Windows 7 is not a steamroller just yet, but the latest figures from one tracking firm show that it's gradually cutting into Windows XP's territory.
Microsoft's newest version of Windows finished 2009 with 5.71 percent of all operating system market share, according to Net Applications, up from 4 percent at the end of November.
When the consumer editions were released October 22, Windows 7 already held a 1.99 percent share due to early availability to corporate customers and technical users who subscribe to Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN services.
Microsoft confirmed Friday that it is doing some reshuffling within the ranks of the division that's responsible for everything from Windows Phones to IPTV to Xbox 360.
Microsoft has confirmed the departure of one senior executive and a reorganization of the products and technologies under his aegis. However, a company spokesperson declined to comment on rumors that this reorg is only part of a much larger one waiting in the wings.
The spokesperson also refused to say whether Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president for the TV, video and music business, has actually left the company or whether he's looking for a new position internally.
This is interesting: Bundle.com is a new start-up centered on a database of personal finance and spending data so that you can punch in a couple of criteria, find out how much people like you who live in your area are likely to be spending and then share your discoveries in pretty Flash graphics through your contacts on Facebook and Twitter. It's backed by investment money from Microsoft, Citigroup, and Morningstar.
All the data on Bundle currently comes from Citigroup--the former employer of founder and CEO Jaidev Shergill--but the Bundle team tells me that data from other banks may be eventually incorporated as well. There's also editorial sourced from MSN Money and Morningstar, as well as a quiz where you can find out your spending type, from "Globe Trekker" to "Surplus Spender" to "High Roller."
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it has set up a new deal to swap patents with LCD TV maker Funai. Funai, which makes TVs sold in the U.S. under the brands Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania, and Emerson, will gain access to Microsoft's exFAT file system, an enhanced version of the company's older FAT (file allocation table) used to store and organize data on a disk.
The exFAT (extended FAT) system supports much higher-capacity drives and devices than can FAT and will quickly save files onto SD cards, USB drives, and other portable gadgets. Microsoft sees it as the ideal option for handling huge chunks of audio and video on digital photo frames, cameras, camcorders, smartphones, and of course TVs.
Microsoft is so concerned about the future of cloud computing that it's urging the government to step in. In a speech Wednesday, Microsoft general counsel and senior vice president Brad Smith called on government and business to shore up confidence in cloud computing by tackling issues of privacy and security--two major concerns that have been voiced about the cloud.
During his keynote speech to the Brookings Institution's "Cloud Computing for Business and Society" form, Smith also appealed to Washington to pass new laws and update existing ones to address problems such as computer fraud and cyberattacks as more businesses and consumers hop onto the cloud.
Intuit and Microsoft announced Wednesday that the two companies plan to integrate the capabilities of their cloud services platforms, the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) and Windows Azure platform, to build solutions for small businesses. Azure will become a "preferred platform" for small-business application development as part of the relationship.
Akers suggests that developers have a lot to gain from this integration. "From the developer perspective you are always looking to build new and more compelling applications and channels to sell your products. With this integration developers can build richer applications much faster. Functions like billing and the marketplace function also help to make developers' lives easier with features like single sign-on."
Now you have a chance to compare notes with Bill Gates. The Microsoft chairman is launching a Web site on Wednesday designed to to share his thoughts on everything from his foundation work to musings on other topics including energy and the environment.
Dubbed Gates Notes, the site is launching with postings from Gates himself, and in the works are plans to allow for more discussion on the topics he raises. In an exclusive interview, Gates told CNET that he missed having the kind of Web presence he had at Microsoft.
Microsoft has accused TiVo of illegally using video purchasing and delivery technology in its digital video recorders, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
Microsoft filed suit against the DVR maker on Tuesday for infringing on two Microsoft patents as a way of defending its partner, AT&T, which is currently involved in a legal dispute with TiVo over the same technology. TiVo sued AT&T and Verizon in August over the "time warping" function in both companies' digital video services. AT&T uses Microsoft's video platform for its U-Verse TV IPTV service.
Microsoft today made an emphatic pitch in the nation's capital urging Congress to enact legislation to support cloud computing, calling for a federal mandate to codify security and privacy protections for data stored on remote servers.
Here at the Brookings Institution think tank, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith argued for the need to modernize the legal framework overseeing information technology to keep pace with the rapid migration to the cloud.
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain is still nearly a month away, but impatience has triggered a feeding frenzy of hope and supposition when it comes to what Microsoft will be announcing at the show.
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Depending on who you believe, the Redmond, WA software giant will either display its upcoming Windows Phone 7 -- a "completely different" new mobile operating system platform, as one Microsoft senior executive put it recently -- or it will show a fairly pedestrian offering that rumor mongers have been referring to as Windows Phone 6.6. (As of last summer, Microsoft began referring to its mobile operating system as Windows Phone.)
The first rumor, if true, could be the saving grace of Microsoft's stumbling mobile phone strategy. The second might be the death knell for a decade's worth of spending billions to play catch up -- and not very well -- against more nimble competitors.