Microsoft posts

Microsoft and Facebook have worked together for two and a half years now, with Microsoft selling display ads on the social network. In a newly-announced deal Facebook will be taking over responsibility for selling their own display ads -- which makes sense given that they've got their own ad network.

Microsoft's Bing web search service will be extended to Facebook worldwide, and Microsoft will continue to provide search ads. Beyond the advertising changes, Facebook will now have access to Bing's full set of features to implement as they see fit within Facebook, which could lead to some exciting new features.

Microsoft's strategy of exposing Bing to the at least 350 million active Facebook users is an attempt to kick-start the service's growth which is already recognized among web power-users as being comparable to Google in terms of quality.

A growing contingent of new laptop users are experiencing extremely poor battery performance, and complaining about it loudly online. The thing is, the problem doesn't seem limited to be any one laptop manufacturer, or even any one battery manufacturer. It's starting to look like the only common denominator for the users experiencing problems is Windows 7.

While it's still too early to say with any certainty that Microsoft's latest version of Windows is the culprit, Computerworld is reporting that Microsoft has said that it is looking into the battery problems.

Microsoft's support forum has a thread dedicated to reports of battery problems under Windows 7 that started in early June 2009, and it's still going strong! Some users on the thread are simply reporting decreased battery life when running Windows 7 vs. Windows XP, while others claim they believe Windows 7 has actually reduced their battery's capacities. If that claim turns out to be true, it could be a landmark situation: a software bug that damages hardware could lead to lawsuits, though it's extremely unlikely that Microsoft will let this situation get to that stage.

With the Mobile World Congress now just around the corner on February 15th, details of Windows Mobile 7 have started to leak -- and judging by the comments over at PPCG, it doesn't look like good news. It seems like, for all intents and purposes, we're going to be getting a Microsoft Zune Phone.

The following technical details aren't official, so they could just be a mix of guesswork and rumor -- take them with a pinch of salt!

So, here we go: at the unveiling on the 15th, in Barcelona, it's likely that we'll only see the user interface, with actual functionality/developer stuff left until a later date. The UI will apparently be very similar to the Zune HD interface, but with a revamp to the 'start' screen. There will also be full Zune integration (including desktop sync).

Software-wise, there'll be a marketplace with 'try before you buy' (hooray!), full Xbox integration (why?), support for social networking (via apps, I presume) and... wait for it... no multitasking!

It's the last one that makes me wonder if these specifications are real, or just the work of a jealous and vicious Apple fanboy. After the whole 'OMG NO MULTITASKING ON MY IPHONE???' furore, would Microsoft really not include it in Windows Mobile 7?

We'll see next week!

75 million unique users simply isn't enough, as far as Zynga's concerned! Using the power of Facebook Connect, Zynga -- the developer of FarmVille, Cafe World, Mafia Wars and others -- is bringing FarmVille to Windows Live Messenger and MSN Games.

Back in November 2009 Zynga announced that over 100 million unique users were visiting their site and playing their games. I know it was 'only' two months ago, but considering the astronomic growth of FarmVille -- from launch to 75 million in just six months -- and the continued dominance of Facebook, it's a safe bet that Zynga now wields much more than 100 million unique users. And they're about to get a lot more too! I don't know if this has anything to do with Microsoft's substantial investment in Facebook, or whether Zynga brokered the deal, but I'm sure we'll find out soon.

This news means that Zynga, and no doubt a slew of other Facebook Application developers, are now entertaining the idea of apps outside the 'safety net' of Facebook. It means you will begin to see Facebook apps on sites like Newgrounds or MiniClip. No one's quite sure how FarmVille will integrate with MSN Messenger yet, but I doubt the MSN Games deal will bring that many new users -- at the time of writing, only 200,000 people are online on the MSN Games website (and FarmVille is already available to play on MSN Games, go have a look!)

We'll be sure to cover any developments. Incidentally, FarmVille on MSN Games seems to require Firefox or IE7+ ... no mention of any other browsers...

[via Social Times]

Sebastian reported last month that roughly 1 in 7 Steam users has already made the jump to Windows 7. What about the big picture? How has Windows 7 fared with the rest of the computing world since its release on October 22, 2009?

