Microsoft

Microsoft plans on Tuesday to announce "Global Anti-Piracy Day," an effort to gain attention for the steps the company undertakes in order to thwart those who would profit from illegitimate software.

As part of the event, Microsoft is highlighting recent antipiracy efforts in 49 countries, ranging from the filing of lawsuits in the U.S. to a seminar for journalists in Pakistan.

It's the kind of thing that Microsoft does all the time, although the company is aiming for some added ink by grouping together so many actions at once.

"One of the things we want … Read more

Windows 7 and Windows Cloud may be the stars of Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, but the next version of Office has also landed a role in the production.

Office 14, as the product is code-named, will be discussed at next week's event, with attendees likely to get a peek at a couple of its features, according to sources. Unlike Windows 7, though, folks shouldn't expect to leave Los Angeles with a copy of their own.

In particular, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has talked recently about the idea that the next version of Office will be able to … Read more

Microsoft got another &#@*%-ing patent.

The software maker last week was granted U.S. patent No. 7437290 for, essentially, a technology that lets the company bleep out words in an audio stream that match a list of predefined bad words.

Ars Technica, which reported on the patent both when Microsoft applied for it in 2004 as well as now that it has been granted, notes that the technology could be used for more than just censoring profanity, suggesting that perhaps China or another government would want it employed for other phrases, such as Tibet or free speech.

Ars notes … Read more

Bill Gates may not be hanging around Microsoft's research labs 24/7, but his vision for going beyond the mouse and keyboard seems to be doing pretty well without his day-to-day oversight.

At a user interface conference this week, the software maker plans to present several research papers, including a number designed to take the multitouch interface used in Microsoft's Surface and expand it into new arenas.

Although Microsoft's tabletop computer is still in the midst of its earliest commercial deployments, the company is already hard at work trying to figure out where the technology can go … Read more

Got questions about Windows 7, Windows Cloud or other Microsoft-related topics?

Well, I'm sure I don't have all the answers, but I'm going to be doing my best to tackle questions on all things Microsoft later today as part of our new Editor's Office Hours feature. It's all part of our special coverage leading up to Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, which takes place at the end of the month in Los Angeles.

You can submit questions here now, and I'll be on live at 11:30 a.m. PDT at the same link. … Read more

In case you were wondering, Microsoft thinks the battle of open source vs. proprietary software is basically over.

"Today, but increasingly in the future, we are all going to be 'mixed source'," Microsoft's top intellectual property lawyer said in a lunchtime interview on Thursday. To bolster his claim, Horacio Gutierrez notes Microsoft is releasing plenty of stuff as open source, while open-source companies like Red Hat often license commercial software alongside their open-source products. "I actually think the war between proprietary and open source is a thing of the past," he said.

That doesn't … Read more

Computer sales on Amazon.com are not exactly a proxy for the broader retail market. Still, I do think it is noteworthy that of the top 20 best-selling laptops on Thursday evening, just one was running Windows Vista.

That one is an HP mini-notebook that ranked No. 18, trailing behind a gaggle of Macs and Netbooks running either Windows XP or Linux.

On the plus side for Redmond, 10 of the top 20 machines were running some flavor of Windows. And, as I mentioned, Amazon is not a true barometer.

Apple's market share, while growing isn't exactly neck … Read more

Microsoft's recently acquired Fast Search & Transfer was charged on Thursday with accounting fraud by Norwegian officials, Reuters reported Thursday.

According to the Reuters report, police raided Fast's offices in Oslo in order to preserve evidence.

Microsoft didn't mention the charges in a statement, but it confirmed that police showed up at its offices Thursday.

"We can confirm that the Norwegian Police for Economic Crime this morning conducted inquiries at Fast's offices in Oslo," the software maker said in a statement. "Microsoft and its subsidiary Fast Search & Transfer (are) cooperating fully with … Read more

Some companies are planning to skip Windows Vista, and that's OK, according to Steve Ballmer. But Microsoft's CEO hopes that those companies come back for Windows 7.

Ballmer said that "if people want to wait they really can," ZDNet's Larry Dignan reports. "But I'd definitely deploy Vista," he said.

Speaking on Thursday at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo conference in Orlando, Ballmer defended Vista and noted that "The adoption rate of Vista is faster than the adoption rate was of XP at two years in."

Ballmer did note that Vista has … Read more