Tag: Microsoft

Bill Gates may be on his way Out of Microsoft; Satya Nadella to be named Microsoft CEO

Microsoft’s cloud chief, Satya Nadella, will lead the company as its next chief executive, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s board is “preparing to name” Nadella chief executive, Bloomberg reported Thursday afternoon. Nadella, whose official title is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, had been one of the front-runners in the race to replace current chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said last August that he planned to step down within a year.

But the board is also considering replacing Bill Gates as chairman of the company, Bloomberg reported, ousting the company’s co-founder and possibly replacing him with John Thompson, Microsoft’s lead independent director. If Gates is to go, as PCWorld suggested last year, it would remove two of Microsoft’s iconic employees from the software giant.

The problem with replacing Ballmer or Gates, is that no one executive at Microsoft has traversed the range of the company’s products, which include consumer businesses like the Xbox, cloud services such as Azure, the company’s Windows business, server and development services like Visual Studio, and an emerging mobile business, too.

Nadella, 44, is an Indian-born engineer with degrees in electronics, computer science (from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), and business administration (from the University of Chicago). Nadella has worked since 1992 at Microsoft, and is credited with launching BizTalk, Microsoft’s Commerce Server, and Microsoft’s Office Small Business products.

However, Nadella is most famous for having overseen Microsoft’s online initiatives, where he transformed Windows Live Search into Bing. The market share for Microsoft’s search offering stands at 18.2 percent, according to Microsoft’s recent earnings.

One problem that naysayers point to: Nadella has no experience as a chief executive, unlike internal rivals like Tony Bates, who ran Skype, and external candidates like Alan Mulally of Ford, who took himself out of the running in early January, saying he was committed to Ford.

So far, Ballmer’s commitment has been to a “devices and services” strategy. If Nadella is named CEO, its unclear whether he’d commit to that direction. On the other hand, his track record indicates that he can fulfill at least one half of that strategy.

January 31, 2014
Microsoft’s Latest Windows Phone Update Sees Paced Uptake

This weekend AdDuplex, an advertising platform for Windows applications, announced that according to its tracked data, Windows Phone Update 3 is now installed on 15 percent of Windows Phone 8 handsets.

Microsoft tore the wrapping off of Update 3 — also known as GDR3 — in October, detailing to the media what it would include, and providing notes on its delivery schedule. Developers could get their hands on the code sooner, but the average user, as TechCrunch wrote at the time, would “get the updates between the Fall, and the early parts of 2014. Carrier considerations, testing, and the like will determine when precisely your handset gets the bump.”

To see a mere 15 percent of the Windows Phone 8 pool of handsets have the update as January comes to a close is slightly disappointing. We could, perhaps, see a surge of firmware updates come in the next few months, but it’s safe to say now that the pace of upgrade from firmware announcement to installation on a plurality of devices is a long cycle in the Windows Phone world.

I had no benchmark in mind of how far along Update 3 should have been at any given moment, but I do think that it is reasonable to say that 15 percent after a quarter is a slower uptake pace than we might have hoped for given that the software is free for consumers.

Carriers, presumably, are the sticking point. If Microsoft wants to more quickly move its new code to extant Windows Phone consumers, it will need new strategy. Unless, like with Android, Microsoft is content with fragmentation that will see its user base stratified across versions, hampering developers and not maximizing the strength of its own user experience.

Kicked to the above is the fact that Windows Phone 8.1 is on the way — likely in April. If carriers don’t get out-of-the-way, some users may end up moving to 8.1 before Update 3 trickles down to their handsets.

Top Image Credit: Flickr | Article was originally posted on TechCrunch

January 27, 2014
Microsoft to Improve Metro Apps in Windows 8.1

Yesterday Paul Thurrott enumerated a number of tweaks that will appear in the upcoming Windows 8.1 update. Screenshots from WZor confirm a few of Paul’s earlier notes on upcoming changes to Windows 8.x that are worth discussing.

The gist is that Microsoft wants to unify the desktop and Metro environments, especially in the context of apps. The better the apps work between the two, the more people might use applications from the Windows Store. This is tacit admission that people love the desktop environment that they have used for decades, and have been slow to switch over to the Metro environment.

So, if people love the desktop and you want them to use more Metro apps, you bring the Metro apps to their desktops. Paul previously reported that you would be able to run Metro apps on the desktop, but WZor screenshots show it in action. Surprise? No.

