microsoft

DENVER--On Thursday, Microsoft plans to show its partners the Surface computer that it introduced in May. But it will be a little while longer before most partners get a chance to do more than look at the tabletop computer.

Allison Watson, the head of Microsoft's partner efforts, plans to show off the touch-based device as part of a talk she is giving on Microsoft's innovation pipeline. Watson also plans to announce the company is forming a partner advisory council to help the company decide how it should open up the product to outside developers.

"Starting in April, … Read more

Project Gotham Racing 4 is headed exclusively to the Xbox 360 this September. The popular racing simulator promises all new tracks and cars, as well as the inclusion of motorcycles, a unique addition to the series.

Seven months after releasing the final version of Windows Live OneCare 1.5, Microsoft is today offering a Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta for public testing. The existing Windows Live OnceCare 1.5 release includes sections for Protection Plus (which handles threats and malware), Performance Plus, and Backup and Restore. The new release adds home networking tools to the mix.

Realizing that most home networks have an average of 2.5 computers, a typical OneCare license allows installation on three separate PCs. OneCare 2.0 adds the ability to monitor the security of two additional PCs from one network … Read more

It may be virtualization, but we're talking real bucks.

Virtualization services are expected to turn into an $11.7 billion market by 2011, more than double its current level, according to a study released Wednesday by IDC.

Helping propel this market, which last year generated $5.5 billion, is a transition from using virtualization software solely in high-end and mainframe computers to making it available for lower-cost systems running x86 and x64 servers.

Virtualization software allows users to take a single server and load it up with multiple operating systems. And that, in turn, lets users string together low-cost … Read more

NOTE: This trailer contains some violent imagery.

The Resident Evil franchise has always been a mainstay on Sony and Nintendo consoles, but never the Xbox--until now. Microsoft provided a glimpse of Capcom's Resident Evil 5 at its E3 media event. The next-gen horror survival game is due to hit the Xbox 360 in 2008.

While the main portion of the E3 Summit kicks off on Wednesday, Microsoft has fired the first shot in the always amusing press conference wars by hosting its annual event late Tuesday evening.

Packing journalists and analysts into a Santa Monica high school outdoor auditorium was an unusual choice, to be sure. The company put on their typical high-gloss presentation, which is traditionally the best stage-managed of the big three (the other two being Sony and Nintendo), which probably says more about the button-down Microsoft corporate culture than anything else. With a live band, smoke machines, and an actual man-made … Read more

Microsoft's media event on Tuesday evening--the first slot on our E3 2007 agendas (aside from picking up our press badges)--came with the company slogan: "Jump In." It was displayed on signs outside Santa Monica High School's outdoor amphitheater, where the event took place, and on the giant projection screen behind the stage (when the screen wasn't displaying a tag cloud of the Xbox Live usernames of those present). The slogan was even on the access badges that were mailed to us a week in advance, with the admonition that if we didn't have … Read more

Competitors were quick to respond to Microsoft's latest plans for hosted CRM.

Microsoft's pricing was clearly aimed squarely at Salesforce.com, which was quick to dismiss Microsoft's entry into the market, noting that the company has been talking about its plans for sometime without actually releasing the product.

"I think that Microsoft has announced this service more often than Roger Federer has won Wimbledon," Bruce Francis, Salesforce VP of corporate strategy, said in a statement.

Another rival, SugarCRM, took issue with the notion that rivals don't offer the option of moving from a hosted … Read more

Leading up to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, most companies try to release information that will either (1) become a springboard for the show or (2) become lost in the heavy news traffic -- by design. With Sony's announcement of a $100 price cut, it has effectively achieved the former. And while some brushed my opinion aside claiming I was biased or a Nintendo-hater when I told them Sony and Microsoft would take the day, it seems that opinion may not be so far off after all.

Although I still believe the Xbox 360 will take the lead in this … Read more