CNet's Ina Fried notes that Windows 7's market share reached nearly 10% over the weekend. That figure is based on NetApplication's statistics -- which tend to vary a bit from weekdays to weekend as people connect to the 'net from their home computers instead of those at work.

On Monday, Windows 7 posted an 8.14% share which still amounts to a gain of nearly two percent during January. Further enterprise adoption would help that number grow, and with SP1 development picking up steam there could soon be more companies willing to join the likes of Intel and BMW on Windows 7.

Another side effect of Windows 7 adoption: Internet Explorer 8 has crept into the #1 spot on the browser usage chart. Well played, Microsoft...

With the full RTM due in June, Microsoft has confirmed that a release candidate build of Office 2010 is currently in the hands of testers.

This isn't news to the crew at Wzor.net, of course, who have made a habit of putting leaked RC, beta, and RTM software from Microsoft on display for all to see. They've confirmed that Microsoft is already internally testing an RTM escrow build of Office 2010.

As a Microsoft spokesperson told NeoWin, "Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This is one of Microsoft's planned milestones in the engineering process; however they do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly."

Fortunately for eager testers, Microsoft's own distribution plans won't hold you back. Leaked RC builds are circulating on various torrent sites (and other P2P networks like eMule), so you can still find a copy to test if you're OK with the associated risks.

We wouldn't advise that, of course.

While there's no shortage of alternatives in web browsing, it looks like Internet Explorer 8 still has some pull out there. Net MarketShare, a company that monitors usage and market share of major web browsers, has released their January report.

According to the report, IE (all versions) holds a solid 62.12% of all browser usage. In addition to a 27% share on Windows, it has also taken a pretty big bite out of other operating systems as well. All these numbers translate to one thing: people are still using IE8...a lot of people. Sure, part of this has to do with the fact that it's the default browser for Windows and used by many large companies but it's still a pretty big deal.

The folks at the Windows software team are humbled, having only released version 8 of IE less than a year ago. They also reported that the popular browser was responsible for blocking over 80 million malware attacks. It will be interesting to see how long the streak will last given the rising popularity of browsers such as Firefox.

ed note: StatCounter currently pegs IE8's individual share at 22.1%, just ahead of Firefox 3.5 at 21.7%

However, it would appear that Microsoft may be speeding up its product development cycle. After doing so well with 7, and not too badly with Office 2010 (I have to say, I'm a huge fan -- Office 2010 rocks, pretty ribbon and all), it seems as though the folks at Redmond are not letting up. There's a PDF that purports to be a leaked roadmap from an ex-Microsoft employee, and shows Windows 8 going RTM (released to manufacturing) on July 1, 2011.

Ex-Microsoft employee -- that has a bit of a shady ring to it, I think. Hey, this roadmap here fell off the back of a truck ... Says Windows 8 is coming real soon now.

[Via: Elecronista]
[Photo: EvinDC]

I appreciate the fact that Microsoft is working hard to improve their browser -- there's no denying that Internet Explorer 8 is leaps and bounds better than previous IE versions. IE9? Yeah, I'm excited to see what they have up their sleeve.

Thanks to Manan Kakkar's watchful eye, we've got an early look at what Microsoft plans to do to improve user experience in IE9. A recent patent filing spells out the improved tab management system. The current Quick Tab display in IE8 is fairly limited, displaying only a thumbnail and a close button -- hovering a thumbnail reveals the page title.

What's changing? For one thing, a little eye candy is being added -- hovering over a thumbnail will zoom the current page and highlight its tab. Thumbnails can also be clicked-and-dragged to reorganize, and doing so also moves the corresponding tab on IE9's toolbar. More detailed descriptions will also be provided for your tabs -- in addition to the title, that could include the domain name or other useful information.

I'm no lawyer, but I'm guessing there will be FOSS and anti-patent advocates up in arms about this in no time.

Thoughts? Share 'em in the comments!

If you've been following the fallout from the Google versus China cyber war, you're probably aware that a weakness in Internet Explorer was exploited to hack into over 30 Silicon Valley businesses. It soon became clear that this critical weakness was exploitable in almost every version of Internet Explorer and under all recent versions of Windows. Fortunately only IE6 has actually been exploited by hackers -- if you use IE7 or 8, or Windows Vista or 7, you should be safe. But just to be sure, Microsoft has moved quickly to plug the hole and prevent any future exploits with patch MS10-002.

