Stuart J. Johnston

Microsoft will automatically push Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) out to users via automatic updates beginning next week, the company announced on its IEBlog. Though not a surprise, the move does require that IT decision makers and consumers decide whether or not to block the downloads. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) began shipping IE8 in mid-March. If customers […]

Microsoft ends so-called “mainstream” support for Windows XP on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. After that date, the company will provide “extended” support for another five years until April 8, 2014. However, extended support only includes free security fixes along with paid per-incident support as well as support contracts. “During the Extended support phase Microsoft (NASDAQ: […]

A new survey of 2,000 IT buyers found that 53 percent are currently planning to skip Windows Vista altogether and instead will wait to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 when it arrives. The survey was conducted by ChangeWave Research of Windows 7 beta testers between Feb. 9 and Feb. 17. ChangeWave’s survey comes […]

Microsoft confirmed Monday that customers who buy new PCs after Windows 7 ships will still be able to downgrade those systems to Windows XP. Confirmation came after AppleInsider reported over the weekend that HP (NYSE: HPQ) will continue selling XP Professional as a downgrade to Windows Vista, as well as to Windows 7, through April […]

Microsoft is riding high as the dominant operating system provider for so-called netbooks, but is increasingly facing challenges from old rivals in new clothes for that dominance. Can you say Linux? How about Android? Google’s Android, some analysts and observers think, could displace Windows in one of today’s hottest markets – but it could be […]

Despite criticism over the nation’s difficult job market and its own continuing layoffs, Microsoft’s chief legal officer Tuesday once again sounded the charge in favor of more work visas for foreign workers. The H-1B non-immigrant work visa allows a non-citizen with necessary skills to work in the U.S. for as long as six years. Microsoft […]

One of the analysts who originally suggested that Windows Vista was a dog and needed to be replaced with a new version — which has emerged as Windows 7 — is now recommending that enterprise IT buyers begin planning as soon as the new OS ships, instead of waiting for Microsoft’s first Service Pack update. […]

When Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) on Thursday, there were no immediate outcries over missed show-stopper bugs or jammed download servers. Indeed, the first day and a half of IE8’s public availability seems to have gone exceptionally smoothly. Still, at least several hundred users have sought help on Microsoft’s community forums for what are […]

The blackout of Microsoft’s Windows Azure servers last weekend was due to a glitch in an operating system update, the company said this week. Microsoft’s disclosure came in a post Wednesday on the Windows Azure blog. The roughly 22-hour service outage began last Friday evening at around 10:30 p.m. Pacific and ran into early Saturday […]

Microsoft rolled out the final code for Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) on Thursday, signaling the software titan’s intent to take back market share it has lost to competing browsers, primarily Firefox, in the past few years. In fact, some analysts say IE8 is a big step in the right direction, with a version of Microsoft’s […]