Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the PC market with a 90 percent market-share stronghold, but when it comes to smartphones, Microsoft is getting beat up worse than a mustachioed villain in a Jackie Chan movie.
A Chinese court has ruled that Microsoft infringed a Chinese software maker's intellectual property rights in a surprise decision that has renewed worries among foreign patent experts about China's management of IPR disputes.
OK, so after eight years and a lot of grumbling -- Vista, anyone? -- Microsoft has finally released a new operating system that people seem excited about.
If consumers like the new Windows 7 operating system, they'll have the much-maligned Windows Vista to thank.
Microsoft is banking on Windows 7 to breathe new life into a PC world where most computer users are running XP -- an operating system that was released in the early days of the Bush administration.
After months of talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is announcing on Tuesday that the first crop of phones to carry the Windows Phone brand are ready to hit the market.
Microsoft is hoping that a new crop of phones this fall will help the company in its quest to stay relevant in the cell phone market.
Microsoft on Wednesday said it has finalized the code for Windows 7, paving the way for the new operating system to make its way onto retail shelves and new PCs in time for its October 22 launch.
In less than a week, Google announced an operating system to compete with Windows, while Microsoft announced that Office 10 will include free, online versions of its four most popular software programs -- a shot at Google's suite of web-based office applications.
Windows 7 is coming soon. But having a PC sales rebound come with it seems unlikely.
Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the PC market with a 90 percent market-share stronghold, but when it comes to smartphones, Microsoft is getting beat up worse than a mustachioed villain in a Jackie Chan movie.
A Chinese court has ruled that Microsoft infringed a Chinese software maker's intellectual property rights in a surprise decision that has renewed worries among foreign patent experts about China's management of IPR disputes.
OK, so after eight years and a lot of grumbling -- Vista, anyone? -- Microsoft has finally released a new operating system that people seem excited about.
If consumers like the new Windows 7 operating system, they'll have the much-maligned Windows Vista to thank.
Microsoft is banking on Windows 7 to breathe new life into a PC world where most computer users are running XP -- an operating system that was released in the early days of the Bush administration.
After months of talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is announcing on Tuesday that the first crop of phones to carry the Windows Phone brand are ready to hit the market.
Microsoft is hoping that a new crop of phones this fall will help the company in its quest to stay relevant in the cell phone market.
Microsoft on Wednesday said it has finalized the code for Windows 7, paving the way for the new operating system to make its way onto retail shelves and new PCs in time for its October 22 launch.
In less than a week, Google announced an operating system to compete with Windows, while Microsoft announced that Office 10 will include free, online versions of its four most popular software programs -- a shot at Google's suite of web-based office applications.
Windows 7 is coming soon. But having a PC sales rebound come with it seems unlikely.
To paraphrase a complaint from the late James Doohan, my computer's giving me all she's got, but Vista's more than she can handle! My system should be able to deal with this version of Windows just fine, but it's just not happening. I'd add more RAM if it were possible, but my slots are all maxed out. I've tried various freeware that promises to keep my RAM working at maximum efficiency, but it's just not enough. Is there anything out there for enhancing the memory I do have until I can get a newer, faster machine?
Many business owners regularly talk to inanimate objects. Don't believe me? I'm guessing that in the last week alone you've begged your PC not to lose valuable data or implored your notebook to recover lost documents. While we all have one-sided conversations with our tech toys, we generally don't expect them to answer, much less complete tasks simply because we say so. But today's voice-activated software promises to do just that, claiming faster speeds and an impressive 99% accuracy level.
He made his mark at Microsoft as head of the company's worldwide sales force at a time when it seemed everyone hated the company - most of all its customers. In 2 1/2 years Kevin Johnson achieved a miracle: He turned Microsoft's customer satisfaction numbers around.
The problem with technology is by its nature it has to be new, or at least appear so. As a result, our televisions, mobile phones and computers seem ever too frequently out of date.
It has been an indispensable fixture of computing for as long as most people can remember. But sentences beginning with the words "click on" and "click and drag" may not be part of future office parlance as the humble computer mouse comes under threat from new touch-screen technology which is being rolled out by the major players in the computer industry. It promises to be the biggest change to personal computing in a quarter of a century.
Dell Inc is developing consumer PCs that can run multiple versions of Microsoft Corp's Windows and Linux software at the same time, the personal computer maker's chief technology officer, Kevin Kettler, told Reuters.
