Microsoft

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it has released an update to the developer kit for its Windows Azure cloud-based operating system.

The company said the updated tools fix bugs and speed performance, as well as add better integration with Visual Studio and other tweaks.

Microsoft unveiled Azure and offered up the first community technology preview version of its tools at the Professional Developers Conference in October.

"Microsoft will continue to release updates to the Windows Azure SDK based on feedback from developers," the company said in a statement.

In a December interview, server and tools unit President Bob … Read more

In stark contrast to the many businesses beating a path to Washington to beg for money, Microsoft is urging caution as the government looks to spend billions on digitizing health care.

Peter Neupert, the former Drugstore.com CEO, who now heads Microsoft's health care unit, said investment is a "necessary, but not sufficient" condition for improvement and said that spending money on computer technology may not even be the right first step.

"I'm trying to transform the discussion just a little bit," he said in an interview on Wednesday. "Don't focus on … Read more

Updated 10:10 p.m., with additional comments from a source.

While it's not certain that the appointment of Carol Bartz will ensure a Yahoo-Microsoft deal happens, one thing is clear: nothing was going to happen until Yahoo picked its new chief executive.

With reports that Yahoo is going to name the former Autodesk chief to fill Jerry Yang's spot, discussion logically shifts to whether the long-anticipated Microsoft-Yahoo search deal will now come to fruition.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly said that he remains interested in a search partnership, but noted in an interview last week that … Read more

Microsoft has started testing the next version of its Exchange e-mail and calendar software, a product that Microsoft said is designed to run from the ground up as a hosted service that can work simultaneously with more than one business.

The new version, code-named E14, is in limited private beta testing as a traditional server product with "a select number" of businesses.

But Microsoft also recognized that traditional beta testing wouldn't help it much in getting a sense of the multi-tenant support. So starting in October 2007, the company started seeking out universities and schools willing to … Read more

Look closely at the desktop when you boot up Windows 7 for the first time. That's not just any fish you see on the desktop.

It's a specific type of Siamese fighting fish, also known as a betta fish. Get it?

Although pronounced like the Greek letter beta, the fish gets its name "from ikan bettah, taken from a local dialect of Thailand," according to Wikipedia.

For the record, I'm no fish expert, but as I was re-installing Windows 7 last night, my partner, AJ, turned to me and said, "Hey, it's a … Read more

Following the beta release of Windows 7, Microsoft is sending the message to companies not to give Vista a miss, saying investments toward adopting the OS can be reused when Windows 7 is ready.

Speaking at a press demo session of Windows 7 beta, Richard Francis, general manager, Windows client BG lead, business and marketing organization, Asia-Pacific region at Microsoft, said companies are "encouraged" to upgrade to Windows Vista after predecessor XP, instead of waiting for Windows 7 to be released.

"Certainly, there will be some companies that will decide to skip Vista and wait for Windows … Read more

This weekend, I loaded fresh copies of Windows onto two PCs.

Like many people, I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta and installed it. But that wasn't the only PC task I had over the weekend.

I had an old PC I used for my early Vista testing that my partner was complaining had begun to gather dust. So, I offered the machine to a friend of mine that had only a very old PC. I gave her the option of XP or Vista and she quickly proclaimed, "Oh, XP, definitely."

And, of course, therein lies Microsoft's … Read more

Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco plan to announce Tuesday that they are working together to help ensure that proper standards are created for measuring digital literacy.

The three companies aren't coming up with the assessment criteria themselves, but rather bringing together a group of education leaders and academics to identify the characteristics that should form the basis of global standards.

While such standards have emerged for math and science, they are also needed for other kinds of 21st century skills, Microsoft Vice President Anoop Gupta said in an interview last week.

To head the effort, the troika has tapped professor … Read more

Microsoft said on Monday that its Mediaroom software is being used by a Chinese TV provider to offer Internet Protocol television over a traditional cable network.

The deal, with Guangzhou Digital Media Group marks two first for the company--its first IPTV deal in China as well as the first time its software has been used to power TV over a cable network.

"We had always intended it to go to many different types of operators," said Ben Huang. "Now you are starting to see the fruits of that labor."

Until now, its software had been used … Read more