Four states that were on Microsoft’s side on the matter of extending the U.S. antitrust agreement have switched sides and are now siding with the software giant’s opponents. New York, Maryland, Louisiana and Florida have joined the “California group” in supporting an extension on oversight of Microsoft (ironically, the pro-Microsoft group was referred to previously as the “New York group”).
Also, the European Commission and Microsoft have come to an agreement on Microsoft’s actions regaring the 2004 ruling on MS’s anticompetitive practices. Under the agreement, competitors will be able to access and use Microsoft’s interoperability information, royalties for that use will be reduced to merely $14,348, and royalties for use of product of such will be reduced to 0.4% (from 5.95%).
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Law |
2 comments
Video: Roundtable demo by Miel Van Opstal
Miel uploaded to Soapbox this video demo of Microsoft RoundTable, the 360-degree videoconferencing system, and it gives you a good opportunity to see RoundTable in action. He gives up on speaking in English for most of the video, buts its still worth seeing to see the unique RoundTable camera in action and the RoundTable software.
I’m convinced the RoundTable could make a killer video blogging camera. Now I just have to convince Miel to send me one to make it happen.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
ComScore’s search engine market share numbers for September reveal a pretty bad month for Microsoft’s Windows Live Search, as their slice of the pie shrunk about nine percent, lowering from 11.3% to 10.3%. Sadly, that’s exactly the level Live Search commanded in May, before the Live Search Club gains, which means Microsoft has lost the entire new audience as the promotion waned and not managed to retain any significant number.
Meanwhile, Google and Yahoo shifted about half a point higher each, and AOL traded 2/10 of a percentage point to Ask.com. Check out the Hitwise numbers at InsideGoogle, which are a tiny drop better.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Yahoo, Google, Windows, Search |
2 comments
The new versions of the Word Viewer and Powerpoint Viewer were recently released, and they finally support the viewing of Office 2007 file formats. The new viewers support the Open XML files used in Word 2007 (.docx) and Powerpoint 2007 (.pptx). However, you need to install the Compatibility Pack after you install the viewers, otherwise the viewers will only be able to read older file formats.
This comes via Amit, who also advises that if you want to read Excel 2007 files (.xlsx), convert it to Excel 2003 format using a tool like Zamzar, then you can view it in Google Docs or a similar free spreadsheet service that supports importing.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Word, Office, Applications |
one comment
The latest update to Windows Live Photo Gallery gives the photo management software a new “Publish on Flickr” capability. Just select a photo, click the Publish button, then select More Services > Publish on Flickr and you’ll be given a dialog where you can authorize Gallery to upload photos to your Flickr account with a simple click. Being able to crop, color correct, tag and otherwise manipulate your photos, then immediately upload that to Flickr, all in the same program, is a great solution.
Now we just need the Photo Gallery team to really open the software up to plugins and APIs, so we can use alternative photo storage sites. I’d really love some Zooomr integration.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Yahoo, Windows |
no comments
Windows Live ID has added a huge new feature, the ability to link multiple IDs together and switch between them by just clicking an arrow. If you have more than one Windows Live ID, go to account.live.com and link them together, linking multiple (at least four, maybe more accounts). Then, in newer Live Wave 2 products, you can hit a drop-down arrow to switch between accounts, without logging out and back in again.
Of the big authentication systems, only Windows Live has enabled this feature, which now makes using their ID systems a whole lot easier (instead of a big pain). Out of necessity, I have two Live IDs, one linked to my ten year old Hotmail account, one to my domain email, and now I can safely use both. For now, you get it on Live Hotmail, plus Live Home, Live Spaces and SkyDrive (according to Jamie below) to switch between email accounts, and it should be expanded to more Live services soon.
Check LiveSide for more info and screenshots.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Windows |
2 comments
Marshall Kirkpatrick published screenshots of Office Live Workspaces, Microsoft’s coming online Office collaboration platform. Check out Read/Write Web for all of them.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Office Live, Live, Office, Windows, Applications |
no comments
Microsoft has launched its own free 411 service, available at 1-800-CALL-411. Live Search 411 is built on TellMe, which Microsoft bought earlier this year, and lets you speak to a voice recognition system and get business listings, with the option to have the system connect your call or send you a text message with the results. I called the line and had no problem understanding it (and it had no trouble understanding me), so check it out and compare with GOOG-411.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Windows, Search |
no comments
Another Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget from Wikio, this one shows you news about video games. You can get general industry news, or select from the drop-down to get news about specific consoles (like the Xbox 360 or Wii) or popular games (like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, or Second Life).
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Sidebar, Vista, Windows |
no comments
Check out this funny website marketing that explains why you should want to work at Microsoft. It’s worth your time, as the videos are quite entertaining.
(via Heather)
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Marketing, Corporate, Humor, General |
no comments
The latest web server stats are in, and Microsoft’s market share grew two percent, while Apache’s declined two percent more. At this rate, Microsoft might be number one by the middle of December. Just two years ago, Apache had a lead over 60%, now it’s going to drop to second place. Amazing. I still find it amazing that Google’s servers (just the ones the company uses to run its own websites) have managed to grab third place.
October 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Server, Linux, Windows |
one comment
