Microsoft Stores finally go international
A Microsoft Store is likely to be opening near you soon. Even if you’re not in the United States. Possibly. Probably.
A Microsoft Store is likely to be opening near you soon. Even if you’re not in the United States. Possibly. Probably.
Microsoft has had fun roasting Google with its Gmail Man spoof. And why not? It’s all just a bit of fun, surely.
Microsoft now has a child friendly browser thanks to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Actually it is a child friendly version of it’s Internet Explorer 9 browser. The company created the browser as a way for parents and their children to have access to information that will help them to browse the internet safely. It also gives them tools to report any possible dangers to CEOP.
Google previously announced plans to merge data across all of its services in order improve the overall experience for the end users. Microsoft has accused Google of violating user privacy by reading their emails to generate ads on the page.
If you still use Hotmail, and I am one of those rare individuals, then you’ll soon be seeing a change in the ads displayed alongside your email.
Bing launched as a ‘decision engine’, with Microsoft trying to shift the attention away from Google’s ‘search engine’. Now Microsoft is upping its game.
Microsoft’s Business Plan Collaborative Challenge 2012 is now underway. But this isn’t a competition open to any college student. No you have to be attending one of only ten colleges whose students are allowed to participate. Those colleges are: Berkeley, Columbia, MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, or the University of Washington.
Microsoft’s patent infringement dispute with Google has been ongoing with no signs of it letting up. Microsoft has been going after various Android manufacturers instead of going after Google to collect royalty fees.
Chinese manufacturer, Foxconn is in the news again with workers protesting poor working conditions at the factory. The manufacturing company came under scrutiny in the past after a number of suicides occurred in plants contracted by Apple, HP and Dell.
While Ballmer’s CES keynote was as lacking in excitement as expected, there was one interesting announcement from Microsoft for PC owners. Kinect for PC aka Kinect for Windows will be coming out February 1st of this year. While that may seem to be a boon for PC owners the world over, there is one little catch. Kinect for PC will require new hardware and not just software.
Microsoft has a strategic partnership with Nokia that has been simmering all year long. Many speculated that a new handheld device between the two partners would hit the market this past holiday, which did not turn out to be the case. It appears that the two companies have been waiting for CES to unveil its secret weapon.
Microsoft’s market share in the mobile sector has been shrinking for years, and the initial launch of Windows Phone 7 has failed to stop things from spiraling downward. However, there is a glimmer of hope with the company’s new found partnership with the largest handset manufacturer in the world.
Microsoft is making moves to kill its culture of heavy drinking. Not that it’s admitting the company has a culture of heavy drinking, you understand.
It seems like the current chapter in a dispute that is seven years old is coming to an end between Novell and Microsoft. Recently, Bill Gates testified in court after Novell accused Gates of anticompetitive practices to squeeze Novell out of the word processing market.
Microsoft is rolling out silent updates for Internet Explorer in the new year. But as usual this is a half-baked effort that will let too many people off the hook to do any real good.