Online services

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

Microsoft and Google have both gotten in some April Fools' Day zingers against each other.

The two competitors often trade insults about each other's respective search engines, online office suites, and other products. But April Fools' Day inspired them to create a couple of full-blown Web pages to make fun of each other.

Microsoft laid its prank at its Bing search engine.

Surf to Bing and type Google in the search field. A Bing page pops up spoofing Google's pure white and stark home page. Hovering over the small boxes that populate the Bing page displays tips that … Read more

Outlook and Hotmail users can blame the recent outage on an overheated data center, Microsoft says.

On Tuesday at around 1:30 p.m. PT, the two online e-mail services suffered a service disruption, rendering them inaccessible to many users. Microsoft started to bring them back online the rest of the day and on into Wednesday. But access wasn't fully restored until 5:43 a.m. yesterday, according to the company.

Microsoft's status page confirmed that the problem was repaired but offered no details as to the cause. Now the company has revealed the source of the glitch … Read more

Outlook and Hotmail are up and running once again.

A problem had rendered both online e-mail services inaccessible to many users since yesterday. But Microsoft's status page now shows both of them are back in business.

The page gives no details as to what caused the outages or how they were resolved.

Hotmail, Outlook, and SkyDrive were all hit by downtime yesterday, starting at around 2:30 p.m. PT. Many users had taken to Twitter to report the outage and express their frustration over the inability to access their e-mail.

Microsoft's status page shows that the problem … Read more