There is more: “I can confirm one new feature: Metro apps will now include a close box, similar to that seen on desktop applications, which can be clicked with a mouse so that the app closes completely.” Thank god. Getting rid of Metro apps when you are done with them has been a constant Windows 8.x headache.

The divide between the “new” in Windows 8.x (the Metro side of the fence) and the “old” (the Windows 7 bits of Windows 8.x) is being blurred. That’s probably good, given that the old is popular and Microsoft wants the new to become more so.

We’ll see more before Build, given the current pace of leaks. It seems that Microsoft wants to patch the weaker parts of Windows 8.x while keeping its main thrust in place. You can’t have mobile Windows without the Metro interface, and you need an app store as well. But you can heal the cracks on traditional PCs, I suppose.

This post first appeared on Techcrunch | Top Image Credit: Flickr

January 23, 2014
GoDaddy Partners with Microsoft to offer Office 365 to small businesses

Microsoft has partnered with a domain name and hosting company GoDaddy to offer Office 365 as the exclusive business-class email and productivity tools service for GoDaddy’s small business customers.

GoDaddy is offering customers three different tiers of Office 365 service: Email Essentials, Business Essentials, and Productivity Plus. The Email Essentials plan is only $4 per month, and is tailored to very small business customers. It lets the business set up an email using the company’s own domain; comes with 5GB of email storage, plus 2GB of SkyDrive Pro cloud storage; and lets customers sync email, calendar, and contacts across devices and platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/xvK76H9olXM?feature=player_embeddedThe Business Essentials plan is closer to the standard Office 365 offerings. For $9 per month, it includes 50GB of email storage, and 25GB of SkyDrive Pro cloud storage. It also adds online HD video conferencing, file sharing and collaboration, and online access to the core Office Web Apps.

For $12.50 per month, Productivity Plus customers get to install the full Microsoft Office desktop suite on up to 5 PCs or Macs, and gain access to use Office Mobile Apps for Windows Phone, iPhone, and Android.

All of the tiers of service offered by GoDaddy also include the main benefits of Office 365 for small business customers. First, the infrastructure and applications are maintained by Microsoft, so it’s like getting a whole IT department thrown in for free. Second, the tools included in the Office 365 service will always be updated, and customers will have access to whatever is the most current version of the software available.

There are nearly 30 million small businesses in the United States, and an estimated 92 percent of them have fewer than four employees. Businesses that small face a challenge because they still need business-class tools and services, but lack the resources to implement and manage those tools on their own. A Boston Consulting Group study commissioned by Microsoft found that if more small and medium businesses had access to cutting edge IT tools, it could boost revenues by a combined $770 billion and create an estimated 6 million more jobs.

If your small business has a domain bought from or hosted by GoDaddy, you should take a look at the new Office 365 offerings and see if they make sense for you.

January 14, 2014
Apple & Microsoft-Backed Rockstar Consortium Battles Google and Samsung Over 7 Nortel Patents

Well, at the moment, it does look like a ‘never ending’ war between this two parties. “The Rockstar consortium is an organization backed by Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson and Sony. It purchased patents off of the defunct telecommunications company Nortel in 2011, in a bidding war with Google.

Now, the consortium has filed suit against Google, ASUSTek, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech and ZTE over those patents. The suit was filed in a U.S. District Court of Eastern Texas today.

“Google placed an initial bid of $900,000,000 for the patents-in-suit and the rest of the Nortel portfolio. Google subsequently increased its bid multiple times, ultimately bidding as high as $4.4 billion,” the filing states. “That price was insufficient to win the auction, as a group led by the current shareholders of Rockstar purchased the portfolio for $4.5 billion. Despite losing in its attempt to acquire the patents-in-suit at auction, Google has infringed and continues to infringe the patents-in-suit.”

Google famously bid some not-so-random numbers before the end, including ‘pi’. The suit also involves a licensee of the ‘Associative Search Engine’ 6,098,065 patent, NetStar, Inc.

The other patents are US 7,236,969, 7,469,245, 7,672,970, 7,895,178, 7,895,183 and 7,933,883. They’re mostly fairly dry stuff related to database searches, relevance in advertising presentation and data sorting, but exactly the kind of stuff that makes Google’s special sauce work. We can’t speak to the strength of the patents, but they certainly appear to be relevant.” said techcrunch on their website, “Google lost out in a heated bidding war against Rockstar and went on to acquire Motorola, a move that many attributed to a patent grab, but that was also about hardware in a lot of ways.

Notably, HTC has a cross-licensing agreement with Apple on some patents, but apparently not these. News of the suit was first reported by Reuters today.”

