Microsoft

Microsoft to expand Xbox 360 warranty

Microsoft said on Thursday that it will expand its warranty on the Xbox to three years for certain hardware failures after an investigation showed the game console can be vulnerable to problems.

"As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures," Microsoft said in a statement. "Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing … Read more

Samsung store in Europe

When Microsoft released its Zune player-store-software combination, it effectively drove a stake into the heart of PlaysForSure, the company's logo program that identifies Windows Media-based online stores and the players that work with those stores. Sure, Microsoft still claims that it's equally committed to both initiatives, but PlaysForSure partners have a right to be concerned that their technology partner is competing directly against them.

Samsung was one of Microsoft's most steadfast digital media partners: it released one of the earliest Portable Media Centers (portable audio-video devices based on Windows Mobile software, which beat the video iPod to … Read more

Microsoft announces six patches coming in July

As part of its July 2007 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft will patch at least six vulnerabilities. Three of the patches are deemed "critical" by Microsoft and affect software for Excel, Windows, and .Net Framework. Two are deemed "important" and affect software for Publisher and Windows XP. One is deemed "moderate" and affects Windows Vista. Details will be released on Tuesday, July 10, 2007.

Microsoft: Please let us tax you, Red Hat! Please? Pretty please?!?

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from [Steve Ballmer-ustus] that all the world should be taxed.

Some capitulated but some, like Red Hat, continue to resist, as eWeek notes. The sad thing is how foolishly consistent Microsoft is on this patent thing. And confused as to what open source means.

Here are just three points that Microsoft is making clear, which are completely wrong (on a number of different levels):

Microsoft wants to suggest that all open source infringes its patents, but this is like saying all proprietary software does, too, just because a few companies might. Bob Muglia, SVP of Server and Tools at Microsoft, says:

… Read more

If you're Steve Ballmer, don't read this

Instead of kicking back for the July 4 holiday, Steve Ballmer should be going crazy right now.

If you're Microsoft's CEO, the finding by Evans Data of a falloff in the number of developers writing apps for Windows desktop computers makes for grim reading.

The study, which reports a 10 percent drop in the number of developers writing software applications for Windows, also forecasts another 2 percent decline this year. The big winner--this hardly comes as a surprise--is Linux. Evans Data says the percentage of developers writing Linux applications is up 34 percent from last year.

I suppose … Read more

GPL 3--a bridge too far?

The Free Software Foundation last week released the third version of the GNU General Public License-- GPL 3 (also known as GPLv3).

This CNET News article explains the new features of GPL 3, which the FSF hopes will be adopted by most open-source developers in place of the GPL 2 license. The older GPL 2 will remain available, however.

FSF founder and president Richard M. Stallman has devoted his entire career to making free software--and to making software free. A strong opponent of copyrights, patents, digital-rights management, and all other legal or technical constructs that limit the freedom of software … Read more

Google really, really wants to be part of antitrust case

Google this week filed a brief to the federal judge overseeing Microsoft's long-running antitrust case, again trying to make its case that it should be allowed to participate in the matter as a "friend of the court."

The filing, which was not unexpected, comes after Microsoft filed its opposition to Google's entry in the case. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did not rule directly on the matter at a hearing last month, but she did indicate that there are other ways for Google's concerns to be addressed, namely through contacting the state and federal regulators that are … Read more

The new enemies of patent reform? You

BusinessWeek has an interesting, frightening article on patent reform. Frightening because it's the BigCos who are advocating reform and, apparently, it's the VCs and entrepreneurs who are fighting it:

Since the mid-1990s, America's largest computer and software companies have been trying to rewrite U.S. patent law. The goal was to stem the tide of patent litigation, much of it generated by inventors and small companies trying to protect their intellectual property. But each time Big Tech tried to sell Congress on reform, it ran into an even mightier constituency: Big Pharma. Drugmakers had no problem with the current system, and they had the ear of Republican leaders.… Read more

Bill Gates overtaken as world's richest?

Bill Gates is still rich, but he may no longer be the world's richest man.

A Mexican online financial Web site estimates that tycoon Carlos Slim has a net worth of $67 billion, which would place his fortune above that of the Microsoft chairman, according to various media reports. Slim is known for a wide swath of holdings including banking interests, CompUSA and telecommunications firms.

The Mexican site, Sentido Comun, noted Slim's rising wealth in April, saying that they believed he had passed both then No. 2 Warren Buffet and Gates, Britain's The Guardian said in its … Read more