Bob's Microsoft News Network » Business

What Happens When Apple Passes Microsoft In Value? Yes, When.

BSchwarz — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:28:44 +0000

Apple’s stock is up over $3 today, pushing it past the $230-a-share mark. Microsoft’s is down $0.25, pushing it below the $30-a-share mark. While this discrepancy is huge on the surface, it doesn’t mean all that much because there are many, many more outstanding shares of Microsoft stock out there on the market (ten times more, in fact). That’s why Microsoft’s market cap is higher than Apple’s, despite the individual stock price difference. But that market cap gap is closing. Quickly.

News Source: TechCrunch

Microsofts New Search at Bing.com

BSchwarz — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:15:59 +0000

Microsoft today unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of search service, which Microsoft is calling a Decision Engine, designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. The new service, located at http://www.Bing.com, will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.

The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated, and Bing was developed as a tool to help people more easily navigate through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences. Results from a custom comScore Inc. study across core search engines show that as many as 30 percent of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. The data also showed that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or requery on the search results page.

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

Source: www.microsoft.com

Microsoft Online Services Available Worldwide

BSchwarz — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:32:39 +0000

Furthering its commitment to deliver communications and collaboration software as enterprise-class services, today at CeBIT 2009 Microsoft announced that the Business Productivity Online Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services, is now available for trial to businesses of all sizes in 19 countries. In addition, Microsoft will release Microsoft Office Communications Online, for instant messaging and presence, and the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite, an extremely economical e-mail, calendaring and collaboration service for the occasional user.“These services open up new possibilities for businesses to control costs while continuing to enhance the productivity of their employees,” said Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “Customers can save between 10 percent and 50 percent in IT-related expenditures as a result of deploying Microsoft Online Services.”

Software-Plus-Services Strategy Reaches Worldwide

Exchange Online and SharePoint Online are available for trial in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Organizations worldwide will be able to trial and purchase the entire Business Productivity Online Suite, including Office Communications Online, in April.

In addition, Microsoft is committed to providing opportunity for a global ecosystem of partners that will sell, customize and provide consulting, migration and managed services for Microsoft Online Services customers around the world.

Solutions for Occasional Users

The Deskless Worker Suite, including Exchange Online Deskless Worker and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker, will also be available to organizations in the 19 countries. The Deskless Worker Suite is a low-cost solution designed for users who don’t have access to messaging and collaboration capabilities today.

The worldwide availability of the Deskless Worker Suite will offer customers an affordable e-mail and collaboration solution for occasional users. By providing a cost-effective subscription rate (currently listed at 2.56 euros or 2.01 pounds per month per user), the Deskless Worker Suite will make it possible for organizations to give all employees access to the same messaging and collaboration systems. Today, in organizations that have deployed e-mail, more than 40 percent of employees do not have e-mail.*

The Deskless Worker Suite will be available for trial and for purchase worldwide in April.

Source: www.microsoft.com

Four Things Microsoft Got Right in 2008

BSchwarz — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:41:36 +0000

Microsoft generated plenty of negative headlines in 2008. We watched as it struck out in its attempts to acquire Yahoo. And Microsoft-haters grew smug when the confusing Seinfeld-Gates commercials were quickly pulled and replaced with the “I’m a PC” campaign. Microsoft’s attempts to out-market Apple and reverse the negative press of Windows Vista simply didn’t work out.

Such debacles received the lion’s share of press. But in reality the software giant had several successes. Most every other iteration of Windows had a strong year, either with good execution (Windows Server 2008, Windows XP) or good buzz (Windows 7, Windows Azure). And from the ashes of the Yahoo failure emerged some smart hires for Microsoft that could boost the company’s search business and set the tone for a possible future deal with Yahoo.

Here are four areas where Microsoft executed well in 2008, areas that will help set up the company for success in ’09.

Source: edge.networkworld.com

Three Options for Upgrading from Vista to Windows 7

BSchwarz — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:41:42 +0000

Back in November, I explored the number of editions of Windows 7 that Microsoft was working on. While the company has not officially given a list yet, it was clear that Windows 7 Enterprise Edition and Windows 7 Ultimate Edition were definitely coming.

