Microsoft

It would appear two potential rivals to Apple's iPad have been bumped off by their parent companies in just a few days' time. According to reports, Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Slate tablet , which planned to use Windows 7, has been cancelled. The news ... comes less than a week after word that Microsoft had nixed its Courier device. Microsoft admitted last week that it had no plans to release a final version of Courier, a dual-screen, touch screen tablet computer that opened up like an old-timey book and used a stylus for navigation. That wasn't such a huge surprise, since Courier received most of its ... (view more)

Users of Microsoft's popular Windows Messenger will soon notice the company has given the service a dramatic facelift. In a recent preview, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off several of Messenger's new features, ranging from tabbed conversations ... to high-definition video chat. "The new Messenger will provide a great way to have more meaningful conversations with the people you care about most while also bringing together your social networks and sharing updates, cutting through the clutter, and staying up to date with your favorite friends," Microsoft noted in a recent statement. (Source: ... (view more)

Windows 7 could soon be appearing on television sets and set-top boxes. It's the most high-profile outcome of Microsoft releasing a special edition of the system for standalone devices. For many years, Microsoft has released a completely separate ... version of Windows (called "Windows CE") for devices with limited storage space. What Windows CE does is allow small devices to carry out specific tasks without the hardware requirements -- and potential instability -- of a full-blown Windows operating system. Some examples of technology which use Windows CE are in-flight entertainment ... (view more)

Microsoft's proposed rival to the very popular Apple iPad appears stillborn. According to reports, the Redmond-based firm's much-hyped dual screen Courier tablet computer has been cancelled. The report is courtesy of tech blogging site Gizmodo, ... which says that Courier failed to make it out of Microsoft's research phase. It was Gizmodo that first revealed the Courier several months ago, showcasing pictures of a device boasting two screens that folded into one another like one of those old-fashioned books we hear about from time to time. The Courier prototype was reported to include a touch ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed some of the tactics it uses to fight back against software counterfeiting. It involves the use of nine regional crime labs and 75 dedicated anti-piracy staff. Surprisingly, the company maintains that many users of pirated ... Microsoft software are unaware they are running bogus copies. That may seem hard to believe in Western nations, but does appear a genuine problem in some developing countries where there is less awareness about whether or not a retailer is using legitimate copy of Microsoft Windows, for example. It also appears that software with price tags "too good ... (view more)

Microsoft last week reported an impressive 35 per cent increase in net income for its third quarter ending March 31, 2010. Overall, revenue saw a jump of 6 per cent since the same period last year, and most analysts are pointing to Windows 7 as the ... cause. Released on October 22, 2009, Windows 7, Microsoft's latest (and, critically, greatest) operating system (OS) has fueled a remarkable rise in the Redmond-based firm's popularity and profitability. According to reports, sales in Microsoft's Windows unit were up 28 per cent, to $4.4 billion. That's good news for a department that desperately ... (view more)

New iPad owners beware -- if you recently purchased an Apple iPad and are running Microsoft's Windows operating system on it, then take note: scammers are now trying to trick users into downloading a supposed iTunes update that is laced with ... malware. According to a recent report from security firm BitDefender, emails have recently been found in the inboxes of iPad owners under the subject line "iPad Software Update". The message offers those gullible enough to click a link to a web page where they're confronted with what appears to be a very legitimate iTunes update. (Source: cnet.com ) ... (view more)

As part of its ongoing battle with Google for the Cloud computing crown, Microsoft is bringing a version of its Office suite to Facebook, as well as 'Docs.com'. It appears to be a way of promoting the online edition of Office 2010, which includes MS ... Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. (Source: latimes.com ) The Facebook app will simply be known as Docs; a somewhat cheeky title given that's also the name of Google's free spreadsheet application. Microsoft's new tool will be a specially adapted version of Office 2010 designed to work within the social networking system. The idea appears to be to offer ... (view more)

The relationship that Microsoft shares with their Windows XP operating system can be likened to the same kind of relationship shared between Dr. Frankenstein and his monster: what began as a beautiful creation must now be destroyed at all costs. ... While a tad extreme, this is essentially the message that Microsoft is sending out to the world after announcing that the next version of the free Windows Live Essentials software will not run on XP. In a recent blog post, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Experience Chris Jones confirmed the news, although web-based versions of ... (view more)

McAfee is facing a major backlash in sales this morning after a buggy security update left many customers' computers effectively unusable. Worst still, some analysts are predicting that an automated solution may not be possible. As we reported ... yesterday , the problem is the result of a recent McAfee antivirus update gone awry, which then caused the antivirus program to identify legitimate Windows files as being virus infected. The end result was that the legitimate Windows files were sent to a quarantine, resulting in thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of crashes PCs. The problem ... (view more)