Weak earnings from Caterpillar and Google sent stock futures lower Friday, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 14,000 for the first time ever.
Stocks fell Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 100 points the day after it closed over the 14,000 mark for the first time ever, as a big miss from Caterpillar hit blue chips and techs slumped under a spate of disappointing earnings news.
Stocks fell Friday, the day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed over the 14,000 mark for the first time ever, on a spate of disappointing earnings news.
Microsoft reported quarterly earnings Thursday in-line with estimates and revenue slightly higher than expected, as strong sales of its Vista operating system offset charges related to the Xbox game console.
Nearly six months after it launched, gripes over what doesn't work with Vista continue, eclipsing positive buzz over the program's improved desktop search, graphics and security
Microsoft Corp. published six security fixes -- half of them rated "critical" -- in its regularly scheduled software update Tuesday
Google asked a federal judge Monday to extend the consent decree that settled the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in order to address competition concerns involving the Windows Vista operating system.
Microsoft has agreed to modify its new Vista operating system in response to complaints that its desktop search function puts Google Inc. and other potential competitors at a disadvantage, a source familiar with the case told Reuters Tuesday.
Dear FSB: I keep hearing that the new Microsoft Vista software for small business offers better security, more efficient file-sharing, and other great features. Should I switch my travel agency over to it? -Jess Kalinowsky, Managing Partner Friends Travel, West Hollywood, Calif., FriendsTravel@earthlink.net
Where do you find new business ideas? --Alfredo Machado, Milwaukee
A disgruntled hacker with a personal grudge against Symantec, which provides anti-virus software to leading Fortune 500 companies, could be behind a new, crippling computer virus that's already hit a division of at least one big U.S. corporation on Thursday.
The ambitious, ground-up rebuild of Microsoft Office Standard 2007 presents drastically different interfaces and new file formats.
Toshiba's first Windows Vista laptop, the Portege R400, is a beautifully crafted convertible tablet that unfortunately is every bit as expensive as it looks.
Six years and $6 billion later, Microsoft's Vista finally hit store shelves Tuesday - the software company's first upgrade to its dominant computer operating system since Windows XP in 2001.
What does Windows Vista have in common with the just-christened nuclear aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush? Answer: They are both powerful flagships of technology that took five years and billions o...
Microsoft reported a drop in profit for its fiscal second quarter Thursday, but sales and earnings beat analyst expectations thanks to strong sales of its Xbox 360 game console during the holidays.
When it comes to splashy doodads, the Consumer Electronics Show hasn't disappointed. Here are just a few of the gadgets arriving soon in a store near you.
Business 2.0's Chris Taylor highlights the most significant innovations, events and launches that are planned for the New Year.
Q1 This winter, take steps to protect your identity.
Computer prices are expected to tumble through the holiday season as PC makers try to clear out merchandise ahead of the launch of Microsoft's new operating system Vista, according to a report published Thursday.
Microsoft's sales and profits jumped in the latest quarter, helped by strong results for database software and its gaming business, but the world's largest computer software maker gave a disappointing forecast for the current quarter.
Judging by the grief that Microsoft is getting over delays in the release of Windows Vista, and the buzz surrounding the price it plans to charge for the next generation operating system, you'd think we were all hankering to get our hands on this hot new piece of software.
Microsoft's quarterly profit fell by 24 percent on higher costs and legal expenses, but the company announced a $40 billion share buyback program and issued a better than expected forecast for 2007, sending shares sharply higher in after-hours trading.
First Apple announced a partnership with Intel. Now it's running Windows. Talk about a 30th birthday surprise.
Apple on Wednesday unveiled its new Boot Camp software, which will enable Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP.
Steven Sinofsky is a rare bird on Microsoft's Redmond campus -- a manager who actually delivers software on time. As head of product development for Office, he's known for meeting release deadlines.
Microsoft is the clear leader in operating systems and office software but when it comes to the Internet, the company is way behind rivals Google and Yahoo!
