Recent Articles
-
Google’s Semantic Search, a step towards future
Google has been at the forefront of search engine race…
-
Overview on Cloud based DNS hosting
Couple of years ago 3rd party DNS hosting was in…
-
.XXX a total failure of policy & strategy yet heavy cash maker
.XXX domain name which recently goes on for public sale…
-
Google’s cleanup marathon continues
Google over the years experimented with lots of products with…
-
Contact lenses with the touch of future
Don’t tell me even for once you didn’t thought how…
Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’
MS office on the cloud: Office 365
So finally Microsoft has released its much anticipated, cloud version of the traditional MS Office dubbed as Office 365, that will provide with online access to MS Office, Exchange Online, Lync Online instant-messaging software and SharePoint Online. The fact is it’s actually a newly rebranded and refreshed hosted version of its Office productivity software suite, which used to be Office Live Workspace (More or Less). Office 365 lets users access Office 2010 applications and documents from a PC, Smartphone, iPad or just about any device with a Web browser (Finally folks at MS started to realize there is a whole world out there that don’t give a damn about IE, thus it is compatible in most of the well known browsers). It also supports online collaboration and offline use with a client version of Office. Launched to limited beta and slated for a 2011 release, Office 365 adds a lot pricing variables to woo rival Google Apps and Zoho collaboration suit users. Pricing Plans Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees can pay $6 per user per month for Office Web Apps, along with hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint. Larger enterprises can choose from products costing anywhere from USD…
Windows Phone 7: will be a savior or villain for MSFT?
Microsoft’s upcoming Smartphone OS, Windows phone 7 officially dubbed as Windows Mobile 7 will be unleashed to consumers by October. Lots of hype going on around it, as for Microsoft this is a breakthrough initiative to get a hold onto the mobile market share that it never got, leaving the past failure behind. But truly could it be MSFT’s (Microsoft) Mobile hero just like iPhone for Apple? Or this will be just another villain like Windows Vista? Since Developer demo is out, all speculation around Windows Phone 7 started to shape into reality vs. myth. Windows Phone 7 which is complete overall of its predecessors, built from the scratch, UI (user interface) very similar to Zune HD (no brainer Zune and Mobile team worked closely). Windows Phone 7 aggregates Web content and applications into subject-specific Hubs such as Office or Games. According to MSFT all Windows 7 phones will ship with the same music and video features as the Zune HD. Users will also be able to manage their music with the Zune PC software. In addition to that it will come with a mobile version of Xbox dubbed as Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see…
End of Kin, signs of Microsoft’s struggle
Two years in creating, one and a half months in market with a cute little unique name, with stylish design and emphasized on trendy social network tools couldn’t save Kin from crashing. Just for the intro ‘Kin’ is the smart phone device that supposed to prove that Microsoft could build the right product at the right time for the ever changing tech savvy youngsters. But surprisingly less than two months after the Kin’s arrived in stores, Microsoft decided to kill it. Most probably the fastest ever end of a product by a tech giant. It’s not that “Kin” is Microsoft’s first flop, Kin just made the long list of MSFT product failure- from watches to music players, a bit longer. But most of its flop got some chance and time before got killed, even the super flop “Vista” survived over 3 years, but Kin which might be the image savior for MSFT got barely any chance. Kin fiasco is an echo of Microsoft’s skirmish to deliver what the technology-obsessed new generation consumers wants. From hand-held products to business software, Microsoft seems racing with times, and falling far behind. First issue there is very few who want to develop for Microsoft….
Office 2010 could have been better
This Tuesday Microsoft officially released Microsoft Office 2010, which includes all version of the productivity suite. With around 755 million of user worldwide Microsoft office definitely dominate Office productivity market share, closest match are way behind down the line. The last office suite, Office 2007 was released by MSFT way back in January 2007, so definitely it has been long awaited version. User can now upgrade to their choice of new Office versions: the $149.99 Home and Student bundle of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; the $279.99 Home and Business edition, which adds Outlook; or the $499.99 Professional release, including all of the above plus Access and Publisher. With a new version available, consumers are deciding whether to upgrade now, later, or at all. Office 2010 is the first release of Office that comes in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. Office 2010 is the slickest, most feature-rich version of the suite Microsoft ever released. For those who might expecting to see some remarkable UI changes in this new Office suite, will be disappointed as Office 2010 looks remarkably like its predecessor. Though the UI remains almost same there were some significant feature addition and upgrades in Office 2010. Have to say…
Microsoft’s shakeup, new possibilities!
