Online services

This week is shaping up to be a big one in Microsoft's nearly 3-month-old effort to acquire Yahoo.

The software maker has set a Saturday deadline for Yahoo to come to the bargaining table or else face a proxy fight.

Coloring the state of things will be earnings reports from both Microsoft and Yahoo due this week. Yahoo reports Tuesday, while Microsoft is set to release quarterly numbers on Thursday.

Those reports are all the more significant in that Microsoft's bid (at least so far) is half stock. A good earnings report from Yahoo might put pressure on … Read more

Intrigued to learn that Microsoft has been testing its ad-supported version of Microsoft Works here in the U.S., I wanted to see it for myself.

After work on Friday, I headed to Costco and to Best Buy, both of which carried Sony laptops that included the product, known as Works SE (Sponsored Edition). As Microsoft said, the product carries largely "house ads" that pitch Microsoft products such as Office. The ads themselves are small, taking up just about a 2-inch square in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Clicking on the ad didn't appear to … Read more

While Microsoft eventually hopes its Live Mesh effort will be a way for people to share data across all of their devices, the service that launches next week will be limited in several ways, CNET News.com has learned.

Next week, Microsoft will launch a pre-beta "technology preview" open to about 10,000 testers in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the company's plans.

File synchronization is an important component of Mesh, but not its only feature, the source said. Developers will be able to write their own applications for Live Mesh, with the … Read more

Updated 4:15 p.m. with details on the countries in which Works SE is being offered.

After years of exploring the matter, Microsoft has finally started offering an ad-funded version of Microsoft Works in some countries.

Users who run the software see a small ad as they are writing their document or editing their spreadsheet. Although the program has the ability to update its set of ads online, today it runs mostly ads for Microsoft and a few partners, all of which ship with the product itself.

Works SE (which stands for Sponsored Edition) is free to PC makers, … Read more

Microsoft confirmed that it is planning a subscription service that combines the consumer version of Office with its OneCare security suite.

Code-named Albany, the product has a single installer that puts Office Home and Student, OneCare, as well as a host of Windows Live services, onto a user's PC. As long as users keep paying for the subscription, they are entitled to the latest versions of the products. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version.

The product is aimed at consumers that want a simple way to have access to Microsoft's productivity suite … Read more

Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it has acquired Seattle-based Farecast, a travel site that offers an engine predicting whether airfares for a given route are headed up or down.

"Farecast has been a partner of ours on MSN Travel and we look forward to working closely with the Farecast team to incorporate and apply its technology in new and interesting ways," Microsoft PR director Whitney Burk said in a statement.

The travel site's CEO, Hugh Crean, also posted a brief blog on Farecast's site announcing the sale to Microsoft, but adding few details.

"This acquisition creates … Read more

SAO PAULO, Brazil--Well, I know one thing I'll be doing once I return from Latin America.

In my in-box Saturday morning was an invite for an April 24 event in San Francisco, where Microsoft plans to offer more details on its Live Mesh service. Ray Ozzie first hinted at the project during his speech at last month's Mix event in Las Vegas.

Live Mesh is expected to be a service that synchronizes data between a number of different devices. Microsoft has talked about a long-term vision in which you need to only store things once, in the cloud, … Read more

Microsoft's top lawyer on Thursday warned that any deal between Yahoo and Google would hurt competition.

"Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search-advertising market in Google's hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said in a statement.

The statement follows reports that Yahoo is considering a limited test of using Google to deliver some search advertising.

Smith said Microsoft will "assess closely all of our options."

Microsoft proposed on February … Read more

MIAMI--In the basement of a Catholic church, a woman loudly shouts the word "three," and a chorus of seniors repeats the word several times as part of their regular English lessons. A few yards a way, a small flea market features a display of clothes and other items. But next door to the flea market is the crown jewel of the Gesu Senior Center: its computer lab.

What began last year with only a couple computers in a corner, now consists of two enclosed rooms packed with PCs. This past Friday, about thirty Spanish-speaking seniors learned how to … Read more