Microsoft

Yahoo is once again addressing partnership rumors with Microsoft, only this time adding more insight into what it would take for the two companies to strike an eventual deal: boatloads of money! A few months back, a potential Microsoft/Yahoo ... partnership was suggested that would see the two mega-companies pool their resources in an attempt to lure away a percentage of computer users who use Google search. At the time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pressing the issue, while Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was honoring initial conversations, though nothing eventually came of these talks. Microsoft's ... (view more)

Microsoft has officially unveiled the replacement for its Live Search tool. However, the new instrument will be known as "Bing" rather than "Kumo," and is billed as a 'decision engine' rather than a search engine. The working name for the new ... service had been Kumo, but Microsoft eventually settled on Bing despite some problems trade marking the name. The firm appeared to be looking for an active name which could be used as both a verb and a noun, in the same way as 'to Google' has become another way of saying 'to search online'. As we've noted before, the main difference ... (view more)

Unconfirmed reports suggest Microsoft will drop a limitation on the Starter Edition of Windows 7 that would prevent users from running more than three applications at a time. This comes amidst speculation that guidelines for the Starter Edition have ... been rigged to benefit particular manufacturers. The Starter Edition, aimed at netbook users, will not be available for consumers to buy separately. Instead, only manufacturers are allowed to license it and install it on their machines. In the originally published specifications for the Starter Edition, users could only run three programs at any ... (view more)

Microsoft plans to roll out its new search engine code-named " Kumo " that reportedly improves search results by suggesting more targeted searches capable of bringing users closer to the information they seek. The Kumo team's technology reportedly ... uses open-source software if it's available . (Source: cnet.com ) Kumo to Compete with Google's Storage Engine According to their blog , Kumo developer Powerset decided to turn to hadoop , a Lucene subproject that runs data-intensive applications on large clusters of commodity hardware. Unfortunately, there was no Hadoop equivalent to Google's ... (view more)

More details emerge regarding Microsoft's much talked-about Zune HD, a next-gen portable media device that the Redmond-based company hopes will help it overcome the iPod's worldwide dominance. Zune: A brief History The original Microsoft Zune ... reached retail shelves during holiday season 2006. Its main weapon in the war against Apple was WiFi capability, which Microsoft promised would allow two friends with two Zunes to transfer songs and other files back and forth. In order to skirt digital rights management (DRM) outcries, the media would disappear in a few days, just enough time for the ... (view more)

Those who anxiously downloaded the Windows 7 beta will be able to enjoy their sneak-peek at the operating system for a month longer than expected. Despite an email to testers threatening to cut off the beta on June 1st, Microsoft last night ... announced it will remain untouched until July 1st. From Beta to Release Candidate In a post on the Windows 7 blog Tuesday, Microsoft spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc explained that the email sent to beta testers threatening service shutdowns after June 1st was a mistake. Although no explanation for the slip-up was provided, LeBlanc assured everyone that the ... (view more)

Microsoft's revamped search engine , long rumored to be named 'Kumo,' is now being called 'Bing'. The belief is that the search engine has a hip, easy-to-remember name, and will fare much better among casual users. Multi-Million Dollar Advertising ... Blitz In total, Microsoft is expected to use online, television, print and radio mediums that will see the company dole out anywhere from $80 to $100 million in advertising expenses. To put this figure into perspective, Google's entire advertising budget for 2008 reached about $25 million. Analysts do not expect Microsoft's ads to call out rival ... (view more)

Microsoft will have a chance to prove that it can do everything Google can do (and supposedly better) when the company launches the revamped MS Live search engine in the next few days. Well, that's the rumor, at least. The new program will divide ... the results into different categories, making it easier for users to conduct Internet searches. The software boasts a left-side panel that lists the categories, past searches, and related queries. (Source: app.com ) Public Reaction Confidential Apparently, Microsoft has started to test public reaction to the software in ultra-selective fashion. The ... (view more)

Just when it seemed most everyone in the tech industry was gearing up for the release of Windows 7 this Christmas, the U.S. Army has announced it will soon upgrade its PC systems to the much-maligned Windows Vista operating system. It's surprising ... but welcome news for Microsoft, which has been criticized for Vista's faults since the OS release in 2007. The decision to upgrade United States Army PC desktops from Windows XP to Windows Vista was announced yesterday, and early reports suggest the military plans to complete the change by next year. The announcement is good news for Microsoft, ... (view more)

Microsoft has withdrawn its demand for a hearing after it was found guilty of anti-competitive behavior in Europe. The firm says it could not hope for a fair hearing because many officials will be unable to attend. The European Commission, the EU's ... administrative wing, issued a 'ruling in principle' in January that Microsoft had breached competition laws by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows while not allowing other browsers to be included with the system on new machines. Nobody's Listening The hearing on this issue had been scheduled for June 3rd through June 5th, but Microsoft says it ... (view more)