If you have watched the TNT Original movie Pirates of the Silicon Valley or read the book Fire in the Valley, you would know Steve Ballmer to be quite a character although both the book and the movie are unauthorised documentaries. Under the leadership of Ballmer, Microsoft plans to start a US $300 million-worth campaign aimed to demystify Windows Vista and encourage users to adopt the new operating system.

These are good times for Apple. The lack of success for Windows Vista means growth in the sales of Apple Mac for first-time buyers. And it is true- numerous reports and surveys point out to the fact that Apple Mac is seeing a growth in sales of late. Add to that, Apple won't spare any chance to take pot-shots at the software giant, its 'bloated' operating system (as if Apple OS X isn't) in its series of TV and web-cast commercials around the 'cool Mac guy and uncool PC guy'.

Microsoft said on Monday that it was willing to reopen talks on a "major transaction" with Yahoo if the Internet giant replaces its board of directors. Microsoft confirmed comments from corporate raider Carl Icahn about talks that could lead to a new takeover bid if Yahoo replaces its board of directors next month.

"We confirm ... that after the shareholder election Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo, such as either a transaction to purchase the 'Search' function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company," Microsoft said in a statement. The software giant said "it would be premature to discuss at this time important details such as the price or other terms of a possible transaction." They added: "We respect the right of Yahoo's shareholders to determine the destiny of their company, and we do not intend to engage in ongoing commentary on these issues in advance of Yahoo's shareholder meeting."

Some reports said Yahoo is seeking other alliances to fend of a bid from Microsoft, including a tie-up with AOL, a unit of Time Warner.

Packard Bell, one of Europe's top consumer PC brands in Europe, will reveal the next generation of its ipower gaming desktop PC to the gaming community at the Electronic Sports World Cup, which is being held on 4-6 July 2008 in Paris. The new gaming PC is christened: ipower X2.0.

Selected as the official ESWC gaming system in 2007 and 2008, the ipower range had to be up to the task of meeting the demanding requirements of amateur and professional PC gamers. Packard Bell confirms its engagement to the PC gaming community by unveiling the ipower X2.0, a stunning combination of power, graphics performance, state-of-the-art cooling and ergonomics.

A sound mind in a sound body goes the saying. The magnificent chassis of the ipower X2.0 shows off its inner secrets including its components and build quality through a translucent siding with red LED trim lights. To satisfy the 30 per cent of PC gamers who say that design is one of the top selection criteria1, the Packard Bell design studio developed a sexy tower case that unites a black colour scheme with metal trim, transparent housing, gloss finish, bevelled angles and harmonious dimensions
(510 H x 217 l X 530 L).

Soon, among your usual utility bills of electricity, water, gas, telecom, could be a new addition, software. Microsoft has come up with a new subscription model, where instead of outright buying a license to use the software, consumers can subscribe to use it. A monthly or annual subscription charge has to be paid by the user (subscriber) to continue using the product.

This scheme for now covers products such as Microsoft Office and One Care security software. Analysts are already beginning to predict this will be Microsoft's next big business model which will fuel its growth in the years to come. There's much in store for both consumers and the company.

Industry sources confirm that Microsoft will be cutting the prices of its popular Xbox 360 gaming console variant, the 20GB Pro by US $50, bringing it down to US $299. A major retailer said that this move would come in before E3 which runs July 15-17 in Los Angeles.

The previous price-cut to this console was during the launch period of Halo 3, where the price cut from $399 ro $349. This slash is more of a ploy to increase the product's competitiveness against the Nintendo Wii while also making it a good deal over the Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3 in terms of market share, even so with the holiday season around the corner. While Sony could be pondering its own price cut, the consumer electronics giant did note recently in an annual report that the PlayStation 3 has cost the company $3.3 billion since its late 2006 launch because of a strategic decision to sell the system for less than it costs to make.

Now that Microsoft officially confirmed support for Windows XP until year 2014, Intel has decided to skip upgrading to Windows Vista. The chip giant won't upgrade the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft's Vista operating system, according to a person close to Intel's IT department. "This isn't a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista," the person said. There's no official reason for this decision, but it's quite obvious that Vista is still not mature enough to succeed Windows XP. Sad but true. Meanwhile, the next version of Windows codenamed Windows 7 is scheduled to go on sale in January 2010. By skipping Vista, Intel dooms its workers to Windows XP for at least two more years.

