Microsoft Pushes Windows Phone for Business Users

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5

Software heavy Microsoft has officially released its brand new Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile operating system (OS), along with a global launch of many new devices running the software from companies including HTC, Samsung and LG–all of which are officially called “Windows phones.”Windows Mobile 6.5 and the associated Windows phones pack a number of valuable new additions for Windows Mobile users, like a new My Phone feature that backs-up your personal data to “the cloud,” among other things, and a Custom Theme Creator that lets you personalize the look and feel of your device.

 

Microsoft’s announcements, made at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment event in San Diego, Calif., were mostly consumer-related, but the company’s Senior Product Manager for Windows Mobile, Greg Sullivan, wants businesses to know that Windows Mobile 6.5 isn’t all fun and games.

The software packs all of the same security and manageability features that IT departments have come to depend on in previous editions of Windows Mobile, Sullivan says.

And though he acknowledges the consumer-centric nature of Microsoft’s Windows phone announcements, Sullivan says that the company’s new mobile OS and the phones that run it are really aimed at the “Life Maximizer,” or the professional who wants to receive both corporate and personal mail on their device, as well as use it as an everyday-life organizer and optimizer.

Windows Mobile 6.5 has a few new features that should please business users, as well. For example, it ships with a new version of Internet Explorer (IE) that supports Adobe’s Flash Lite so business users have access to new and different sorts of online multimedia content and a more versatile browsing experience in general. Browsing via Windows Mobile’s Internet Explorer mobile browser is also more similar to the desktop IE experience, so websites look mostly the same on Windows phones and Windows PC, Microsoft says.

Improvements to Exchange Server synchronization and Outlook Mobile mean users can manage multiple accounts directly from their devices.

And the version of Mobile Office that ships with the device allows for both editing and viewing of Office documents–BlackBerry devices, which are particularly popular in corporate environments, ship with a mobile office suite from Documents To Go, but you need to purchase the full version for access to document editing and creation capabilities.

Finally, Sullivan stressed that corporations that deploy Windows Mobile devices, or Windows phones, also benefit from the fact that most don’t need to buy third-party hardware or software to manage and support the devices thanks to Exchange, which means less complexity in the long-run and reduced infrastructure costs, he says.

Curious about Sullivan’s device of choice at the moment? HTC’s Touch Pro2, due to its functional, full-QWERTY keyboard, strong build quality, large touch-screen and, of course, Windows Mobile OS. Verizon’s brand new HTC Imagio, which Sullivan calls “sexy,” has also grabbed his attention.

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Bing Credited Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Against Google

The successful launch of new Microsoft search engine, Bing, was probably the case that the balance tipped in favor of Yahoo by agreeing to a search deal, analysts said.

When Microsoft launched Live Search as Bing early last month, the company acquired some early grounding in research, especially at the expense of Yahoo, according to analysts’ statistics.

This dynamic was first Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz that Microsoft could create a search engine that was able to draw new users, and could benefit from Yahoo to take advantage of the technology, said Neil MacDonald, Vice President and distinct group analyst at Gartner.

“I Bing credit for what the agreement finally tipped over the edge,” he said. “Microsoft has proven to be able to do something that has the possibility of reversing the presentation of Microsoft and Yahoo against Google.”

Microsoft and Yahoo have been losing ground to Google for a while ‘time in terms of search and search-based advertising. But the company has more than a year to hammer on Wednesday’s agreement on how to unify their research to business.

Under the terms of 10 years to address, Microsoft Bing search engine Yahoo and AdCenter platform power of search-based advertising of businesses, while Yahoo’s sales team to manage both companies’ customers premium research.

Bartz complimented Microsoft technology Bing just last week on a conference call to discuss Yahoo, the second quarter profits.

“I think Microsoft should give glory to Bing, is a beautiful product,” he said, adding that it was too early to say if people are visiting the site out of curiosity, or if it will help Microsoft to increase its market share above the long term. Microsoft and Yahoo said to be close to an agreement at the time, but nothing official has been revealed.

Although Bing seemed to be a great renewal of Live Search, which consisted mainly of features that were in Live Search for a po ‘di tempo, with some algorithmic and user interface changes the main differences, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst for Directions on Microsoft .

