Subscribe for updates!

InterCall(R), a subsidiary of West Corporation and the world's largest conferencing and collaboration services provider, announced today the availability of Microsoft Office 365 productivity tools to small businesses through its eCommerce portal. InterCall will offer Office 365 plans including Productivity (E1), Productivity Start-up (P1) and Lync Online (L2) integrated with audio conferencing to the small business market in the U.S.

Concurrent to this availability, InterCall will launch its "Redefining the Cloud" advertising campaign to help small businesses understand the major benefits of integrated audio with Office 365. Small businesses now have access to integrated audio and other business productivity resources previously available only to mid-sized to large companies.

"The InterCall solution for Office 365 drives productivity gains and saves time and money for small business owners," said Kathleen Finato, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at InterCall. "It enables companies to access shared calendars and e-mails from anywhere, collaborate on documents, launch ad hoc meetings, and leverage all the savings of cloud-based communications without an on-premise technology investment."

InterCall Reservationless-Plus Audio Conferencing lets small business owners convene their conference calls at any time without making reservations as well as tap into additional call management features online. It also lets executives organize last-minute meetings and bring people together to meet their business objectives.

InterCall has more than 20 years of experience providing hosted and managed services, and holds a Gold Unified Communications Competency in the Microsoft Partner Network.

"Today's small businesses face many challenges, one of which is keeping their operations up and running," said Marco Limena, Vice President, Operator Channels, Microsoft Corp. "The InterCall solution for Office 365 allows them to focus on their strategic business goals and not on provisioning IT equipment. The availability of Office 365 through the InterCall eCommerce portal provides small businesses with comprehensive productivity tools for effective communication and collaboration."

The InterCall solution for Office 365 includes e-mail (Microsoft Exchange Online), Web conferencing (Microsoft Lync Online), and collaboration tools, such as InterCall's Reservationless-Plus Audio Conferencing, Microsoft Office Web Apps and Microsoft SharePoint Online. Small businesses can set up conference calls and conduct online conferences through Office 365 using Voice over IP (VoIP), landlines or mobile phones. One simple interface give users total control.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 2 days ago) / 4 views

Microsoft patches 23 Windows flaws, warns of risk of code execution attacks

Posted in : News, Windows

(added 9 days ago)

The Patch Tuesday batch for May 2012 covers at least 23 documented vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft wheeled out another batch of security patches today to fix multiple dangerous security flaws that expose billions of Windows users to remote code execution attacks.

The Patch Tuesday batch for May 2012 covers at least 23 documented vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight. The company is urging Windows users to pay special attention to MS12-034, a “critical” bulletin that patches 10 distinct security holes. Three of these vulnerabilities have already been publicly disclosed and Microsoft expects to see working exploit code released within 30 days. The vulnerable code in the MS12-034 bulletin is linked to the Duqu malware that was used to spy on high-profile targets in Iran.

MS12-034 (Microsoft Office, Windows, .NET Framework, and Silverlight): This security update resolves three publicly disclosed vulnerabilities and seven privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft .NET Framework, and Microsoft Silverlight. The most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted document or visits a malicious webpage that embeds TrueType font files. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a malicious website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes them to the attacker’s website.

Microsoft is also highlighting MS12-029 as another high-priority update that should be deployed immediately. This bulletin, also rated critical, addresses a security flaw in Microsoft Word that could be exploited by hackers to take complete control of a vulnerable machine. Attack vectors for this issue include maliciously crafted websites and email, the company said.

Here’s a glimpse at the rest of this month’s updates:
MS12-035: This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in the .NET Framework. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution on a client system if a user views a specially crafted webpage using a web browser that can run XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs). Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

MS12-030: This security update resolves one publicly disclosed and five privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Office file. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

MS12-031: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Visio file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

MS12-032: This security update resolves one privately reported and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application.