I can't find a download link, but the security bulletin says if you have automatic updates turned on, your browser should now be updated and safe -- what's surprising is that this is an out-of-band update meaning that it was pushed immediately, rather than waiting for Patch Tuesday, which would've left machines exploitable for another few weeks.

If you haven't got automatic updates turned on, I suggest you head to Windows Update (or access it via your Start Menu) and make sure you're fully patched.

Or install Firefox 3.6.

I suppose you'd call this the tech equivalent of a steamy three-way love affair, but it's markedly less exciting.

Things haven't exactly been cozy between Apple and Google ever since Eric Schmidt walked away from the board of directors. Then there was the whole "yes-you-did-no-we-didn't" kerfuffle over Google Voice being bumped from the App Store.

Add in Google Android powering half a zillion new smartphones unveiled at CES, top it with the Nexus One, and you've got plenty of reasons for Apple to think about finding a new buddy for the default search option on the iPhone.

But Microsoft? Eh, why not...It's not as though WinMo and the Zune offer any serious competition for Apple devices right now.

In a post at Business Week an undisclosed source stated "Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy. Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle." Talks have been under way for weeks, but official sources on both sides remain tight-lipped.

As an added kick-in-the-nuts to Google, Apple is reportedly working on a way to "manage ad placement on its mobile devices."

In response to new European Union regulations, Microsoft has reduced the amount of time Bing will associate your IP address with your search history. Up until now, Bing saved your searches, along with your full IP address, for 18 months. That's now been cut down to 6 months. Under the new plan, Microsoft will also stop storing your cross-session search cookies at 18 months, meaning they won't know that all of your separate search sessions came from the same person.

To put Bing's new privacy policies into perspective, you have to compare them with what happens at the biggest player in search, Google. Google waits 9 months before it will anonymize IP addresses to separate them from your account info and other data that could be used to ID you. Bing anonymizes immediately. At 18 months, Google deletes IP addresses, compared to Bing's new policy of clearing them after 6. Google has also made no indication that it will comply with the new EU regulations, which is perfectly in keeping with its recent attitude of standing up to governments it disagrees with.

[via CNET]

There is a lot of news coming out about the attack on Google and everyone involved is trying to figure out exactly what happened. While nothing is official, a lot of the evidence has started pointing to the Chinese government as being behind it. Even so, our friends over at Microsoft might have some insight as to how the attack was accomplished.

Microsoft says it best in their security blog:

"We have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks."

Earlier today, VeriSign provided some information about the way Google was hacked, but here we have the software giant taking some responsibility for what happened. While the vulnerability still exists, Microsoft doesn't seem all that worried that the hole could cause problems for the average user. IE8 and their newest OS releases all have security features in place by default that can prevent attack, leaving only the more outdated versions of the browser at risk. Even so, they've released a security advisory to clarify what the vulnerability will and won't do.

Developments on this cyberattack will probably continue coming out but this news will definitely help narrow down the problems and may even help reveal who was truly behind it all.

The real question: why is Google using Internet Explorer anyway?

Rumors have been flying about an update to Windows Mobile next month, but it was an open question whether it would be Windows Mobile 6.6 or 7. Well, the gadget blogosphere is leaning toward 7. Our sister site, Engadget, saw some confirmation from mobile phone manufacturer LG that WinMo 7 would be out this year, and followed that up with a report from an analyst briefing at Microsoft. Gizmodo got a hot tip that it will be out in February.

At the risk of getting overexcited about a rumor, I'll tell you what else Gizmodo's tipster said: Windows Mobile 7 will apparently support the motion-sensing gestures that have been kicking around the rumor mill for a few years. That means you'll be able to use the phone without actually touching it. Slick! The only problem is that Windows Mobile 7 might not be a simple upgrade for current WinMo users. It will reportedly need newer hardware with better specs and gesture support - like those LG phones Engadget was talking about, perhaps?

As much fun as it is to roil up a nice, fresh potful of delicious rumors, nothing here has been officially confirmed by Microsoft, so don't be completely shocked if February rolls around and we get to meet Windows Mobile 6.6 instead of 7.