Stuart J. Johnston

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday suggested that the software giant’s search deal with Yahoo is a global one and not just confined to the U.S. and Europe. The revelation came during the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) chief’s press conference in Tokyo during a swing through Southeast Asia. “It’s possible that we would extend that partnership […]

Microsoft plans to fix at least three Windows vulnerabilities it rates as “critical” when it releases its regular Patch Tuesday bug-fix drop next week, the company said. This time, none of the security holes affect Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 7 as they did last month, although one of them does impact Windows Server 2008, which […]

Click on the graphic for a larger view. Source: Microsoft Its debut is still months away, but Microsoft on Tuesday began showing off the upcoming home page redesign for its MSN portal, including tight integration with the Bing search engine as well as ties to social networks. Microsoft’s revamped home page will not actually be available […]

For any Microsoft employees who thought the layoffs were over last spring, that appears to have been a bad assumption. Following a lackluster showing when the company beat analysts’ expectations for its first fiscal quarter of 2010 a week and a half ago, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) confirmed that it’s planning another round of layoffs beginning […]

If you can’t beat ’em, try to undercut them. That’s what Microsoft appears to be doing with the new prices rolled out this week for its hosted software offerings for IT shops. Earlier in the week Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced price cuts for two of its online “software-plus-services” offerings, meant to both woo customers away […]

Microsoft is adding two new, high-end editions to its SQL Server 2008 Release 2, or R2, line of database products, with features that include support for up to 256 processors. Meanwhile, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) executives also announced that the next community technology preview (CTP) of the core product — SQL Server 2008 R2 — will […]

Microsoft security software found rogue security software on nearly 3.5 million fewer PCs in the first six months of 2009 than it found in a six month period prior, but worm infections doubled during that same period. Those revelations came in Microsoft’s seventh Security Intelligence Report (SIR) – dubbed “SIRv7” — released on Monday. The […]

During slightly more than a week after Windows 7’s consumer release on Oct. 22, the new operating system’s market share rose 1.68 percent to 3.67 percent in daily tracking surveys, according to Net Applications. As of Sunday, Nov. 1, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 7 held 2.15 percent of the total operating system market worldwide, the […]

Microsoft quietly announced Friday that it plans to kill off its Office Accounting products, beginning Nov. 16. “After evaluating the product over the past few years, we have determined that other Microsoft offerings, such as free templates in the Office system used with Excel and the Dynamics product, are able to meet our customers’ needs,” […]

As with Windows Vista, it didn’t take very long for some clever hackers to figure out ways to install the Windows 7 Upgrade package on a PC that doesn’t already have an earlier, qualifying version of Windows installed. Some users may think that’s a good way to save some cash. However, that doesn’t mean it’s […]

Yahoo and Microsoft have agreed to extend the time required for them to sign off on the details of their deal regarding Bing search and revenue sharing, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday. “On October 28, 2009, Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation mutually agreed to extend the period to […]

Microsoft on Tuesday released the final code for a set of libraries that enables developers to write applications for Windows 7 that will also preserve the Windows 7 look and feel when the application is run on Windows Vista. The Platform Update for Windows Vista is a free download from Windows Update, Windows Server Update […]