MS12-033: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 9 days ago) / 27 views

Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business

Posted in : News, Office

(added 11 days ago)

Disk1: MS Word 2000, MS Excel 2000, MS Outlook 2000, MS Internet Explorer 5. Disk2:MS Publisher 2000, MS Little Business Resources, Shared Clip Artwork Technique Specifications: Running Technique: ANY windows, windows ninety five, 98, ninety eight SE, Me, NT 4., 2000 ….Pc/Processor: Pentium 133 megahertz (MHz) or increased processor Pentium III advised….Memory: At least sixteen megabytes (MB) of RAM….Difficult Disk: 245 MB of offered difficult disk room….Generate: CD-ROM or DVD drive….Show: Super VGA (800 x 600) or increased-resolution monitor with 256 colours….Keyboard/Mouse: Essential.

Consists of Microsoft Phrase, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Little Enterprise Instruments. Features:Microsoft Business office 2000 extends desktop productiveness to the web, streamlining the way you function and creating it easier to share, entry and review information so you get better final results. Office 2000 delivers a multitude of new characteristics. Of particular significance for this release are the functions that influence the whole suite. These Workplace-wide, or shared features keep the crucial to the new realm of functionality enabled by Business office 2000.Workplace 2000 Little
Organization also includes little organization-specific equipment and purposes designed for small companies, this kind of as Microsoft Publisher to very easily create advertising and marketing materials, as well as a established of four Tiny Company Resources.

These tools had been designed for tiny organizations to support control and develop buyer relationships, make far better business choices, and streamline business operations.Web-enabled collaboration and info sharing. Business office 2000 offers a new Net-productiveness work design that integrates core productivity equipment with the Net to streamline the process of sharing data and functioning with other individuals.Prosperous analysis instruments for much better selection-creating.

Place of work 2000 can make it simpler to use an businesses intranet to accessibility vital company details and provides progressive investigation instruments that aid customers make far better, more timely enterprise conclusions.Computer software that is straightforward to use and handle. Office 2000 provides new amounts of resiliency and intelligence, enabling end users and businesses to get up and operating speedily, continue to be doing work and accomplish great results with less assets.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 11 days ago) / 21 views

Microsoft: Office Mac Malware Only Affects Older OS X

Posted in : News, Office

(added 15 days ago)

Microsoft researchers analyzed a recently-discovered Mac backdoor Trojan and discovered that only users running unpatched Office for Mac on older OS X versions were vulnerable.

As Security Watch reported earlier, a Mac backdoor Trojan posing as a letter from a Tibetan leader to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights detailing China's human rights abuses allowed attackers to remotely control Macs and execute code. The booby trapped Word document (.doc only, not .docx) exploited a stack-based buffer overflow in Office for Mac, Microsoft Malware Protection Center's Jeong Wook Oh wrote on Apr. 30.

However, the exploit works only for Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, and earlier. Mitigation technologies built in to OS X 10.7, or Lion, cause the exploit to fail.

"This target address is important, as, with Snow Leopard, we could confirm that it was used to exploit a specific location on the heap that is writable and also executable. The point is, that with Lion, that specific memory address can't be written, so the exploit fails," Oh wrote.

Malware Targets Older Software...
It shouldn't be surprising that older Macs are more vulnerable to malware. It's the same in the Windows world. Windows 7 is considered to be more secure than Windows XP or Vista.

At the moment, there are more users running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) than Lion (10.7), which was released mid-2011. Apple claims over 30 percent of users running Lion in comparison to just under 50 percent for Snow Leopard. A quick check on Statowl.com shows the numbers closer to 50 percent for Snow Leopard and 28 percent for Lion.

Apple added "quite a few really cool features" to Lion, "some of which are why this threat does not work on that OS," Intego's Lysa Myers told Security Watch. This malware is yet another example why using outdated software is a "dangerously bad idea," she said.

Updating to Lion would protect users from many types of threats, but users need to start proactively updating installed applications, as well. Exploiting OS X is not all that different from other operating systems, according to Microsoft's Oh. "Your protection against security vulnerabilities has a direct correlation with updating installed applications," he wrote.

Microsoft recommended users running Microsoft Office 2004 or 2008 for Mac or the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac apply the patch.

