Microsoft - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Microsoft delivers IE8 release candidate

  As expected, Microsoft Monday launched a release candidate of Internet Explorer 8, the first update to the browser since last August.

• Slow Vista sales hit MS revenues as netbooks gain ground

  Sales of Windows desktop software dropped 8 percent last quarter compared to a year ago, while Microsoft's server division revenues were up 15 percent, illustrating the rejection of Windows Vista and the acceptance of Windows Server 2008, an analyst said Thursday morning.

• Ballmer: Microsoft strained to minimize layoffs

  While Microsoft plans to eventually eliminate up to 5,000 jobs, including 1,400 cuts to be made Thursday, it is doing its best to minimize the impact on employees as well as its ongoing strategic efforts, CEO Steve Ballmer said.

• Bugs in tech documentation continue to rise

  The number of bugs in technical documentation for Microsoft communication protocols continues to grow, according to court documents filed for ongoing antitrust oversight of the company in the US.

• Microsoft unveils Mac-to-Exchange sync beta

  Microsoft Tuesday launched a public beta for software that ties Mac users more closely to Exchange mail servers, making good on a promise the company announced earlier this month.

• EU: Microsoft shields IE from competition

  The European Union's antitrust agency on Saturday confirmed that it has charged Microsoft with breaking the law, saying that the company "shields" Internet Explorer (IE) from "head-to-head competition" by bundling its browser with Windows.

• Microsoft, CNN to make historians out of inaugural attendees

  Microsoft is teaming up with CNN to make average people virtual historians.

• Microsoft/Nortel relationship again under microscope

  Nortel's Chapter 11 filing could force it into restructuring that could influence many of its noted partnerships such as a unified communications deal with Microsoft.

• Report: Yahoo Chairman, Microsoft CEO meet in New York

  Watching Yahoo and Microsoft dance around each other while trying to work out a merger deal last year was like watching two awkward teenagers at a their first high school formal. But, with cofounder Jerry Yang out as CEO and Carol Bartz in, the dancing days may not be over.

• Protecting Against the Rampant Conficker Worm

  Businesses worldwide are under attack from a highly infectious computer worm that has infected almost 9 million PCs, according to antivirus company F-Secure.

• Report: Microsoft considers major job cuts

  Microsoft may start a "significant" round of layoffs as early as next week, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal Thursday.

• Microsoft beta lets old Windows apps run on Vista

  Microsoft has released the first public beta of a tool that solves one of the chief complaints businesses have with Windows Vista: that older Windows applications aren't compatible with the new OS.

• Intel, Microsoft, HP sued for alleged patent infringement

  The feature to quickly recover data in PCs and Windows is under attack. Data recovery firm Xpoint earlier this week sued IT giants including Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft for infringing on patents to quickly restore data in the event of corrupted hardware or software.

• Microsoft issues first Windows 7 beta patch

  Microsoft Tuesday issued its first patch for the just-released Windows 7 beta, but it passed on plugging a hole in an important file-sharing protocol that it fixed in older versions of the operating system.

• Windows Server 2008 R2 beta airs

  Lost in the Windows 7 hype, Microsoft also released the beta of Windows Server 2008 R2, which is the companion to the client OS.