Microsoft has lost a trademark battle against British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) at the U.K.'s High Court in London, which may force the software giant to change the name of its clouds storage service, or pay fines. 

In a court ruling on June 28, Judge Sarah Asplin found that Microsoft had infringed the "Sky" trademark owned by BSkyB by using the "SkyDrive" name. As a result, the software giant could be barred from using the marketing term for its consumer and enterprise document and photo storage service in the 28 member state bloc.

Another … Read more

Windows 8 has hit a new milestone. It's now the third most used operating system in the world, at least in the eyes of market tracker Net Applications.

For the month of June, Windows 8 scored 5.1 percent of all desktop OS Web traffic seen by Net Applications. That boost helped Microsoft's latest OS finally leapfrog over Windows Vista, which grabbed a 4.62 percent share last month.

The most recent figure showed a healthy gain for Windows 8 from its 4.27 percent share in May and continued growth since its official release in October. Over … Read more

Will new Windows 8.1 hybrids finally expose the iPad for what it really is, a mere tablet?

That's what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggested this week.

When speaking at the company's Build Conference on Wednesday, he described in colorful -- and maybe just a tad exaggerated -- terms how tablets don't measure up to laptops (or even pencil and paper).

Enter the "2-in-1," as Microsoft likes to call hybrids. During his keynote presentation, Ballmer brandished the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix as an example of a 2-in-1 he has used.

The Helix can be a pure … Read more

The Windows 8 Start screen is largely a love-it-or-hate affair. But even those who aren't too keen on the screen may welcome the new ways you can customize it in the Windows 8.1 Preview.

Right off the bat, Windows 8.1 offers a dedicated Customize button for the Start screen where you can tweak a variety of settings. Right-click anywhere on the Start screen to display the app bar and click on the Customize button. You can also right-click on any tile to open the Customize view.

The screen dims slightly. You can now drag and drop any … Read more

Those of you eager to check out the new Windows 8.1 Preview have a few choices as to how and where to install it. Let's cut right to the chase and review the different options.

Update Windows 8 If you're already running Windows 8, you can simply update it to Windows 8.1 via the Windows Store, as CNET's Jason Cipriani explained earlier this week.

One word of warning before you proceed, however. The Windows 8.1 preview is essentially a beta of the new OS and is by no means a finished or polished version. … Read more

Windows 8.1 will try to make your life a bit easier by letting you shut down or restart your PC from the Start screen.

The preview edition of Windows 8.1 isn't due out until Wednesday. But the Windows Server 2012 R2 preview is available now for download. Since both versions share many features in common, the server-based preview provides a good glimpse at what's ahead for PC and tablet users.

Windows 8.1 users will be able to trigger a shut down or reboot much more quickly than in Windows 8. On the PC's Start … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox and PC games may be coming to Apple's iPhone and Android devices sometime this year, according to a report by Nikkei via Reuters.

The tech giant is allegedly working on a licensing deal with Japanese mobile game maker KLab to bring its games to other smartphone platforms, according to Reuters. One of the first games said to be released is Age of Empires, which reportedly will be free and available on iOS and Android smartphones by the end of this year.

Bing may enroll at your local school by the end of the year.

Microsoft is developing a special edition of its Bing search engine geared specifically toward students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Known as Bing for Schools, the tailored version will remove all ads from search results, filter out adult content, beef up privacy protection, and add learning features to promote digital literacy, Microsoft said in a blog post Monday.

This new version will be free and entirely voluntary for any interested schools. No special software or unique Web address will be required to access the site.

To promote … Read more

At least one Microsoft employee -- or somebody posing as one -- is none too happy with the company's about-face on the Xbox One.

In an anonymous Pastebin post on Thursday, a self-dubbed "heartbroken MS employee" vented on Microsoft's decision to remove at least two of the more controversial features in the Xbox One. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it would jettison the requirement that the Xbox One connect to the Internet. The company also said it would loosen the restrictions on used game sales.

In response, the Pastebin poster tried to highlight the vision behind the Xbox One … Read more