...And Older Vulnerabilities
There have been a lot of reports recently about how malware writers (in the Windows world) tend to focus on vulnerabilities that have already been patched instead of zero-days. Cyber-criminals bank on the fact that users aren't patching the software on time, making it lucrative and easier to target older and already-known security issues.

The stack-based buffer overflow in Office for Mac being exploited by this malware was fixed back in June 2009, noted Oh.

"Malware authors can get away with using ancient vulnerabilities because many people are not taking care to update their software," Myers said.

The latest Flashback outbreak in April was another example of Mac users being targeted for running outdated software. That Trojan exploited a Java vulnerability which Oracle had fixed in February, but Apple did not roll out the patch to its users until almost six weeks later. Russian antivirus company Dr. Web estimated that nearly two-thirds of the Macs infected by the Flashback Trojan were running Snow Leopard.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 15 days ago) / 26 views

Microsoft's Windows XP is still the most popular

Posted in : News, Windows

(added 16 days ago)

SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft's decade old operating system (OS) Windows XP is still the most popular, according to data released today by web analytics firm Net Applications. Despite shedding users over the past year, Windows XP is still clinging onto a sizeable share of the market, with Net Applications' report showing only a minor drop in users to 46.08 per cent in April from 46.86 per cent in March.

Interestingly, the data also reflect an unusual rise-and-fall pattern in Windows XP's audience each month since last November. Meanwhile, the study tells us that Windows 7 is continuing to grow in popularity with its most recent edition capturing a 38.67 per cent share of the market in April, up from 37.54 per cent in March. Despite Windows XP's firm grip, Microsoft has been encouraging users and businesses to switch to Windows' most recent version, with relative success.

However, Microsoft will have to step up the message as a post on the Windows Team Blog announced last month that support for Windows XP will end in two years, causing panic among large enterprises that have to migrate thousands or tens of thousands of users, something that doesn't happen overnight. Another worry is that businesses running Windows XP can't easily switch to a new OS without ensuring that all of their hardware and software will be compatible.

By the time support for Windows XP does expire and software patches, security fixes, and other updates will no longer be available, it could put computers running Windows XP at greater risk without up-to-date protection against malware.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 16 days ago) / 19 views

Google Drive will help kill Microsoft Office

Posted in : News, Office

(added 18 days ago)

While Google's productivity application suites, Docs (now incorporated into Drive) and Apps (for businesses), have been making some headway into Microsoft Office's territory, the important battlefield is not the application. It's the data. If Google can move the battlefield to a place where it has the bigger army and better weapons, the whole game changes. Google Drive might make that happen.

Let's look at the world from behind Google-coloured glasses. Every time a user performs a search in the Google search engine, clicks a link in Chrome or +1s an item in Plus, Google adds an atom of data to its knowledge of what people like and what they do. This information helps Google index the web and rank its results when people are searching for something. This is also the Facebook model, by the way.

Moreover, every action that generates user data that doesn't touch down in a Google product or service deprives Google of information that it could otherwise use to index and understand the web of human knowledge and preference. Microsoft Word documents stored on PCs? In the most uncharitable view, each one is money being stolen from Google.

All closed, siloed apps, for that matter, remove opportunity from Google. Co-founder Sergey Brin has recently spoken out against apps and companies that wall off data from the open internet. There is indeed a danger, but it's not just about openness; it's about Google's own ability to index the data.

Back to Google Drive: by acting as the substrate for user data — in other words, the file system — Google gets exposed to many times more information. Google doesn't need, and in fact has no reason, to make this data public, but having it available to index and cross-reference does make the company's core service — targeted advertising — more valuable.

The more data that Google has, the more valuable its product becomes. And that product, in case it's not already clear, is you. Your attention, which is sold to advertisers.

Microsoft's main product, meanwhile, is software, not data. (And its customers aren't advertisers, but rather people who buy software.) So, why can't Microsoft's model and Google's live in harmony? Because Microsoft's software suite consists of application software and an operating system, the operating system stores user data and the data is what Google wants. So Google is undermining that function with Google Drive, and not just by offering a synchronised file system (which, by the way, Microsoft also offers). Once users put their data in Google Drive, they will also find out how easy it is to open these files in non-Microsoft apps. This is one of the reasons why Google is launching Google Drive with an API for developers and a suite of partner products that shave off Microsoft customers a bit at a time.