"There are a lot of people who are going to be very unhappy on the third of February," said Professor Merrick Furst from the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
Apple surprised everyone recently by delivering Intel-based Mac computers six months ahead of schedule. The shift, after a decade of Macs based on IBM and Freescale (ne Motorola) processors, raises the possibility of Macintoshes running the Microsoft Windows operating system, either instead of or along with Apple's Mac OS X. Despite increased risks of security holes, viruses, and other familiar Windows vulnerabilities, some Mac users want to run Windows programs from time to time (there are more games available for Windows, for example). But because of the way Apple implemented the Intel chips, you can't just boot up the Mac with Windows XP. Furthermore, the current version of Virtual PC for Mac, a Microsoft program that allows Windows to run in a window inside Mac OS X, does not work with the initial batch of Intel-based machines. Microsoft says it is working with Apple to find a solution, but stopped short of promising an Intel-based version of Virtual PC. Meanwhile, Apple says it will not stand in the ...
In 1975, Frederick Brooks published The Mythical Man-Month. It had no right to succeed. The book detailed Brooks' experience managing IBM's bet-the-company System/360 computers and OS/360 software,...
A Connecticut man pled guilty to selling stolen Microsoft Windows source code and could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice Monday.
Microsoft announced Friday that it will call its next-generation operating system "Windows Vista."
SUN SPOT
LIKE, DUH: IF AN OLD person, say, someone over 25, has to explain to a teenager why something is cool, it almost certainly isn't. So when a company called Digital Lifestyles decided to invent what ...
Just days after settling one anti-trust lawsuit with Microsoft, Novell filed another one.
When Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard ventures into hostile territory, does he wait for aliens to pound the Enterprise with plasma torpedoes and then patch it up with Galactic Fix-It Goo? Hell, ...
Computer prices are so low, just about everyone can afford one. The expensive part is stocking the computer with software.
Is it necessary to turn off System Restore when removing a computer virus? I hear conflicting answers.
The fast-spreading computer worm Sasser has wreaked more havoc on computer users worldwide, affecting several businesses, banks and government offices, including Britain's Coastguard.
Computer prices are so low, just about everyone can afford one. The expensive part is stocking the computer with software.
Recently I had the pleasure of riding in a $190,000 Fleetwood RV equipped with a Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition--based computer (the name itself warranted a CAUTION: WIDE LOAD sign). Usi...
Shortly after midnight on the first day of October 1997, a small band of young Microsoft soldiers sneaked onto the Mountain View, Calif., campus of then-archrival Netscape and dumped something on ...
Profit Machine Microsoft's margins far exceed even those of other tech companies. Its operating systems, servers and software account for the bulk of revenue--and virtually all of operating income....
I've been looking forward to using Windows XP. I know most of the reviews say that it isn't that big a deal, that there's not enough new here to make people want to buy a new PC. But it sounded to ...
The economy may be dormant, but the imaginations of the world's gizmo and gadget inventors remain fertile. Perhaps too fertile, judging from some of the goofy products at this year's Consumer Elect...
It's Oct. 25, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stands on a Broadway stage, ready to introduce his company's new PC operating system, Windows XP, to the world. Gates has done plenty of product laun...
Flash back to April 1981: The prime rate is 20%, the futuristic De Lorean is the hot car, communists rule Eastern Europe, and Microsoft ships MS-DOS, its first operating system. Funny how some thin...
Windows shopping
Let's face it, there's not a lot of drama around the introduction of a new Microsoft Windows operating system these days, even when the newest version, called XP, is clearly the best yet. The court...
Microsoft is just a few months away from introducing Windows XP, the newest version of the operating system used by the vast majority of the world's personal computers. The company trumpets XP as i...
Like most people, I wrote the Macintosh off a long time ago. After an 11-year relationship, I dumped the Mac in 1996 and persuaded my partners to switch to a Windows-only network. I thought Apple C...
When I wanted to set up a network for my home office, my wife thrilled to the prospect of my drilling holes in the wall and dragging wires through them. We're still, um, talking about it. Wired net...
Windows XP, the new consumer PC operating system scheduled for delivery in late summer or fall, represents a long overdue spring cleaning for Microsoft. The Redmond, Wash., software giant is cleari...
It rained a little in Seattle on June 6, the day Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued his historic order to split Microsoft in two. And the 19,000 people who work at Microsoft's sprangly campus in ...
Think of Sun Microsystems as the Big-Picture computer company. From its founding 18 years ago, Sun's executives have been thinking Big Thoughts. Even now they're thinking big, about where computing...
You've probably been hearing a lot of static about Windows 2000, the latest computer operating system from Microsoft. Accompanied by a major ad blitz, the February release may even have you wonderi...
