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• The US Navy's warfare systems command just paid millions to stay on Windows XP

  The U.S. Navy is paying Microsoft millions of dollars to keep up to 100,000 computers afloat because it has yet to transition away from Windows XP.

• Dell takes one last shot at selling Windows 7 Home Premium PCs

  Just days before Microsoft orders OEMs to stop building new PCs with Windows 7 Home Premium, Dell tried one last time to spur sales using the lure of the five-year-old consumer OS.

• Trying Windows 10 Tech Preview? Keep these 7 things in mind

  Microsoft has kicked off the Windows 10 public testing period, but the company wants the fearless enthusiasts willing to participate in the Insider Program to be aware of a number of things before they jump in.

• With Windows 10, a contrite Microsoft will try to atone for Windows 8 mistakes

  Humbled by businesses' dislike for Windows 8, Microsoft has issued a mea culpa, offered the world a first peek at Windows 10 and pledged that the new OS will delight IT executives. But the true test of whether Microsoft can move past its Windows 8 mistakes will come when Windows 10 is commercially released at some point next summer.

• With new OS, Microsoft will try to put Windows 8 era behind it

  After spending the past two years in damage control mode over Windows 8, Microsoft will officially begin a new era for its OS on Tuesday, when it's expected to unveil a preview of Windows' next major version during an event focused on enterprise customers.

• CA Technologies releases free XP migration tool

  Companies that want to migrate large numbers of users from Windows XP, which Microsoft stopped supporting last month, now have some help with a free tool from CA Technologies.

• Windows XP's retirement turns into major security project for Chinese firm

  Microsoft may have retired Windows XP, but one of China's leading security vendors is trying to keep the OS threat-free, and rolling out protection software to hundreds of millions of users in the nation.

• Microsoft TechEd focuses IT pros on the 'Cloud OS'

  For the kickoff of Microsoft's annual North American TechEd conference, the company is urging administrators and IT professionals to think of it as the provider of the "Cloud OS."

• Asus' mammoth tablet, desktop hybrid combines Android, Windows 8

  Asustek has announced it will soon begin U.S. shipments of an all-in-one PC that can be an Android 4.1 tablet, or a fully functional desktop running Windows 8 when attached to a docking station.

• Microsoft identifies 13 Shanghai PC resellers involved in Windows piracy

  Microsoft has identified 13 PC resellers based in Shanghai that it claims have been distributing counterfeit versions of its Windows OS, and the company could take legal action against them if a settlement isn't reached.

• Windows 8 presses developers to update their skills

  Microsoft likes to talk about Windows 8 as being Windows "reimagined," and in many ways it is quite a departure from its predecessors. To allow the operating system's use across a range of touchscreen devices, Microsoft radically redesigned the look and feel of the OS.

• Tech stories of 2011: Jobs, Android and Anonymous rank in top 10

  In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

• Microsoft, Red Hat spar over secure boot-loading tech

  Is Microsoft using a next-generation computing boot-loading technology to lock out the use of Linux and other OSEs on certain computers? While Microsoft has denied malicious intent, one Red Hat developer maintains that this may be the case.

• Microsoft launches Windows 8 preview

  Microsoft will post the first developer preview beta of Windows 8 late on Tuesday, the company announced as it showed off the new OS running on a Samsung tablet.

• Windows 8 steps beyond the desktop

  On the Windows computer of the future, live tiles will replace icons, touch-based gestures will replace mouse clicks and semantic zooming will replace the arduous traversal through nested menus and folders.