Microsoft announces that a Windows HPC Server 2008 beta-based system now ranks among the top 25 supercomputers of the world. They have also announced a release-candidate version of the operating system software available for download towards the end of June. The final release version of this software will be available by the end of this year.

A Beta 2 version of the said software was used by NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) in a system which ranked 23 in the list of top 500 supercomputers. The NCSA achieved 68.5 TFLOPs and 77.7% efficiency on 9,472 cores, making this one of the most powerful supercomputing systems in the world. This also marks the first time a Microsoft operating system-based cluster made it into the top 25.

The founder and head of Microsoft, the world's largest software company Bill Gates steps down on Friday. One of the richest men in the world, Gates will now work full time for his charitable organization The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 52-year-old will continue to be chairman though, but will only retain a nominal role in the software empire. He is still is the biggest shareholder of the company and his 8.7 per cent stake in Microsoft is worth about 23 billion dollars.

Gates authored the personal computer revolution three decades ago when he founded Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen.

Microsoft released a commemorative video paying tribute to Bill's service to the company, titled "Bill Gates: Looking back, Moving Ahead". It can be watched on the company's website here.

Microsoft has issued some fresh code for Windows Vista SP1 users in the form of a performance and reliability update. This specific release targets all Windows Vista editions, and promises to resolve various issues that have been submited by customers using the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services. It's also said to help improve the performance and reliability of Windows Vista. The update is available for both Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and 64-bit here.

Rumors are circulating once again that Microsoft is holding acquisition talks with Yahoo. This time Microsoft's offer is supposedly lower than its previous offer of 33 USD per share, which yahoo turned down when it requested 37 USD per share. The rumored talks have given a slight boost to Yahoo's stock, which started at 21.18 USD today, but rose to 23.71 USD. The stock also exhibited a higher than normal trading volume of 68.1 million share, compared to a daily average of 39.3 million. Representative of both Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment on the rumored talks.

Microsoft has started a recruitment-drive aimed at Yahoo's engineers after futile attempts to acquire the company.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Microsoft sent a detailed email to marketing staff and select engineers. The email reportedly said. "I know a lot of people from Yahoo have been reaching out to us lately because they are nervous about the pending layoffs. I wanted to give you an opportunity to explore Microsoft careers as well."

Microsoft has several offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it is now showing a renewed interest in adding office space and employees. Microsoft already has offices in San Francisco and Mountain View, about one million square feet of office space, and 2,000 employees.


Sources: DailyTech, The Mercury News

We are all aware of the cliché of scientists, engineers, and nerds drawing elaborate sketches of their ideas on restaurant napkins. Well one such enterprising engineer has decided to thrust this cliché into the 21st century. Avery Holleman's napkin PC concept, which focuses on collaboration and data sharing within its own network, has won this year's Microsoft Next-Gen PC Design Competition. The design of the Napkin PC in fact does resemble the design of a Napkin holder. It features multiple touchscreen devices networked together. Digital pens allow users to draw on the screens just like they would a napkin.

"I had an idea about a system where the user would be able to interact with any number of interfaces connected to the same network, Holleman said. "I felt I had good ideas. But they needed a package."

While contemplating a square he had drawn out as the display for the device Holleman realized it looked just like a napkin. The judges also seemed to like the idea, giving Holleman first prize as well as the Chairman's Award and 20,000 USD in Cash.

Last month we brought information about the first Power Pack for Windows Home Server OS. Today, Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Release Candidate for public beta testing. Again, this pack should fix the data corruption errors (KB #946676) with Windows Home Server that have plagued the OS since its release. Additional list of known issues are available on the Windows Home Server forums. Download the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC from Microsoft Connect (registration is required).

Note: In an email sent to all beta testers Microsoft suggests that even with the public Power Pack 1 RC installed, users should back up all their files just in case "something happens".

Yesterday during the first day of Computex, Rob Young - a senior director of Microsoft OEM group - said that Microsoft will once more extended the deadline for selling Window XP licenses with low-cost desktops until 2010. Microsoft has been under pressure from computer makers that produce and sell UMPCs, because their machines are still not fast enough to run Vista, but are better suited for the old Windows XP OS. In April Microsoft extended its deadline for selling Windows XP licenses to June 30th. Now "nettop" makers like ASUS and their Eee PC have two more years to sell Windows XP. Microsoft is currently supplying Windows XP licenses to more than 20 OEMs including Acer, ASUSTeK, Dell, HP, MSI and others.

