Stuart J. Johnston

In a further thawing between the two companies, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems announced this week that Sun has begun offering the Redmond software titan’s MSN Toolbar to its Java users as a free download, effective immediately. The toolbar will provide Internet Explorer users with one-click access to Microsoft’s Live Search, Live Hotmail, and Live Messenger, […]

That didn’t take long. Just last week, Microsoft distributed a pre-beta release of Windows 7 to attendees at its annual Professional Developers Conference (PDC). Now, nearly anyone can get a copy courtesy of multiple bit torrent sites that let users download the same code that PDC attendees received – granted it doesn’t come on a […]

The executive in charge of delivering Windows 7, the next version of Windows, made an appeal this week to developers to put in extra effort to write 64-bit versions of their applications as well as 32-bit programs to run on the new operating system. “Please, please develop for 64-bit … we think a lot of […]

Microsoft executives put their best face on Windows Vista sales at the company’s annual financial analysts meeting Thursday when they presented their year-end results and year-ahead plans to stock pickers. However, despite selling some 180 million licenses for Vista to date, two new surveys of IT decision makers paint a significantly bleaker picture of Vista’s […]

UPDATED: For large stockholders and analysts who would like Microsoft to slow down its spending on its as-yet-unprofitable portal and search businesses, the company has one message: No way. Company executives stood their ground despite repeated questions by analysts questioning Microsoft’s huge investments in its money losing Online Services Business. At Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) annual […]

As expected, Microsoft turned in another record quarter — as well as another record year — when it reported fiscal 2008 revenues and earnings Thursday. But the performance wasn’t enough to cheer investors. For the fiscal year ended June 30, Microsoft brought in revenues of $60.42 billion and posted income of $22.49 billion, or $1.87 […]

Microsoft this week broadened its preview of Live Mesh, allowing more users to get an early glimpse of the much-discussed device- and data-synchronization service. The company this week quietly doubled the number of users who can participate in the preview, while dropping participation requirements other than simply having a Windows Live ID. Microsoft, which made […]

Microsoft will begin pushing Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) out via Automatic Updates to users who have not already downloaded it as early as Thursday, the company confirmed. However, because not every company will want to have SP3 automatically installed on its PCs, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) also has a blocking kit available for download, […]

Things seem to be looking up for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in the hotly contested debate over the question of designating its Office 2007 file formats as an international standard. The heads of two international standards bodies, which have purview over the status of Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML), have come out against appeals meant to […]

Microsoft announced this week at its Worldwide Partners Conference 2008 in Houston it will ship the first release of its server bundle for mid-sized businesses as well as the next version of its small business server bundle on November 12. That puts both Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) 2008 and Windows Small Business Server (SBS) […]

Perhaps Yogi Berra was right. It’s not over until the robust female opera singer has her say. That’s apparently the case in this week’s latest round of revelations that discussions for Microsoft to buy at least the search portion of Yahoo’s business are back open. Monday saw a flurry of public statements flashing around the […]

In a bid to drive new subscription-based revenue from consumers, Microsoft plans to begin selling a subscription service for the home and student edition of its Office productivity suite, starting in mid-July. With its $69.99 annual subscription fee, the new Microsoft Equipt bundle may appear like a swipe at software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, which are delivered […]