Surface Pro Sales Reach 400,000 in Only a Month

Since its launch, the Surface tablet from Microsoft has reached 400,000 sales, which isn't a bad start for a tablet that is definitely on the pricey side with an $899 price tag. What's even more impressive is that this tablet only launched a month ago. According to IDC Analyst Bob O'Donnell, "That's a respectable number and it leads me to believe that Surface Pro will end up outselling Surface RT."

O'Donnell is, of course, referring to the RT version of the Surface tablet, which is slightly less expensive at $499, though isn't compatible with older Windows software. "It's something that we've predicated all along because of the compatibility that Surface Pro offers," O'Donnell added. Overall, Microsoft has sold nearly 1.5 million Surface devices, including both Pro and RT versions, and was announced only three months ago.

Even though the RT version sold out initially, Microsoft was surprisingly able to keep up with demand quickly. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case with the Pro. The high-end, 128GB Pro version of Surface has been continuously sold out since it was released on February 9. This model of the Surface tablet has only recently become readily available in the last week or so.

Regardless, the numbers being put up by the Pro are nothing compared to that of Apple's iPad. Apple sold more than 20 million iPads in the quarter ending in December, though Apple has been in this market substantially longer than Microsoft has and has also had time to fine tune its device. However, like Surface RT, the 9.7" Retina iPad starts at $499 while the iPad Mini is even cheaper at $329.

The trick with the Surface is that it puts a conventional, mainstream laptop into a 2 lb, 0.5" thick tablet. The Pro version comes with a 10.6" 1,920 x 1,080 full HD resolution display, Intel Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB of memory and a full-fledged solid-state drive, which is exponentially faster than the flash drives found in Apple and Android tablets.

Nonetheless, the numbers posted by Microsoft are impressive, especially considering the lackluster reviews that Windows 8 has been receiving. Windows 8 is the operating system that the Surface uses, though the OS has clearly been designed for use on touchscreen devices. It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers this tablet will post in the coming months.

Source: CNET - Microsoft Surface Pro sales hit 400K in a hurry

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Windows 8 Pro Discount Officially Ended

Well, it's official, you can no longer purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for the discounted price of $39.99. As of February 1, Microsoft has quintupled the price to $199.99. Just upgrading to the standard Windows 8, which doesn't include corporate features like BitLocker encryption and the ability to remotely connect to a company's network, will cost $119.99, though that edition was never discounted.

Upgrading to Windows 8 from an existing Windows operating system, like XP, Vista or 7, comes with varying degrees of success. It should come as no surprise that upgrading from Windows 7 causes the least amount of hassle with bringing along existing files, settings and applications whereas upgrading from XP is a little more difficult.

In addition to the end of the discount, several other deals also ended, including $69.99 prices for Windows 8 Pro on a DVD and something Microsoft was calling Windows 8 Pro Pack, which upgrades Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro. The first upgrade will jump to $199.99 with the latter costing $99.99. Windows 8 Media Center pack, which is an add-on that makes it possible to play CDs and DVDs on a Windows PC, now costs $9.99.

Only one time has Microsoft discussed Windows 8 Pro upgrade numbers. This occurred back in October when CEO Steve Ballmer said his company had sold 4 million copies in its first three days. Since then, Microsoft has declined to give any specific sales numbers, even though the firm's CFO recently cited upgrades as one of several reasons why the Windows division's revenue increased 11% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Have a short term rental need for Windows 8 systems?

Purchasers of the Windows 8 upgrade do not have to install it right away. Instead, they can create a bootable flash drive or installation DVD, then set aside the physical media for a later date. The final offer that recently expired was the eight-month deal that offered a $14.99 upgrade for customers who purchased a Windows 7-powered PC between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Those customers have until February 28 to claim the promotional code for the $14.99 price.

Windows 8 has received quite a bit of flak from users who believe that the heavy focus on touch-screen features do not translate well to desktops and laptops without touchscreens. Having used Windows 8 personally, I can honestly say that the new home screen and layout definitely take some getting used to, especially for long-time Windows users, though some of the features that are available are pretty cool and the operating system itself isn't all that bad (though that was at the time of the $39.99 download). I don't know if the operating system (or any, for that matter) is worth $200. 

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Windows 8 Not the Beacon of Hope the PC Market Needs it to Be

The PC market is slipping and, despite being launched with much fanfare, Windows 8 doesn't seem to be the shining beacon of recovery for the market as predicted. According to analysts, Windows 8 may do well to keep the PC industry running, but isn't enough to restore it to its former glory. According to Pund-IT Analyst Charles King, "Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that Windows 8 will be enough to turn around PC sales."

