Microsoft launched a redesigned MSN portal optimized for mobile phones on Sunday, stepping up its offering at a time when more powerful devices increase the demand for richer content on handsets.
U.S. mobile Internet use still represents only a fraction of computer-based Web usage, but technology heavyweights like Microsoft see increasingly powerful mobile phones and faster networks opening the door for new services and content.
"We firmly believe there is an inflection point here," said Phil Holden, Microsoft's director of mobile Web services. "There's a new battle, a new frontline developing on the mobile phone."
Microsoft and a major Chinese TV set maker announced Monday they will jointly develop entertainment products linking television and the Internet, joining a race to profit from the Web's growing status as a channel to distribute movies and other programs.
As a part of the deal, Microsoft will become a strategic investor in Changhong, buying just under 1 percent of its shares for about $12 million, Changhong said in a prepared statement.
Microsoft and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. will explore "a wide range of scenarios for digital entertainment needs," said Roger Chen, a Microsoft spokesman in Beijing.
Don't expect a patent deal between Microsoft and Ubuntu Linux distributor Canonical anytime soon.The company's CEO said in a post on his personal Web log over the weekend that despite the rumors, there are no negotiations with the Redmond company. Furthermore, he took issue with Microsoft's threats of patent lawsuits for unspecified patents.
Mark Shuttleworth, said that it was his position on the matter, and he was fairly certain that the members of Ubuntu Community Council and his company shared his views.
Microsoft said today at NXTcomm it is releasing a new upgrade of its Internet Protocol television software and rebranding the platform as Mediaroom.
The new Mediaroom platform features in-home personal music and photo sharing, allowing consumers to listen to music and view
photographs stored on their computers on television screens. The upgrade also includes dynamic MultiView (multiple picture-in-picture) capabilities, Multimedia Application Environment for development of interactive services and advanced applications and digital terrestrial television support.
Microsoft officials said they are shipping today, as planned, major new versions of two of the company's Dynamics business management packages.
The two are members of the company's enterprise resource planning family ? Dynamics GP 10.0 and Dynamics SL 7. The updates were first announced at Microsoft's Convergence 2007 conference in mid-March in San Diego.
Both packages now sport updated user interfaces that will be familiar to users of Microsoft's 2007 Office System, as well as extended support for SharePoint technologies and SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.
Saying the functionality within the application is now available through other programs and within Windows Vista, Microsoft has decided to discontinue its Digital Image Suite Product, a notice on its Web site reads. Remaining products will be sold through retail outlets while supplies last, and the company will support users of the applications for up to three years from date of purchase or April 30, 2010, whichever is first.
Microsoft's application was a competitor of Adobe Photoshop Elements, a much-trimmed down version of its flagship Photoshop product. The company also recently has launched Expression Studio, which includes Expression Design, a professional illustration and graphic design tool. Windows Vista offers similar functionality to Digital Image, however with far fewer options.
Two senior Microsoft executives on a media tour touting what they say are the company's good-faith efforts to work with competitors and the open source community released an "open letter" on Friday, calling for more choice and flexibility in standard file formats.
Redmond has been battling to ensure the Open XML format native to its Office 2007 product gains equal footing in the standards world with the Open Document Format, which is backed by rival companies such as IBM.
In the letter released Friday, Microsoft execs Tom Robertson and Jean Paoli stress that customers worldwide deserve choice and flexibility in standard file formats. They also paint Microsoft as taking pains to avoid confrontation over standards.
Several computer industry heavyweights this week announced an initiative aimed at helping PC makers and their customers adopt more environmentally friendly power usage. Computer companies such as Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Google, Lenovo, and Microsoft have joined forces with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and numerous other companies to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, aimed at helping PCs run more efficiently over the next few years, saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As the latest volley in its battle against open-source software,
Microsoft on Wednesday touted the findings of a new Wipro Technologies
study, which found that Microsoft's software solutions are better for
teaching and learning than open-source solutions. The study, which
focuses on European students and schools, was commissioned by
Microsoft and audited by a professor at the INSEAD Business School.
"Overall, our findings indicate that Microsoft outperforms open source
alternatives when it comes to supporting the priorities of European
schools," said Wipro Practice Leader Theodore Forbath. The Wipro study
notes that Microsoft's software beat out similar open-source solutions
in 8 out of 10 areas, and was rated equal in the remaining two.
For a great many large businesses, "the move to the next Windows" has been an ongoing, daily affair for at least well over a decade. And up until recently, the reasons why this migration tends to proceed so slowly have been, to Microsoft, a complete mystery.If the company can just get Vista pushed out to the corporate desktop, its foot will be in the door just enough, it believes, to make enough of a clearance to push through its more profitable business services: SharePoint, BizTalk, Office Communications, Exchange, audio and video.