The Internet business is all about storytelling. With markets shifting at light speed, companies that can proffer a credible scenario for success gain a tremendous advantage. The best talkers often...
Fade in on The Blair Windows Project: In the middle of some extremely important work, your computer is strangely unresponsive. The program you launch isn't launching. The document you print isn't p...
If you live in one of America's 20 million multicomputer homes, creating your own local area network makes a lot of sense. Your family can share one color printer and high-speed modem, exchange fil...
Every November crowds of small business owners invade Fall Comdex, the nation's largest trade show, in Las Vegas. The scene is always the same: They enter like children rushing into a toy store wit...
The Internet changes everything. We've heard that phrase so often in the past couple of years that it has ceased to have any shock value. Of course the Internet changes everything. Why else are Web...
TUESDAY, JUNE 1: "It looks like old home week," says Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, cracking a smile as he calls Round Two of the Microsoft antitrust trial to order. Round One, you'll recall, ended...
So I say to the parrot sitting in the corner of my screen, "Tell me a joke."
Why do we need to protect intellectual property? Seriously, I'm beginning to wonder if we really need government protection of intellectual property in our new cyberworld.
For the past eight months, ever since Bill Gates named him Microsoft's first president in seven years, Steve Ballmer has been the software giant's invisible man. He hasn't been part of the antitrus...
Microsoft has gotten used to being the baddest geek in the room. Now, almost inevitably, it is becoming the old-timer in a kid's game. Don't get us wrong: Microsoft has never been more successful f...
If you think the antitrust trial in Washington, D.C., is Microsoft's heaviest burden, you're wrong. The court theatrics are a sideshow compared with a more serious drama for the world's most powerf...
If you like to hunt MiGs from the cockpit of an F-16 while you're actually flying over Cincinnati in a Boeing 737, you know how frustrating it is to play games on a laptop computer. Even if your po...
If you're not using Microsoft Windows 98, you may feel as if you're driving a ten-year-old car. The buggy gets you there, but you feel you're missing something--your old operating system is definit...
I'm not going to upgrade to Windows 98. There, I said it. Now that I've said it, maybe I can actually get myself not to install it!
Judging from advertisements in magazines, you'd think Microsoft had jumped into the business of building miniature PCs. The typical two-page ad features an attractive model holding up a device with...
If it weren't for the Justice Department's antitrust division, Microsoft Windows 98 would have been a footnote in the history of the company we love to hate. But the wheels of justice are grinding....
DEAR BILL:
For most of the 1990s, a bet on one of the Nasdaq's four horsemen was as close to a sure thing as you could find on Wall Street. Buy any of these tech giants--Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, or Oracle--an...
Sometimes it seems as though PCs should come stamped with expiration dates, like cartons of milk--fresh technology seems so perishable. Most users cannot replace their machines as fast as the indus...
What if Microsoft and Intel got really angry at each other? Everybody is focused on Sun Microsystems and the U.S. Department of Justice attacking Microsoft in the courts. What if the real problem w...
One sure place to find suits in ultracasual Silicon Valley is in downtown Palo Alto, on the sidewalk outside the offices of WebTV. Power guys in Hugo Boss arrive in Lincolns, their business cards m...
I screwed up. Big time. I wrote a whole column with the wrong premise. In my June 23 column, "Please! Leave Computing to the Experts!," I opined that consumer electronics companies could never figu...
As now I lay me down to sleep, please, Lord, tell me that consumer electronics companies will not be allowed to act like computer companies! And tell me they won't be allowed to mess around with co...
In the movie Volcano, an eruption threatens to destroy Los Angeles. Inexorably, with shocking speed, the lava engulfs the city, forever changing the landscape. The coast, as the slogan has it, is t...
With April 15 fast approaching, your mission (should you decide to accept it) is twofold: You want to do everything you can to slash your 1996 taxes, while putting strategies in place to cut your t...
Yes, I'm still here, writing this column for Fortune. When I was whining last issue about nothing going on in the technology industry, you may have noticed my observation that Windows 95 doesn't wo...
If you are planning to call it a career soon or are already retired, you might figure that the retirement planning software lining computer store shelves would provide savvy advice about ways to ma...
It's a radiant afternoon in late August, and Bill Gates, usually an intense, Type A kind of guy, seems happy and relaxed. His 5-month-old daughter, Jennifer, is sleeping through the nights now. He'...
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
Video