In addition to that, King added, "At the end of the day, IT sales depend as much on customer confidence as they do on vendor innovation. Vendors can occasionally nudge a market in one direction or another, a bit like a tugboat guides a far larger ship. But no single company can drag broader markets along in its wake."

The weight of the sluggish world economy has brought down the PC industry and so has a growing consumer infatuation with products like the iPad and other tablets. A lot of analysts have said that some enterprises have been holding off laptop and desktop purchases until Windows 8 comes out while others have been turning to tablets and smartphones as replacements for the traditional systems.

Robert Enderle, an analyst for the Enderle Group, believes that the PC business should get help from at least some of the waiting demand for Windows 8. "We do traditionally get a slowdown prior to a release," Enderle added. "Windows 8 is compelling. It could help turn things around but it will really depend on demand."

Another analyst, Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy, isn't quite as optimistic as Enderle. Moorhead notes that the biggest drag on the business hasn't been the imminent shipping of Windows 8 but has been the economy and tablets. "Windows 8 will help PC sales some, but won't be enough to make up for the lousy economy," he stated.

To top it all off, King added that he thinks the release of Windows 8 could even hurt business. "Windows 8 is so new and so radically different than previous versions of Windows that it could spark as much resistance as curiosity. On the other hand, some research has found that Windows 8's touch enablement tops the wish lists of most PC users. If that proves right, Microsoft and its OEM partners should reap the benefits."

Note: Windows 8 is expected to be readily available on computer rentals starting in early 2013.

Source: Computer World - Windows 8 not likely to restart ailing PC market

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Microsoft Issues Fix It Patch for Internet Explorer Vulnerability

Microsoft has just released what it is calling "Fix It" software that was designed to protect Windows users from a critical hole in Internet Explorer that was being exploited by hackers. While this is all well and good, it isn't the big fix that everybody has been waiting for. Instead, this is merely a temporary fix until Microsoft releases a cumulative update for Internet Explorer.

According to Trustworthy Computer Director for Microsoft Yunsun Wee, the Fix It tool "is an easy, one-click solution that will help protect your computer right away. It will not affect your ability to browse the web, and it does not require a reboot of your computer. This will not only reinforce the issue that the Fix It addressed, but cover other issues as well, including four other critical remote code execution issues."

This isn't some minor hole, however. In fact, the vulnerability is so severe that the German government and security experts have been advising people to avoid using Internet Explorer altogether until the vulnerability is patched entirely, which won't happen until the larger update is released. That update, which has a severity rating of Critical, should come out any day now, meaning users won't have long to wait until they can get back to viewing the internet in peace.

This vulnerability, more specifically, was uncovered within the past week and could very well compromise the PCs of every single Internet Explorer user who visits a malicious site. The flaw itself is being actively exploited to deliver a back-door Trojan known as Poison Ivy. My recommendation is that you download the patch as soon as it is available so as to not risk any critical harm befalling your PC.

Source: CNET - Microsoft issues fix for IE hole; full update coming Friday

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Microsoft Drops Metro, Calls Everything Windows 8 Now

It appears as if Microsoft has entered into a naming dispute with European partner Metro Group over the design language for the company's upcoming operating system, Windows 8. Metro has long been used by Microsoft in reference to Windows 8 but, instead of fighting it out with Metro Group, Microsoft has simply decided to change the name. The new name that the company is using is none other than Microsoft 8 itself. Wow, what a change.

According to sources from Microsoft, anything currently or formerly known as a Metro-Style application (regardless of the hyphen) will henceforth be referred to as a Windows 8 application. In addition to that, references to the Metro user interface will be replaced by a Windows 8 user interface and instead of using Metro design, Microsoft and everybody else involved with the project will use the term Windows 8 design.

This news doesn't seem to be a big secret though as some OEMs seem to have gotten the message. Lenovo's new promo page for the new Windows 8 Thinkpad Tablet 2 has no mention of the word Metro anywhere on it. Instead, the heading Windows 8 apps is used. However, some at Microsoft are still using the Metro term in certain situations.

Some divisions at Microsoft were still using Metro to refer to the tiled interface with bold Segoe-font typographic elements. Metro became a nickname to refer to the new look and feel of Windows 8, as well as a way to refer to apps built using the new WinRT programming interface. It also seems as if Microsoft is going to use the Windows 8 name change with its Windows Phone as well. That means the Metro interface on Windows Phone will now be known as the Windows 8 interface.

