When Microsoft releases the next version of its productivity suite, Office 2010, it will be into a very different competitive landscape than the one Office 2007 faced in late 2006.

Navigating Microsoft's complex rules and programs for software licensing has been notoriously difficult for businesses -- a pain point not lost on the company, which for years has said it is trying to simplify the process for customers.

HTC and Samsung are at the head of the line of U.S. handset vendors offering Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, the first smartphones based on Microsoft's new OS that are meant to finally give Microsoft-powered phones features that are on par with those available in Apple's iPhone.

Former Microsoft open-source chief Sam Ramji has joined cloud-computing startup Sonoa Systems, taking over product strategy and business development at the Santa Clara, California-based company.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer put on his sales hat Tuesday and made a case for why businesses should upgrade to Windows 7, despite an economy in which many IT budgets have been frozen or are lower than in years past.

Microsoft has launched a program that gives Web development professionals the chance to get free software and technical support to help them get new businesses off the ground.

Microsoft's Business Division oversees one of its most successful products, the Office productivity suite, as well as the company's lucrative server and enterprise software businesses. However, like the rest of the company, the division has not been immune to the pressure of the recession, and revenue fell 13 per cent in the quarter ending in June.

Microsoft on Monday demonstrated a new tool for its Bing search engine that will allow advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ads with online users.

About a year or so ago there was an amusing bit of writing circulating on the Web that deconstructed Shakepeare's "Hamlet" into a series of Facebook-styled newsfeeds.

Adobe has agreed to buy Web analytics company Omniture for $US1.8 billion in cash, the companies said Tuesday.

Adobe has agreed to buy Web analytics company Omniture for US$1.8 billion in cash, the companies said Tuesday.

In a last promotional run-up to the Windows 7 release next month, Microsoft is urging business customers to start their upgrades now with examples of customers already using the software, and another acknowledgement that the company learned lessons from how it handled Vista's release three years ago.

Microsoft has cofounded and is providing the funding for a new foundation aimed at bringing open-source and proprietary software companies together to participate side by side in open-source projects.

A new version of Windows is not typically a reason to throw a party, but Microsoft is hoping people will do just that to celebrate Windows 7, and has teamed with House Party to help them do so.

Microsoft will miss its target date for releasing a technical preview of Office Web Apps, the Web-based versions of software in its Office productivity suite.