November 1, 2013
Windows 8.1 Ready for Release

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that Windows 8.1 has reached its final “Release to manufacturing” stage and has, well, been released to manufacturers for inclusion in the annual blitz of holiday hardware. News of Windows 8.1’s RTM status first broke this weekend. What does this mean for you? Nothing, yet. While manufacturers have their paws on the final version of Windows 8.1 today, the free update won’t appear in the Windows Store until October 17, with boxed discs and third-party hardware appearing on physical store shelves the day after.

Curious computer users do have a way to scratch their Windows 8.1 itch, however. A preview version of Windows 8.1 is still available for download, complete with new apps, new features, numerous new highlights, and yes, even a plethora of new (and killer) hidden secrets. One of those hidden features comes in especially handy for traditional PC lovers: The ability to boot directly to the desktop.

Think hard before you install the Windows 8.1 preview, though. If you opt for the preview available in the Windows Store, your apps—though not your personal data—will be wiped when you install the final build in October. Since that’s just a couple of months away, you’d probably be better off grabbing the ISO files of Windows 8.1 that Microsoft has made available and running it in a virtual machine, instead. Microsoft deserves big props for delivering an RTM version of the Windows 8.1 update just 10 scant months after the official release of Windows 8.1, especially when you considerjust how expansive the update is. Windows 8 was and is far from perfect—and its mixed reception might have even cost Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer his job—but the company’sshift towards rapid-fire releases is already paying off. Article Source: pcword.com

August 27, 2013
Steve Ballmer to sign his retirement letter within 12 months

After 13 years of leadership, the Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer has called it time to step down as the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Cooperation.

“There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Ballmer said in a Microsoft press release. “We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.”

Ballmer, however, has recently refocused Microsoft in order to drag the PC stalwart into the faster-moving mobile age, initiating drastic sea changes such as the device-spanning Windows 8 operating system, a push towards rapid-fire releases rather than 3-year development cycles, “One Microsoft, all the time,” an increased focus on services and the cloud, and the launch of the Surface brand—Microsoft’s first foray into competing with its manufacturing partners.

Any of those could be considered a major shakeup. All of those combined constitute a near-complete reimagining of Microsoft.

Those monumental changes may be the reason for Ballmer’s retirement, according to Patrick Moorhead, the principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy and an industry veteran who held senior leadership roles at AMD and Compaq. He finds the 12 month search for a successor suspicious.

“Somebody pissed somebody off,” Moorhead says. “Potentially it was this $900 million write down [for Surface RT tablets]. If I had to bet money, I’d say that that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Looking Back…

Ballmer achievement for Microsoft has been enormous in his 13 years of service. Here are Ballmer’s accomplishments in Ballmer’s own words, via a farewell letter sent to all Microsoft employees.

“I am proud of what we have achieved. We have grown from $7.5 million to nearly $78 billion since I joined Microsoft, and we have grown from employing just over 30 people to almost 100,000. I feel good about playing a role in that success and having committed 100 percent emotionally all the way. We have more than 1 billion users and earn a great profit for our shareholders. We have delivered more profit and cash return to shareholders than virtually any other company in history.”

Now the big question is: Who will be the new CEO? Looking at what Ballmer has archived, Whoever takes over the reins will have some mighty big shoes to fill. Ballmer was Microsoft’s 30th employee and its first business manager, and for all the grief tossed Ballmer’s way in the wake of Windows 8, there’s no denying that the company accomplished some amazing things under his stead.Credits: pcworld.com

August 25, 2013
Microsoft is going all in with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

It’s a huge year for Microsoft. The venerable tech giant is essentially reinventing itself from the ground up for 2012. A new server OS, new desktop OS, new Microsoft Office suite, new mobile platform, and new tablet hardware are all being launched virtually simultaneously. To say Microsoft has a lot riding on the success of the new products is an understatement. Apparently, Microsoft is willing to put its money where its proverbial mouth is, though, and lead its customers by example. There are reports that Microsoft plans to accelerate its normal PC refresh cycle to give all employees new Windows 8 desktops and laptops. But, wait—there’s more! Microsoft is also allegedly issuing new Windows Phone 8 smartphones and Surface RT tablets to all employees as well.
Microsoft allegedly plans to give all employees their very own Surface RT tablet.

