Online services

Just after Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced plans in May to buy Skype, he and Skype Chief Executive Officer Tony Bates had one more order of business.

"The day we announced, we definitely came to see Mark," Bates said, talking of Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, at a press conference today announcing Facebook's plans to bake Skype's video conferencing technology into its social network. "It was for both of us, Steve and I, the most important strategic relationship."

As Google grows ever more powerful in techdom, and Microsoft's influence slips, the … Read more

Microsoft is merging its Games for Windows Marketplace with its Xbox.com site, a move that will allow gamers to buy and download any title at a single site.

Touting the merger on its Games for Windows Marketplace site, Microsoft said that "now you can get all of your gaming needs in one place. It's convenient, it's concentrated, and it's a whole lot of great games."

Offering games designed for Windows, the Games for Windows Marketplace went through a revamp last year in an attempt by Microsoft to make the online store more robust and … Read more

Microsoft took the beta tag off Office 365, launching the product at a New York City event today hosted by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

The new product is the software giant's effort to bring Web functionality to its widely used desktop applications as well as server products that are found primarily in large enterprises. Microsoft is betting that by offering products such as its Exchange e-mail server and its Lync online communications technology as Web services, it can expand the market to small and midsize businesses that don't have IT staffs and have traditionally shied away from those … Read more

Google took a few swings at Microsoft's Office 365 yesterday as the product gears up for its official launch today.

In an official Google blog, Shan Sinha, Google Apps product manager, touted several reasons from his perspective on why customers should opt for Google Apps over the new Office 365. Though he claimed to have 365 reasons in total, Sinha focused on just a few key points, flavored with a couple of quotes from seemingly satisfied Google Apps customers.

Sinha's first claim is that Office 365 is for individuals, while Google Apps is for teams, meaning that Google … Read more

Microsoft will officially launch Office 365 on June 28 at an event in New York City.

Hosted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the event will start at 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. PT) and be available via a live Webcast.

Announced in October, Office 365 is Microsoft's effort to offer business customers a cloud-based alternative to its traditional desktop and server products. Office 365 unites Microsoft's Office Web Apps with hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint along with Lync, which kicks in the online communication and collaboration piece.

Microsoft's announcement of the launch event … Read more

Microsoft is updating its SkyDrive cloud-based storage service, providing a zippier experience by using HTML5 technology as well as hardware acceleration.

The software giant boasts that common tasks, such as clicking on folders and navigating photo albums, will take 100 to 300 milliseconds, down from as long as nine seconds in the earlier version. And by powering the site with HTML5, Microsoft is able to include HTML5 Video, CSS3, and client rendered experiences.

"Browser modernization has really opened up the window for us to rethink and re-architect how we build our websites," SkyDrive Group Program Manager Omar Shahine … Read more

The Web is a great resource for the disciplined shopper. You can research the price of an item you want; shop around; collect coupons and offer codes; and pretty much make sure you're getting the best price known to mankind for anything, at any moment.

A new site, Decide.com, takes the research a bit further, helping you decide if the moment, not just the price, is right to buy. If it's not, the site will advise you to wait.

There are other services that offer historical pricing, including Shopobot, which does a good job of illustrating historical price volatility of items; and Retrevo, which maps products to a generic life-cycle curve. Neither of these services is as clearly focused at predicting future prices, though. … Read more

Bing's iPhone app now shows links to other iPhone apps as part of search results, enabling users to run or download those apps directly on their phone.

Described in a blog posted yesterday, Microsoft's goal behind the new feature is to make it easier for users to find iPhone apps directly through the mobile search engine. Though you can of course search Apple's App Store, scouring through the variety of apps that appear to find the right one can sometimes be a challenge.

Further, by using Bing to track down iPhone apps, Microsoft hopes that people running their usual searches will stumble upon apps that they never knew existed but will find useful.

The new feature works in a couple of different ways.

Using a new auto app discovery mode, Bing can find apps in the course of regular search queries. For example, searching for a general topic, such as "hotels" or "movies" will uncover iPhone apps devoted to those subjects. In a search for hotels, Bing might point you to Travelocity's mobile app, while a search for movies would uncover the iPhone apps for Hulu, IMDb, and Moviefone, among others.… Read more

Skype is down for the second time in a matter of a couple of weeks, the VoIP service provider confirmed on its Twitter account this morning, saying it is working to address the issue.

"A small number of you may have problems signing in to Skype," the company wrote on its Twitter page today. "We're investigating the cause, and hope to have more details to share soon."

Skype users on Twitter aren't so sure it's just a "small number" who've been affected. One user wrote that he and "all … Read more