Today, Microsoft Corp. announced a partnership with technology industry leaders and academia to implement a coordinated, global response to the Conficker (aka Downadup) worm. Together with security researchers, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and operators within the Domain Name System, Microsoft coordinated a response designed to disable domains targeted by Conficker. Microsoft also announced a $250,000 reward for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for illegally launching the Conficker malicious code on the Internet.

Tech ARP has managed to get a hold of a copy of a draft document, preliminarily named the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. It is said to have been distributed to Microsoft's OEM partners on 10th December giving them a month to provide feedback. Obviously nothing is set in stone yet, but Microsoft provided similar upgrade programs for Vista and XP. The extract follows:

Software giant Microsoft is looking for another spot that will make the company's products more widespread than ever. It plans to open a chain of own retail stores that will sell all Microsoft software product including Windows and other applications as well as personal compuetrs running Windows operating system, cellphones running Windows Mobile OS and last but not least the company's Xbox videogame console. Microsoft has also appointed David Porter, a former Wal-Mart Stores executive, to lead the new initiative through its way up. Porter spent 25 years at Wal-Mart Stores in roles of increasing responsibility and seniority in store operations, merchandising and information technology. In his last role at Wal-Mart, Porter was vice president and general merchandise manager of Entertainment, where he served as a strategic point of influence throughout the Wal-Mart business. Porter's first day at Microsoft as corporate vice president of Retail Stores will be Feb. 16, 2009.
"There are tremendous opportunities ahead for Microsoft to create a world-class shopping experience for our customers," Porter said. "I am excited about helping consumers make more informed decisions about their PC and software purchases, and we'll share learnings from our stores with our existing retail and OEM partners that are critical to our success." That's all we know for now, key details around the new retail stores are still to be worked out. We'll keep you posted if anything new pops up.

Microsoft has had patchy success with its Windows Vista series of operating systems, and is banking on its next major addition to the Windows franchise, Windows 7 to turn its fortunes for the better. After having generously released beta versions of the operating system to the public, the company is gearing up for a product launch schedule. In the process, it made its SKUs (variants) of the operating system official today. The lineup consists of three variants in particular, suited for domestic deployments, with three variants aimed more towards commercial deployments, and then of course, there is an Ultimate variant that lets one have it all. The lineup for Windows 7 is as follows:

• Windows 7 Starter Edition
• Windows 7 Home Basic
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows 7 Professional
• Windows 7 Enterprise
• Windows 7 Ultimate

A website has emerged campaigning for Microsoft to step up development of Windows 7 and launch it earlier than planned. The beta released in the last month has created much excitement across the tech world, and many people are eager for the release of Microsoft's new OS, currently slated for Q4 2009 to Q1 2010. Many websites are posting positive reviews of the public beta, a reason behind this movement. The founder of the site, Kelly Poe has said,

I'm a BIG Windows fan and have been loving what Microsoft has done with the recent Beta Release of Windows 7. There have been so many great reviews from people like Leo Laporte (twit.tv, TWIT Podcast) and Paul Thurrott (www.winsupersite.com, Windows Weekly podcast), needless to say I'm jones'n for the release of Windows 7.

So here we are...let's join together and get Microsoft to release Windows 7...enough with this Beta stuff...release it already!!! Let the beautiful little birdy (with the odd name) fly!!!

At the time of writing the site had a backing of 646 votes, which was constantly growing. You can find the website and join the campaign at releasewindows7.com

Microsoft made public today, the first release candidate of Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 8 RC 1, build number 8.0.06001.18372 is the latest version of the familiar web browser that is said to be faster, better and more secure than its predecessors. This release is compatible with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008. There is still no official release for Windows 7. For more information, please read the release notes.

DOWNLOAD: Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1

Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $16.63 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, a 2% increase over the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.94 billion, $4.17 billion and $0.47, declines of 8%, 11% and 6%, respectively, compared with the prior year.
Client revenue declined 8% as a result of PC market weakness and a continued shift to lower priced netbooks. However, strong annuity licensing drove Server & Tools revenue growth of 15%. Entertainment and Devices revenue grew 3% driven by strong holiday demand for Xbox 360 consoles with a record 6 million units sold in the quarter.

Microsoft has sold its stake in Comcast Corp., the largest cable television company, the second largest Internet service provider and the fourth largest telephone service provider in the United States. In a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft announced it no longer held any shares in Philadelphia-based Comcast. The exact date of the share sale was not given, neither who's now behind the wheel of Microsoft's 7.26% stake. Back in 2002, Microsoft bought 115 million shares of Comcast, and until the moment of its retirement from the company's board it owned 150.9 million Class A shares. Representatives of Microsoft and Comcast declined to comment on the share sale, but according to third party financial advisors Microsoft's Comcast shares could have been valued at as little as $1.97 billion or as much as $3.4 billion. The amount of money whatever it is now goes back to Microsoft. I guess in time of recession it's better to have your money under the pillow, rather than investing them in something.