Aside from Microsoft playing Santa Claus (or Oprah—choose your own benevolent icon), and bringing Christmas to employees a tad early, the move also demonstrates Microsoft’s confidence in the new platforms and software. It is arguably the most extreme example of the “eat your own dog food” mantra ever implemented. It’s probably not entirely altruistic, though. It seems safe to assume that there is a deeper business strategy behind the decision.
Onuora Amobi, editor of Windows8Update.com, thinks it’s a brilliant move by Microsoft. Aside from fostering loyalty and good will with employees, it allows Microsoft to do a massive real-world test of its manufacturing and distribution channels, and it enables Microsoft to demonstrate–on a massive, global scale—that Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are ready for enterprise customers to roll out themselves.
From a marketing and consumer standpoint, the strategy makes sense as well. With more than 90,000 employees carrying and using Windows 8 smartphones and Surface RT tablets, the devices will get a huge boost in exposure. The friends and family of those 90,000 employees will have a chance to touch and feel the new Windows 8 smartphones and tablets, and the word of mouth marketing will be much more invaluable to Microsoft than any advertising it can buy.
Of course, Microsoft followed a similar strategy a couple years ago when it gave all employees Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Despite the word of mouth marketing and excitement that should’ve been generated among Microsoft family and friends, the Windows Phone platform has still been struggling to earn a seat at the table with other mobile platforms like iOS and Android.
Microsoft is putting its money on the line in other ways as well, though. Previous versions of Windows have cost consumers hundreds of dollars to upgrade, but with Windows 8 Microsoft is offering the upgrade for a mere $40 for a limited time. There’s also a rumor that Microsoft could price its Surface RT tablet at around $200—a very aggressive price for a tablet of that caliber, and something, which is sure to draw attention if it proves true.
Microsoft isn’t just developing incremental tweaks to existing product lines. The operating systems, platforms, software and devices Microsoft is unleashing this year represent a bold departure from traditional Microsoft products and strategies. Much of what Microsoft is doing is essentially a gamble—but it’s a gamble that Microsoft is going all in on.
We’ll see if the strategy pays off.

September 16, 2012
Microsoft battles botnet pre-installed on systems

Imagine turning on a brand new, fresh-from-the-factory laptop and already having a virus on it before you even do anything. That’s the scary situation Microsoft uncovered on several PCs in China, and now the tech giant is fighting the botnet responsible for the infections in court.
Microsoft digital crime investigators in China discovered the Nitol virus when looking into the sale of counterfeit software. The virus was preinstalled on 20 percent of the laptops and desktops tested, Microsoft states on its blog. Somewhere between the assembly line and the retail purchase, cybercriminals were able to introduce the malware.
The majority—85 percent—of Nitol infections have been detected in China, but nearly 10 percent have also been found in the U.S., Microsoft reveals.

Nitol-infected PCs immediately and automatically search the Internet for other computers to connect to and attack.
Microsoft’s further investigation unearthed more than 500 other types of malware being hosted by this illegal network. The malware found was capable of keystroke logging, remotely turning on the video camera and microphone, launching denial of service attacks, and more.
The Microsoft Digital Crime Unit has been investigating the malware since last August. This week, a U.S. District court granted Microsoft permission to take over the 3322.org domain and its 70,000 sub-domains, which the company says is the source of the infection and a major hub of illegal activity. Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against server owner Peng Yong.

Combating botnets by shutting down the domain providers is a strategy Microsoft has had great success with in the past. This is the second botnet disruption for the software giant in the last six months.
It’s also the largest single repository of infected software the company has found to date. More than 37 million malware connections have been blocked from 3322.org since Microsoft won the court order.

September 16, 2012
How Microsoft Surface Stacks Up Against Its Tablet Competition

How do the specs for the upcoming Microsoft Surface for Windows RT and Surface for Windows Pro compare with the Apple iPad? Here’s what we know. Surface will change your expectations of what you can do with your tablet. First and foremost, you are no longer buying into a dedicated mobile OS and its corresponding app ecosystem. Instead, you’ll be able to buy one app and use it on both a tablet and a Windows 8 laptop or desktop PC.
While the Metro face of the two Surfaces will be the same, the hardware flavors are fundamentally different. Surface RT will compete most directly with Apple’s iPad and the current crop of Android tablets, all of which run on power-efficient ARM-based processors. And Surface Pro—though still a tablet—targets Ultrabooks and other ultraportable laptops.
Click on the chart below for a comparison of the two Surface models with other tablets.

