Sometimes, the sheer size of a company like Microsoft can make it quite hard to see and realise just how large and profitable such a company can really be. In these kinds of situations, there's nothing like a clear graph to make all those pretty numbers tangible. Up to a point.
Today, Microsoft announced the imminent release of a new Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows. This update, which targets Windows 7, is the latest evolutionary step in the technologies that started with Windows Genuine Advantage in 2006. For most Windows users in the developed world its impact will be nonexistent; on a system with a properly activated copy of Windows, it will make an initial validation check, update itself every 90 days, and never make a peep.
Tuesday's security updates from Microsoft have crippled Windows XP PCs with the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), users have reported on the company's support forum. Complaints began early yesterday, and gained momentum throughout the day.
Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday is a big one, containing 13 security bulletins to fix 26 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.
Four of the updates are rated as ‘critical’, which usually means they could allow hackers into your computer to control it remotely.
Microsoft’s President of Windows has weighed in about the reports of alleged problems with PC batteries coming from some Windows 7 users. Steven Sinofsky posted to the Engineering Windows 7 blog about the battery-notification issue on February 8. If you want to know all about battery performance, telemetry data, and more, read the full post. If you don’t have time, here’s the synopsis: It’s not us; it’s your batteries.
Sinofsky blogged:
Microsoft today said it will deliver a record-tying 13 security updates on Tuesday to patch more than two dozen vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.
The company will ship a total of 13 updates next week, five of them pegged "critical," the highest threat ranking in its four-step scoring system. The 13 updates will tie the record from October 2009, when Microsoft issued the same number of bulletins, but fixed a total of 34 vulnerabilities. According to Jerry Bryant, a senior manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), next week's updates will patch 26 flaws.
A couple of weeks after Windows Senior Vice President Bill Veghte decided to leave Microsoft, another Windows marketing veteran is doing the same.
Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President of Windows Platform Strategy, will be leaving the company in February. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed his departure when I asked. From the e-mailed statement:
“We can confirm that Mike Nash is leaving Microsoft in a couple weeks. In his 19 years, Mike made an impact in number of key roles at the company. We appreciate his service and wish him well.”
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) became the world's most popular browser during January, gaining 22.31 per cent of the market and overtaking IE6 for the first time.
As of February 1, Microsoft officially jumps into the cloud-computing frey and now is charging customers for developing and running apps in its Azure cloud.
Microsoft’s Azure team said charges actually won’t commence until Tuesday February 2, in order to sync up billing across time zones. “Microsoft will begin charging for Windows Azure and SQL Azure starting at 12:00 AM February 2, 2010 GMT to ensure that customers and partners are not charged for their free usage in the month of January,” said the team in a February 1 posting annoucing Azure general availability.
In an interview Monday with ABC television, Gates called the row a "complex issue."Different countries have different rules on censorship, Gates said, adding that Germany forbids pro-Nazi statements that would be protected as free speech in the United States. Photo: Xinhua
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Monday that obeying local laws is a prerequisite for doing business in a foreign country, joining in the ongoing spat between Google and China over alleged cyber attacks a day after Beijing spoke out to defend its Web policy.
