Stuart J. Johnston

With billions of dollars at stake, Microsoft announced late Thursday that it is canceling the oral hearing that the European Commission (EC) had scheduled June 3 to 5 for the company to present its response to antitrust charges. The outcome of the case could cost Microsoft more than a billion dollars in fines and penalties […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) this week granted to Microsoft this a patent on technology that apparently already underlies some of the company’s efforts to limit piracy and is also used to make it easier for users to upgrade from one edition of Windows to another. “The invention relates to “restricting usage of […]

If it’s not clear by now that Microsoft is serious about cloud computing, Ray Ozzie has a few words for you. “Eventually, everyone will have part of their organization in the cloud,” Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect, told a group of financial analysts today at the J.P. Morgan Media and Telecom Conference in Boston. Of […]

Microsoft announced Tuesday that its upcoming My Phone data synching service for smartphones running Windows Mobile 6.0 and later has entered broad public beta testing. Previously, My Phone had been in a limited beta test with selected users. Set to launch when Windows Mobile 6.5 phones start to appear later this year, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) […]

Microsoft issued a Security Advisory warning this week related to its Internet Information Server (IIS). The advisory notes there’s a vulnerability in the way the Web server handles certain types of HTTP requests that could leave versions 5 and 6 of the servers open to serious attacks. In fact, the U.S. Computer Readiness Team (US-CERT), […]

As technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, will users adopt something like a Magic Wand — really a high-tech universal remote control — to help them interact with the world around them via gestures and other movements? If Microsoft has any say, they will. That’s because Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has applied for a patent on a “Magic […]

As Windows 7’s commercial debut looms, one major IT research firm is recommending that if corporate IT shops aren’t already well along in deploying Windows Vista, they’d be better off going straight to Vista’s replacement — Windows 7. “Organizations with a Windows Vista project well underway should stay the course, but most others should target […]

Microsoft this week quietly began laying more groundwork for its upcoming competitor to the Apple iPhone App Store, opened the doors for developers to register Windows Mobile applications they plan to sell through the new marketplace. The news came during Microsoft’s TechEd 2009 technical developers conference in Los Angeles this week. “Developers can now register […]

With the final public test of Windows 7 well underway, and a promise on Monday that the “new” Windows will be on sale in time for the holidays, a Microsoft official went a little bit further this week. “If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC (“Release Candidate”) meets our expectations in terms […]

In a rare move, Microsoft issued private debt to the tune of $3.75 billion on Tuesday, rather than going to its own gold-lined coffers for cash. But for what? While the rumor mill sizzled with speculation that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) needs the money to make an offer for German firm SAP (NYSE: SAP), CEO Steve […]

As expected, Microsoft today closed a security hole in its PowerPoint presentation software, with a fix in its latest regular monthly installment of “Patch Tuesday” updates. The patch addresses a glitch that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ranks as “critical,” the highest ranking on its four-tier severity scale. The zero-day vulnerability had first been called to Microsoft’s […]

It’s official — Microsoft will ship Windows 7 in time for the holiday sales season. That was the main announcement made by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) officials at the opening keynote of the company’s main developer event — TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles. “We’re doing so well with the RC [”Release Candidate”] that we’ve started logo […]