Surface RT vs. the iPad and Android Tablets

Tech specs: Surface RT comes with a USB 2.0 port standard (critical for connecting external storage and peripherals), along with a MicroSD card slot and Micro-HDMI video out. Most Android tablets have a MicroSD card slot and a Micro-HDMI port as well, but very few have a full-size USB port. Apple’s iPad famously has no ports, with the sole exception of its proprietary dock connector.
At the chip level, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 ARM processor powers the Surface RT. Most Android tablets run a version of the Tegra 3, as well, or they use another ARM-based processor. The iPad carries Apple’s own processor, which is also based on the ARM architecture.
Click for a full-size view of the chart.Storage on the Surface RT is similarly upscale, with a minimum of 32GB. The iPad and most Android tablets start at just 16GB. Among Android tablets, Asus’s Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 and Acer’s Iconia Tab A700 are the two exceptions, with 32GB baseline models.
Screen and resolution: Microsoft lists the RT’s display as “HD” rather than as “Full HD,” which likely translates into a resolution of just 1366 by 768 pixels. That won’t compete with the iPad’s Retina display, or even with those of Android tablets such as the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 and the Iconia Tab A700 (both with resolutions of 1920 by 1200 pixels). The Surface RT’s optically bonded display, which eliminates the annoying air gap between the screen and the glass, should help overcome its resolution shortfall. Microsoft does cite its ClearType font-display technology, but we won’t know how much ClearType can compensate for the gap in pixel density until we have the Surface tablet in hand.
Click for a full-size view of this chart.Physical specs: Microsoft didn’t supply complete numbers, but it did say Surface RT should be about 0.37 inch thick—thinner than many competing tablets and in a dead heat with Apple’s iPad. Current estimates put the Surface RT’s weight at 1.49 pounds, or 0.05 pound heavier than the current iPad. That’s a negligible difference, but the iPad itself got heavier this year, while Android tablets are consistently moving in the other direction, as consumers have come to expect. At 1.49 pounds, the Surface will be about 0.2 pound heavier than the Toshiba Excite 10 or the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity.
The Surface tablet’s design is unique. It features a comfortably angled bezel created with ergonomics in mind; a balanced arrangement of internal components that make Surface feel lighter; and a built-in kickstand for conveniently using Surface in a variety of scenarios.
Productivity: In this respect Surface RT is likely to shine. Unlike Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows 8 provides the ability to view two apps at a time on one screen, as well as having additional apps multitasking in the background. This flexibility is closer to what users are accustomed to having on a desktop or laptop computer. Plus, Surface RT will include Office Home and Student 2013 RT (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote).

Surface Pro vs. Ultrabook Laptops and Windows 7 Tablets

Tech specs: Surface Pro will come with 64GB or 128GB of storage and an Intel Core i5 CPU (Microsoft has not yet revealed the clock speed). By contrast, Ultrabooks have anywhere from 128GB to 320GB of solid-state or hard-drive storage, and feature Intel Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 CPUs. Microsoft hasn’t disclosed how much memory its Surface Pro will have; Ultrabooks average 4GB of RAM, comparable to what you’d find on an ultraportable or all-purpose laptop. Surface Pro outdoes most Ultrabooks, though, with a MicroSDXC card slot, a USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort for video output, and a dual digitizer for digital inking with a stylus.
An example of a Surface screen; click for a full-size view.Screen and resolution: Preliminary specs simply state that Surface Pro has a “Full HD” 10.6-inch display, which would suggest a display resolution of at least 1920 by 1200 pixels. That minimum spec would put it on a par with the best Android tablets from Asus and Acer, but those displays are half an inch smaller, so they have a higher pixel density. And none of the Android models compares with the 9.7-inch Apple iPad at 2048 by 1536 pixels. Like Surface RT, Surface Pro will also feature Microsoft’s ClearType (standard in Windows 8).
Physical specs: Surface Pro’s overall physical design is the same as Surface RT’s; but this model will be thicker, at 0.53 inch. Nonetheless, Surface Pro looks more stylish and snappy than current Windows 7 slates, and it’s thinner than many Ultrabooks. Surface Pro’s weight is estimated at 1.99 pounds, which is significantly lighter than the average 3- to 4-pound Ultrabook and comparable to current Windows 7 tablets.
Productivity: Intel’s Core i5 is powerful enough to let you tinker in Photoshop, handle complex spreadsheets, or play games. Surface Pro won’t come with Microsoft’s Office apps, though. Still, with digital inking plus one of Microsoft’s keyboard cover options, Surface Pro could be the ultimate ultraportable. If you can make do with a 10.6-inch display, then you can benefit from Surface’s inherent flexibility.

August 3, 2012