Microsoft

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Why Windows XP Refuses to Die

It's ' the Methuselah of desktop operating systems': Harry McCracken

(Newser) - Despite upgrades like Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft's most popular operating system remains the clunky, security-plagued, 10-year-old Windows XP. But why? "I'm fascinated—and, in a peculiar way, inspired—by XP's astonishing longevity," writes McCracken in Time . Microsoft is mostly at fault, he says, because...

Nokia Unveils New Windows Smartphones

Spanish-speakers snigger at name 'Lumia'

(Newser) - Struggling Finnish phone maker Nokia is trying to make a comeback with a pair of new smartphones, Wired reports. The Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 are the result of an eight-month collaboration with Microsoft. The phones—priced at around $600 for the 800 and $380 for the 710—are "...

Google Looking to Buy Yahoo
 Google Looking to Buy Yahoo 

Google Looking to Buy Yahoo

Google wants more users for Google+, more advertising markets

(Newser) - Google is trying to buy rival Yahoo and has talked to at least two private equity firms about financing the deal, reports the Wall Street Journal . Despite Internet ad revenues soaring around 20% a year, Yahoo revenue has foundered for several years, spurring talk the Internet giant could go private...

Yahoo Founder Looking to Take Company Private

Delisting could buy space for former online leader

(Newser) - Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is warming to a deal with private equity investors that would take the iconic Internet player private, reports Reuters . Among the rumored buyers—Chinese online giant Alibaba, Microsoft, and Bain Capital. Experts say going private could solve pressures coming from the market, where investors have punished...

IBM Surpasses Microsoft, Claims No. 2 Tech Spot

Shift illustrates tech industry's move away from PCs

(Newser) - Microsoft, once the world’s most valuable tech company, has now fallen to third place. IBM surpassed Microsoft yesterday to take the second-place spot, as its market value rose to $214 billion and Microsoft’s fell to $213.2 billion. It marked the first time IBM’s closing prices exceeded...

Shoppers Blast Retailers' Online Anti-Gay Ties

Petitions prompt Microsoft, Apple to cut connection to charity group

(Newser) - Apple, Microsoft, and an array of other online retailers have found themselves at the center of a gay-rights battle, the New York Times reports. The retailers have been tied to an Internet marketer, the Charity Giveback Group, that receives a commission when it sends the retailers an online customer. There'...

Look Out, iPad: Windows 8 a Contender

 Look Out, iPad: 
 Windows 8 a 
 Contender 
reactions

Look Out, iPad: Windows 8 a Contender

But a lot can happen in a year, note reviewers

(Newser) - Microsoft has skirted the problem it ran into three years ago, when its preview of Windows 7 was leaked to the general public, by "leaking" Windows 8—which will ultimately power PCs and iPad-rivaling tablets—itself. The preview of the operating system, first aired at a conference yesterday, was...

Hidden 'Supercookies' Stalk Users, Steal History

New techniques 'almost impossible' to detect

(Newser) - Privacy-conscious consumers have yet another thing to worry about in the ongoing battle over online security: supercookies. Unlike regular cookies that track a user's online activities, supercookies are much harder to locate and delete, and are able to reformulate a user profile even after that user deleted his regular...

Google Bought Motorola for the Patents

Firm seeks protection from intellectual property litigation: Kit Eaton

(Newser) - Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility isn’t just about giving the company a seamless ability to blend hardware and software—it also buys Google a new set of patents, helping to shield it from Apple and Microsoft complaints about intellectual property infringement. Apple is already battling Samsung over the...

Microsoft Video Slams Snooping 'Gmail Man'

Pokes fun at Google for scanning your inbox

(Newser) - You’d never tolerate your mailman behaving the way Gmail does: That’s the message of a chuckle-inducing video—believed to be made by Microsoft—that takes direct aim at the email service’s advertising techniques. Mocking Gmail for scanning your inbox as a way to target advertising, the video...

Swiss Political Party Forms to Ban PowerPoint

They hope to get a referendum on the ballot

(Newser) - How much do you hate PowerPoint? Probably not as much as Matthias Poehm. He’s founded an entire political party dedicated solely to the eradication of the dreaded (but oh-so-user-friendly) presentation software, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The Anti-PowerPoint Party, or APPP, held its first meeting earlier this week, with...

Facebook Looks to Add Skype Video

Deal would reportedly help further integrate Microsoft and Facebook

(Newser) - Facebook's "awesome" new product , set to be announced Wednesday, looks like it's going to be Skype video chats that work in your browser, reports TechCrunch . Details are still hazy—will it just work on its own or will users need to download software?—however, "it’s...

Microsoft Office Enters the Cloud

Move ups competition with Google

(Newser) - Google stole a chunk of Microsoft's corporate customers when it introduced its web-only Google Apps, but now Microsoft is pushing back with Office 365. The company is putting its extremely popular Microsoft Office software in the "cloud," introducing the new online version this week. Customers will be...

Google Sets Record: 1B Unique Visitors in Month

But Facebook leads in time spent by users each month

(Newser) - Google set a staggering record in May, according to new comScore data: It reeled in more than 1 billion unique visitors, marking the first time an Internet company can claim that honor, reports the Wall Street Journal . The figure represents an 8.4% rise over the past year, and it'...

Big Biz to US: We'll Haul in Offshore Loot for Tax Breaks

Repatriation holiday would be 'next stimulus,' they say

(Newser) - Top US firms are calling for temporary tax breaks to bring offshore profits into this country. Google, Apple, and Microsoft are among companies seeking what’s known as a repatriation holiday, asking Congress and the White House to drop the federal income tax rate on the money to 5.25%...

Investor to Microsoft: Ditch 'Charlie Brown' Ballmer

David Einhorn calls for Steve Ballmer's head

(Newser) - Big-time hedge fund manager David Einhorn called for Steve Ballmer’s head yesterday, saying Microsoft suffered from “Charlie Brown management.” Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital has been snapping up Microsoft shares, which, he told the Ira Sohn Investment Conference, are at a “remarkable discount” because of Ballmer’s...

Microsoft to Buy Skype for $8B

 Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5B 

Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5B

It is the largest buy in Microsoft history

(Newser) - It's official: Microsoft will buy popular online telephone service Skype for $8.5 billion in cash, reports the Wall Street Journal . The deal is the largest in Microsoft history, besting the company's 2007 acquisition of online ad service aQuantive for $6 billion. Though Microsoft produces the world's...

Apple Bumps Google as Most Valuable Brand

Tech and telecoms dominate the top brands

(Newser) - Apple has taken a bite out of Google. It's now the most valuable brand in the world, finally ending Google's four-year run at the top of Millward Brown's list of global brand value, reports Reuters . The study estimates Apple's brand to be worth $153 billion, almost...

Microsoft Profits Sink Below Apple's

Ipad puts Apple ahead of rival for first time since 1991

(Newser) - Apple's profits have outstripped Microsoft's for the first time since Extreme was topping the charts and Mark Zuckerberg was in second grade. Microsoft's revenue and profits were actually up last quarter, but Apple managed to move ahead for the first time in 20 years with a $6...

Coming Soon: Windows 8
 Coming Soon: Windows 8 

Coming Soon: Windows 8

Could be released as early as this holiday season

(Newser) - It seems like only yesterday that Microsoft released Windows 7—and indeed, most of us haven't gotten around to upgrading to that version—but already, Windows 8 is nearly upon us. Web forums were filled with news and rumors last week after PC manufacturers and equipment makers got "early...

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