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Windows 7 Editions: Still Too Many

Written on February 05, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 30 people have commented

Microsoft has made public their “edition strategy” (my term, not theirs) for Windows 7. While there are still too many editions, at least they make a little more sense, and offer a better overall choice, than what Vista offered.
Paul Thurrott has a write-up on the editions at his Super Site for Windows. He was “critical” [...]

Weekly App Store Roundup: Jan. 3, 2009

Written on January 03, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 3 people have commented

Grab a party hat, don your celebratory garb and prepare to get your freak on because, praise be, it’s the first ever Weekly App Store Roundup of 2009.
Indeed, with Macworld drawing near, attendees should immediately check out our very own Conference Schedule – it’ll make sure you’re consistently in the right place at the right time.
In [...]

Apple and Microsoft: The Difference in OS Sales Models

Written on December 26, 2008 by Tom Reestman and 14 people have commented

In a previous article I discussed Apple’s approach to cloning and how far they should go in shutting down that business. This led to the question “why can’t I just buy Mac OS X and install it on any hardware I want?”, which led to a pretty typical answer that the boxed OS X is sold [...]

Microsoft Releases Seadragon iPhone App

Written on December 15, 2008 by Omar McFarlane and 5 people have commented

Unable to ignore the ubiquitousness of Apple’s touch devices, Microsoft has released its first app, a tech-demo of Seadragon.
For those unfamiliar with the project, Seadragon is one of a few applications being developed under Microsoft’s Live Lab division. This one in particular provides “seamless browsing of vast quantities of visual information [...] regardless of the amount [...]

Microsoft Windows 7 Sooner Rather Than Later

Written on October 27, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 5 people have commented

When Bill Gates mentioned in January, rather arbitrarily, that Windows 7 may ship “next year”, a general consensus was that a more reasonable delivery would be 2010. With that in mind, many expected it would then “slip” to 2011, as Microsoft’s deadlines are known to do.
I was, and have been, always of the opinion that Microsoft needed [...]

Microsoft SideSight: Should Apple Really Worry?

Written on October 22, 2008 by Darrell Etherington and 4 people have commented

Keen not to be left behind by Apple’s increasing repertoire of multi-touch interface control gestures, Microsoft recently previewed a new technology called “SideSight.” SideSight is not just Redmond’s version of Apple’s tech, though. In fact, Microsoft’s new offering is not touch tech at all. More like proximity tech.
Gearlog provides an overview of SideSight, based on [...]

The Apple Tax: Fact or Fiction?

Written on October 22, 2008 by Darrell Etherington and 10 people have commented

Recently, we’ve seen Microsoft move to respond to Apple’s “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” ads, fearing the company’s rapid growth. There was the Seinfeld debacle, which drew plenty of attention. It didn’t seem to be quite the attention Microsoft was looking for, so they turned to the “I’m a PC” campaign. Yes, Pharrell [...]

SuperSite FAQ About Windows 7 — What They Really Meant to Say

Written on October 16, 2008 by Tom Reestman and 15 people have commented

Since Microsoft is trying hard not to talk about Vista, they’re falling back on their SOP of deflecting attention to a shiny new object, in this case Windows 7. To that end, the SuperSite for Windows has taken it upon itself to become the “central location for accurate information about Windows 7.” 
While I’m sure they meant [...]

OpenOffice 3.0 Released

Written on October 13, 2008 by David Appleyard and 8 people have commented

The latest version of Open Office, released today, has been in development for the past three years. As one of the most popular open source competitors to Microsoft Office, the release has been anticipated for some time (the launch even warranted a party!).
Open Office comprises of several applications: a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation [...]

Windows XP Lives On…Again

Written on October 08, 2008 by Nick Santilli and 5 people have commented

Several websites have reported in recent days that Microsoft are once again extending their period of official support for vendors offering Windows XP on new machines. The proposed deadline had already been extended to the end of January 2009, but appears now to have been prolonged to July 31, 2009.
For Microsoft, it is usual practice [...]