Furthermore, there was an obvious avoidance of naming a Windows 7 Business Edition, though there was a mention of a Windows 7 Small Business Edition. While doing a little more digging, I stumbled on the following upgrade paths for Windows Vista to Windows 7. These are not confirmed, but I am told they are what Microsoft is currently considering:

Windows Vista Home Premium Edition => Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
Windows Vista Business Edition => Windows 7 Professional Edition
Windows Vista Ultimate Edition => Windows 7 Ultimate Edition

Source: One Microsoft Way

Information about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2

BSchwarz — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:05:37 +0000

Beta Information
This article discusses a beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this beta product. For information about how to obtain support for a beta release, see the documentation that is included with the beta product files, or check the Web location where you downloaded the release.

INTRODUCTION
This Microsoft Knowledge Base article will be updated with more information about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) when the information becomes available. Currently, the product release notes and related information about Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2 are not available.

APPLIES TO
• Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Business 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Starter
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
• Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
• Windows Server 2008 Standard
• Windows Web Server 2008

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft Extends Windows XP’s Life

BSchwarz — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:25:31 +0000

Microsoft, to the delight of PC buyers and late-adopting enterprise customers, won’t let Windows XP die.

In June, they stopped selling the operating system at retail and stopped allowing PC makers to install it on most machines, forcing them to switch to Vista. Kind of: The sellers could still install XP on machines that had a Vista Ultimate or Business license, or they could send users a “downgrade disc” to do it themselves on those machines.

But Microsoft was going to stop allowing PC makers to do that on January 31, 2009. Now, the company has given XP another six months of life, most likely responding to the almost universal panning of Vista, the Register reports (confirmed by Microsoft to CNET).

And Microsoft’s next version, Windows 7, is slated for a late 2009 release. So if that actually happens on time — and Microsoft keeps extending XP’s life — people might be able to avoid Vista until the next Windows comes out.

Microsoft-hosted all-in-one service suite due out next month

BSchwarz — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:53:47 +0000

Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on its suite of Microsoft-hosted services known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).

Microsoft is going to deliver a near-final Release Candidate test build of BPOS on September 26 and is telling users that a final build of the BPOS product should be released within 30 days, according to a September 25 posting to the Microsoft Online Services blog. From the new entry:

“On that date, BPOS will be available for purchase in the United States. Those that are in the BPOS TAP (Technology Adoption Program) program or are current Beta users will continue to enjoy the service free of charge until 30 days after GA (general availability).”

News Source: blogs.zdnet.com

SanDisk Won’t Specify Vista SSD Problems

BSchwarz — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:55:52 +0000

Amid complaints that Windows Vista is hurting the development of solid state drives, SanDisk now says it is working with Microsoft to optimize SSDs for “the Windows experience.” But the company refused to provide details of Vista’s problem, and Microsoft seemed unaware of the collaboration.

In a statement to BetaNews today, Richard Heyes, who heads up SanDisk’s SSD Business Unit, didn’t elaborate on the areas of optimization, although he did talk about SSD performance on “full-featured” operating systems such as Windows Vista vs. “simple” systems such as XP Starter Edition — and he predicted that operating systems in general will become more “SSD aware” in the future.

Heyes’ e-mail came in response to a request from BetaNews for more information about complaints raised by SanDisk Chairman and CEO Eli Harari during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Monday.

Source: BetaNews

Microsoft, IBM Profits Soar

BSchwarz — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:04:22 +0000

While the economy is sagging, technology giants Microsoft and IBM reported double-digit growth in quarterly revenue and profits.

Microsoft Corp’s net income for its fiscal fourth-quarter rose 42 percent to 4.3 billion, or 46 cents a share. Revenue climbed 18 to 15.8 billion.

For Microsoft’s full fiscal year, the company’s net income rose 26 to 17.7 billion, or 1.87 a share. Revenue for the year surged at 18 to 60.4 billion.

“Diversification of our businesses positions us well to weather the economic turmoil,” said Frank Brod, Microsoft’s chief accounting officer.

However, the software giant was lacking Wall Street’s expectations sending Microsoft shares down 6 percent in after-hours trading. In regular trading, it had closed at 27.52, up 26 cents.

Microsoft’s latest botched attempt to buy Yahoo to better compete against Google brought didn’t help matters. Most tech stock analysts said it was a distraction.

Microsoft also posted lower-than-expected guidance about the current summer quarter.

IBM beat nearly all forecasts and raised its estimates for what it expects to earn this year.

PC sales also saw double-digit growth while a weaker dollar helped boost sales and profits of Microsoft’s flagship Windows computer operating system. However, the 838 million in revenue contributed by its online services group, which competes with Google, fell short of the company’s earlier guidance suggesting it could top 900 million.