One of the most important features that third-party developers are using with Google Drive is the "Open with" feature. If you upload a Microsoft Project file to Drive, for example, you can open it with the web app SmartSheet directly on the web. Similarly, web apps like SlideRocket can open PowerPoint files. Google's own productivity apps can also open Microsoft files.

The more people who realise they don't need Office to access their archives of files from the pre-Google Drive era, the more likely they are to look to Google Drive (or perhaps competing products, if they have similar partners) as primary storage. And Google wins, while Microsoft loses.

How can Microsoft counter this market erosion at Google's hands? The company has its own cloud storage product and a strong history with developers. And it has the business customers. But according to a Google Drive developer I spoke with, one who's also been dealing with Microsoft for years, Microsoft is not there yet. It has the centralised storage in SkyDrive and Office 365, but not the infrastructure — especially the identity and sign-on tools — that developers need to integrate into the Microsoft cloud.

Microsoft also needs to protect its software-licensing revenue for Office. Google, the upstart in business software, can undercut Microsoft's prices, since all of its software sales are incremental on top of its search and advertising businesses.

Other companies realise that whoever controls the data controls the market. Box, for instance, just launched OneCloud, which lets you open documents in a variety of apps. It's mobile-only so far, though.

It is no longer a PC world, and because of that, Microsoft doesn't own the world of work. People do their jobs on their own computers, on the web and on mobile devices, and they expect their work to follow them onto whatever hardware they're using. Every major technology company understands this. But only a few have the products, the infrastructure and the freedom to get ahead of the shift.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 18 days ago) / 50 views

Microsoft gets aggressive on Office 365 in India

Posted in : News, Office

(added 24 days ago)

While Microsoft has been tight-lipped about Office 365’s numbers globally, some Microsoft executives have gone on the record to say that Office 365 has already crossed 5 million licensed users. In India too, while Microsoft is not ready to give out specific numbers on Office 365, Sanjay Manchanda, who heads the Microsoft Information Worker (IW) business group in India, comprising the Office 365 (cloud services), SharePoint, Unified Communications and Office businesses, says that the momentum is extremely strong.

“Indian customers are adopting Office 365 four times faster than its predecessor BPOS. Clearly there is strong appetite in the market, even among the smallest businesses, to get powerful productivity and collaboration tools. Adoption is not only strong among enterprise customers with companies like Infiniti Retail and Dabur but a majority of customers are small to medium sized businesses with less than 1,000 employees,” states Sanjay Manchanda, Director, Microsoft Business Division.

A glimpse of this momentum was seen recently when Microsoft announced that it had reached an agreement with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for implementation of Microsoft Live@Edu for 7.5 million users over the next 2-3 months at more than 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India. This makes AICTE Microsoft’s largest cloud customer ever. While Live@edu is a hosted communication and collaboration service that offers email, Microsoft Office Web Apps, instant messaging and storage – this is a door opener for Microsoft as AICTE also plans to deploy Microsoft Office 365 for education when it becomes available later this year, providing access to Microsoft Exchange Online email and calendar, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and Microsoft Office Professional as the technical infrastructure to support member colleges and institutes.

A pulse of the momentum can also be seen from its partner ecosystem. Partner adoption has been strong with the partner ecosystem numbering over 750 resellers pan India. Over 50 partners announced cloud practices on Office 365 and over 5,500 partner resources have been trained on Office 365. Manchanda says that one of Microsoft’s major partners, Quadra systems has doubled its Microsoft cloud business in one year.

For Office 365, Microsoft has carefully categorized users, and tailored its offering to different types of users. Small businesses have the flexibility to choose a portfolio that includes Office Web Apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. In addition to these features, larger organizations can avail of features such as Exchange archiving, which is increasingly becoming important from a compliance point of view.

In a first, the firm has also innovated by customizing its offering based on usage scenarios. For example, it is providing a ‘Kiosk Worker’ subscription – a move targeted at users who do not have access to a PC.

