Microsoft

Office 2013 pricing: What to expect

As expected, Microsoft is pricing its next-generation Office 2013 lineup in a way to try to convince users to pay an annual subscription fee -- with multiple device-installation rights as a carrot -- instead of buying the Office 2013 software outright.

Microsoft is believed to be ready to launch its next-generation Office product within the next few weeks, possibly before the end of January. The newest version of Office -- known both as "the new Office" and "Office 2013" -- will be commercially available on that date. In preparation for the launch, Microsoft has been … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro expected to arrive in 'weeks'

The Surface Pro's arrival is only a matter of weeks away, according to a tweet today from Microsoft.

"On my way to the factory to check out #Surface Pro coming off the line...arriving in the coming weeks," tweeted Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft's Surface products.

This should be of no great surprise, of course. When Microsoft announced the Surface tablet last year, it said the Windows 8 Pro model would be available about 90 days after the release of the Surface RT.

That model was released on October 26, so the 90-day mark is … Read more

Only 1M Surface tablets sold last quarter -- analyst

Microsoft's Surface tablet may not have rung in much holiday cheer last quarter, at least according to one analyst.

Microsoft sold just 1 million Surface RT tablets in the fourth quarter, projects UBS analyst Brent Thill, down from a prior forecast of 2 million. In an investors note out today, the analyst cited two reasons for his dour projection in a single sentence:

"Surface RT is a consumer device with [fourth-quarter] sales suffering from the difficult iPad compare and narrow distribution."

Early last month, IHS iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander told CNET that she expected Surface sales of 1.3 million … Read more

Windows 8 fails to lift PC market as tablets soar, Gartner says

Research firm Gartner says that an estimated drop of 4.9 percent in worldwide PC sales over the fourth quarter has signaled a shift in the market.

In the fourth quarter, PC shipments worldwide fell by an estimated 4.9 percent, according to the research firm. A total of 90.3 million units were sold, but a shift in both consumer habits and the fragile state of the economy played a part in making sure PC manufacturers had little to celebrate as their products were shunned in favor of tablets.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner said:

"Tablets have … Read more

Microsoft to patch IE zero-day flaw today

Microsoft will fix a zero-day hole in IE today almost a week after this month's regular Patch Tuesday updates.

Discovered late last month, the vulnerability could allow attackers to gain control of a Windows computer running one of the older versions of IE by directing users to malicious Web sites. In response, Microsoft had suggested several workarounds and even offered a "one-click fix" designed to mitigate the problem, but those were considered temporary solutions.

Today's update will fully resolve the issue, according to Microsoft. Scheduled for rollout at 10 a.m. PT, the fix will be … Read more

CES postscript: The touch laptop, like it or not

The laptop was reinvented at CES.

Or maybe I should say there was a vigorous attempt to reinvent the laptop. Because we won't know how successful touch has been until next year this time.

Intel's CES booth -- still a large presence in the CES Central Hall -- had one basic unmistakable message: touch has arrived.

Windows 8 convertibles, detachables, touch-screen laptops, and just plain tablets from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Samsung, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, and others blanketed Intel's booth.

And just to make sure the touch message was crystal clear, Intel issued an edict to PC … Read more

Windows RT jailbreak tool unleashed online

Microsoft Windows RT

Windows RT was recently hacked to allow it to run unsigned desktop apps, and now it seems anyone can run that same hack via a simple batch file.

Someone dubbed Netham45 has packaged the hack into a batch file that users can trigger on their Windows RT tablets. That hack enables people to launch unsigned desktop applications compiled for ARM-based RT devices.

The tool takes advantage of a hack revealed earlier this week by someone identified only as clrokr. In a blog, clrokr explained how he was able to change a value in the Windows RT kernel … Read more

Microsoft's Messenger service to live on

Microsoft's Messenger service will survive despite the upcoming death of the Live Messenger client.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that it would retire its Live Messenger client on March 15, forcing users to move to Skype for their IM needs. Since buying Skype in 2011, Microsoft has continually tweaked the VoIP service, which now supports Microsoft account logins and integrates with Outlook.

But the Messenger service that supports Live Messenger isn't going away, at least not anytime soon, according to blog site ArsTechnica.

Messenger uses two network protocols that allow third parties applications to tap into its service. … Read more

Microsoft patent would make smartphones less annoying

Microsoft is trying to patent a technology that could tone down the brightness and noise of smartphones, with an eye toward reducing the nuisance factor in public places.

Published yesterday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the application for the patent dubbed "Inconspicuous Mode For Mobile Devices" defines a method to shift a smartphone into an "inconspicuous" mode, either manually or automatically.

In this mode, the brightness and contrast would be dimmed while the audio would be disabled. The information appearing on the home screen could also be minimized to dampen the display.

The … Read more