Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer wowed an audience of government ministers and company executives at the opening of Microsoft’s new corporate HQ in France when he gave a ten minute speech entirely in French. Guests and dignitaries were apparently not expecting to be spoken to in their own language by one of the most important men in the computer industry. (more…)

With the graduate jobs market tougher than ever before and student debt spiralling out of control, it seems as if there are fewer and fewer reasons to for students to be cheerful these days. However, if you are currently studying there is one reason to be cheerful. In a move timed to coincide with the start of the university term, Microsoft has offered anyone with a .edu address (i.e., @aberystwyth.ac.uk) a special deal that allows them to purchase the Windows 7 operating system for a mere £30. (more…)

Yahoo CEO, Carol Bartz has angrily asked the media to stop talking about the £47.5 billion dollar Microsoft buyout rejected by her predecessor late last year. The head of the number two search engine is apparently tired of hearing about the deal, stating… (more…)

Today Microsoft announced their plans to test a version of productivity suite that will be compatible with a new range of web based office applications, you’ve guessed it, just like Google. The Microsoft Web suite will apparently be available to more than 400 million Windows Live consumers for free, though it will also be available on a subscription basis to Microsoft volume licensing consumers. (more…)

You’ll probably know by now, whether from this blog or one of the hundreds of others that have been covering this, that Microsoft have named their new search engine ‘bing.’ Now, to some that name may seem like just a random title picked out of the air at great expense by a marketing firm, however, to Mr. Steven Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft it is a clever marketing ploy rich in potential to become a household name. (more…)

For several months Microsoft has been testing a new search engine, the working title up till now has been Kumo, though Microsoft were always keen to stress that this was not a final name. According to reports the name is indeed set to change ahead of the rumoured $80 – 100 million dollar advertising push that Microsoft has planned for the new venture. (more…)

The European Union has set a rough date of June the 3rd – 5th for an oral antitrust hearing to allow Microsoft to defend their practice of bundling Internet Explorer with their Windows package.

The EU have been investigating whether or not the practice is anti-competitive since last year, if they find in against Microsoft then, it is though the company could be in for yet another sizable fine from the European regulatory body. (more…)

It appears, unofficially at least, that Microsoft has accepted the total lack of love for Vista exhibited by the world’s computer users. In all official communications the company is remaining fiercely loyal to its troubled Vista operating system, even halting free customer support for XP in an effort to move people on quicker. Unofficially however, the company appears to have accepted that XP is not going to die easily and could even be around into the next decade. In response to this, they have allowed computer manufacturers to continue offering XP as the OS on new systems.

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Microsoft has announced that customers buying computers with Windows 7, the new version of the world’s most popular operating system, installed will be allowed the option of downgrading the system. Downgrade options are a fairly longstanding feature that Microsoft has allowed as part of their license on particular versions of the OS for years now, though the option only gained notoriety after the release of Vista.
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Microsoft, which is currently in the process of being sued by the European Union for violating antitrust laws, has been granted an extension of the deadline for them to respond to the allegations facing them. The new deadline has been set for April the 21st. The extension is a significant act of good faith on the part of the European Union – the body is not usually in the habit of granting extensions of this nature. It is thought that the size of the company and the large-scale nature of the infringement are factors in its decision to do so in this case.
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There’s a new release from Microsoft. Unfortunately it’s not Windows 7 or a magical patch to make Vista work properly, in fact, it’s not even software. Microsoft’s hardware department have put their heads together and come up with a new gadget to keep laptops cooler. It’s an inch thick stand for your laptop that comes with an inbuilt fan powered off a USB connection to the laptop itself. They’re going to retail at about $30 dollars, which is a very good price for what it is.
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Earlier in the week we reported that Microsoft was internally testing a new search engine named Kumo. Technical details are still sketchy – presumably it’s being tested internally for a reason – though one thing we can do is explain the name Kumo.

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Times are hard at the Microsoft PR department currently, what with the company demanding money from recently sacked workers after severance miscalculations. However, it’s not all bad news, the department are currently in the process of announcing something that casts Microsoft in an awfully good light indeed – free technology courses.
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Microsoft have announced that they are to open a chain of real-world retail stores around the US. Microsoft hopes that the move will help the software manufacturer compete with Apple, whose glossy shops have done a lot to help bolster their brand over the years.
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