Online services

Microsoft's Bing carved out a 17.4 percent slice of the U.S. search engine market in May, according to the latest ComScore data provided by investment firm Macquarie Capital.

An investors note released today by Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter revealed that Bing's share in May rose only 0.10 percentage points from April. But that slow but steady rise showed an ongoing gain that's held relatively firm for the past three years.

Still, Google remains the search engine champ, well ahead of the other contestants. Its May market share showed an increase of 0.20 points … Read more

Microsoft has reached the 1 million subscriber mark with its Office 365 Home Premium product, company officials said on May 29.

The company launched Office 365 Home Premium on January 29. For $100 per year, Office 365 Home Premium allows users to install Office client apps on up to five PCs and/or Macs in total. Users who subscribe rather than buy the single-use Office 2013 complement outright, also are supposed to receive regular feature updates and synchronization capabilities by signing in through Office.com.

Microsoft is trying to convince more users to subscribe to its software as if it … Read more

Xbox 360 owners who have a Live Gold membership will be able to use it on the Xbox One as well.

Phil Harrison, a corporate vice president with Microsoft, confirmed to video-game blog Polygon that the same Gold membership will apply to both systems. Xbox Live Gold subscribers who buy an Xbox One won't have to ante up for another subscription.

Plus, that same single membership can be shared by multiple people, according to Ben Kilgore, a corporate vice president for Microsoft's Xbox Program Management. Each user will still have access to their own settings and customizations.… Read more

Xbox users may be able to use gift cards and credit cards, instead of points, to purchase games and other content.

"Sources familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans" told tech news site The Verge that Microsoft will replace its Xbox Points system with gift cards. The gift cards will let Xbox owners buy currency to purchase games and other content. Users also will be able to use credit and debit cards to buy Xbox items online.

The gift cards would work in the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Store, The Verge added. Microsoft may announce the new … Read more

There are a lot of businesses that pay for office suites, but two days before the Google I/O show, Microsoft spotlighted three that picked its Office 365 after trying Google Apps.

Google got a head start with Google Apps, the online service that includes Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. But Microsoft has a massive customer base using its old-school Office products who are natural candidates for moving to Microsoft's online suite.

Three customers -- Sensia Halsovard, Sepco III, and Arysta LifeScience -- all picked Office 365 "after having deployed or piloted Google Apps," Microsoft touted Monday. … Read more

Microsoft has completed moving its Hotmail.com users over to Outlook.com, and executives are now claiming the company has 400 million active Outlook.com accounts as a result.

Microsoft announced the completion of the Hotmail-Outlook.com transition on May 2. The company added that it's migrated 150 petabyes of e-mail over the past six weeks.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft also said it's adding two new features to Outlook.com: SMTP Send, making it easier to send mail from different e-mail addresses, and deeper SkyDrive integration.

The new SMTP Send support streamlines the process of sending … Read more

Microsoft is delivering Skype to Outlook.com users' inboxes.

A preview, which combines the video chat and messaging service with the tech giant's free e-mail service, is being introduced now to users in the U.K. and will be rolled out to users in the U.S. and Germany "in the coming weeks." Further international expansion is expected this summer, the company announced Monday evening.

Microsoft promotes the integration as "less typing, more talking":

"Even with the best email service, sometimes text isn't enough," Simon Longbottom, Skype's director of global marketing, … Read more

Microsoft will toughen up its products' security by adding dual-factor authentication "soon," according to a report today by Liveside.net.

Judging by details in the Microsoft-focused blog, the approach closely mirrors what Google did years ago: authorization requiring both a password (the first factor) and a special six-digit code retrieved from an authenticator app on a person's smartphone (the second factor). The smartphone code changes frequently so it can't be used for long.

Microsoft offered only this comment today: "Security and privacy is a priority for Microsoft, however we have nothing new to share at … Read more

The companies didn't disclose the purchase price, but a person familiar with the deal terms said the price was "just south of $200 million." The deal should close in the second half of the year.

One of the next big battlegrounds among industry players is video. Many companies, such as Amazon and Netflix, already provide content, but others are looking to provide a full package to consumers. Chip maker Intel is building an IPTV service and set-top box, … Read more