Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Bashes XP To Convince Businesses To Switch To Windows 7

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:08:57 +0000

Microsoft is trying to convince businesses that switching from Windows XP to Windows 7 is worth considering. To convince businesses about how good Windows 7 is, they sponsored a white paper by analyst company IDC that reports the costs associated between both operating systems. IDC interviewed 9 different companies as part of the study and found that the IT and end user labor costs associated with Windows XP can be up to five times more compared to Windows 7. “Costs tend to soar when older products are used beyond their intended life cycle,” said IDC. Support for Windows XP and Office 2003 is due to end on April 8th, 2014. You can download the report from here.

Why Is Microsoft Having Copyright Links Taken Down From Google?

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:43:01 +0000

Our friends over at TechDirt has found out that according to Google’s copyright transparency tool, Microsoft has been sending Google a lot of takedown notices for copyright infringing links. However many of these same links still appear to be indexed in Microsoft’s search engine Bing.com. Google generally takes down links that infringe copyright in under 11 hours and they are processing over 1 million takedowns per month by hand-checking them. Microsoft takes a longer amount of time to take down links even though they are requesting many of them from Google themselves. You can see some of the links that Microsoft requested to have taken down at this link.

NBC Talking With Microsoft To Acquire Full Stake In MSNBC.com

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:58:41 +0000

NBCUniversal is currently in talks with Microsoft Corporation to acquire the full stake in MSNBC.com. NBC News spokeswoman Amy Lynn confirmed that conversations are taking place between both companies. Microsoft and NBC started MSNBC in 1996 to create a 24-hour news channel and website. NBC acquired the news channel in 2005, but the website remained a joint venture. Comcast acquired NBC Universal in January 2011.

Microsoft To Get Rid Of Free Development Tools For Non-Metro Windows 8 Desktop Apps

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:51:59 +0000

Microsoft Corporation has decided to make a huge change with Visual Studio 11 Express. Visual Studio 11 Express will prevent developers from building apps that are not Metro. Metro is a user interface that is seen in the Windows Phone operating system and it involves using screen tiles for navigation. After Visual Studio 11 Express is rolled out, either developers will be stuck with Metro or they can spend $500 to buy Visual Studio 11 Professional to get around having to develop Metro apps. Previously developers were able to build desktop applications on Visual C++ 2010 Express and Visual C# 2010 Express. Microsoft will be removing the compiler toolchain from the Windows SDK for Windows 8 to prevent backdoor coding.

European Union Court Deciding Microsoft Fine On June 27

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:35:00 +0000

The European Union is set to rule whether the 899 million euros ($1.1 billion) fine on Microsoft four years ago was justified on June 27. Microsoft was fined for failing to comply with an antitrust ruling intended to make business easier for rivals. Supposedly Microsoft had failed to provide information to firms with competing products as ordered by an EU watchdog in 2004. The General Court of the EU regulator for non-compliance in Luxembourg will issue a ruling next month. Microsoft lawyers argued during a court hearing that the fine was excessive and undeserved. A Commission lawyer compared Microsoft to a gambler that lost a bet and wanted their money back.

Rumor: Microsoft Releasing Office For iOS and Android Tablets In November

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:02:48 +0000

According to sources with BoyGeniusReport, Microsoft Office is going to release the Microsoft Office suite for Apple iPad and Android tablets in November of this year. Microsoft had no comment about these rumors. The last time that rumors about Microsoft Office for the iPad came up, Microsoft denied that a leaked photo of the app was not authentic. Microsoft is designing a tablet version of Microsoft Windows and they likely considered not spreading Microsoft Office to other tablets. However it should be in the company’s interest to capitalize on the millions of people that own Apple and Google powered tablets.

ITC Judge Says That Xbox Should Be Banned From U.S. Because Of Motorola Patent Violation

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:14:13 +0000

International Trade Commission judge David Shaw said that he believes that the importing of 4GB and 250GB Xbox consoles into the U.S. from China should be suspended and that Microsoft should pay Motorola 7% of the value of any unsold consoles remaining in the U.S. This is based on a lawsuit that Motorola filed against Microsoft in 2010 over five patent violations that are allegedly related to the Xbox 360. The judge is also ruling that consoles already in the U.S. and not sold should be barred from sale through a cease-and-desist order. Microsoft protested and said that the suspension of the Xbox 360 would hurt competition in the marketplace. Shaw said that “enforcing intellectual property rights outweighs any potential economic impact on video game consol buyers.” The five patents most related to video codecs. If the ITC commissioners agree with Shaw, the recommendation will land on President Obama’s desk and his advisors will have 60 days to review it.

Now You Need Windows Phone 7.5 To Access Marketplace

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:11:58 +0000

This afternoon Microsoft is going to make it required for you to be running on Windows Phone 7.5 to download, buy, update, or review apps on Marketplace. This change applies to the phone and web Marketplace storefronts. Most phones already run on Windows Phone 7.5, which launched last fall so most of you will not notice anything different. However if you phone has an older version of the Windows Phone operating system, you will soon start seeing an error message. If you want to update your Windows Phone version, visit Update Central.

Microsoft Launches Social Networking Based Around Learning

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:24:51 +0000

Microsoft Corporation has launched a social networking service called So.cl. The idea behind So.cl is to give students the ability to network with peers and share information. So.cl is a search engine and social network combination and was created as an experiment from Microsoft’s FUSE Labs. Users log in with their Facebook or Windows Live accounts.

“FUSE Labs’ So.cl project is now accepting all users interested in joining the site,” said a Microsoft in a statement to CNET. “So.cl is an experimental research project focused on the future of social experiences and learning, especially among younger people.”

So.cl will have a bookmarklet that would be interegrated into bookmark toolbars. Users would also be able to share, comment, tag posts, and “riff” on posts. Riffing is “a new way to interact and improvise with content.”

So.cl also has “video parties” where users can search for and assemble videos to share with other users. This service was initially rolled out at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and NYU.

Given that this social network is considered only an experiment, I highly doubt that Microsoft will really try to promote it as much as Google does for Google+.

Microsoft Dropping Aero Glass In Windows 8

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:32:13 +0000

Microsoft Corporation has written a blog post about how the desktop portion of Windows 8 will have a completely restyled appearance. One of the most notable changes is that they are getting rid of the Aero Glass effect that was first added in Windows Vista. Aero gave a slightly transparent reflection-glass effect to the title bars of windows in the operating system. The effect was purely cosmetic, but Microsoft is now calling it “dated” and “cheesy.” Windows 8 title bars will have a flatter and more neutral look.