“The kiosk worker subscription is designed to be targeted at users who only spend a small portion of their time on a PC, and share their terminal with others,” explains Manchanda. This strategy has helped Microsoft in targeting branch office workers.

Targeting SMBs
With Office 365, Microsoft is also targeting small and medium businesses – an extremely important and fast growing market segment. For example, according to research firm, Zinnov, with over 50 million businesses, India has the largest number of SMBs across the world. The research firm also states that Indian SMBs contribute more than one-third of India’s GDP.

More importantly, for Microsoft and other cloud-service providers, a majority of these Indian SMBs have ambitious global aspirations. As many of these Indian SMBs cannot afford investing in CAPEX for IT, a cloud-based route is an attractive alternative.

A case in point is Aspire Systems, a company focused on outsourced product development. A fast growing company with a global presence uses Exchange Online and Lync Online from the Office 365 suite. Today, everyone in the organization use Lync actively to communicate with each other. “Using Lync, we do almost 40-50 web conferences per week,” says Shankar Krishnamurthy, CTO, Aspire Systems. Besides developers, Lync is also used actively by functions such as HR and Finance who use the platform to connect and collaborate effectively with their globally dispersed counterparts.

The cloud game is about volume and being nimble footed to capture emerging opportunities. Microsoft realizes the importance of this, and has accordingly cut prices by lowering prices of Office 365 by 20 percent. In a price-sensitive market such as India, this move could help Microsoft increase its presence in the SMB segment.

With a foothold in many companies in India through its Office portfolio and a growing partner ecosystem, Microsoft has a big opportunity to position and establish Office 365 in the cloud the same way, as it has traditionally positioned Microsoft Office.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 24 days ago) / 32 views

Microsoft automates Office 365 installs

Posted in : News, Office

(added 25 days ago)

Microsoft has updated its automated software development tools to the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012, and in a sign it wants to push its cloudy productivity has added the ability to automate Office 365 deployments.

Details are sketchy at present, but the download page for the software promises “Comprehensive tools and guidance to efficiently manage large-scale deployments of Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 365.” That's a step up from the “Office 365 Assessment Report” offered in the tool's predecessor, the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit, which did little more than check if PCs were capable of running Office 365.

MDT 2012 can handle deployments of Windows 7,Office 2010, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Windows Server “8” Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2. Redmond also promises the following features:

New support for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
Integration with Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 7 (DaRT) and Security Compliance Manager (SCM)
Support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview in a lab environment
Support for Windows Server 2012 Beta
There's no explanation offered, among the various pages about MDT, about just what constitutes a “lab” environment, in terms of either the number of machines allowed or the functionality afforded. ®

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 25 days ago) / 32 views

Microsoft beats forecasts on revenue and profit

Posted in : News

(added 28 days ago)

Despite increased focus on Microsoft's consumers products in recent years, it was corporate customers once again who fueled the company's latest record-breaking quarter.

Businesses buying desktop PCs running Windows and Microsoft's cloud services helped Microsoft exceed analysts' estimates for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31. Microsoft reported the results Thursday.

Those customers helped the Windows division reverse dips in sales in recent quarters, surprising some who had expected revenue to be hampered by a combination of stagnant PC sales, competition from tablets and the expected launch later this year of Windows 8.

Microsoft's broad range of offerings also helped offset a double-digit sales decline in the Entertainment and Devices division, which the company attributed to the soft game-console market.

Overall, Microsoft posted $17.41 billion in revenue, a 6 percent increase year-over-year. It also reported $5.11 billion in profit and earnings per share of 60 cents, exceeding the Zacks consensus estimate of $17.1 billion in revenue and earnings per share of 57 cents.

And that's before some big product launches expected later this year: Windows 8, Office 15, Windows Phone 8. The $5.11 billion profit was down from the year-earlier $5.23 billion, and earnings per share slipped a penny from 61 cents last year. But that resulted from a one-time $460 million influx last year related to a partial settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. Excluding that, profit was up $340 million year-over-year and earnings per share rose 7 percent.