Microsoft’s New “I’m A PC” Ads Air; Something Is Fundamentally Wrong

Written on September 18, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 42 people have commented

Tonight, during The Office, Microsoft began airing its “phase 2″ of their $300 million ad campaign (after giving Seinfeld the boot) which features regular, everyday users saying “I’m A PC”…yes, it’s a direct response to Apple’s I’m A Mac/I’m A PC ads.
The ads are actually better than I thought they’d be but something still just [...]

Microsoft’s New Marketing Tactic: Let People Know That You Are “The PC Guy”

Written on September 18, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 18 people have commented

Microsoft, what are you thinking? Seriously.
Crispin Porter, the agency behind Microsoft’s seemingly failed ad campaign (and if not “failed”, then certainly “confusing”), has been kept on board for “phase two” of Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign. The angle they are taking for phase two is a direct response to Apple’s successful Get A Mac ad [...]

Microsoft to Give Seinfeld the Axe

Written on September 17, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 11 people have commented

CrunchGear is reporting that after only 2 commercials, Microsoft is giving Jerry Seinfeld the boot.
The general consensus on the two ads that have shown has overwhelmingly been that people just straight out don’t get them. Both ads mention next to nothing about Microsoft or Windows.
It’s reported that Microsoft will make an announcement shortly about this [...]

Second Seinfeld Microsoft Ad Airs; What?

Written on September 11, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 27 people have commented

So when the first ad featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates aired, I was mildly confused and more than anything really wanted to give it a chance. But this evening Microsoft aired the second ad in the series and now I’m really just flat out baffled by Microsoft’s decisions with this ad campaign.
This particular [...]

Microsoft Gurus a Genius Bar rip-off?

Written on September 08, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 10 people have commented

Since news came out that Microsoft would be deploying a “Microsoft Gurus” program as part of their $300 million effort to improve their image, they have been consistently compared to ripping off Apple’s “Genius Bar” program.
Microsoft Gurus is program Microsoft is starting up where they will deploy customer-service reps to various electronics retailers such as [...]

Windows ad featuring Jerry Seinfield airs

Written on September 04, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 47 people have commented

Tonight Microsoft aired its first ad featuring Jerry Seinfield. The ad (including Seinfield) is part of a new $300 million ad campaign Microsoft has put together to try and breathe new life in to the Windows operating system.
The 90 second ad spot is comprised mainly of shoe-banter between Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfield in a [...]

Open .docx with Office 2004

Written on September 03, 2008 by Jenny Kortina and 16 people have commented

Since the release of Office ‘08 I have been getting a lot of files with the .docx extension (the new standard for Word). Unfortunately, Office ‘04 does not natively support the .docx extension, but Microsoft has released a patch that lets you both open and save files in the open XML format.
If you have [...]

Microsoft Joins the App Store Party

Written on September 02, 2008 by Jethro Jones and No one has commented

There have been apps available on Windows Mobile for as long as I can remember it being in existence. When I had a Dell Axiom PocketPC in 2003, not only was I the coolest kid on the block, but I also had plenty of applications at my fingertips. I put a lot of games [...]

Microsoft Updates Office 2008 For Mac To 12.1.2, Office 2004 for Mac to 11.5.1

Written on August 12, 2008 by Bob Rudis and 1 person has commented

The fine folks in Redmond have released Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 update which includes stability and performance enhancements for Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, and Entourage 2008. In addition, this fixes several vulnerabilities, some of which may allow an [...]

Microsoft Delivers Goodies For Older Office Users, Too

Written on June 25, 2008 by Bob Rudis and 3 people have commented

Along with Office 2008 updates and announced Macintosh Business Unit hiring, Microsoft has also bestowed blessings upon older Office users (2004) with the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update and version 1.0 of their Open XML File Format Converter for Mac.
The Office 2004 update adds enhanced compatibility for documents that are in Open XML [...]