Microsoft - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• In six years of Patch Tuesdays, 400 security bulletins, 745 vulnerabilities

  Microsoft's massive security update marked the completion of the sixth year of the company's move to a monthly patch release schedule.

• Microsoft grants Mac Office 11th-hour reprieve

  Just a day before Microsoft was to have retired Office 2004 for Mac by ending updates and fixes, including security patches, the company said Monday that it would instead extend the five-year-old suite's support until Jan. 10, 2012.

• MS changes tune, says attackers are exploiting new bug

  One of the 34 bugs Microsoft patched on Tuesday is more serious than it first appeared.

• From Sidekick to Gmail: A short history of cloud computing outages

  This past week's Microsoft-T-Mobile-Sidekick data loss mess is the latest in a string of high profile cloud computing outages that have grabbed headlines over the past couple of years.

• Sidekick fiasco highlights need for mobile backups

  The loss of personal data that Sidekick users in the U.S. have suffered is a shame, but it also shows how important data stored on mobile phones has become.

• Microsoft loses Sidekick users' personal data

  Contacts, calendar entries, photographs and other personal information of Sidekick users has almost certainly been lost for good following a service disruption at Sidekick provider Danger, the Microsoft subsidiary said on Saturday.

• Windows Mobile: setting the stage for the future

  Microsoft plans to replicate some processes from the PC industry to try to boost its performance in the mobile market and expects to see a growing number of applications in its new Marketplace, an executive said this week.

• Microsoft plans monster Patch Tuesday next week

  Microsoft today said it will deliver its largest-ever number of security updates on Tuesday to fix flaws in every version of Windows, as well as Internet Explorer (IE), Office, SQL Server, important developer tools and the enterprise-grade Forefront Security client software.

• Microsoft defends Government 2.0 Taskforce funding conditions

  Microsoft has defended its decision to enforce stringent conditions on up to $2.45 million in funding which it plans to supply to support proposed projects under the Government 2.0 Taskforce initiative.
  

• Microsoft content with Windows Mobile launch

  Not only was there a negative initial reaction to the launch of the latest Windows phones on Wednesday, there were news stories about all the bad reviews.

• Gmail, Yahoo Mail join Hotmail; passwords exposed

  Google's Gmail and Yahoo's Mail were also targeted by a large-scale phishing attack, perhaps the same one that harvested at least 10,000 passwords from Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, according to a report by the BBC.

• Ready for Windows 7? Here's how to deploy it right

  Windows 7 is right around the corner. The official release date is Oct. 22, but some PC makers will ship it before then.

• Former Microsoft open-source chief joins cloud startup

  Former Microsoft open-source chief Sam Ramji has joined cloud-computing startup Sonoa Systems, taking over product strategy and business development at the Santa Clara, California-based company.

• Microsoft's Ballmer finds wallet a little lighter

  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer received a 5.5% decrease in his overall compensation last year as the company suffered through its first-ever drop in overall revenue, according to documents filed with the SEC Tuesday.

• Microsoft wins appeal in Uniloc patent case

  Microsoft will not have to pay $388 million to a security software company for infringing on a patent, U.S. District Judge William Smith ruled Tuesday.