It is not the first time that Microsoft has had run-ins with the European Commission. The problem that keeps coming up is what the commission believes to be anti-competitive practices, being that Microsoft is bundling its own software with Windows instead of offering them separately. As has been seen with Windows 7, Microsoft has tried to keep them happy this time, by only including Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. The rest can be downloaded free of charge, by what Microsoft has named the Windows Live Suite. It seems that this is not enough however, despite Internet Explorer being included in Microsoft's operating systems for over ten years, they have decided that this is an anti-competitive move by Microsoft, and as such have issued a Statement of Objections. The commission has given Microsoft approximately two months to respond, the official statement from Microsoft follows:

Three leading technology companies announced today a collaboration aimed at transforming global educational assessment and improving learning outcomes. At the Learning and Technology World Forum in London, Cisco, Intel and Microsoft unveiled plans to underwrite a multi-sector research project to develop new assessment approaches, methods and technologies for measuring the success of 21st-century teaching and learning in classrooms around the world. During the session, the three companies called upon educational leaders, governments and other corporations to join in the effort.

The three companies also announced the appointment of Barry McGaw PhD, currently the director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, as executive director of the project. McGaw will oversee an executive committee, project lead team, and up to 50 leading experts and innovators in academia and government, to collaborate on the research and assist in influencing the development of future international and national assessments.

Showcasing new and emerging technologies that create connected and differentiated experiences for consumers throughout the retail environment, Microsoft Corp. today announced its new Retail Experience Center, which serves as a center of innovation for how Microsoft and the retail industry can address rising consumer expectations and competitive pressures during today's challenging economic conditions.

Located at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the Retail Experience Center is a private, 20,000-square-foot facility housing a fully functioning, interactive store environment, from point of service to receiving dock. Representing a blend of Microsoft's merchandising efforts as a consumer goods company and its solution capabilities as a technology provider for the retail industry, the center is part of Microsoft's ongoing investments in exploring how technology-driven innovations can enhance consumers' lives and shopping experiences.

Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7, though in an unreleased beta stage, has been grabbing a lot of attention lately. After the beta went online last week, Microsoft's servers seem to have been bombarded with hits. At least this seems to have worked in building up hype around Windows 7. In the latest move, Microsoft scrapped the official limit it set to give away "only" 2.5 million keys to be able to install and use the OS.

Microsoft will give away as many copies of the OS as it can, till the 24th of January. Till the 24th, people will have access to the download as well as procurement of the legal Windows 7 Beta 1 key.

Just under an hour after the public release of the Windows 7 beta was expected to launch, there has been an update on the Windows 7 Blog, as to why the beta has not been made available yet:

Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I'll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited!

So far as we know, the beta was scheduled to be released to the public at 12pm PST (Pacific Standard Time) on the official Windows 7 website. For now though, we wait.

The first official public beta of Windows 7 launches today (Build 7000), but already there is a serious bug which can corrupt your mp3 files. Although it will not render them unplayable, it has the potential to cut off the first 2 or 3 seconds of the mp3 recording. According to a poster on the Neowin.net forums:

The problem only happens when you edit metadata on a certain class of MP3 file (a file with a header larger than 16KB). When the new metadata is written, it corrupts the beginning of the file. This can happen either when you edit the metadata from inside WMP or Explorer, or it can happen if you have WMP set to automatically fill in missing metadata using the online service and add the MP3 to your library. This problem is only present in the recently leaked build (7000)

This same problem has been noted on Microsofts MSDN and TechNet websites when you click to download the beta:

To protect your MP3 files
1. Before you install this Beta release, back up all MP3 files that might be accessed by the computer, including those on removable media or network shares.
2. Install the Beta release of Windows 7; download and install the Update to Windows 7 Beta (KB961367) located on this page.

Although there is no official support page for KB961367 yet, Microsoft have the updates ready for download.

You can download the 32-bit (x86) version here and the 64-bit (x64) version here.

Microsoft made the first beta release of its upcoming client operating system, Windows 7 (officially) public. While the OS has been open for downloads for MSDN and TechNet subscribers for the past two days, the company made it public in essence making it open for everyone to download it starting today.

Users will be able to download the Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD image file (.iso) from the official Windows 7 page on the company website here. The disk image file weighs 2.7 GB (3.15 GB for the 64-bit version). Unlike with earlier beta versions of Windows Vista, Windows 7 beta isn't available in a CD image format. "I really believe that Windows 7 is the best operating system we've ever developed," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft. "I encourage you all to get out and download it" he added.

Despite a tough economy, the gaming industry held strong in 2008 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system recorded the biggest year in Xbox history, with more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences sold than any previous year. It was a year in which life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28 million consoles worldwide - expanding the product's lead over Sony PlayStation 3 to more than 8 million units. The Xbox LIVE community also grew to more than 17 million active members, as online consumer spending increased 84 percent from last year. Since the launch of the Xbox 360 three years ago, more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox LIVE. This amazing growth was fueled by the launch of the New Xbox Experience; the broadest selection of hit games, TV shows, and movies available; and mass-market price points, starting at $199.

