Microsoft

According to a prominent member of the Lenovo team, Microsoft made a big mistake with Windows RT. In fact, Simon Kent, Lenovo's Think PC and visual category manager, doesn't believe any businesses want to use the slimmed-down version of the Windows ... 8 operating system. Major PC hardware manufacturer Lenovo has been critical of Windows RT before. In fact, the firm has mostly passed on the operating system (OS), which is specially designed for mobile devices like tablet computers. Windows RT Not "What Businesses Want" Even though Lenovo has released a number of tablet devices, it has ... (view more)

Last quarter Microsoft profits were up an impressive 19 per cent when compared to the same period last year. However, the company can credit Office software and the Xbox 360, not Windows 8, for that bump. While Microsoft's Windows division showed ... increases in revenue and profits, The Wall Street Journal notes this income was actually earned in the past, with its reporting deferred for accounting purposes. This involved software that allowed the user to receive a free or reduced-price upgrade at a later date. Microsoft chose to not list the full revenue in its accounts at the time of purchase ... (view more)

After weeks of speculation , Microsoft has finally acknowledged that it is currently working on smaller touch screen devices running Windows 8. So far, most critics appear to approve of the move. In a recent statement, Microsoft chief financial ... officer Peter Klein noted that his firm is "working closely with OEMs on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows." Klein didn't say what the new tablets would look like or what their specifications would be, but he did note that Microsoft was determined to offer "competitive pricing" for the devices, which will become available "in ... (view more)

According to a new report, Microsoft may be considering reviving the Windows Start Button with the release of Windows Blue , its next major update for the Windows 8 operating system (OS). The report comes to us from ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, a ... prominent industry insider with sources at Microsoft. Foley says she's learned that Microsoft may bring back not just the Start Button -- a landmark navigation tool found in virtually every single previous Windows operating system -- but also the ability to boot straight to the desktop. (Source: pcworld.com ) If true, this would mean a major overhaul of ... (view more)

New reports indicate that Microsoft may be jumping on the 'smart watch' bandwagon. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft suppliers are currently preparing a "watch-style device" prototype. To build the prototype, Microsoft has reportedly ... ordered 1.5-inch displays. Microsoft has not yet commented on the rumor and it remains entirely possible that the firm will decide that marketing a smart watch device is not a good idea. (Source: digitaltrends.com ) Microsoft Smart Watch: Second Attempt It's worth noting that the Redmond, Washington-based firm has explored the idea of developing a ... (view more)

Microsoft recently announced a 15 per cent price cut on Windows 8 for businesses looking to move away from Windows XP. However, experts are now saying that Microsoft faces a tough task in trying to move everyone off the aging operating system (OS). ... Microsoft's "extended support" window for Windows XP ends on April 8, 2014. That gives the firm almost a year to shift between 30 and 40 per cent of all computer users away from the OS. (Source: pcpro.co.uk ) Large Firms Slow to Spend Cash But Betty Junod, director of desktop product marketing at US-based VMware, says that will be a near-impossible ... (view more)

Not sure which Internet search engine to use? Maybe this will affect your decision: according to a new report, Bing search results produce five times more malware-ridden sites than Google search results. The findings come from German antivirus firm ... AV-Test, which says it recently evaluated several search engines, including Google, Bing, Yandex, Blekko, Faroo, Ask Jeeves' Teoma, and Baidu. The security company carried out its tests over a year-and-a-half period and wrapped things up this past February. Popular Twitter, News Topics Used As Search Terms AV-Test used topics found on Twitter, ... (view more)

Microsoft is urging users of its Windows 7 operating system (OS) to immediately uninstall a recently-released patch that is reportedly crashing customers' PCs. In some cases, users have been faced with constant system reboots. The patch was released ... Tuesday, April 8, 2013, and was part of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday security update . It was issued by Microsoft's Windows Update service but has since been pulled because of reported issues. Unfortunately, many users would have had the update installed automatically by Windows 7's Automatic Update feature. Microsoft says those users should ... (view more)

According to a new report, the number of PCs sold around the world dropped by almost 14 per cent last year. Even the gloomiest forecasts failed to predict such a slump that many experts are blaming on Windows 8. The figures come from analyst firm ... IDC and combine reports from the major PC manufacturers. These reports cover the first three months of 2013 and compare them to the same period last year. The numbers actually refer to how many PCs the firms have sent to stores rather than how many have been bought by consumers and businesses. That can make it difficult to compare one quarter to the ... (view more)

Microsoft and several other prominent technology firms have filed a complaint with the European Commission against Google. The problem, according to Microsoft: Google is using its Android operating system (OS) like a Trojan horse to take control of ... the rapidly-expanding mobile market. At the moment, Android can be found on most tablet computers and smartphones. According to a recent study by Strategy Analytics, roughly 7 in every 10 mobile devices run this highly-adaptable OS. Microsoft is just one member of the FairSearch coalition, which also includes Nokia and Oracle. In total, FairSearch ... (view more)