Microsoft left searching for its own path: related news

Microsoft left searching for its own path

Jakarta, Indonesia - Microsoft will focus on growing its own advertising and Internet search business after it withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo, chairman Bill Gates said on Friday.

Microsoft Downplaying Recent DNS Vulnerability

Microsoft Watch writes "Microsoft downplays a recent DNS vulnerability in all Microsoft operating systems (XP, Vista, 2000, and 2003), claims Amit Klein, the security researcher who published the original vulnerability description (PDF) earlier this month. According to Klein, the description in Microsoft's Secure Windows Initiative blog entry is misleading, contains disinformation about the DNS transaction ID algorithm, and downplays the severity of the issue. Klein refutes Microsoft's claim that there is no way to reproduce the next transaction ID, given a series of observed transaction IDs. He shows that this is possible in his paper, which Microsoft had before publishing the SWI post, as well as on the series of data provided in the SWI blog itself.

Microsoft's Good and Bad News

While Apple is clearly slowly eating into Microsoft’s dominance of the corporate desktop Microsoft isn’t smarting too much for many reasons. One reason is that Microsoft is the biggest developer of Mac software outside of Apple itself, and as it happens, Microsoft’s Mac business is booming. Word came today from Redmond’s Mac Business Unit today is that Office for Mac is selling faster than any previous version of Office for the Mac in the in the last 19 years. Of course Microsoft won’t say exactly how many units it has sold. As a percentage of revenue it’s not large enough that Microsoft would be required to break it out of its usual results, though I for one certainly wish it would. Also noted is that today is the day that Office for Mac’s first service pack, SP1, is being released.

Microsoft 'Shared Source' Attempts to Hijack FOSS

aacc1313 writes "An article that details how Open Source is being hijacked by Microsoft and the sort via 'Shared Source' licenses and how Open Source licenses have become so much more confusing. From the article, "The confusion stems from the fact that Microsoft's 'shared source' program includes three proprietary licenses as well, whose names are similar in some ways to the open-source licenses. Thus, while the Microsoft Reciprocal License has been approved by OSI, the Microsoft Limited Reciprocal License (Ms-LRL) is not, because it allows users to modify and redistribute the software only on the Windows platform" and "The 'shared source' program was and is Microsoft's way of fighting the open source world, allowing customers to inspect Microsoft source code without giving those customers the right to modify or redistribute the code.

Why Microsoft Won't Have Blu-ray on the Xbox

Ian Lamont writes "Ever since Toshiba stopped production of HD DVD players, many Xbox 360 owners have been wondering when Microsoft will offer some sort of Blu-ray option for the Xbox 360. The answer: Probably never. Microsoft's product manager for the Xbox 360 has told Reuters that Microsoft is not in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association. Why not? The Industry Standard points to HDi, an obscure Microsoft technology that was part of the HD DVD interactivity layer. HDi may be dead on physical media, but it could potentially be applied to other Microsoft HD-compatible technologies such as Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Media Center, and be part of a long-term play to own a big share of the market for HD content delivered over the Internet.

Why Microsoft Won't Have Blu-ray on the Xbox

Ian Lamont writes "Ever since Toshiba stopped production of HD DVD players, many Xbox 360 owners have been wondering when Microsoft will offer some sort of Blu-ray option for the Xbox 360. The answer: Probably never. Microsoft's product manager for the Xbox 360 has told Reuters that Microsoft is not in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association. Why not? The Industry Standard points to HDi, an obscure Microsoft technology that was part of the HD DVD interactivity layer. HDi may be dead on physical media, but it could potentially be applied to other Microsoft HD-compatible technologies such as Xbox Live Arcade and Windows Media Center, and be part of a long-term play to own a big share of the market for HD content delivered over the Internet.