The problem was, and not a lot of people have used Live Search or knew these features and re-branded Microsoft was a way to draw attention to the product, he said.

Bing and marketing efforts around it did just that, and early reviews indicate that the new search algorithms are an improvement, not only about what Microsoft has previously, but also on the search engine Yahoo, Gartner said MacDonald.

In addition to being a good technology, Bing also proved that Microsoft was serious about their investments in research, he said. Likely to encourage Yahoo to abandon its search for investments in so Bing could concentrate on delivering content better on-line through its portal to drive and display advertising online.

“I think [Bartz] has had a long, hard look at what Yahoo, and what makes it distinctive Yahoo does not change,” said MacDonald. “The engine is not under Yahoo.”

If Bing offers better search results, he said, augurs well for Yahoo ambitions to become a premium destination for online content and bring more users to its portal.

Yahoo direction of research has been clear for some time. While you are invested billions in that part of its activities with the acquisition of Inktomi and Overture, and development of research activities, has never seemed entirely sure if I wanted to go head to head against Google, said Rosoff.

Wednesday of the Yahoo deal shows finally made the decision to move forward as a portal on-line rather than a research firm said.

“It ‘was just a matter of deciding if Yahoo wanted to really be a research and invest in that area, or wanted to be more of a portal,” said Rosoff. Research is the core business of Google, he said. “This is what they have always been around. Yahoo always gone back and forth.”

While abandoning its research efforts may appear as a loss for society, it is likely that the search technology for Yahoo – that Microsoft now have access to – factored in economics from the front, he added.

“They had something that Microsoft wanted to,” said Rosoff. “Not only are its component. But that does not mean they are going to invest in your technology search.

Microsoft Office 2010 Previews–Including Free Web Version

Microsoft announced some important details about Office 2010, the successor of the current, only for Windows Office 2007, due to a ship in the first half of next year.

Microsoft Office 2010

Half of the news that Microsoft is waiting for any update of its widely used productivity suite perpetually profitable. New Microsoft Office 2010 will include changes such as improving the functions of copying and pasting into Word, the new tools of data analysis in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint to video editing and a more efficient speaking of emails Outlook. The latter will also request the new single “ribbon” interface from Microsoft to add most of the other Office applications, two years ago in Office 2007. You can see the previous video of these new features to the Redmond, Wash., company of the Nation 2010 page installing the plug-in Silverlight.

In addition, Microsoft Office pruning the tree a bit: Instead of the eight different versions of Office 2007 available at present, only sells five flavors of Microsoft Office 2010. His “home and student version, but still left out of Outlook. Microsoft has not announced any pricing for these products.

But the other half of the news from Microsoft is much more interesting. The company will also offer free, somewhat simplified Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. He says that everyone working in Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari to any Mac or PC – a video about the Office 2010 web page shows the release of PowerPoint running in Firefox.

For more details on the Office Web applications, including screenshots of the software, see the TechCrunch rodeo.

It is easy to see why it has forced Microsoft to do that, given the success Google has had with its own package of documents on Google’s free Web-hosted word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Still, part of Microsoft must have died so you can give any version of its flagship suite.

What’s your take on the news? If you use Microsoft Office 2007, 2003 or earlier today, do you think an update of the 2010 pay, the desktop edition or switch to the free Web release? What if you use Google or another Web-based suite: What would required to change your Office Web Applications?

Microsoft Warns Of ‘Browse-And-Get-Owned’ Attack

Microsoft on Monday issued a security advisory about a zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft Video ActiveX Control. The flaw could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute malicious code on computers running Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server.

“A browse-and-get-owned attack vector exists,” acknowledged Microsoft security engineer Chengyun Chu on the company’s Security Research & Defense blog. “A user needs to be lured to navigate to a malicious Web site or a compromised legitimate Web site to be affected. No further user interaction is needed.”

And legitimate Web sites may be compromised merely by hosting content submitted by users. Such content or advertisements could be crafted to exploit the Video ActiveX Control vulnerability.

Chu notes that Outlook Express and Outlook will open HTML e-mail messages in the Restricted sites zone by default. This prevents ActiveX controls from being used when reading those messages. However, clicking on a link in such a message could still initiate a browser-based attack.

