Cuba criticized Microsoft on Friday for blocking its Messenger instant messaging service on the island and in other countries under U.S. sanctions, calling it yet another example of Washington's "harsh" treatment of Havana.
The technology giant recently announced it was disabling the program's availability in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea to come into compliance with a U.S. ban on transfer of licensed software to embargoed countries.
Market trends bode well for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system in the burgeoning market for software used in pared-down "netbook" computers, according to a company executive speaking at an investor conference Thursday.
Asked about the emergence of competition in software used to power netbooks from the likes of Google Inc. and others, Microsoft (MSFT 20.42, -0.03, -0.15%) finance chief for the Windows business division, Tami Reller, told an audience at the Cowen & Co. Technology Media & Telecom Conference that the software giant remains confident.
Microsoft Corp. announced today that sales of Xbox 360 consoles have passed the 30 million mark globally, with its Xbox LIVE community swelling to more than 20 million active members. After the biggest year in its history in 2008, Xbox 360 achieved the highest percentage growth in hardware sales of any console so far in 2009, up 28 percent over the previous year.
Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, will help the company gain some search share against Google and has features that users will find helpful, but it is in no way a quick fix for the company's poor position in the search market, analysts said.
Microsoft is investigating reports of a new vulnerability in Microsoft DirectX under attack by hackers using malicious QuickTime videos. According to a Microsoft advisory, the vulnerability can be exploited by hackers to remotely execute code with the rights of the logged on user. Specifically, the vulnerability is in the QuickTime parser in Microsoft DirectShow, and is due to the way DirectShow handles supported QuickTime format files.
A reversal seemed highly likely from the moment Microsoft announced a 3 application limit in the Windows 7 Starter Edition OS planned for netbooks. You could practically hear the industry utter a collective boo even before the electronic ink was dry on that Microsoft decision. Credit Paul Thurrott who got the goods about Microsoft removing the app limit.
Microsoft is confirming that it is cutting off Windows Live Messenger service for users in five countries that are “subject to United States sanctions.” As reported first by LiveSide.net earlier this week, “users in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea can no longer IM with Windows Live Messenger.”
Microsoft yesterday reminded Office 2000 users that it will discontinue security updates for the aged suite in less than two months as it drops all support for the software.
At the same time, the company also reminded users that it's dumping the Office Update site at the end of July, part of an effort to streamline update options.
Once again, Microsoft is finding itself beaten to the punch in the search game. While it has been readying Kumo for its first public airing--probably at next week's D: All Things Digital event--Yahoo and Google have already shown off their latest search enhancements. Worse still, their demos show that Redmond's rivals are heading in some of the same directions as Microsoft itself.
Microsoft Corp is likely to show a new version of its Internet search engine publicly for the first time next week, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The software giant has been testing a new version of the service internally under the name of Kumo.com and it may become part of the firm's attempt to catch up with Internet search leaders Google Inc and Yahoo Inc.