Source: ZDNet - Microsoft: Don't call it Metro. Call it 'Windows 8'

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Drastically Lower Windows 8 SKU Options

Windows 8 will be coming soon (we hope) and the tech world is in a frenzy. Windows 7 was one of the best operating systems released by Microsoft and was a much welcomed change over its previous iteration, Windows Vista. Naturally, Microsoft will be making a few changes here and there to the operating system but one that may catch people off guard is that Microsoft may be making a change to the number of editions, or SKUs, that will be sold to the public.

A couple of different files from HP's website uncovered by ZDNet blogger Stephen Chapman seem to indicate how many different versions of Windows 8 Microsoft is planning on selling to the public. Specifically, these files list the versions of Windows 8 that will be supported by drivers in an HP laptop smart card reader. Suspiciously, HP has already removed these references to the operating system from the files.

Fortunately, Chapman was able to record what the files said, which offered six different versions of Windows 8:

• Microsoft Windows 8 32 Edition


• Microsoft Windows 8 64 Edition


• Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 32 Edition


• Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 64 Edition


• Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 32 Edition


• Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64 Edition

Individual consumers will most likely be interested in the standard 32 and 64 editions of Windows 8 with the Enterprise versions targeting large businesses and the Professional versions targeting small businesses and high-end users. However, it is still not 100% clear as to whether or not these will actually be Windows 8 SKUs. Chapman noted that these names could simply be fill-ins until the actual SKUs are announced, though the specifics are throwing some people off of that idea.

If this is real, then it is obvious that Microsoft is trying to limit the different versions of Windows 8 available to customers. In the past Microsoft has rolled out a lot of different versions of its operating systems, with some of the more complicated ones being Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows 7 came with six different SKUs: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate with 5 of those 6 coming in both 32 and 64 bit versions, making a grand total of 11 different versions.

Vista was exactly the same with 32 and 64 bit versions of Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business and Enterprise with the Starter version (like Windows 7) only coming in a 32 bit version. If the HP files tell the truth, this should be a good step for Microsoft in limiting the number of SKUs. Fewer choices mean less confusion, less confusion means happier customers, happier customers means more business. The Windows 8 beta is said to start this Wednesday so maybe Microsoft will unveil something then.

Source: CNET - Microsoft may limit the number of Windows 8 editions
ZDNet - Windows 8 SKUs mentioned on HP.com

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Amazon's Cloud Allowing Windows Server to Run Free

If you are wanting to run Windows Server via Amazon's Cloud Service for free, the time has come for your wish to be granted. That's right, enterprise companies now have the ability to run Microsoft's Windows Server for as many as 750 hours in Amazon's cloud completely free using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Free Usage Tier according to a statement released by the website on Saturday.

This announcement will allow enterprise companies that already run applications on Windows Server to give Amazon's cloud service a test drive completely free of charge. Enterprise users will be able to select from a wide array of pre-configured Amazon Machine Images without Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2. The Windows Server images run on a Micro instance (virtual sever) that includes 613 MB of memory as well as 32-bit or 64-bit support.

The Free Usage Tier was launched back in 2010 but has only recently become available with Linux. Enterprise companies now have the opportunity to run both operating systems simultaneously for as long as 750 hours per month for one year. After that, these companies will have to pay regular fees that start as low as $0.02 per hour for Linux and $0.03 per hour for Windows.

If a company exceeds its usage limits, additional fees will be incurred. For instance, if you have two different server instances active for 400 hours a piece for the entire month, you have gone over your monthly usage by 50 hours. The first 750 hours will still be free, but you will have to pay the standard price for the 50 hours extra you used. In addition to that, the tier also includes limited use of Amazon's load balancer, storage services and the SimpleDB database.

Source: Computer World - Windows Server now runs for free in Amazon's cloud

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Updated

Microsoft has just updated its Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and posted a service pack with a plethora of new features and bug fixes according to a statement released by the company on Monday. The new features to Microsoft Exchange Service Pack 2 were designed based on feedback from customers, Microsoft said, and they reflect the expanding use of enterprise email, scheduling and associated functions across a wide range of devices and deployment scenarios.

One of the new features, known as Outlook Web Application (OWA) Mini, offers the user the ability to browse mailboxes and global address lists from low bandwidth and low resolution devices. This type of mini-internet browser can, in addition, be used as an alternative to synchronizing all Exchange data with the actual phone or mobile device, which can sometimes be prohibitive.

Another new feature allows administrators to segment enterprise global address lists (GAL) into smaller segments. By doing this, it allows administrators to create virtual groups. Previous versions of Microsoft Exchange also had this ability but this is the first time Exchange 2010 offers it in a way that doesn't require manual intervention from administrators.