The specific vulnerable file is Microsoft’s MPEG2TuneRequest ActiveX Control Object. The company recommends setting the kill-bit on this ActiveX object as a workaround until a patch is released.

Microsoft provides a link on its Security Research & Defense blog that will disable the vulnerable ActiveX control.

In February, Microsoft issued a security advisory about a zero-day Excel 2007 vulnerability. It issued a fix for the flaw during its April patch cycle.

In June, Microsoft issued set of software patches that addressed 31 vulnerabilities in 10 separate security bulletins, the largest number of vulnerabilities fixed in a single day since the company began issuing regular patches on the second Tuesday of every month in October 2003.

Microsoft plans to release its July patches next Tuesday. It’s unlikely the company will have had enough time to prepare a patch for the Video ActiveX control vulnerability.

Microsoft Windows 7 now on USB for Laptops or NetBook

Windows 7 on USB

Microsoft still refuses to determine whether it will offer Windows 7 stripped starter or another version of its next operating system on a USB key for small laptops or netBook. However, the provision of the operating system Windows 7 on a USB stick with Microsoft could provide some benefits as it tries to maintain its lead in the operating system market share of ultra-peripheral.

Microsoft was sticking to a strict “no comment” on rumors that the next version of operating system Windows 7 will be available on a USB memory stick. However, analysts with a handful of reasons why such an initiative would be a good thing for users wishing to install Windows 7 on mininotebooks, popularly known as netBook, and built by a wide range of manufacturers including Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

If Microsoft did plan to issue USB on Windows 7, however, he kept a tight lid on the news. Although the first time on June 26 Cnet that Microsoft is considering the option, citing an anonymous source, the company itself has not confirmed the report.

“We have nothing to share on the distribution of Windows 7 beyond packaging, announced that we made earlier this week,” said Microsoft spokeswoman eWEEK, referring to the announcement disks for the operating system ships environmentally friendly in the boxes.

Some analysts say they believe the porting of Windows 7 Starter Edition, a smaller version of the operating system on a USB key might make sense.

“I think of two reasons for this,” Michael Silver, Gartner analyst, said in an interview. “Not all netBook are DVD players and if they want people to upgrade, this May be the only way.” Also, “For netBook low RAM, the stick could later be used for ReadyBoost to improve performance.”

ReadyBoost is a feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7 using a USB drive or other portable memory device for caching disk.

A USB drive would certainly provide an easy way to netBook upgrade to Windows 7, although these drives may cost more than a disk on a per unit basis. Microsoft said in April that Windows is running on about 96 percent of netBook, widely acknowledged to be the strongest segment growth in the PC market.

Unlike the Vista and Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows 7 starter will have the ability to run more than three simultaneous applications on a PC, the strengthening of the productive potential of NETBOOK.

Brandon LeBlanc, head of communications for Microsoft Windows, wrote in a blog in May netBook that is not necessarily limited to run Windows Starter 7.

“Windows 7 start should not be regarded as” the NETBOOK SKU, as most machines of this class can run any version of Windows 7, “said LeBlanc. “Many of our beta users have Windows 7 Ultimate installed on their laptops and small have given us very positive feedback on their experience.”

However, the startup of Windows 7 does not include some of the characteristics associated with more powerful editions of the operating system, such as Aero Glass, personalization features, the ability to switch between users, DVD playback and remote control Media Center. Also missing the XP mode for those who want to run older programs on Windows XP, Windows 7.

Microsoft Windows 7 must be cheaper than Vista

Microsoft announce Thursday that Windows 7 will be cheaper than the last version of its trademark operating system vista, According to companywide affordability of operating system.

The retail prices for new Microsoft Windows 7 Professional when it rolls out at Oct. 22 will range from $119.99 to $319.99. This price points are 10 percent cheaper than Windows Vista, and the version of Windows that 7 will replace.

Start from today through July 11, Microsoft like to running a half-off special, with the Windows XP and Vista users able to pre-order to book the new operating system for as little as $49.99.

“For first time we will have some aggressive offers that customers can take advantage of,” said Tami Reller, the chief financial officer of the Microsoft Windows group in a conference call held on Thursday.

Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System

Anyone who buys a new computer that comes installed with Windows Vista as of today will be eligible for a free upgrade with Windows 7. “There is no such trend with Windows 7, the removal of possible barriers to people to improve,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at an independent firm Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland. “The price just seems to follow that pattern.”

As the economy remains stalled, Microsoft has taken the miserly spirit with several campaigns. Earlier this year, the company issued a series of television commercials with shoppers hunting for a laptop that cost less than $ 1,000, Apple computers being chiding expensive.

Furthermore, a recent online video ad campaign for the Microsoft Zune portable music player said it would cost $ 30,000 to fill a rival to Apple’s iPod music.

Even Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has been the international launch of Microsoft technology as an investment to help companies squeeze more juice from limited resources.

Freedom of pricing Windows 7 Thursday only applies to boxed copies. Most copies of Windows installed on new computers sold, and the computer makers pay Microsoft for copying. Microsoft did not disclose the amount of charges that makers of equipment.

The company also plans to sell a simpler, less expensive version of the operating system called Windows 7 for beginners to build netbooks makers, small laptop computers that cost about $ 300. Another less expensive version of the operating system, Windows 7 Home Basic, will be sold only in developing markets.

Executives have asked all 7 Windows Vista was supposed to be. Hearing, which began selling in 2007, there were many technical problems when it first came on the market and quickly became the target of taunts from Apple “I’ma Mac, I’ma PC” TV ads.

Early evaluation of Windows 7 is, smooth operation and easy to use. Several features are designed to facilitate the management of multiple windows and applications open at once, including pop-up preview screen. The operating system allows a user to delete everything off the screen by a mouse Jiggling.

Windows 7 reduces the number of steps required to share music, photos and other files over a home network. It also includes more touch-screen functions.

Will Bing Eliminate Microsoft?

Microsoft is still dominated by Google-envy: Steve Ballmer appears ready for a deployment of up to $ 11 billion that Microsoft’s latest search engine Bing overtake the Internet competition. At best, the bet is a shot, and throw away that money could well do irreparable harm to Microsoft.

Bing Eliminate Microsoft

The Reuters reports that Ballmer said Microsoft is willing to invest 5-10 percent of operating income in the next five years into the Bing.

But the Xbox is one thing, and the Internet is something different entirely. Microsoft will not invest up to 10 percent of the income of more than five years in the gaming system, and it also does not have a dominant competitors such as Google, with.

According to Nicholas Carlson of Silicon Valley Insider, Microsoft would invest between $ 5.5 and $ 11 billion — is not chump change, even for a software giant like Microsoft that much money on hand.

In fact, the company has already billions in the Internet business, and has yet to see any return on it. Henry Blodget of Silicon Valley Insider says that Microsoft has already invested 8 billion U.S. dollars into the Internet company “and that the investment nor a single dollar.”

With up to $ 11 billion from companies looking for money for the next five years, Microsoft starve other efforts to secure more benefits. And it’s not just money that is at stake, it is Company — Mindshare and resources. Then there is the opportunity cost — the company missed opportunities because it is so throw away money for the search.

Ballmer is hyper-competition, but this is one example where this feature is Microsoft hurt. He should just admit that he lost the battle, searching on Google and move on. There are many other technical ways, but Microsoft has missed them because of their misguided attempt to beat Google.

IBM leads in technology seeking open “cloud” computing

IBM led dozens of tech companies in calling on Monday for open standards to promote “cloud” computing, a fledgling technology the industry hopes will drive growth over the coming decade.

But rival Microsoft Corp dismissed the effort, accusing International Business Machines Corp of seeking to exert control of the field, while cloud-computing pioneers Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc, Salesforce.com Inc were conspicuously absent from a list of companies endorsing it.

“Cloud computing” — one of the hottest buzz words in Silicon Valley — refers to a variety of ways in which technology companies offer services over the Web from remote data centers, seemingly from the cloud of the Internet.

The IBM-led resolution — dubbed the Open Cloud Manifesto — calls for making cloud computing products compatible with each other to boost their appeal to businesses.

Companies are generally reluctant to adopt proprietary new technologies where they feel locked into one provider out of concern they won’t have the option to switch to another vendor if things go sour or better options arise.