Novell's 2004 Case Against Microsoft Moves Forward

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Novell's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft for destroying the market for WordPerfect and QuattroPro can now move forward. The Supreme Court denied certiorari to Microsoft's appeal of an appeals court ruling, which is the fancy legal way of saying they ignored Microsoft's appeal and let the previous ruling stand. Novell's complaint is an interesting read, because some of this sounds quite familiar, given how Microsoft is now forcing the standardization of OOXML. Statements like, 'As Microsoft knew, a truly standard file format that was open to all ISVs would have enhanced competition in the market for word processing applications, because such a standard allows the exchange of text files between different word processing applications used by different customers,' and 'Microsoft made other inf

In their own ways, Microsoft and Apple push the next iPhone

Microsoft sent an unambiguous message to European consumers this week: the next iPod killer will arrive imminently. It's called the iPhone. The 3G iPhone. Well, in truth, Microsoft never mentioned Apple's iPhone. Instead, it announced a -- yawn -- new software upgrade for its Zune music store, saying the phantom device will now play video too. You'll have to take their word for it, European gadgetheads. There is still no word on when, or if, Microsoft will make the player available here. The latest rumour is that it will be 18 months from now, in autumn 2009, when Microsoft introduces the third generation Zune.

Microsoft Loses Appeal of "Vista-Capable" Lawsuit

bfwebster writes "Microsoft has lost its appeal to remove class-action status for the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit that has already resulted in some embarrassing internal e-mails being released publicly. As Computerworld reports, in its appeal to the US Ninth Circuit Court, Microsoft argued (among other things) that 'continuing the lawsuit might mean new disclosures of insider e-mails, which could "jeopardize Microsoft's goodwill" and "disrupt Microsoft's relationships with its business partners."' Given what's been released so far (158-page PDF), not to mention Microsoft's history of rather frank internal e-mails, that's probably putting it mildly. There could be some interesting reading ahead."

Microsoft to Google: 'Hello, Newman'

Talk about a losing streak: First, Microsoft lost a stake in AOL to Google. Then Microsoft lost all of DoubleClick to Google. Now Microsoft may lose Yahoo to Google. In fact, even if Microsoft loses Yahoo to AOL, it still would be losing to Google, as Google owns 5% of AOL. (In December 2005, Time Warner sold that stake to Google for $1 billion. Time Warner wanted to shake the attentions of Microsoft, which also was bidding for a stake in AOL).

Microsoft Quietly Offering Ad-Funded Version of Works

mikesd81 writes "News.com reports Microsoft has finally started offering an ad-funded version of Microsoft Works in some countries. Users who run the software see a small ad as they are writing their document or editing their spreadsheet. Although the program has the ability to update its set of ads online, today it runs mostly ads for Microsoft and a few partners, all of which ship with the product itself. Microsoft remains cagey on the details of where you can find Works SE. The company has been testing Works SE in 5 countries: The United States, France, Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom. It is available only through select computer makers and Microsoft won't say which computer makers those are. However, it seems Sony is offering it in the US.

Microsoft Hyper-V Leaves Linux Out In The Cold

whitehartstag writes to mention that Microsoft has announced their new Hyper-V as feature-complete. Unfortunately the list of supported systems is disappointingly short. "No offense to SUSE Enterprise Server crowd, but only providing SUSE support in Hyper-V is a huge mistake. By not supporting Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, and BSD, Microsoft is telling us Hyper-V is a Microsoft only technology. More Mt. Redmond, Microsoft center of the universe thinking. That's disappointing. Sure, if you are a Microsoft only shop, Hyper-V will be an option for virtualization. But so will VMware and XenServer. But if you run a mixed shop, Hyper-V won't solve your problems alone — you'll have to also add VMware or Xen to your virtualized data center portfolio. Or just go with VMware and Xen and forego Hyper-V.

Microsoft told to pay $367M over patents

SEATTLE (AP) - A jury ordered Microsoft Corp. on Friday to pay $367.4 million to Alcatel-Lucent for infringing on two patents, a decision the software maker vowed to appeal. The U.S. District Court jury in San Diego found that handwriting recognition technology in Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system infringed on pattern recognition patents held by Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent. The jury also decided that some of Microsoft's programs, including the Outlook e-mail application and the Windows Mobile operating system, infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent patent in the way users select calendar dates from a menu. "We do not believe the jury's verdict against Microsoft on the two user interface patents is supported by the facts or the law," said Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel at Microsoft, in a statement.

