Microsoft

With its October release date steadily approaching, Microsoft announced today that it has released the code for its highly-anticipated operating system Windows 7 to PC manufacturers. It means the company is pacing itself well for the fall release. ... Just a day after Microsoft created a stir with news of a Windows 7 Family Pack , whereby the OS can be installed on up to three computers, the company has kept the hype up with today's announcement that PC makers, including industry heavyweights Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Dell, will now be loading Win7 on new computers. (Source: arstechnica.com ) ... (view more)

Microsoft has expressed interest in further developing two-dimensional barcodes as part of their future corporate outlook. Two-dimensional barcodes are also called QR (quick response) codes and work like the ones found on product packaging. However, ... two-dimensional barcodes have the ability to store more data, including website information and email addresses. Scan with Your Cellphone Camera The whole process of using 2D barcodes is quite futuristic. People scan the barcode using their cellphone camera, which activates the phone's browser and directs them to a designated website linked to ... (view more)

Worried about having to install Windows 7 on more than one computer? Sometimes copy protected programs can be awfully expensive, but thankfully Microsoft has announced its plans for a Windows 7 Family Pack, which can be installed on up to three PCs. ... Microsoft revealed the new Win7 option late Tuesday afternoon, and the announcement has been generating plenty of buzz ever since. Unfortunately, prices for the Family Pack remain just speculation. What we do know is that the Family Pack will consists of the Windows 7 Home Premium version. (Source: cnet.com ) Family Pack Tops Consumer Wish List ... (view more)

Some senior Microsoft search bosses have reportedly flown to California for face-to-face talks with Yahoo management over a search merge. The two sides are said to be at their closest point to a deal to date. According to a report by the All Things ... Digital site, the two sides are being even more secretive than usual. However, it quotes a source as saying "It is down to the short strokes, for sure; it is just a question if we can finally close this." (Source: allthingsd.com ) Naturally, the finer points of any potential deal are under wraps at the moment. However, some general principles have ... (view more)

It appears as if Windows 7 will not need to reach its designated release date to make a big splash in Europe. According to several sources, Microsoft's European online store crashed within hours of offering discounted pre-order copies of the new ... operating system. The sale officially encompassed the major markets in the United Kingdom (UK), France and Germany, where both Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional editions were being sold at very reasonable discount prices. Win7: More than Half-Off the List Price Windows 7E Home Premium is now selling for 49.99 GBP (Great Britain Pound) ... (view more)

A senior Microsoft executive says it will build some of its forthcoming retail stores near those of rival Apple. He also says Apple complained about the recent "Laptop Hunters" campaign, which he feels validates the ads' success. Microsoft announced ... plans to open retail stores back in February, hiring former Wal-Mart executive David Porter to oversee the project. At the time it appeared the firm wanted to take advantage of cheap retail unit rentals thanks to the recession. However, Microsoft's decision to build these stores, and to build them near rival Apple's outlets, might be ... (view more)

Microsoft has made available a patch that promises fixes for nine vulnerabilities, three marked "critical" and another three deemed "important." Most Windows users will be glad to hear that a solution for the much-feared ActiveX DirectShow flaw has ... also been made available. Last week Microsoft made big news in a bad way for its ActiveX security flaw, which threatened to sicken user computers via infected web pages and "drive by" or "browse and get owned" attack codes within legitimate web pages. Much criticism lodged against Microsoft for the company's alleged knowledge of ... (view more)

Analyst firm IDC suggests that a major economic upturn could spur in the near future and North Americans will benefit in large part from the sales of Windows 7 . The report even suggests that Microsoft's latest operating system has the potential to ... save us from the current recession all on its own. IDC estimates that Microsoft will sell about 177 million copies of Windows 7 all together, with 50 million of those sales coming from the European market. Windows 7 Stimulus Ripple Effect How will this help the rest of us? Looking at a sales snapshot from October 2009 (the expected release date of ... (view more)

Just a day after analysts predicted a dominant future for Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system (due this October), a new report suggests that up to 60 per cent of all companies might be hesitant to make the upgrade from Windows Vista and XP. The ... IDC Win7 forecast discussed yesterday painted a pretty picture indeed for Microsoft, suggesting that 75 per cent of all corporations would ditch XP and Vista for Windows 7 by 2011, just two years after its release. Given that most business users are XP users, that's good news for Microsoft. ScriptLogic Paints Different Picture However, another group ... (view more)

Microsoft is in some serious trouble after sources confirmed that the company had known about the recent IE6 and IE7 virus attacks (also known as the infamous " browse and get owned " attacks) for more than a year. Hackers have been exploiting a ... vulnerability in ActiveX by enticing innocent users to click on infected web pages while planting "drive-by" attack codes within legitimate sites. According to ScanSafe, the number of compromised sites has entered into the millions since the attacks first began. Attacks Predicted One Year in Advance If the viruses and malware weren't bad enough, Mike ... (view more)