In addition to these new features, the update includes the Hybrid Configuration Wizard designed for organizations wishing to deploy some mail accounts on Microsoft Office 365 and keep others on their internal systems. The wizard simplifies the process of archiving data and sharing things like calendar entries and secure mail across both the hosted and internal mail accounts.

The update also permits cross-site silent redirection for OWA, which could provide the basis for single sign-on across the entire enterprise platform. With a feature like this, an Outlook Web Application client request could be automatically transferred from one Active Directory implementation to another. In addition to that, the service pack includes multiple bug fixes and collects other features introduced in Service Pack 1 which was released back in August 2010.

Source: Computer World - Microsoft updates Exchange 2010

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Microsoft Kinect for PC Coming Soon

On Tuesday, November 22 Microsoft announced that it is working on getting its Kinect motion-sensing device ready to use on PCs that run Windows. The company currently sells Kinect for its Xbox 360 gaming console; however, it is hard at work and says that it will have the PC version ready by early 2012.

"Coupled with the numerous upgrades and improvements our team is making to the Software Development Kit (SDK) and runtime, the new hardware delivers features and functionality that Windows developers and Microsoft customers have been asking for," wrote Craig Eisler, general manager of Kinect for Windows, in a blog post.

"Simple changes include shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals," Eisler continued. "Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters. 'Near Mode' will enable a whole new class of 'close up' applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360. This is one of the most requested features from the many developers and companies participating in our Kinect for Windows pilot program and folks commenting on our forums, and we're pleased to deliver this, and more, at launch."

This announcement about the PC version of the Kinect comes on the exact same day that Microsoft officially acquired VideoSurf. Microsoft acquired the company, which was founded in 2006, for $70 million. It hopes to incorporate the California-based company’s online video search technology into the Xbox Live system.

According to a statement released by the companies on Tuesday, November 22, VideoSurf "offers a back-end computer vision technology that 'sees' frames inside videos to make discovering content fast, easy and accurate."

"VideoSurf's content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform," said the director of Xbox Live for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Alex Garden. "This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox Live. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf's technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search results.”

According to Microsoft, the acquisition would "make it easier for world-class video partners to take full advantage of advanced features such as voice search enabled by Kinect for Xbox 360."

Microsoft also said that in the next few months it will bring "nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers to Xbox Live." These will include Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS, and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K.; Telefónica in Spain; Rogers On Demand in Canada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and Mediaset in Italy.

"Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Division is at the leading edge of connected entertainment," said Lior Delgo, the CEO and co-founder of VideoSurf, in the statement that they released with Microsoft. "We are incredibly excited to be working together on our mutual passion for creating amazing consumer experiences and reinventing how consumers search, discover and enjoy content on their televisions."

Source: PCMag - Microsoft Preps Kinect for PCs Hardware, Firmware

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Microsoft's IE9 Strategy Fails to Produce Results

As the rise of other browsers, like Google Chrome, begin to show, so does the demise of others, namely Internet Explorer. The web browser, designed by Microsoft, continued to lose members last month, losing the largest number of users since December 2010.

During September, Internet Explorer lost nine-tenths of a percentage point of share, dropping to 54.4%, a new record low for the browser. The drop experienced last month was the seventh straight decline and the largest decline since December of last year where Internet Explorer fell by 1.1 points. Causing the decrease was, of course, Google Chrome, which saw shares increase by seven-tenths of a point. Adding to the decline was Apple's Safari browser, which saw an increase of four-tenths of a percentage point.

Chrome ended the month with a 16.2% share with Safari accounting for 5% of all browsers used worldwide. Microsoft, on the other hand, focused on looking at the brighter side by plugging the success of Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7. Head of Internet Explorer's Marketing Roger Capriotti used data from Net Applications to highlight the gains of IE9 by pointing out that the browser version owned 21% global share of browsers running on Windows 7.

Internet Explorer 9 is the second-most popular internet browser on Windows 7 with a 21% compared to Internet Explorer 8's leading 31.6%. Firefox 6 and Chrome 13 came in third and fourth place, respectively, with 13.9% and 13.1%. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't outlined an alternate strategy for stopping IE defections. While the focus on Internet Explorer 9 may pay off in the long run, it has failed to slow down the number of defectors heading to Safari, Chrome or Firefox. Since its debut, Microsoft has lost 4 percentage points of share with Internet Explorer 9.

Source: Computer World - Microsoft's IE9-first strategy fails to stem browser slide

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Windows 8 Developer Preview

Windows 8, the highly anticipated followup to the hugely successful Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft, was displayed, albeit briefly, way back at D9. However, Anaheim is where the new OS is really going to kick off. Microsoft is starting its Build conference with a full-on developer preview of the new OS, code-named Windows 8 at the moment.

