Microsoft's Mundie describes computing shift
In the future, computers will do more work automatically for people, rather than reacting to human input, Microsoft's head of research and strategy said on Monday.
In the future, computers will do more work automatically for people, rather than reacting to human input, Microsoft's head of research and strategy said on Monday.
It has taken Microsoft a long time to bring its flagship Office suite to the Web and now it finally has with Office 2010. The software suite comes packed with meaningful improvements such as new cut-and-paste features for Word and new ways to broadcast your PowerPoint presentations online. But the most striking addition to Office 2010 is the introduction of Office Web Apps. These are light-weight versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote that are all accessible via desktop, mobile devices, and Web browsers Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
Windows 7 pre-orders may be burning up the charts, but many users are apparently still reluctant to switch over to Microsoft's newest operating system. This is particularly true for businesses that are a little upgrade-wary after investing in Vista, while others are reluctant to give up on Redmond's classic XP system. Compounding the temptation not to switch was news earlier this year that Microsoft wasn't making life easy for XPers migrating to the new OS.
The future may be the cloud, but it also may be Microsoft that ushers us into that realm of possibility and imagination. Today, Redmond unveiled as a part of Office 2010 a suite of Microsoft Office Web apps that will compete directly with Google Docs. While Microsoft isn't letting anyone play around with the apps just yet, on paper, Microsoft's Web apps look like they could blow Google's online services out of the water -- beta or no beta.
From what's been reported so far, I don't see much to like about Office 2010. The discussion thus far has lacked a single "killer feature" that makes me want to plunk down a few hundred dollars for an Office that seems only a teensy bit better than what I am already using.
If Microsoft wants Windows 7 to succeed, to do better than limp like Vista, it has to convince the majority of users to ditch their comfortable-as-an-old-shoe -- older than an old shoe, actually -- OS.
At the risk of piling on, I'll join the chorus of those who wish Windows 7 Ultimate was, well, more ultimate--offering truly important features that aren't in other versions of the new OS. While I don't think having an "Ultimate" that really isn't will be the undoing of the House of Gates, I can tell you I won't be buying it.
Since the general beta release, Windows 7 has been through the testing ringer and has come out with mostly high marks for its speed, flexibility, user interface (UI) and networking features.
It looks like the image of a woman throwing up after inadvertently viewing pornography was too controversial for Microsoft.
A year ago today, Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows XP, no longer selling new copies in most venues. The June 30 kill date for XP followed a six-month outcry from users about Windows Vista, with demands that Microsoft keep XP available alongside Vista for the many users who were frustrated by ease-of-use, compatibility, and retraining issues.
Last week's online protest against Microsoft Outlook is turning out to be a tempest-in-a-Tweet.
Microsoft's Bing search engine filters out some sensitive results from searches made in simplified Chinese, the script used to write the language in China, searches revealed Thursday.
Mozilla's Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate 2 is now out in the open, meaning the long-awaited final version is likely right around the corner.
Microsoft is gaining new ground with its freshly rebranded Bing search engine, some recently released data suggests. Bing, the research finds, grew 0.8 percent during its second week online.
The European Commission will proceed with its antitrust case against Microsoft regardless of the announcement late Thursday that the software giant is stripping its browser, Internet Explorer (IE), from the next incarnation of its operating system, Windows 7, in Europe.