ... (view more)

Microsoft has been accused of failing to do enough to prevent rogue pharmaceutical ads on the results page of its new search engine, Bing. But the claim comes in a report from a group with a clear commercial interest and uses language which gives a ... misleading impression. The authors of the report searched Bing for ten pharmaceutical products, covering a mix of drugs for sexually-related conditions and drugs with the potential to be abused. They then looked at the "sponsored search results" which appear on the right-hand side of the screen. According to the authors, 89.7% of the drug providers ... (view more)