According to Microsoft's President of Windows and Windows Live Division Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft has been completely re-imagining the Windows operating system. In doing so the company has brought a lot of new capabilities that coders will be able to dive into sooner rather than later.

The new "Metro-styled" user interface is right up front and brings new graphical elements of the Windows Phone 7 to your desktop, laptop or tablet. In addition to that, Windows 8 will also come with Internet Explorer 10 pre-installed as well as a more intense focus on apps that have the ability to communicate with each other.

If you have been using Windows 7 for a while now and you are used to it, you should have no problem making the switch to Windows 8. Windows 8 is built primarily on the same foundation as Windows 7 though the retooled Task Manager and Windows Explorer should tease your interests a little more.

The new Windows Store will allow developers to present their apps to any country that has availability to Windows 8, and support for ARM-based chipsets is also proudly included along with x86 compatibility. What this basically means is that every device from a small tablet to a large custom PC will be able to easily handle everything Windows 8 has to offer.

Microsoft has also confirmed backwards compatibility with "devices and programs" that support Windows 7. In addition to that it has also been said that developers will be able to download the Windows Developer Preview from the new Windows Dev Center later on in this week, though no official date has been specified.

I don't know about you but I am thoroughly excited for Windows 8. I can't wait to get my hands on this new operating system and start exploring all the new features it has to offer!

Source: Engadget - Microsoft launches Windows 8 developer preview, downloads coming 'later this week'

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Microsoft Patch Tuesday Bringing 15 Patches

According to a recent report from Microsoft, the company is planning on releasing a total of five security updates next week in order to fix 15 vulnerabilities located in Windows, Excel, SharePoint Server and Groove. All five of the updates will be rated as "important" which is the second highest ranking in the four-step security system set up by Microsoft.

Typically, Microsoft ships a smaller number of updates in months labeled as an "odd number month" and is keeping to that plan. The volume of September is down compared to August when Microsoft patched 22 problems with 13 bulletins or individual security updates. According to Director of Security Operations at nCircle Security Andrew Storms, "Not a lot there, but we didn't expect much. It is the light month, the down month."

Microsoft laid out all the details about the coming patches in an advanced notice of next week's patch day which is Tuesday. Two of the updates affect Windows with one of them only impacting Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2. The second patch fixes a few more bugs found in all supported versions of the operating system which include XP and Windows 7.

"There are a number of server-only components that have been present through the whole lifecycle of Windows Server," Storms added about the server-only update. "SMB is an example. And they patched SMB often in the last several months."

SMB, or server message block, is a network and file-sharing protocol designed by Microsoft that has already been patched multiple times this year including an update that took place in April that stopped up a critical hole that some analysts believe could be used by criminals to construct a dangerous worm.

An additional two updates also coming out next week will patch up problems located in Excel 2010 and Excel 2011 for the Mac and in the Office software altogether. The fifth patch will fix a plethora of server-side software including SharePoint, Groove and Office Web Apps, which is the cloud-based version of Microsoft's suite.

Source: Computer World - Microsoft plans 15 patches for Windows, Office next week

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New Finger and Stylus Gestures Could Be Coming to Windows 8

A lot of people are excited about the upcoming operating system from Microsoft known, as of right now, as Windows 8. Windows 8, or whatever it is named upon release, is the highly anticipated successor to the the immensely popular Windows 7 operating system currently out from Microsoft. However, some new developments are leaking their way onto the internet, including the fact that Microsoft has unveiled several patent filings that are pointing to new finger and stylus gestures that could be incorporated into Windows 8 tablets.

These patent filings were actually filed back in 2010 but Microsoft just published them last week. These new patents show that Microsoft believes finger and stylus gestures can work not only separately but together as well in order to offer a user-friendly means of input on new touch screen devices. This new method that would recognize both methods of input would recognize the first method as your finger and the second as your stylus. Using both your finger and your stylus could then create a variety of gestures, a lot of which seem to be geared more toward image editing though could be put to other uses as well.

For example, a copy gesture would allow you to tap on an object with your finger and then move it around with your stylus. A cut gesture would allow you to split an object in half using fingers, a stylus or both at the same time. A brush gesture would assist you in removing part of an image and then storing it somewhere else on the screen. A staple gesture may be used to stack multiple objects or images on top of each other and a stamp gesture would create duplicates of whatever you wanted.

The upcoming Windows 8 operating system for tablets was unveiled by Microsoft at the D9 Conference back in June. Microsoft is expected to release more information and details about the OS at the upcoming Build Conference in September, with a beta possibly ready for developers to test out at that time as well.