"After extensive development and private evaluation, I'm pleased to announce that a public preview of Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC0 is now available. Windows SBS 2008 is the next major release in the Windows Small Business Server product family, and it offers a wave of new features for technology consultants and small business owners," revealed Dean Paron, Group Program Manager, Windows Small Business Server. To learn more of these features feel free to visit Windows Small Business Server 2008 home page. Download the Standard or Premium Release Candidate 0 releases in both 32-bit and 64-bit version from the Microsot TechNet blog.

In a recent blog post Nick Mackechnie, Senior Technical Account Manager at Microsoft New Zealand, has revealed that the next public preview of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 will come in the third quarter of this year.

We are encouraging site administrators to get their sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this year targeted for all consumers.

he wrote two days ago. The second beta for IE8 will render web pages in "standards-compliant" mode by default. Also, the IE 8 Beta 2 build will come as a public beta targeted at all consumers. To learn more, please follow this link.

Most of the time, the console war winner is decided as soon as a company sells 10 million units of their console. With NPD data consistently showing a high demand for the Nintendo Wii, most would agree that Nintendo has already won. By the 10-million-to-win rule, Nintendo won several months ago. At present, Nintendo has sold around 25 million units around the world. Microsoft has sold 19 million Xbox360's, and Sony has sold 12 million PS3's. However, Microsoft refuses to go down without a fight. Microsoft instead set a new competition, and wants to see who can sell 100 million units first. Microsoft feels that they have a superior product, which will inherently shine as time goes on. However, with grocery, gas, and mortgage prices quickly approaching the cost of gaming, the lower initial cost of the Nintendo Wii just might cinch the console war in Nintendo's favor. We shall see.

Microsoft has detailed plans to update its Windows Home Server OS with the release of Power Pack 1. Coming soon, most notably the first Power Pack for Home Server will fix the corruption issues that have plagued the OS since its release. The flaw has been acknowledged by Microsoft for some time now, but until now nothing major has been done.

Due to the nature of the shared folder data corruption bug (KB #946676) a broad beta test program with sufficient time for feedback is required. The time line for a final release will depend on this feedback and testing, in order to deliver a fix of the highest quality. To meet our goals for the beta test we need the number of beta testers who are actively using and testing the Power Pack 1 beta to ramp up very quickly

Microsoft issued this statement to all Windows Home Server users. If you want to participate in the Power Pack 1 beta process, head on over to the Microsoft Home Server website.

Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase their favorite products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback. Key partners including eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears, Zappos.com, and WPP joined Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at advance08, Microsoft's annual advertising customer event, to announce their participation in the new program.

Microsoft Corp. is offering customers greater choice and more flexibility among document formats, as well as creating additional opportunities for developer and competitors, by expanding the range of document formats supported in its flagship Office productivity suite. The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for 20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) scheduled for the first half of 2009, the list will grow to include support for XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

This story comes to prove what can happen if your name does not fit the standards. Last night, a British gamer was banned from the Xbox Live network, for registering with the RichardGaywood gamertag. From Microsoft's point of view nick names that violate the XBL policies are being removed immediately. You can't have a sexual term in you name. Yes, but what if the guy's last name is indeed Gaywood. His real full name is Richard Michael Gaywood. Do we have to change our real names so we can register and get permitted to access what we have paid for.

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:
"In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

"There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions."

Today, Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) announced an agreement that will make the Microsoft Windows operating system available on OLPC's low-cost XO laptops for the world's poorest children. Through this agreement, trials of the XO running Windows are planned to begin as soon as June in key emerging markets. Recognizing that the challenge of providing high-quality education for children in the developing world is too large to be solved by any single organization, Microsoft and OLPC are committed to working with governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure the success of these pilot programs.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million.

For personalized flair, the LifeCam VX-5000 features a brightly colored ring around the front of the webcam in the colors Cool Blue, Lucky Green and Fire Red, allowing consumers to choose their favorite to suit their style. To complement the fresh, new look, the LifeCam VX-5000 features MSN Photo Swap, a special feature that lets consumers share digital photos in midvideo conversation and see real-time reactions as both callers view the pictures. The new webcam arrives just in time to help share summer vacation memories and keep consumers connected throughout the year.