Overall, "we're super pleased," said Lisa Nelson, Microsoft's director of investor relations, who added that operating income grew 12 percent as a result of revenue growth and cost-cutting.

Here's how Microsoft's divisions did:

• The Windows and Windows Live unit's revenue rose 4 percent to $4.62 billion, helped by big companies buying both PCs and Windows 7.

Sales of business PCs grew 8 percent, and 40 percent of enterprise desktop PCs are now on Windows 7, Nelson said.

Microsoft also benefited from a PC market that didn't do as badly as some analysts had predicted. Research firm Gartner said this month that PC shipments grew 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, exceeding its earlier projection of a 1.2 percent decline.

Research firm IDC said PC sales were up 2.3 percent for the quarter, exceeding its earlier forecast of a 0.9 percent decline.

• The Business division (which includes Office, Lync, SharePoint, Exchange, Dynamics) reported revenue of $5.81 billion, up 9 percent.

Nelson did not disclose updated figures for the sales of Office 2010 (the company had said several months ago that 200 million Office 2010 licenses have been sold), but said they continue to surpass expectations seven quarters after launch.

She also declined to share numbers on Office 365, the online version of the software, but said there was "lots of momentum there."• Server and Tools reported revenue of $4.57 billion, a 14 percent increase — its eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.

Nelson said the division showed strength across its portfolio, but singled out SQL Server, with a double-digit growth she declined to put a number to, and Systems Center, with 20 percent growth.

Multiyear licenses from businesses make up 60 percent of the Business division's sales and 50 percent of Server and Tools', according to Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein.

That shows that "a lot of companies are buying into Microsoft's product road map longer term," said analyst Sid Parakh with Seattle-based McAdams Wright Ragen. "Which speaks highly of what they've been able to build so far."

While Microsoft's revenues have always leaned heavily on corporate customers, it was "a little more pronounced" this quarter, Parakh said.

• Entertainment and Devices (which includes Xbox, Windows Phone and Skype), did not do so well, with a drop of 16 percent to sales of $1.62 billion. It posted an operating loss of $229 million, compared with a $210 million profit a year earlier.

Nelson attributed that to the softness of the console market as a whole. There was good sales momentum in October and November but that slowed in December, she said.

During the quarter, Microsoft sold 1.4 million Xbox consoles, compared with 2.7 million a year ago. Still, the Xbox remained the country's top-selling gaming console for the 15th consecutive month.

Revenue from Xbox 360 slid 33 percent to $584 million, mainly because of a drop in the number of Xbox 360 consoles and stand-alone Kinect sensors sold, according to Microsoft's 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those declines were partly offset by revenues from Xbox Live, Microsoft's entertainment subscription service. The amount of time Xbox Live users spend using the console for entertainment instead of gaming "is increasing all the time," Klein said.

Microsoft did not break out revenue or sales figures for Windows Phone or Skype. But the company did say in its 10-Q that the Xbox's decreased revenue was "offset in part by Skype revenue and Windows Phone software-license revenue from Nokia."

In addition, the company said Skype users made 100 billion minutes of calls this quarter, an increase of 40 percent from a year ago.

• Though the Online Services division (which includes Bing and MSN) continues to lose money — $479 million this quarter — it posted a 6 percent increase in revenue to $707 million. And it trimmed losses by $300 million, which Nelson said resulted from increased monetization and cost cutting.

Microsoft shares closed Thursday at $31.01, down 13 cents. In after-hours trading it was up 3.1 percent, to $31.97.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added 28 days ago) / 45 views

Microsoft Windows RT: An Unfortunate Name for Windows on ARM

Posted in : News, Windows

(added a month ago!)

Microsoft Windows RT An Unfortunate Name for Windows on ARM Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off of its naming scheme for Windows 8. And while Microsoft deserves kudos for keeping things simple and giving us just two editions for x86-based systems--Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro--the company takes a step backward with its plan for Windows 8 running on ARM-based processors.