Source: CNET - Windows 8 could see new finger and stylus gestures

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Microsoft Increases Security of Outlook Hotmail Connector

Microsoft has recently boosted the security of a certain tool that allows Outlook users to send and receive messages via Microsoft's web-based Hotmail service. The new Outlook Hotmail Connector now supports HTTPS, a protocol which encrypts all traffic between the email client and the Windows Live Hotmail service.

Back in November of 2010, Microsoft added an all-HTTPS option to Hotmail, due in part as a reaction to Firesheep, a Firefox add-on released the month before which allowed anybody to scan an unsecured WiFi network and hijack other people's access to Facebook, Twitter and a whole bunch of other websites.

The update to the Outlook Hotmail Connector that was released this week is simply a follow-up to Microsoft's move back in 2010. According to Microsoft's Outlook team, "Using a connection with HTTPS helps you be even more confident that your account is safer from hijackers, and that your private information remains private."

This new tool encrypts communication between Outlook and the Windows Live email, calendar and contact services. Google's Gmail beat out Hotmail to the HTTPS by more than a few years. Gmail users have had this option of encrypting all Gmail traffic since 2008. However, in mid-January of 2010 Google enabled HTTPS by default on the same day it accused hackers from China of breaking into its systems and trying to access the Gmail accounts of human rights activists who lived in the country at the time.

In addition to this, Microsoft has also updated the consumer-grade Windows Live Mail to support HTTPS as well. Unlike its Outlook Express predecessor, which just so happened to be bundled with Windows XP, Windows Live Mail is an optional download for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Outlook Hotmail Connector can be downloaded in 32-bit or 64-bit versions for Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 on Windows. There is no similar tool for outlook 2011, which was included with Office for Mac 2011.

The Windows Live Essentials update, which includes the HTTPS-enabled Windows Live Mail, is available here or on Microsoft's download website as well.

Source: Computer World - Microsoft beefs up Outlook-to-Hotmail security

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Bing's Shopping Section Gets a Revamp from Microsoft

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty busy for most, what with Mother's Day, summer vacation and school graduations all on the horizon. Well, because of that, Microsoft has given the shopping section of its Bing search engine a little bit of a makeover which includes the ability to link it to Facebook accounts.

With this new integration into Facebook, users can be reminded of their friend's and family's birthdays and even share their shopping lists with them according to a report by Microsoft.

Other changes include a redesigned shopping home page with a new layout that is specifically designed to give more prominent placement to top search results, popular products and even related articles with the intention of making things easier and faster to scan this information.

A revamped results page now features bigger images at the top of the screen. It also offers more filters in order to fine-tune results and even let users hover over different items in order to trigger the display of additional product information.

Even though Google is the top search engine without a doubt, Microsoft keeps on chugging along, investing heavily in Bing for years now. Officials from Microsoft maintain that there are big opportunities set to radically improve the search user experience. Microsoft also stated that if it continues innovating with Bing, it could definitely make a run at Google.

However, that doesn't mean that Google is just going to sit there and take it. The search master is constantly improving algorithms in order to make sure it retains users' loyalty and defends its core market.

To improve its chances against Google, Microsoft as well as Yahoo are both implementing a search partnership. However, last week Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz stated that Microsoft's AdCenter search ad system isn't yielding the results the companies have expected. However, both Yahoo and Microsoft have both said that they are confident that improvements to AdCenter will boost its revenue-per-search rate to the expected levels before the year is up.

Source: PCWorld - Microsoft Revamps Bing Shopping Section

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Microsoft's Office 365 Goes Open Beta

Microsoft has finally opened the door to its cloud-based Office 365 and is now offering the service as a public beta for anybody and everybody to try out. The beta is available in 38 countries as well as 17 languages. The new beta also follows several months of limited testing with a few thousand businesses that were able to take the service out for an early test drive. After this public beta, Office 365 will officially launch later this year.

Office 365, which was unveiled last October, is Microsoft's attempt at offering businesses a cloud-based alternative to some of the company's more traditional desktop and server products. Office 365 combines Office Web Apps with hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint as well as Microsoft's Lync product. The Lync product provides the online communication and collaboration element of Office 365.

With all of this, Office 365 is designed to offer a plethora of features including document creation, document sharing, e-mail, IM, online meetings and public Web sites. Microsoft has also included protection in the form of its enterprise ForeFront security client and is also promising a 99.9% uptime for the entire service.

Once Office 365 officially launches it will be offered as two separate plans depending on the size of your company. Small businesses with around 25 employees or less can pay $6 per person per month to receive Office Web Apps and the hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint. Larger corporations will have to chose from one of four different plans geared toward faculty, staff and students.

