microsoft

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday came and went yesterday, bringing 23 fixes for a number of issues with its popular Office programs Excel and Word. At least several of these have been marked critical and most users should certainly consider the download. ... (Source: theregister.co.uk ) The most critical of the patches fixes an Excel flaw that could potentially allow a hacker to take remote control of an unpatched system. If an unprotected user opens a malicious and specially crafted Excel file, they could find their computer controlled by someone else effectively exploiting something called an ... (view more)

Recognizing how profitable the concept could be, Microsoft recently planned to build a pub right in the center of their Redmond campus. The idea: happy employees work hard throughout the day, unwind at the Microsoft-owned pub at night, and come to ... work happy again the next day. The reasoning: ask any number of people what is the best way to relax after a hard day at work -- and you'll probably get an answer that suggests kicking back with a few "adult" refreshments is a great idea. That said, it came as a shock when Microsoft decided to call off all plans to have a pub on their main campus ... (view more)

Microsoft has cut the price of Windows by almost 80% for the special netbook edition. However, the price is for manufacturers, meaning consumers won't necessarily see all of the savings. Until now, computer makers normally had to pay around $70 to ... include Windows on their machines. Microsoft has now started offering Windows for just $15 to firms making netbooks. Of course, there's no guarantee manufacturers will pass all of those savings on; depending on how competitive the market is, they may attempt to keep back some of the $55 reduction for themselves. Microsoft feels the price cut is ... (view more)

A federal court has fined Microsoft $388 million for breaching the copyright of a rival software company. Ironically, the firm concerned was a producer of anti-piracy products. The court found Microsoft breached a patent belonging to Uniloc and ... involved the copy protection used on Windows XP and some parts of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft had not licensed the technology used in the activation process by which a product can be installed repeatedly on a single machine but can't be shared with other people or copied to another computer. Award Among All-Time Highs The sum is believed to ... (view more)

In a recent Security Intelligence Report, Microsoft revealed that scareware threats are steadily climbing. The report, which covers the second half of 2008, finds that fake security software is becoming more and more prevalent as people head online ... in greater numbers. Scareware isn't your traditional malicious software. It's not simply a virus or malware, but can lead to those kinds of infections. Instead, scareware is a more sinister kind of threat -- it pretends to be security software willing and able to "repair and protect" a user's system, but is in fact just a farce. Most ... (view more)

A day after Microsoft revealed that it would make Windows 7 downgradeable all the way back to XP, a new poll suggests it's unlikely anyone will really want to do that. Apparently, Windows 7 is gaining popularity after all. The poll is courtesy of ... ChangeWave Research, which has been keeping tabs on Microsoft's operating systems for a while now. Two years ago it polled users shortly after Vista's much-anticipated launch, only to find that just 10% of all users felt "very satisfied" with the OS. A couple years of serious griping later, and here we are with what most hope will completely redeem ... (view more)

At this point, Windows 7 represents Microsoft's best hope for regaining the confidence of business and home users disgruntled with its much-maligned Windows Vista operating system. Just in case Win7 doesn't satisfy, however, the company is making it ... downgradable all the way to Windows XP. Downgrading a Windows system is hardly new, but prior to Vista the demand for such retroactive steps was actually quite rare. As Vista's popularity began to wane only a few months after its launch in early 2007, computer makers and retailers began marketing certain systems that had XP instead of the newer, ... (view more)

Microsoft recently announced that April 14, 2009 will mark the beginning of its "phase out" process for the Office 2003 productivity suite and the Windows XP operating system; two cornerstone programs that will be forced into semiretirement so that ... more resources can be used towards newer products. The lifespan of a Microsoft product is dependent on the amount of time and involvement the company allocates when implementing security updates, patches, and similar. Microsoft Product Life Cycle: Mainstream Support Office 2003 was released in November 2003 as a successor to Office XP. At the time ... (view more)

Rumors suggest that Hewlett-Packard (HP) is considering to use the Google Android operating system in their netbook computers . If the rumors are true, the Linux's 10 percent market share could grow faster than ever before. If the Linux-based ... operating system (OS) is considered the underdog in this battle, it should be noted that Linux is simply trying to reclaim the same figures that Microsoft once usurped. Some early netbook models offered a pre-installed Linux-based OS, but when Microsoft slashed the price of its Windows XP Home OS, Linux fell by the wayside. (Source: mashget.com ) Now the ... (view more)

When's the last time you found a new Apple MacBook for less than $1,000? Never? Base pricing is the focus of Microsoft's recent ad campaign, which launches a frontal assault on its competitor's alleged "Apple tax". Although the last time Microsoft ... worked with popular ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, it ended in Costanza-esque disaster -- however, this time the two are taking a different tact. Rather than prance in a fantasy world where comedians and geeky tech moguls journey across the United States , this new series of ads follows everyday computer buyers in their quest to purchase an ... (view more)