Year 2008 might be over, but the world economy crisis is still strong and demonstration for that is the latest rumor reported today by DailyTech. According to them Microsoft, the largest software maker and the most profitable company in the technology industry, may layoff 15,000 people from its 90,000 workforce, or nearly 17 percent of Microsoft's worldwide operations. The report continues to claim that Microsoft's MSN search unit and other struggling business units are the most threatened with extinction. Microsoft workers in the Xbox 360 and other profitable departments will be safe from these job cuts. CNET News quotes industry veteran Henry Blodget suggesting another reason that may hide behind this eventual workforce reduction:
"The only way we could see Microsoft laying off this many people is if the company decided to eliminate business units. And if Microsoft did decide to restructure its business, it would likely sell rather than shut down divisions, including MSN."
Continue reading the full story here.

As the New Year began early this morning, Gizmodo started receiving lots of reports that people's 30GB Zune's were failing. What was happening, was that at 12:01am PST on 31st December 2008, a bug in one of the drivers unique to a 30GB Zune was not allowing the calendar to update properly. For players that were already on, this resulted in a hard reset at that exact moment. Upon restarting or for those who turned their Zune's on after midnight, they were presented with a locked up Zune which would simply stop at the end of the loading screen and stay there. Microsoft have now released an official statement for how to resolve this issue, which follows below.

Microsoft Corp. will release fiscal year 2009 second-quarter financial results after the close of the market on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009. A live webcast of the earnings conference call will be made available at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time on the Microsoft Investor Relations Website.

The company will also host the following event for the financial community:

Financial Analyst Briefing at the 2009 International CES Conference

Thursday, January 8, 2009, 3:00 p.m. PST, Robbie Bach, president, Entertainment and Devices Division

Interested parties can listen to a webcast of this event on Microsoft's Investor Relations Website.

A major security remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability discovered in the Microsoft Internet Explorer set data security agencies on high alert. Microsoft noted that 1 in every 500 internet users were exposed to the vulnerability through unsafe websites. The exploit allows hackers to remotely execute code over an IE session to gain access to, and comprimise a machine.

In a security advisory updated today, Microsoft claims to have acted on the vulnerability by issuing a critical security update MS08-078 that went online at 1:00 PM, EST. The hotfix is available for all current versions of the web browser through Microsoft Update.

Microsoft has partnered with Dell to release the (Product) Red variant for the Windows Vista Ultimate operating system. (Product) Red is a brand license given to affiliated companies that mark their products with the brand mark and/or related themes, in return to voluntarily donating part of the revenue generated by the product to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Up until now, the special edition OS has been shipping with (Product) Red marked PCs and notebooks sold by Dell, but now, Microsoft is releasing a standalone retail package for the OS available to all. The OS comprises of special (RED) themed wallpapers, screensavers and visual styles. The company goes on to say and I quote "One (RED) PC purchased with Windows Vista Ultimate could provide up to six months of life-saving ARV medication for a person living with HIV-AIDS in Africa."

Microsoft will be releasing the standalone product on December 15, with retailers such as Amazon.com listing the OS for pre-order, priced at US $219.95. PCs and notebooks with this OS pre-installed are already sold by Dell. For more information, visit Microsoft here.

Right on time, Microsoft today released the public beta of Service Pack 2 for both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Both Service Packs are available now here in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Initially the Service Packs are downloadable in five different languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Service Pack 1 for both operating systems is necessary in order to obtain the second Service Pack. Find more information here.

Tomorrow Microsoft will launch both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta for everyone, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management Mike Nash announced. Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta are major updates to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 respectively. They provide customer with all the fixes found untill the moment of their release and in addition SP2 will contain changes focused on addressing reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards. For more information, please read the release notes for both service packs. Starting today, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have access to the beta service packs. Beginning Thursday, Dececember 4, the beta will be available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). To find more information about the CPP program, please click here. Mike Nash also added that Microsoft is tracking to ship the final version of Windows Vista SP2 in the first half of 2009.

In the month of November, the market share of Microsoft Windows fell below the 90% mark, to 89.6%. This is a 15 year low in market share for the OS, according to market share data by Net Applications, sourced by TG Daily. The market share fell from its position same time, last year, at 92.4%.

One of the prime movers of this figure is the growth in market share of Apple's Mac OS X at 8.87%, slightly over 2% growth from its market share last year. According to the same data, Linux is still below the 1% mark.

Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system kicked off the holidays with record-breaking console sales on one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year in the U.S. Retailers reported Xbox 360 console sales over the Black Friday weekend were on pace to beat previous years, outselling the PlayStation 3 by a three-to-one ratio and estimating a 25 percent increase from Xbox 360 Black Friday sales figures from 2007.
Strong game sales rounded out a historic Black Friday for Xbox 360, with record-paced software sales continuing for key Microsoft titles, such as "Gears of War 2," "Fable II," and "Lips." Xbox 360 continues to have the highest game attach rate of any console at 8.1 games per console.