In addition to Office 365 being offered as a beta, Office 365 Marketplace is in beta form as well. Office 365 Marketplace is designed to supplement Office 365 and tries to help businesses find apps and services offered by different Microsoft partners. Reports from users already experiencing the beta have noted that everything is working as Microsoft has advertised it to.

Source: CNET - Microsoft opens up Office 365 as public beta

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Microsoft Launches Campaign to Kill Internet Explorer 6 for Good

Are you one of those people out there who only uses Internet Explorer for your web browser? If so, then you may also be a part of the large group of people that still uses Internet Explorer 6. Well, if you are one of these people, you have some bad news coming your way. Microsoft has officially launched a new web site that is aimed at increasing its campaign to move internet users off of Internet Explorer 6 forever.

This new site, known as the Internet Explorer 6 Countdown, went live today and is "dedicated to watching Internet Explorer 6 usage drop to less than 1% worldwide, so more websites can choose to drop support for Internet Explorer 6, saving hours of work for web developers," according to the site.

A lot of computers, mainly in the business world, continue to use Internet Explorer 6 due to internal-facing apps that are dependent on the 10-year-old, non-standards compliant browser from Microsoft. Thankfully, the web page has links to tools for businesses just like this that are stuck with Internet Explorer 6. Gartner analysts have complained in the past that Microsoft's current tools for moving business users off of Internet Explorer 6 have been far too pricey.

Another feature of the Countdown page includes a world map that highlights countries around the world who still have the most Internet Explorer 6 installations. Right now China holds the number one spot. In addition to focusing on the developer side of the Anti-Internet Explorer 6 campaign, Microsoft officials are also emphasizing the improved security Internet Explorer 6 users can receive from switching to Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 9 is currently in the release candidate stage and is not mentioned on the page as a comparison point.

Source: ZDNet - Microsoft: Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer

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Microsoft Word Gets Hacked

No computer program is 100% safe. Any program, no matter how good the programmer behind it was, can be hacked. Even big companies, the ones that have hundreds of technicians and programmers, are still vulnerable to hackers. Just take a look at the most recent hacks on one of the most widely used pieces of software in the world, Microsoft Word.

According to Microsoft officials last Tuesday, hackers are now exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Word in order to plant malware on Windows PCs. The bug, found in Microsoft Word 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010, was patched back on November 9th, 2010, as a part of Microsoft's monthly security update.

Word 2008 and 2011 for the Mac have been patched as well, however, Microsoft has not yet issued a fix for the same flaw in Word 2004. The attacks, on the other hand, only affect Windows versions of the suite.

According to the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC), which is the group that investigates attack codes and also issues signature updates for the company's antivirus software, the first exploits were found last week. When the Word patch was shipped last month, the bug was rated as a "1" on the exploitability index. What that number means is that a working attack would manifest within 30 days.

The attack uses a malicious Rich Text Format (RTF) file to generate a stack overflow in Word on Windows, according to MMPC researcher Rodel Finones. Once a successful exploit takes place, the attack codes download and run a Trojan horse on the PC. Microsoft rated this RTF vulnerability as "critical" in Word 2007 as well as 2010 last month. However it was only listed as "important" in all other affected versions.

It is thought that this bug was a hacker choice due to the fact that users running Office 2007 or 2010 could be attacked if they made the simple mistake of previewing a specially-crafted RTF document in the Outlook e-mail client.

According to Jason Miller, the Data and Security Team Manager for Shavik Technologies, "Once a malformed message hits the Outlook preview pane, remote code can be executed. You should patch this right away." This is what he said when Microsoft released the patch.

Finones stated that the code "reliably exploits this Word vulnerability" and also urged users who have yet to install the November patch to do so immediately.

Source: Computer World

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Browser Wars Heat Up for Microsoft

"I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant...", those were the words of Admiral Isoroku Yamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it also seems to be the feeling people have toward Microsoft and the company's entrance into the "browser wars" we are seeing today.

Back when Internet Explorer first came out, it was a high performance browser with a lot of useful functions. However, those days were finite, and Microsoft got branded with the reputation of producing crappy browsers, a reputation that IE7 and IE8 did nothing to improve upon.

In 2010, however, a long effort to reactivate the company's browser projects showed promise in IE9. As of right now, the application is still in beta form, but it has already shifted the browser market dramatically.

