Stuart J. Johnston

Microsoft said Monday it has begun beta testing the two newest components of its high performance computing (HPC) strategy. At the top of the list, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) released Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 — the server tuned for HPC settings — for testing. Also, the company said it has begun beta testing a special […]

Microsoft has released the first beta of Office 2010 for download, including the beta for the software suite’s Web-based versions — but only for users that have a subscription to either Microsoft’s TechNet or MSDN technical services. Office 2010 began a large-scale, invitation-only, technical preview in July at Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) annual partner conference. At […]

Microsoft officials on Friday confirmed that a tool the company had commissioned from a third-party to help Windows XP users migrate to Windows 7 does indeed contain unauthorized open source code. Because of that, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to bring the tool into compliance with the license of that code, the GNU Public License version […]

Back in the days before PCs, users hooked up to computers using terminals, with the computer itself as a centralized shared resource. Later, the concept evolved into so-called “client-server” computing, with desktop computers connecting to servers. Now, it seems like what was old is new again, particularly when the topic is education and the vendor […]

Microsoft has started soliciting volunteers to beta test an ad-supported version of Office 2010 that will provide feature-limited versions of the company’s two most popular applications. Did we mention it’s free? Technology enthusiast site Think Different published what details are known about the beta on Thursday. “While we still wait for the public beta of […]

Windows 7 hasn’t even been on the street for a month, yet one hacker has already found what he claims is a zero-day vulnerability — albeit so far the result of an attack is simply to crash the new system. Hacker Laurent Gaffié, who last August found a problem in the “release candidate” (RC) version […]

Many users looking to buy a netbook are put off by units that come with Windows 7 Starter Edition, according to a survey by an online consumer comparison shopping site. Unfortunately, the site, Retrevo.com, found consumers have little choice. The site found that most of the netbooks sold by Amazon.com — 23 out of 28 […]

Microsoft plans to deliver its controller-less game interface — dubbed ‘Project Natal’ — this time next year, according to a UK games site. Not only that, but Microsoft plans to have five million of the Xbox add-ons ready for a global rollout, the report said when it launches, the site said. Further, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) […]

Microsoft said Wednesday it is incorporating sophisticated mathematical models into its Bing search engine through a partnership with search startup WolframAlpha and, over the next few weeks, rolling out a slew of updated features. “We’re rolling out the first major release since the Bing launch in June,” a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail to […]

Microsoft on Monday took down a migration tool it had posted to its online store just a couple of weeks earlier after allegations surfaced that some of the code in it was actually from an open source license and in violation of the license at that. At issue is the accusation that code from Codeplex, […]

Microsoft released patches Tuesday for five critical bugs in Windows, although none affect the newly released Windows 7, unlike last month’s roundup of fixes. November’s patch drop promised to be a much smaller release than in several recent months when Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) gave administrators advance notice last Thursday. For instance, Microsoft last month fielded […]

Microsoft may be having a slow hard slog trying to popularize its Bing search engine, but there’s one online market where Microsoft is doing quite well. A leading Web analytics firm said Friday that Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Web sites were the most popular with users on the Internet last month. According to a new report […]