Stuart J. Johnston

In an effort to make it easier for scanners and all-in-one device makers to interface with Windows Vista, Microsoft announced Thursday it is contributing a set of Web services protocols it has developed for scanners to a standards group working on that issue. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is contributing the protocols to the Printer Working Group […]

As the clock ticked off this week, two more nations filed last minute appeals to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), asking that the world standards body rescind its recent adoption of Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML). That brings the total number of ISO members who are requesting OOXML’s rejection to three – and, until […]

Microsoft next quarter plans to launch a consumer beta test version of its Internet Explorer (IE) 8 browser — showcasing its upgraded compatibility with current standards. The most obvious feature for consumers in IE8 Beta 2, as it’s known, is likely to be the browser’s new default rendering mode. The new mode will kick in […]

Microsoft’s chief software architect dislikes the limelight but his role is crucial to shaping and coordinating the company’s far flung product and services plans. That’s why it seemed a little odd for Ray Ozzie, who took over the job from the retiring Bill Gates two years ago, to hold forth on his vision of where […]

You didn’t really believe that the epic process of standardizing Microsoft’s Office file formats had ended, did you? Last week, Martin Kuscus, CEO of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), formally appealed the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) ratification of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Office Open XML (OOXML) as a standard for document interchange. The […]

With less than two years to go before it ships, Microsoft has started revealing new details about the next major release of Windows – or at least revealing what will not be new. In a posting Tuesday on the Windows Vista Team Blog, Chris Flores, a director on the Windows Client communications team, said that […]

You’d think that Microsoft’s critics would be pleased that the company plans to add native support for the competing OpenDocument Format (ODF) to Office 2007 within a year. Instead, many went on the attack. The software titan said Wednesday that Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) will let users select ODF 1.1 as the default […]

Microsoft opened its annual online advertising conference — advance08 – on Tuesday by announcing it will show display ads when users view Windows Live services on mobile devices. The company also announced it will expand its advertising plans to include its Live Search Mobile service. The new offerings enable advertisers to present banner ads on […]

Microsoft Monday announced a new program for some of its IT services partners whereby it will pay them to provide Software Assurance customers with consulting and deployment services for Office SharePoint Server 2007. The benefit to IT customers: If you have SharePoint Server 2007 and are a Software Assurance volume licensing customer, then Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) […]

Six months after shipping the first beta of its Windows High-Performance Computing (HPC) Server 2008, Microsoft on Saturday said it is shipping Beta 2, adding several new features and continuing its push for better position in the supercomputing sector. “With Beta 2 we provide a highly available head node that integrates deployment, management, monitoring, and […]

It seems as if no matter what Microsoft does to try to kill off Windows XP, the aging operating system seems to endear itself to users. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative and Microsoft announced Thursday that the project to provide extremely inexpensive, though rugged, laptops to children in emerging economies will include a […]

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) this week rolled out several new and updated features in connection with an updated version of Live Search for Windows Mobile, continuing its efforts to strengthen its hand in the mobile device game. The update provides a new way of organizing local information and Internet searches, dubbed “Collections.” The feature is designed […]