Internet Explorer 9 supports any and every kind of Web standard including a ton of HTML5 features like built-in video, CSS3 for advanced formatting, professional typography and SVG for smoothly resizable graphical elements. IE9 also speeds up the execution of web-based JavaScript programs. This development did manage to alert browser rivals for one top priority today, hardware acceleration. The software itself is accompanied by a push by the industry where Microsoft is educating Web developers and contributing to the development of standards.

It does appear that it may take a little while before web developers trust that Microsoft is serious about browsers again. It also seems that people still using the ancient IE6 will still be wary of upgrading. One thing is clear, Microsoft is paving the way for a new browser future where web sites as well as web applications become more fluid, interactive, polished and powerful.

In terms of Microsoft, Internet Explorer 9 has come in at exactly the right time. The battle with IE has always been against Firefox, however, Google's Chrome has brought in a new era of fierce competition. I think it is safe to say that Google knows a little something about the internet, and the company has a major agenda of web applications to pursue as well as a big enough presence on the web to allow it to make new technologies relevant by building them into its browser and web site.

Early in 2010 Chrome passed Safari by Apple for third place in the rankings of browser usage, and its growth carried to almost 10% of usage in November. A new phase of Google browser ambition is just taking off as well. The Chrome Web Store, which was designed to promote web-based applications and Chrome OS, allows people to find and purchase nearly any web app they want.

Chrome OS is much more of a departure from existing technology than just a browser. Google only offers it built into hardware. Google has done a good job with Android, but it is still unclear as to how well Chrome OS will fare with consumers and businesses.

Firefox's percentage of browser usage has remained consistently flat for most of 2010 thanks to Chrome. There are big things planned for Firefox 4 including many new features and performance enhancements. The problem is that Mozilla failed to meet a 2010 deadline and has since been pushed into 2011.

Apple's Safari has steadily increased in usage share with a few signs that the Windows version is catching on. Safari has been the principle sponsor of the open-source WebKit project, the same project both Safari and Chrome are based on. However, Google is steadily increasing.

One notable feature of Safari 5 that arrived in July was extensions that have the ability to customize the browser's behavior. Opera, the browser currently ranked 5th, is building them into Opera 11 which is the upcoming version of the browser which will match Chrome and Jetpack, the upcoming browser from Mozilla.

Adobe Systems, maker of Flash Player plug-in, had a particularly difficult year but ended on a good note. Apple, not surprisingly, did not budge on their ban of Flash from iOS devices directly, however, it did relent on blocking an Adobe tool that allows you to convert Flash apps to native apps. Google and Adobe forged an alliance due to the very public fight between Apple and Adobe which resulted in Flash support and promotion within Android.

The browser market combines competition between makers with cooperation as all the companies seek to advance the possibilities that can occur on the web. HTML5 standardization has sprouted emotional clashes between different groups involved as the specification moves more under the control of corporate powers.

The mobile market is also a big challenge to the web. Native software can offer better interfaces as well as faster performance than traditional web apps on mobile devices. However, it is still clear that the web as well as the tools for using it are clearly on the rise.

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Microsoft Encouraging More Tablets

Several hardware makers are teaming up with Microsoft, in an attempt to give Apple a run for its money. They're looking to release a number of Windows-based tablet computers that can compete with Apple's iPad. At least 21 manufacturers were mentioned, including Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo, and Panasonic.

The news was announced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Monday, July 12, at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, "This year one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates and Windows 7 phones. Over the course of the next several months, you will see a range of Windows 7-based slates that I think you'll find quite impressive. This is a terribly important area for us. We are hardcore about this."

He added, "They'll come with keyboards, they'll come without keyboards, they'll be dockable, there'll be many form factors, many price points, many sizes, but they will all run Windows 7. They will run Windows 7 applications. They will run Office."

Ballmer did admit Microsoft failed with Windows Mobile and is unable to compete with iPhone, Droids, and Blackberrys. On the other hand, he says Windows Phone 7 has received, "great reviews, really quite remarkable reviews." The company's mobile phone partners were listed to include Samsung, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, Garmin, Sony Ericsson, and HTC.

Ballmer also talked at length about cloud computing - Windows Azure - and its "new opportunity." He says cloud enables Microsoft to help customers "streamline their operations and improve their agility." Ballmer also says, "The world of tomorrow is a world of a smart cloud talking to smart devices roam your information across the internet. We are at an inflection point in technology history...for customers, cloud computing creates tremendous value, which translates to massive opportunity for Microsoft and its partners."

According to Microsoft, eBay, Fujitsu, Dell, and HP will be using Windows Azure appliances. Dell says the platform will be useful for delivering cloud services to small and medium-sized businesses.

Other news from Microsoft included news that they've sold 150 million licenses for Windows 7 since its launch in October, 2009.

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