Microsoft to appeal $367M patent ruling

SEATTLE (AP) - A jury on Friday ordered Microsoft Corp. to pay $367.4 million to Alcatel-Lucent for infringing on two patents, a decision the software maker vowed to appeal. The U.S. District Court jury in San Diego found that handwriting recognition technology in Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system infringed on pattern recognition patents held by Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent. The jury also decided that some of Microsoft's programs, including the Outlook e-mail application and the Windows Mobile operating system, infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent patent in the way users select calendar dates from a menu. "We do not believe the jury's verdict against Microsoft on the two user interface patents is supported by the facts or the law," said Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel at Microsoft, in a statement.

Yahoo, Microsoft Left Searching

As nearly every company involved with the Internet reels from the implications of Microsoft's surprise May 3 withdrawal of its unsolicited $45 billion bid for Yahoo, two questions remain unanswered: Does Steve Ballmer's "no" really mean no? And if it does, what's next for Yahoo and Microsoft?

Microsoft to consider Blu-ray on XBOX 360

Shacknews - Sony has stated that is has talked with Microsoft about the availability of Blu-ray playback on its XBOX 360 system. It is not known whether the Blu-ray support would be a later revision of the XBOX 360 with a built in Blu-ray player or whether it would be an external add-on device such as Microsoft's own HD-DVD player. Steve Ballmer the CEO of Microsoft stated at the Mix08 internet conference that Blu-ray support was in the works. Sony's recent victory over Toshiba in the format wars has brought a lot of focus to Blu-ray (being that is the only high definition format currently in production), Microsoft agreeing to utilize the format on their XBOX 360 console could yield higher profits as it did for Sony when they designed their Playstation 3 console around the Blu-ray format.

Ed Bott:: With SP1, Microsoft to ditch the Vista 'kill switch'

Tags: Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., SP1, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott

Yahoo!/Microsoft Execs Meet For Round Two

psychosmyth writes "Microsoft's deal to Yahoo! is apparently back on the table. Yahoo execs met again with Microsoft early this past week to re-discuss the deal that fell through earlier. 'The gathering, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gave Microsoft its first chance to sell Yahoo on the rationale for the proposed marriage since the software maker unveiled its plans six weeks ago. Since then, Yang has been exploring different ways to ward off Microsoft. The alternatives have included possible alliances with Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc., News Corp.'s MySpace.com and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL.' Microsoft is apparently still keeping all of its options open; a hostile take-over is not out of the question."

Why Microsoft Surface Took So Long to Deploy

An anonymous reader writes "Nearly a year after all the fanfare unveiling a new touchscreen tabletop interface, Microsoft's Surface computer will finally appear in select AT&T stores later this month. Popular Mechanics tech editor Glenn Derene, who first introduced us to Surface in May, seems to have done a complete 180 in this rant, blasting Microsoft for being more obsessed with Surface's novelty as a magnet for image-conscious partners while messing up a rare hardware device — and, surprisingly, the simple software he was told came with it. From Microsoft's official excuse in the article: 'It's actually been a good thing for us,' Pete Thompson, Microsoft's general manager for Surface, told me. 'We were anticipating that the initial deployments were going to be showcase pilots using our own software applications on units to drive traf

Matt Bacak Analyzes-Microsoft Internet Explorer vs Firefox

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 19, 2008 ) Suwanee, GA -- Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) is very much the incumbent in the web browser arena. Before the arrival of Firefox, MSIE had estimates of greater than 97% of market share. Firefox has cut into MSIE's marketshare, dipping MSIE usage below 90% in the US, and down to the 60% range in markets such as Germany. Advantages of Integration with other Microsoft products: Microsoft often offers its customers good integration among its products, and MSIE is no exception. One can drag an Excel bar graph from an MSIE web page onto an existing Excel document, or view a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation from within MSIE. Within a Microsoft-only corporate intranet, this integration is very helpful. However, for a business interacting with the outside world, the argument weakens since the foundation of the

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