Microsoft

Microsoft is putting Internet ad agency Razorfish up for sale, according to a Financial Times report Sunday.

Microsoft, which acquired Razorfish in 2007 as part of its $6 billion takeover of Aquantive, has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to find a potential buyer. The report identified French marketing company Publicis Groupe as a potential buyer.

Formerly known as Avenue A/Razorfish, the agency was credited with designing the logo for Microsoft's new search engine Bing, as well as creating the online ads for the ensuing publicity campaign. The Seattle-based agency has more than 2,000 employees and counts Dell, Disney, … Read more

Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on a thumb drive to allow Netbook owners to more easily upgrade their machines, a source tells CNET News.

The move, which is still under consideration, is one of several things Microsoft has looked at to try to make it convenient to upgrade machines that don't come with a CD or DVD drives.

Microsoft executives have said that they recognize that upgrading Netbooks poses a challenge and are exploring ways that the company can make it easier. In an interview on Thursday, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said that Microsoft had nothing to … Read more

Microsoft plans to charge PC makers the same for the business version of Windows 7 as it did for Windows Vista, while cutting the price of Windows 7 Home Premium as compared to its predecessor, a top Windows executive told CNET News on Thursday. That matches a similar move for the boxed copy of the software.

Microsoft's pricing plans for Windows 7, which will be available October 22 on both new PCs, has been the source of considerable tension between the PC makers and the software maker, both of which are trying to grapple with both declining demand and … Read more

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, although on the Web it can be followed by the threat of litigation.

Wired reports that travel search site Kayak.com sent Microsoft a "legal letter" this week based on Microsoft's Bing travel search tool looking too similar to its own. While the Farecast-powered travel search provides differing results from Kayak's, the company is citing its similarity in look and functionality.

A Microsoft spokesperson rebutted the allegation, telling Wired that the latest design was a joint venture with Farecast and the Bing team.

Microsoft redesigned its Farecast travel search … Read more

Although Microsoft is on track to deliver Windows 7 for the holidays, the new operating system will miss the back-to-school buying season.

For that reason--and to prevent the stall in sales that can precede any new operating-system release--Microsoft has been working for months on the free-upgrade program it announced earlier Thursday.

Under the program, those who buy a PC with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate will get a free upgrade to the comparable version of Windows 7, once it is released in October. Microsoft is hoping that will help juice PC sales a bit.

"With PC prices … Read more

Microsoft on Wednesday announced retail pricing for Windows 7 that's at or below comparable Windows Vista prices, while also offering a chance for people to preorder the software at a substantial discount.

From Friday through July 11, consumers in the U.S. will be able to buy an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Home premium for $49 or Windows 7 Professional for $99. That offer is good for both XP and Windows Vista PCs, regardless of whether someone has been trying out the pre-release version of the operating system. That matches the details in a memo from Best Buy … Read more

Dave Greiner was distressed in 2007 when Microsoft decided to use Microsoft Word's relatively rudimentary technology to display HTML-encoded e-mail in Outlook. Now, facing the extension of that choice into the forthcoming Office 2010, he's agitating more loudly for change.

Greiner, a member of the informal E-mail Standards Project group, set up a Web site called FixOutlook.org and urged everybody who agrees with his position to publicize their dismay on Twitter; more than 19,000 did so by Wednesday afternoon.

Microsoft, while encouraging feedback on the matter, stood by its decision in a response published on the Microsoft Office Team blog. … Read more

Microsoft is trying to make Windows 7 easier than Windows Vista on many levels--right down to the box it comes in.

One of the many criticisms of Windows Vista was the incredibly complex packaging that Microsoft used for both Vista and Office 2007. In an effort to prevent theft and piracy, Microsoft created boxes that required their own set of instructions to open.

In a blog posting on Wednesday, Microsoft said it will use a package that is shaped similarly to the Vista one. However, the box will open more like a standard DVD case.

The case, which will be … Read more

Microsoft's move into the energy monitoring business may sound like a stretch, but to Craig Mundie, it's one of several natural new businesses for the software maker.

Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, said the company has its eye on any area that can be helped by technology and in which society is spending a lot of money and not seeing the return it would like.

Energy consumption specifically, and environmental issues more broadly, were natural areas for the company to delve into, he said, and follow Microsoft's moves into other thorny challenges such as … Read more