“It’s not that everything is going to be perfectly compatible, but it is going to be somewhat similar so that you can move from one vendor to another. It gives businesses the comfort level they need to buy,” said Stephen O’Grady, an analyst with technology research firm RedMonk.

The tech industry is under pressure to encourage businesses to adopt cloud computing technologies, which could help them save money by outsourcing part of their IT operations to mega-data centers that can achieve huge economies of scale.

Besides issues of compatibility, companies worry about the security implications of storing information at remote computer centers and moving it across the Internet.

Tech researcher Gartner Inc estimates that the market for cloud-based business software, computing services and storage from companies including Salesforce.com Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft and IBM will total about $10 billion this year. That’s just a fraction of the $223 billion that Gartner is projecting for the business software market alone.

IBM sees the manifesto as a first step toward establishing specific standards so customers can confidently switch between cloud-computing providers, said Irving Wladawski-Berger, chairman emeritus of the IBM Academy of Technology.

O’Grady of RedMonk expects that some of the standards would focus on security areas such as data protection and identity verification, alleviating some of the biggest concerns.

Backers of the manifesto include AT&T Corp., Cisco Systems Inc, EMC Corp, Novell Inc, Red Hat Inc, Sun Microsystems Inc and VMware Inc.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said her company was reviewing the document. A Google spokesman said his company decided not to support the manifesto, but did not give a reason. A spokesman for Salesforce.com could not be reached for comment.

But Microsoft vocally criticized IBM’s role in drafting the manifesto, saying Microsoft was only asked to sign on at the last minute.

“It appears to us that one company or just a few companies would prefer to control the evolution of cloud computing, as opposed to reaching a consensus across key stakeholders (including cloud users) through an ‘open’ process,” Microsoft executive Steven Martin said in a blog posting.

Wladawski-Berger at IBM said his company was one of the key leaders of the project, but that other organizers included Google. He added that he was surprised Google decided not to sign the document.

He said that he believed Microsoft and IBM would eventually work out their differences over the emerging standards.

“I’ve been around for a long time. There are always food fights at the beginning,” he said. “This will get worked out.”

Microsoft repels Google with 40,000 e-mail account deal

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will migrate some 40,000 student user accounts to Microsoft’s Live@edu hosted messaging and storage platform providing an alternative to the successful Google Apps education surge.

According to Microsoft, QUT joins “thousands of institutions around the world” by moving to the Live@edu platform, but the news of such deals has been mostly of Google’s equivalent offering, including a recent Adelaide University win.

The Live@edu suite of online applications includes Microsoft Outlook Live, Microsoft Office Live Workspace and SkyDrive for storage.

QUT evaluated a hosted, Web-based e-mail solution for students when existing email infrastructure “reached its limit of functionality and storage capacity”.

So much for in-house IT expenditure.

According to Microsoft, the decision to go with Live@edu is the result of discussions among students, university administration and company representatives, and the deal included an opt-in trial involving students from the Faculty of Information Technology.

By its own admission, Live@edu is compatible with “Windows, Mac and Linux machines” and with the IE, Firefox and Safari browsers.

At QUT, deputy vice chancellor for the division of technology, information and learning support, professor Tom Cochrane, said the university “carefully considered” various options and was pleased to offer students a “greatly improved” e-mail service through Microsoft.

“The Live@edu service offers our students the advantage of a greatly increased mailbox capacity and attachment file size, a useful calendar, plus a number of improvements in related services, while retaining their identity as QUT students in their e-mail addresses,” Cochrane said.

“The University will benefit by having automated service upgrades, and better scalability and availability by deploying this software as a service offering from Microsoft.”

During the current semester, QUT’s 40,000 students will also have access to a suite of online applications.

The Live@edu service will host student e-mail accounts with a 10Gb mailbox capacity, and allow 20Mb file attachments, in addition to calendaring and contact management.

Other features available include instant messaging and file sharing; Windows Live Spaces for personal Web publishing, blogging and photo sharing; and FolderShare, a private peer-to-peer network that allows users to synchronise files between multiple devices and share files with other student users.

The Live@edu e-mail addresses can be retained by students after they graduate.