That version of Windows, now referred to by the arcane "Windows RT," clearly represents an attempt to distinguish between ARM-based Windows 8 and standard x86-based Windows—both of which will appear in tablets and laptop-style clamshell PCs. At first glance, however, the new name stumbles over itself, even before the fledgling Windows on ARM can take flight.

Ever since Microsoft announced at CES 2011 that it would have Windows 8 on ARM-based processors, the question loomed large as to how the company would differentiate between tablets and PCs running x86-based Windows 8 and ARM-based Windows 8. And as it became clearer that Windows 8 on ARM would have limitations on what it could run, the room for confusion grew bigger. Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 8 on ARM would lack the desktop mode found on standard Windows 8 and, by extension, would not support emulation for existing x86 software.

Instead, Windows 8 on ARM will be limited to using apps created for Microsoft's new Metro interface. Given the limitations of Windows 8 on ARM, it makes sense that Microsoft wanted to downplay Windows 8 in the moniker. After all, consumers who bought an ARM-based tablet or a clamshell PC might reasonably have expected it to run the same software that works on Windows 8, in any mode, if "Windows 8" had remained in the name.

But that said, the decision to excise "Windows 8" from the name altogether and to dub the new version "Windows RT" complicates Microsoft's position in multiple ways. For one thing, by cutting ties with "Windows 8," Microsoft leaves the new OS isolated from growing public awareness of the radically different Windows 8 Metro interface that Microsoft hopes to redefine itself with.

Furthermore, the new version's name appears to draw from the arcane coding term "runtime," a designation that most shoppers will find devoid of any resonance or impact when they have to decide among products running Microsoft Windows. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Windows when the company is trying to compete in Apple's consumer-friendly tablet world. Frankly, it was bad enough back in the 1990s, when Microsoft derived Windows NT's nomenclature from programming arcana; in that case the company's marketing materials eventually claimed thatthe name was meant to invoke Windows "New Technology."

You won't be able to go out to a store and buy a copy of Windows RT. The only way you can get it is to buy an ARM-based tablet or PC that has the OS preinstalled on it. That makes sense given that the OS is specific to ARM system-on-chip architectures, but it doesn't bode well for the future of this forked version of Windows 8.

It feels as though we've seen Microsoft take a similar tack in years past, with Windows CE (now known as Windows Embedded Compact) and its various iterations--Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, and Windows Embedded Standard. Some of these products were, technically, variants of Windows based on their own kernel and not scaled-down versions of the desktop OS; but ultimately none of them achieved mass-market traction or consumer awareness.

Windows RT may face a similar fate. One thing in its favor: Windows RT shouldn't suffer from software compatibility issues, as some of the earlier Windows variants did--but that only holds so long as you're trying to run a Windows 8 Metro app. And that last point takes us full circle on the inherent problem of the new name, since the Windows RT moniker doesn't convey that the OS is compatible with Windows 8 Metro.

I remain excited by the new, slimline designs and potentially long battery life of tablets and portable PCs running Windows on ARM; some early mock-ups looked compelling, to be sure. However, Microsoft's nomenclature for its latest mobile venture leaves me cold.

Read the rest of this entry »

(added a month ago!) / 35 views

Previous Blog Posts

Subscribe for updates!

Latest Photos

Top Stories of the week

Our Link Partners

Posted in : News, Office

(added 2 days ago)

(added 2 days ago) / 4 views

Posted in : News, Windows

(added 9 days ago)

(added 9 days ago) / 27 views

Posted in : News, Office

(added 11 days ago)

(added 11 days ago) / 21 views

Posted in : News, Office

(added 15 days ago)

(added 15 days ago) / 26 views

Posted in : News, Windows

(added 16 days ago)

(added 16 days ago) / 19 views

Posted in : News, Office

(added 18 days ago)

(added 18 days ago) / 50 views

Posted in : News, Office

(added 24 days ago)

(added 24 days ago) / 32 views

Posted in : News, Office

(added 25 days ago)

(added 25 days ago) / 32 views

Posted in : News

(added 28 days ago)

(added 28 days ago) / 45 views

Posted in : News, Windows

(added a month ago!)

(added a month ago!) / 35 views