Enterprise software

Microsoft Office on iPad: More hints emerge

Microsoft officials have stopped bothering to deny that there will be some kind of Office support on the iPad. But the Softies still aren't sharing when this support will arrive or in what form.

Reports that Microsoft was developing Office for iPad began circulating, courtesy of The Daily, earlier this year. Reporters at The Daily claimed a Microsoft representative demonstrated privately to them Word, Excel, and PowerPoint running on the iPad. Microsoft officials, at that time, tried to throw cold water on The Daily's claims.

In subsequent appearances, Microsoft officials danced around questions as to when and whether … Read more

Windows 8 touch PC demand strong

Demand for Windows 8 touch-screen PCs is strong, according to two analysts who spoke with CNET.

"Touch machines are actually selling above expectations," said Bob O'Donnell, a program vice president at IDC.

And that means supply shortages. "Some vendors are actually facing shortages because touch panels are in limited supply. Vendors are saying they can't get as many touch-based machines as they would like to meet the demand that they're seeing."

Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at IHS iSuppli, echoed O'Donnell's comments. "We've talked to a number of PC makers … Read more

Surface sales may exceed 1M in Q4, says researcher

Microsoft's Surface RT tablet is expected to see sales of more than a million units in the fourth quarter, IHS iSuppli told CNET today.

"We see estimated sales of 1.3 million" in the quarter, Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at IHS iSuppli, said in a phone interview today. The fourth quarter still has a few weeks left.

"I would be surprised to see it much above that," she added as a qualifier.

The Surface RT version of Microsoft's tablet first went on sale October 26, well into the fourth quarter, so sales of over … Read more

Linux arrives on loaded Dell ultrabook

Dell began selling its sleekest ultrabook today with a version of Ubuntu Linux.

The XPS 13 ultrabook comes with Ubuntu 12.04 preloaded and is the fruits of a project at Dell to create an Ubuntu-based developer laptop.

"Our first project officially launches today for customers in the United States...We loaded a super sleek Dell machine with Ubuntu to give developers the essentials they want," Dell said in a statement.

And, at $1,549, it is loaded indeed with lots of fast silicon including an Intel Core i7-3517U Ivy Bridge processor, 8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz, and a 256GB solid state drive. It also sports a 1,366x768 13.3-inch display. … Read more

Amazon-Google cloud price war heats up

The cloud pricing wars are heating up, and today it's Google -- again -- putting on the pressure.

The search giant, which has been growing its rentable cloud offerings, today said in a blog post that it's lowering cloud pricing by an additional 10 percent on top of the over 20 percent cut it unveiled earlier this week. In case math is a little tough for any of you, that brings the total price reduction to over 30 percent. Not too shabby.

What could have motivated the additional cut today? Could a 24 percent to 27 percent price … Read more

Windows 8 off to an awkward start, Nomura says

The Windows 8 debut is off to an "awkward" start, Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund says, and that doesn't bode well for Microsoft's financial results.

Microsoft last month launched the newest version of its operating system, which incorporates more tablet-like features such as touch capabilities. The company is making a big bet with the new OS, counting on the software to help fend off competition from the iPad and other mobile devices. But there have been worries that Windows 8 demand is sluggish, with consumers instead opting for tablets.

Sherlund noted that PC vendors have been slow … Read more

Microsoft hands Windows 8 Pro to pirates by mistake

You want a copy of Windows 8 Pro? Go ahead and download it -- Microsoft is giving the keys away for free.

According to VentureBeat, an interesting exploit on Microsoft's download page allows users to pick up a free copy of Windows 8 Pro -- directly from the website, and at no cost.

If you attempt to download the free Microsoft Windows Media Center upgrade, which is being offered until January 31, a strange side effect takes hold. Windows 8 Pro will be permanently activated.

For the pirates among us, this would provide a handy workaround for the tech … Read more

Salesforce posts strong Q3 earnings, beats Street

Aiming to be the first cloud computing company to hit a $4 billion annual run rate, Salesforce.com is on the right track as it beat Wall Street expectations for the third quarter.

The social enterprise giant reported a third quarter net loss of $220 million, or $1.55 per share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 33 cents a share on a revenue of $788 million, up 35 percent annually.

Wall Street was expecting Salesforce to report third-quarter earnings of 32 cents a share on revenue of $776.5 million.

But Salesforce seems interested in discussing future quarters, as CEO Marc … Read more

Cisco nabs cloud-networking start-up Meraki for $1.2 billion

The three colleagues who created the cloud-networking and Wi-Fi startup Meraki at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science six years ago were not expecting to be acquired by Cisco Systems. But the tech giant announced today its intent to buy the startup saying it plans to throw down $1.2 billion in cash, along with retention-based incentives.

"The acquisition of Meraki enables Cisco to make simple, secure, cloud managed networks available to our global customer base of mid-sized businesses and enterprises," Cisco's Enterprise Networking Group senior vice president Rob Soderbery said in a statement. "Meraki's … Read more