Microsoft

Features

• A first look at the Nokia Lumia 800

  By Ross Catanzariti | 20 January, 2012 11:39

  Nokia's Lumia 800 represents somewhat of a new dawn for the struggling giant. It's the first phone to use the Windows Phone platform, following Nokia's decision early last year to partner with Microsoft for many of its future smartphones.

• Windows XP: Pros and cons of not upgrading

  By Ian Paul | 27 October, 2011 04:41

  Windows XP users, your favorite operating system is a decade old, and if you're still using it, you're not cool anymore, at least according to Microsoft. That's the software giant's recent take on its aging OS, which is still more popular than Vista or Windows 7 worldwide. Microsoft is hoping the final cadre of users hanging on to XP will start to dump it and move to the more modern Windows 7.

• Patent madness! A timeline of the Android patent wars

  By Brad Reed | 21 September, 2011 06:26

  History may look at Android as the tech industry's Helen of Troy: The OS that launched a thousand suits.

• Why IT won't like Mac OS X Lion Server

  By John Rizzo | 25 July, 2011 23:40

  Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server adds innovative features and a new low price tag, but cuts in services and the elimination of advanced GUI administration tools may force some enterprise departments to think twice about the role of Mac servers on their networks.

• Android vs. iOS vs. Windows Phone

  By Preston Gralla | 18 March, 2011 05:43

  The past year has been a remarkable one for smartphones, with the meteoric rise of Google's Android OS, the restart of Microsoft's mobile strategy with its much-ballyhooed release of Windows Phone 7 and the continuing success of Apple's iPhone, buoyed by its new availability to Verizon subscribers. Never has there been so much choice in the smartphone market. As a result, hype and overstatement have been the order of the day.

• Windows Phone 7: What Microsoft needs next

  By Jared Newman | 17 February, 2011 05:01

  The last week has brought nothing but good news for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7. Between Nokia's hardware commitment, Angry Birds on the way and Microsoft's own announcement of a roadmap for vital features such as multitasking, Windows Phone 7 seems to be catching a second wind in 2011.

• Google considers Bing a serious threat

  By Tony Bradley | 05 February, 2011 03:37

  Google very publicly called out Microsoft's Bing search engine -- claiming that it copies its search results from Google. The initial charge has been followed by a back and forth exchange of insults and accusations, but one thing that is sort of lost in the melodrama is that Google apparently considers Bing to be a serious threat.

• Microsoft Word alternatives: Wordsmiths, rejoice!

  By Ian Harac | 01 February, 2011 02:05

  Microsoft Word is ubiquitous: It's the standard word processor in most places of business, and it often ends up installed on home PCs due to compatibility and familiarity. It isn't the only choice, however. Whether your main concern is price, complexity, specialized functionality, system footprint, or some combination of the above, you might have many reasons to look beyond Word.

• Top 10 Web hacking techniques of 2010 revealed

  By Tim Greene | 25 January, 2011 03:08

  A Web hack that can endanger online banking transactions is ranked the No. 1 new Web hacking technique for 2010 in a top 10 list selected by a panel of experts and open voting.

• ClamAV promises free antivirus app for businesses

  By Keir Thomas | 19 January, 2011 05:34

  Most of us don't like paying for antivirus (AV) software, but at least home users can rely on one of the free options, such as Microsoft Security Essentials, avast!, or AVG Free.

• Tablet revolution reality check

  By Melissa J. Perenson | 17 January, 2011 17:41

  With so much chatter about tablets this year, you might think that the handheld, rectangular devices being unveiled represent a significant innovation. The reality is that so much of what we're seeing is not a whole lot different than what we saw in previous years; these products offer only a few new twists. But those new twists could make the difference between tablets' remaining a niche item and their finally busting out to the mass market in a meaningful way.

• Windows on verge of dropping below 90% market share

  By Jon Brodkin | 14 January, 2011 09:15

  Windows is on the verge of dropping below 90% market share, with smartphones and tablets posing an increasingly serious threat to Microsoft's dominance of the operating system market.

• In HTML5 war, Microsoft guy slams "President of the United States of Google"

  By Jon Brodkin | 13 January, 2011 04:35

  Microsoft and Google are fighting yet another public relations battle, this time over the HTML5 video standards to be used in the next generation of Web browsers.

• Wozniak: Voice recognition is computing's next frontier

  By Paul Krill | 13 January, 2011 06:33

  Look for more robust voice recognition to take hold in the realm of personal computing, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in a brief interview this week that also touched on topics ranging from tablet computing, Oracle's acquisition strategy, and enterprise memory technology.

• Patch Tuesday defined by the flaws that aren't fixed

  By Tony Bradley | 12 January, 2011 06:34

  Microsoft is easing in to 2011 with a light Patch Tuesday for January. There are only two security bulletins this month, and only one of those two is rated as Critical by Microsoft.