Microsoft

Gamespot reported from the 2008 Game Developer's Conference that Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft, and a collection of other PC hardware and software vendors have joined forces in a newly formed nonprofit organization dubbed the PC Gaming Alliance. Its goal, according to the press release, is "advancing the PC as a worldwide gaming platform." If this sounds familiar, Microsoft used similar language in its Games for Windows marketing campaign that saw a major relaunch last year. Let's hope the PCGA takes its mission more seriously.

If you're wondering why there's so much emphasis on promoting … Read more

Peripherals developers must be working overtime at Microsoft. Apparently on a roll after announcing its new wireless mice, the company has reportedly filed its plans for a matching wireless keyboard with the FCC.

The Wireless Laser Keyboard 7000--like its partner, the Wireless Laser Mouse 7000--has a touch of style, this one with a swanky glass frame, according to Engadget. Of course, where desktop aesthetics are concerned, beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder.

A funny thing happened after I installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1 on my PC: Word 2007 started crashing whenever I closed it, and all but a handful of the application's settings became inaccessible.

I still haven't figured out how to keep Word from crashing on exit, but I regained access to the program's settings by disabling all add-ins. Unfortunately, it took me the better part of an afternoon to figure out this partial solution, and I'm no closer to finding the source of the crashes, though Vista SP1 is the prime suspect.

My first attempt … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--I still don't know much about what Windows 7 will do or what it will look like, but I can tell you that you won't have to rely on a keyboard and mouse to use it.

After decades of investing in things like speech technology and handwriting recognition, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that users appear ready for new ways of interacting with machines. And, he said, advances in those areas and in touch-based gestures will find their way into the next version of Windows, known as Windows 7.

"The version after Vista is … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Bill Gates is willing to pay a lot for engineering talent.

Asked what makes Yahoo worth more than $40 billion, Gates pointed not to the company's products, its huge base of advertisers, or its market share, but rather to Yahoo's engineers. Those people, he said, are what Microsoft needs to go after Google.

In an interview after his speech at Stanford University, Gates said that it turns out it takes a lot of manpower to build tools for advertisers, mobile, and video products as well as improving its core search algorithm and building an infrastructure … Read more

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it is making public its latest test version of Windows XP Service Pack 3.

The software maker said Release Candidate 2 of XP SP3 will be available after 5 p.m. PST via Microsoft's download center. "We're broadening the availability of the release candidate in order to receive further user feedback prior to the release of Windows XP SP3," it said in a statement.

The same test version was released to a smaller group of testers on February 8. Microsoft said at the time that it was still on track to … Read more

Yahoo laid out its golden parachute plans for all of its full-time employees Tuesday, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing outlines two change-in-control severance plans, should the Internet search pioneer find itself under new ownership, aka Microsoft.

Yahoo, which is facing an unsolicited buyout bid from Microsoft, will offer both full-time employees and executives anywhere from four months to two years of severance pay, depending on their job title.

The parachute, or cushion, will kick into effect should that employee lose his job within two years after a new owner takes over, should she get … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Bill Gates began his address to students on Tuesday by playing to the home crowd.

He noted that CEO Steve Ballmer attended the school, though Gates convinced his buddy to drop out of the Stanford MBA program to join Microsoft. Other notable Stanford alumni are Microsoft research head Rick Rashid and Windows Live executive Chris Jones.

"We owe a lot to the school," Gates said. In a further attempt to warm up the crowd, Gates played an updated version of the humorous video he showed at the Consumer Electronics Show spoofing what his last day might be like. … Read more

The head of strategic partnerships for Microsoft says he's confident the company can work out a deal with Yahoo, despite reports that Yahoo is talking to News Corp. about forming an alliance to fend off Microsoft.

"We still have great confidence we can find a combination with Yahoo," Microsoft Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said in an interview with Adweek published on Monday. "If anything, it's become clearer and clearer that we're the logical alternative in the marketplace."

The article, which requires registration to view at Adweek, was submitted to the U.S. … Read more