microsoft

Microsoft's new mobile phone system, Windows Phone 7, has only been available on handsets for a couple of weeks, but "enthusiasts" have already discovered how to jailbreak it. The process allows users to run any application on the handset, including ... those that haven't gone through a Microsoft vetting process. Jailbreaking Dissimilar to Unlocking Cells It's important to note that jailbreaking is not the same as unlocking. The latter is the process of removing the protection manufacturers put on a phone so that it only works on a particular network, usually in cases where the handset was sold ... (view more)

Microsoft has provided more information with regards to Silverlight 5, the next edition of its multimedia software. The company hopes Silverlight 5's barrage of features can dampen speculation that the system will take a back seat to other forms of ... web media, including that of Adobe Flash and HTML (hyper text markup language) version 5. Silverlight is an application framework, a system that designers can use to create graphics, animations and multimedia content. With the new edition of Silverlight, Microsoft is putting a lot of emphasis on its use in a business context -- particularly in ... (view more)

Microsoft will yet again release a gargantuan list of security bulletins for flaws found in its Windows operating system, Internet Explorer browser, and MS Office applications suite. In total, 17 security bulletins will address a mind-boggling 40 ... flaws and will be released this coming Tuesday, December 14th. While this isn't the largest release to date, it is a significant number and users of all MS Windows need to patch their PCs in order to steer clear of online threats. Remote Code Execution Threats Plague MS Windows Thankfully, just two of the bulletins have been rated "critical," ... (view more)

There was good news and bad news this week for Microsoft. First, the good news: the Redmond-based firm saw the beta version of its Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser reach the 15 million download plateau. Next, the bad: usage of Google's Chrome ... browser jumped almost a percentage point in one month alone, eating up market share lost as users move away from Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). When the Internet Explorer 9 beta was first made available back in September, approximately 2 million users jumped on board in less than two days. Since then, an additional 13 million users have downloaded the ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly planning to become a "virtual cable TV operator" through a broadband service. It's seen by many as an attempt to challenge Google TV. The plan, which wouldn't take effect for at least a year, would be to team up with cable TV ... networks towards offering channels directly to users via the Xbox 360 games console, with the content delivered through a broadband connection. The service would work along the same lines as traditional cable TV, with a basic tier-based package and then a premium fee for some individual channels. There will also be interactive, options such as the ... (view more)

In a bid to avoid an enormous $290 million fine, Microsoft is challenging the Supreme Court's handling of patent infringement cases. The company was hit with the financial penalty after it was found that Microsoft Word violated an XML tag patent ... owned by Canadian company i4i. Having failed in a federal appeal, Microsoft is no longer able to challenge the ruling that it did indeed violate the patent. However, Microsoft has continued to argue that the patent is not valid. It claims to have evidence that products using the technology patented by i4i were on sale more than a year before the ... (view more)

Home users have expressed dismay at news that Microsoft is to remove a key feature from its Windows Home Server software. Drive Extender, a handy options that allows users to add extra hard drives, will be axed from Windows Home Server's next ... edition. Share Files Easily with Windows Home Server Windows Home Server is designed as an easy way for with multiple computers to share files. One of the computers is designated a server, and the others are classified as clients, in much the same way as many large businesses operate their networks. However, the system is specially designed to be easy to ... (view more)

With Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system (OS) recent debut, experts are already debating whether or not it's a success. One source claims first-day sales were nowhere close to the release of other high-profile phone systems, ... while others report significant stock shortages. The sales figures come from an unnamed market research source speaking to a financial news website. The source claims a total of 40,000 handsets running Windows Phone 7 were sold the first day it went on sale. That compares poorly to the 1.7 million sales of the iPhone 4 in the first three days it was on ... (view more)

Microsoft's recent decision to offer its free Security Essentials software through Windows Update has caused a major uproar amongst antivirus developers . In what appears to be an effort to make at least one major security firm happy, Microsoft has ... partnered up with Symantec to offer that company's software at no charge, too. Retailer PC Mall is also a part of the deal, which involves offering small businesses the Symantec EndPoint Protection Small Edition software package when they buy a new copy of Microsoft's operating system (OS), Windows 7. The offer will be available until the last day ... (view more)

Microsoft's hands-free peripheral, the Kinect , has already proven a runaway hit amongst consumers. Shoppers bought up an estimated 1 million units during the product's first ten days of availability, in what proved to be a very busy week for the ... video game industry. According to a report from Microsoft released on Monday, Kinect's 1 million unit plateau puts the device on pace to beat a projected target of 5 million sales by year's end. For those who haven't been paying attention, Kinect is a video game peripheral for Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console. It uses a camera to track a ... (view more)