Microsoft

Microsoft's Seadragon goes social with Zoom.it

The technology, which allows large images to be loaded and scaled at high speeds while zooming and panning, powers a new media sharing and exploring service called Zoom.it.

Zoom.it can take any hosted image on the Web and place it within the company's Deep Zoom interface, allowing for large and complex images or graphics to fit in small spaces without a loss in quality or need for extra room.

The process of getting an image onto the service is as simple as pasting in a link to where it's hosted online, or sticking "http://zoom.it/?more

Microsoft to issue record number of patches

Microsoft will issue 14 security bulletins on Tuesday to plug 34 holes, including eight that are critical, in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, SQL and Silverlight, the company said on Thursday.

"This will be the most bulletins we have ever released in a month; we have released 13 bulletins on a couple of occasions," Angela Gunn, security response communications manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post. "However, in total CVE [common vulnerabilities and exposures] count, this release ties with June 2010, so there's no new record there."

Affected software includes: Windows 7; Windows XP; Vista; Windows Server 2003 and more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

IPTV comes to some Canadian Xbox 360 owners

Canadian telecommunication provider Telus is now offering its TV programming through Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The service, which was launched on Wednesday in neighboring provinces Alberta and British Columbia, makes use of Microsoft's Mediaroom software for delivering live TV content without the need for a coaxial connection or any special hardware.

This software is not yet built-in to the Xbox 360's system software, nor is it available through the Xbox Live Marketplace as a download. Instead, it runs off a disc supplied by Telus. Users also need to be paid Telus Optik TV subscribers to access its programming. more

IE 9 preview offers tantalizing look at IE's future

The fourth and final developer's preview of Internet Explorer 9 was released on Wednesday, with significant updates to standards compliance and rendering speed, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft said in a blog post that the developer's previews had been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, indicating that despite Internet Explorer's plummeting market share over the past few years, developer interest in seeing it improve remains high.

The vast and dramatic improvements made to Internet Explorer 9 are readily apparent, even in this stripped-down preview version. Hardware accelerated HTML5 support is a major and multifaceted component of IE9, more

Microsoft, Salesforce settle patent suit

Microsoft said Wednesday that it has settled a patent dispute with Salesforce.com, with both companies licensing each other's patents and the cloud software firm paying an undisclosed sum to Redmond.

Financial details were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to reach this agreement with Salesforce.com to put an end to the litigation between our two companies," said Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez in a statement. "Microsoft's patent portfolio is the strongest in the software industry and is the result of decades of software innovation. Today's agreement is an example of how companies can compete vigorously

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Report: In IE8, Web ads won out over privacy

Efforts to build Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 with more robust privacy settings were reportedly stifled by the needs of online advertisers to track user activity, according to a story in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

In designing the browser in early 2008, IE8's development team, led by manager Dean Hachamovitch, wanted to implement new privacy features that would limit third parties from easily tracking mouse clicks and other user activity, according to the Journal. The effort was seen as an attempt to distinguish Internet Explorer from up-and-coming rivals like Firefox, which had gradually been grabbing more of IE'

After years of losing ground to Firefox and other rivals, Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser posted its second consecutive monthly gain in share, according to a market researcher.

For July, Internet Explorer snagged 60.74 percent market share, according to Netmarketshare. That's up from 60.32 percent share in June and up nearly a full percentage point since May, when the company saw its market share dip below 60 percent.

"Last month, we saw coverage about Internet Explorer posting a worldwide gain in usage share," Microsoft's Ryan Gavin said in a blog post. "That encouraging news continues today...more

Windows 7 passes Vista in usage

In less than a year on the market, Windows 7 is now being used more than predecessor Windows Vista, according to market researcher Netmarketshare.

For July, Windows 7 was used on 14.46 percent of devices accessing the Internet, compared with Windows Vista's 14.34 percent, marking the first time the newer version surpassed its predecessor. Microsoft has said that 175 million copies of Windows 7 have been purchased since the product was released last fall.

Windows XP is still the most-used operating system, used by more than twice as many users as Vista and Windows 7 combined. Windows more

Microsoft details Office for Mac 2011 release

Microsoft on Monday announced pricing and availability for its Office for Mac 2011 software suite.

The version of the Office suite for users of Apple's Mac computers is scheduled for release via retail outlets at the end of October, in two editions: Office for Mac Home and Business 2011, and Office for Mac Home and Student 2011.

"For better alignment across platforms," Microsoft said in a statement, "the Office 2011 pricing and edition options map closer with Office for the Windows operating system."

The software titan also said that anyone buying Office 2008 for Mac between August 1 and

Ballmer says Microsoft at work to rival iPad

REDMOND, Wash.--Acknowledging Apple's early success with the iPad, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer insisted Thursday that the software maker is hard at work on Windows-based tablets.

"They'll be shipping as soon as they are ready," Ballmer said, offering few details on the products, which he said will come from partners, not Microsoft itself. "It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch."

Speaking to financial analysts, Ballmer said the goal is "not just to deliver products, but to deliver products that people want to buy."

As for Apple and the iPad, Ballmer said, "they've more