Microsoft planning on a shakeup that will split its mobile and gaming business into two sections, which was not supposed to be together in the first place. This an attempt to reclaim a leading position in the Smartphone market, a position that’s largely slipped away in the face of competition from Apple and Google. There is a good possibility that this shakeup could unleash the company’s mobile device efforts. Now the million dollar question is, whether this decision is on time or too late. In this shakeup Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices group (Microsoft’s highest paid executive), will retire from Microsoft later this year, the company announced Tuesday. Bach won’t be replaced. Instead the two deputy executives who head both units will report directly to Ballmer from June 1st, 2010. Microsoft was being outpaced, out-developed and out-marketed by longtime rivals such as Apple, and even worse by brand-new mobile platforms like Android. First Apple’s widely successful iPhone and then Google’s Android mobile OS, it’s seems Microsoft’s nightmare is a never ending epic. Its aging Windows Mobile platform was, and is, shrinking in market share. Which Microsoft certainly wishes to change and make a dramatic comeback! The good…
Windows 7 pricing out, but is it justified?
Long awaited windows 7 pricing was finally announced by Microsoft. In addition with Windows 7 retail pricing, there were also upgrade information, launch details, and a preorder deals in the announcement. Not sure if it’s heat from competitor Apple’s $29 price point for OS X Snow Leopard (coming in September, 2009) or the vista damage control initiative force Microsoft to slash the price of its most popular Home Premium to $119.99 (both upgrades and full copies). Vista premium original pricing were around $40 higher. Same slashed priced applied for Windows 7 ultimate edition as well, though business edition pricing still hanging onto same line like vista. From June 26, 2009 to July 11, 2009 while supplies last Microsoft will offer special preorder pricing. It will be offering in the U.S. Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.99, a savings of $70 and $100 respectively (In the U.S. preorders are for upgrade versions). Canada and Japan enjoy similar deals. Microsoft showing some real love for EU buyers- Germany and France consumer will receive Windows 7 Home Premium (€49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (€109.99) preorder prices. The UK will get Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows…
Windows Vista SP2 release candidate wrapped up
By no surprise Microsoft has finally announced the Release Candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 2. The second Vista Service Pack will be available publicly sometimes next week. Since last week words were fogging on the net that, Microsoft had finished release candidates for Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. Subscriber only services-such as MSDN & TechNet, already enjoying the download. So bight your finger’s off, or pull your hairs off still you got to wait if you don’t have those exclusive subscriptions. Once Microsoft made it public, it will show up somewhere here to download. So this much awaited Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) release candidate will have these changes/upgrades: Some of the changes include more non-Microsoft applications compatibility with Windows Vista after this Service Pack 2 update. The Vista SP 2 RC will include improved Windows Search 4.0 with better indexing and search relevance. Windows Media Center will have a better content protection for TV. Application compatibility can be increased through a registry key change that will allow increasing the maximum number of TCP connections. SP2 RC adds Blu-ray media writing ability. The new Feature Pack for Wireless brings support for recent Bluetooth v2.1 and improved…
Microsoft’s mobile overhauling
At last the Windows Mobile 6.5 official screen cast debut at the ongoing GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. Purported screen shots of the Windows Mobile 6.5 interface leaked out November 2008, which off course was not official. Anyway at Barcelona MS team show off the features of Windows Mobile 6.5 and its user interface. Windows Phone running 6.5 is the latest version of the mobile OS, and the UI has been revamped to make devices more touch-friendly. Windows Mobile is nothing more than a whisper at this moment, so to change that scenario Microsoft is overhauling its mobile operating system and bringing services aimed at the consumer space. Well they definitely alter their mobile phone strategy to compete with Symbian, RIM not to mention Apple. Hack they even will rename smartphones with Microsoft’s mobile operating system to “Windows Phone”. For a better web browsing experience, Windows Mobile 6.5 has a revamped Internet Explorer that supports new optional component Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 and a touch-friendly zoom slider with a bunch of frequently used command buttons. The IE address bar now has auto-complete suggestions, and it allows search from the address bar. The new IE browser for Windows Mobile…
Windows XP life+2 years
By no surprise Microsoft announced to extend the availability of Windows XP until 2010, which was supposed to be discontinued this summer. We all know Windows Vista’s got quite bit beefy system requirements and no way suitable on ultra low cost PC’s like Asus Eee PC or similar. So Microsoft decided to allow system vendors to preloads the Home edition of Windows XP on "ultra low-cost PCs" (ULCPC) for an extended period. It’s not that Microsoft don’t want users to go for Windows Vista but to experience all of Vista’s features, PC users need a computer with at least a 1-GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and a 40-GB hard drive. On the other hand, Windows XP Professional requires only a 300-MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, and a 1.5-GB disk. ULPCPC’s Like Asus Eee PC, which sells for less than $400, use discount-line processors and integrated graphics adapter, is completely incapable of handling something like Vista. So why Microsoft so worried about ULCPC’s? Emerging markets like India, China and South East Asia are experiencing growing sales of ULCPCs. Now OLCPC vendors like ASUS won’t have any choice but preloads all their system with Linux, unless Microsoft has something to…
Recent Buzz