Stuart J. Johnston

With less than two years to go before it ships, Microsoft has started revealing new details about the next major release of Windows – or at least revealing what will not be new. In a recent posting on the Windows Vista Team Blog, Chris Flores, a director on the Windows Client communications team, said that […]

In an effort to make it easier for scanners and all-in-one device makers to interface with Windows Vista, Microsoft announced Thursday it is contributing a set of Web services protocols it has developed for scanners to a standards group working on that issue. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is contributing the protocols to the Printer Working Group […]

Bill Gates speaks at the Microsoft CEO Summit 2008 Source: Microsoft You wouldn’t have known that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is retiring in six weeks as the legendary tech executive and pioneer continues expounding on his vision of the future in keynotes around the world. Gates, who is slated to retire from full-time duty at […]

Call it executive privilege. Bill Gates may be about to retire from the day to day activities of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) , the company he co-founded 33 years ago, but he’s still a card carrying tech visionary and since he’s still the chairman of the board and the largest stockholder, he can spout off about […]

Microsoft’s retiring co-founder Bill Gates has been talking up Windows Vista this week. Specifically, he’s been touting the company’s claims that it has now sold 140 million Vista licenses since it first shipped on January 30, 2007. In fact, the number is not new. Company executives have bandied it around lately, most recently during Microsoft’s […]

Microsoft finally released Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the general public, earlier this week, after a minor glitch or two the week before. It is an update that many XP users have been waiting impatiently for, for months. Despite the fact that it’s now available, however, the company still has a caveat for […]

Days after Microsoft started public downloads of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), some users have experienced serious problems installing the update. In fact, at least one published report cites large numbers of problems and of users angry about it. However, from a sampling of postings on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows XP newsgroups Thursday, as […]

If you can’t beat ’em – surround ’em. That may be the crux of Microsoft’s emerging strategy for combating emerging software-as-a-service (SaaS) competitors. Although Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) executives continue to criticize Office competitors such as OpenOffice.org, Sun’s StarOffice, and Google Docs as inadequate for most users’ needs, the company is not beyond changing directions when […]

After months of braggadocio, proclamations, and posturing, Microsoft decided on Saturday to throw in the towel and drop its bid for Yahoo. CEO Steve Ballmer notified Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang via a letter on Saturday. The company posted the text of the letter on its Web site this evening. “Despite our best efforts, including raising […]

Microsoft has spoken. Windows XP’s days are numbered, and the clock runs out on June 30, 2008… or does it? It turns out that creative thinkers at Dell and Lenovo – and reportedly HP – have figured out a way that some customers can continue to get new PCs configured with XP Professional through January […]