Stuart J. Johnston

Microsoft officials acknowledged on Tuesday that Office 14, the next major version of its suite of productivity applications, has entered alpha testing. Also sometimes referred to as a “pre-beta,” the release is going out to a “select” group of testers, according to a brief Microsoft statement. “Microsoft has provided a select group of customers early […]

Testers who were able to successfully download and install what promises to be the largest public beta in Windows’ history – Windows 7 — have hit their share of minor snags so far, with emphasis on the “minor” part. It’s fair to say that Microsoft’s TechNet forums for Windows 7 beta testers have been busy, […]

Microsoft servers got quite a workout on Friday from potential testers as the company opened public beta testing of Windows 7 to a broad audience– so much so, in fact, that the company decided to delay the beta’s opening until it can bring more servers online. “Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a […]

The beta version of Windows 7 isn’t even quite out the door — that begins in earnest today, when Microsoft starts the consumer beta test of Windows Vista’s replacement. But that hasn’t stopped Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) executives from looking past the beta to the final step before commercial release, suggesting that the software giant is […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaks at CES 2009. Source: Microsoft.Click to enlarge. Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer announced Wednesday night that the long-awaited public beta test of Windows 7 has begun – although consumers will not be able to download it until Friday. Beyond that, though, Ballmer’s first ever keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show […]

It’s a little like giving away the punch line to a joke too early. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is primed to unveil a search and advertising deal with Verizon Wireless during his pre-conference keynote this evening at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. As it turned out, it was Verizon Communication’s CEO, […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to announce the official start of public beta testing for Windows 7 at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Wednesday evening. Beyond that however, sources say, many of the company’s other plans for the show are not likely to excite the audience. Instead, they warn technology-hungry consumers […]

With the economy in the tank and other major firms planning massive cutbacks, rumors have been swirling for several weeks that Microsoft plans big layoffs of its own to be announced on or about Jan. 15. How big? As much as 10 to 17 percent of the company’s employees, if you believe the buzz. If […]

For Microsoft, in many respects, 2009 promises to be much like 2008. The company has all the same challenges it exited 2008 with – lingering legal issues, efforts to test and ship the latest version of Windows, and the continued development and evolution of its “cloud computing” plans. Did we mention the down economy? ‘Vista […]

What went wrong? This was supposed to be the year of Windows Vista. Instead, it turned out to be another banner year for Windows XP in 2008. The arrival of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) last spring was, by the conventional wisdom, supposed to kick off large scale corporate adoptions of the new operating system. […]

Microsoft is in the midst of a shakeup in its online businesses with the aim of turning them into moneymakers instead of money sinks. That’s especially true for search. The $64,000 question is how to do that. Recent statements by CEO Steve Ballmer make it hard to tell whether the software titan still has any […]

Microsoft plans to issue a “release candidate” of the new standards-driven Internet Explorer 8 early in the first quarter, with final release pegged for the first half of the coming year. The RC, as it’s called, will also add a new feature aimed at making IE8 more transparently handle sites created using differing Web standards, […]