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News

• Netbook pioneer to stick with Windows in 2009

  Asustek Computer (Asus) plans to continue using Microsoft Windows OSs in its popular Eee PC netbooks this year despite widespread interest in alternatives such as Google's Android software.

• 1 in 5 Windows PCs still hackable by Conficker

  Although the media blitz about the Conficker worm prompted a significant number of enterprise users to finally fix a six-month-old Windows bug, about 1 in 5 business computers still lack the patch, a security company said Monday.

• Windows Azure: Microsoft banks on programmer loyalty

  Microsoft Corp.'s long hold on power in the software industry has depended on its solid grip on developers. Programmers have written uncountable desktop and client/server applications over the decades that have inextricably linked independent software developers and corporate IT shops to Microsoft. Now the company aims to do the same for cloud-based software by luring loyal programmers to its Windows Windows Azure environment.

• Microsoft confirms IE8 kill switch in Windows 7

  Microsoft Friday confirmed that users will be able to remove Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), as well as several other integrated applications, from Windows 7.

• Microsoft revs up 'Fix it' support tool

  Microsoft has ramped up a new Windows support assistant nearly three months after it quietly debuted the automatic repair and configuration tool.

• Microsoft, RIM, Oracle release critical patches

  Microsoft kept things to a minimum with its first set of security updates for 2009, but corporate system administrators who were expecting a quiet week got something else altogether, thanks to Oracle and Research In Motion.

• Windows market share dives again as Mac nears 10 percent

  Windows lost nearly a full percentage point of market share for the second month in a row in December, pushing Microsoft's operating system to a new low, an Internet measurement company reported yesterday.

• Virtually every Windows PC at risk, says Secunia

  More than 98% of Windows computers harbor at least one unpatched application, and nearly half contain 11 or more programs at risk from attack, a Danish security company said Wednesday.

• Windows market share dives below 90 percent for first time

  Microsoft's Windows OS last month took its biggest market share dive in the last two years, an Internet measurement company reported Monday, erasing gains made in two of the last three months and sending the operating system's share under 90% for the first time.

• Colombia signs up for OLPC laptops with Windows

  Colombia will become the second country to use the One Laptop Per Child Project's (OLPC) XO laptops running Microsoft Windows XP in schools after signing an agreement for pilot programs in two towns, Microsoft said late Monday.

• Ozzie points to slimmer future for Windows client

  Microsoft is putting the Windows client OS on a diet as a way to bring the PC OS into the age of cloud computing.

• Microsoft mulling 'Instant On' feature for Windows

  Microsoft is considering giving its Windows client OS the capability to be turned on very rapidly by allowing users only limited access to the OS, a concept it's calling "Instant On," according to a survey Microsoft conducted.

• Mac OS X market share cracks 8 percent

  Apple's Mac OS X market share has passed the 8 percent mark for the first time, a research company reported Wednesday.

• Upcoming Microsoft patch lineup could be 'massive'

  Microsoft today said it will ship four security updates next week, only a third as many as it did last month, to fix critical vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, Windows Media Player and other parts of its software portfolio.

• OLPC's dual boot Linux, Windows laptop due out soon

  A low-cost XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) that carries both Windows and Linux will be out within the next month or so, according to an OLPC official.