Software licenses are the backbone of Microsoft's empire. Now, through a slightly convoluted set of licensing agreements, the software kingpin is making its proprietary offerings available for third parties through rental agreements with members of its partner network. Datamation has the details.
Microsoft quietly announced at the beginning of the year that it will finally begin renting out some of its software via its partner network.
However, for those already bewildered by Microsoft's complex licensing terms, don't expect that to get any easier with the change.
During a Thursday financial analysts' conference at CES 2010, whose transcript has recently been released by Microsoft (DOCX available here), Microsoft Entertainment & Devices division president Robbie Bach painted a broad-brushstroke picture of the Windows Mobile-related announcement the company intends to make next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Certain carefully phrased elements of that broad outline do offer distinct clues as to the direction the company plans to take with the product, which may be different than some have speculated.
One of the biggest stories of the past year has been Microsoft's fading fortunes in the smartphone market. Since mid-2007, Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS has failed to keep up with more innovative devices from Apple, Research in Motion (RIM), Palm, and Google, and has lost both mindshare and marketshare. The release of Windows Mobile 6.5 in late 2009 was met with scorn by reviewers and analysts, and many called for Microsoft to get out of the smartphone market for good or perhaps poach technology from a competitor such as Palm.
But Microsoft has a plan to save Windows Mobile. And it might just work.
With Monday's deadline looming for Microsoft to pull a feature in Office 2007 and Word 2007 that a federal appeals court ruled last month violates a much smaller competitor's patent, the software giant has decided to fight on.
"Today, Microsoft filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for both panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in the i4i case," Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs for Microsoft, said in a statement e-mailed to InternetNews.com on Friday.
Thanks to the never-ending build-up to Apple's inevitable tablet computer, tablets are suddenly hot, and we all have to pretend that the past eight years never happened. That's because we've had true Tablet PCs since 2002 and--let's be honest--they've never been particularly compelling to any mass audience. But it's a testament to Apple's popularity with the tech press that suddenly everyone has a tablet to sell. Some are lame retreads of what came before--the HP tablet we saw in Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's CES keynote address--and some are actually quite innovative (Lenovo) and clearly pre-date any Apple silliness. And in case you're wondering why the lame tablet made an appearance in a Microsoft keynote while the cool one didn't, remember that the Lenovo device includes a Linux-based component. It wouldn't do to have Microsoft promote that, now would it?
This weekend, following the Consumer Electronics Show 2010, is when Microsoft executives should reassess the company's New Year's resolutions and reevaluate marketing and product development strategies. CES hasn't been particularly great for Microsoft, although it wasn't terrible either. Windows 7 Mobile was, once again, largely a no show. CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote failed to dazzle with exciting new products. Still, Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher for Microsoft Research, offered real vision discussing natural user interfaces. NUI is a great marketing concept, too.
Microsoft really isn't talking about Windows Mobile 7 specifically. However, Microsoft gave Betanews today a number of clues about what to expect toward its release, which show us what we can expect in the new, more consumer-oriented (and more than a bit tardy) mobile operating system.
"You're going to see more from us about the platform in general, to try to do a better job explaining the value proposition to consumers," Microsoft's Greg Sullivan, Senior Marketing Manager, Windows Phone told Betanews today. "We've seen Apple and others come in and get a lot of attention for shipping a feature that we've had for years. So I guess it's on us to kind of describe [the value of Windows Mobile]."
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer could have a big announcement at CES tonight that could recapture some of the momentum lost to the likes of Google and Apple.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer could drop some big news when he delivers the opening keynote at the annual Consumer Electronics Show tonight in Las Vegas. According to a New York Times report, the software giant could unveil a tablet/slate PC tonight, weeks ahead of an expected announcement from Apple.
The slate will be made by HP and possibly available by mid-year, according to the NYT report, which described the device as "a multimedia whiz with e-reader and multi-touch functions."
Tonight, I'll be flying to Las Vegas for the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the largest trade show in North America with more than 120,000 attendees and the on-site presence of most of the top electronics and PC companies from around the globe. But there's one obvious holdout--iPhone and iPod maker Apple--from this otherwise hugely important show. And the company's shadow is again casting a pall over the proceedings.
What makes this year's CES odd, however, is that Apple isn't even holding its own Macworld Expo event at roughly the same time, as it has for many years. (Macworld organizer IDG is still putting on the show, but Apple isn't attending or presenting, which one has to assume spells the end of that little drama.) For years, Apple's less-well-attended show generated more buzz than CES did, a feat of marketing showmanship that's still hard to explain. And this year, Apple is doing it again--the buzz, not the show.
On Tuesday morning, Microsoft revealed the retail pricing for the various versions of the Office 2010 productivity suite that will launch by mid-year. Retail versions of Office 2010 will be made available in two basic versions-a traditional boxed product with accompanying optical-disc installation media and a Product Key Card version that provides a product key so that the user can install an electronically downloaded version of the software.
"Office 2010 will be offered in four versions, to make it easier to choose a version of Office that's best for you-Office Home and Business, Office Professional, Office Home and Student, and Office Professional Academic," Microsoft Office General Manager Rachel Bondi wrote in a blog post announcing the pricing.