Microsoft, Technology | featured news

Never has so much been at stake for Microsoft in a single product release. After the successful launch of Windows 7 in 2009, the company continues to rule the desktop, but has faltered in the emerging tablet space. The next version of its popular operating system, codenamed Windows 8, is designed to bridge the gap between PCs and slates, but will it be enough to help the world’s leading software company catch up to its competitors in the mobile space when it launches sometime in 2012?

Next week a high-ranking Microsoft executive will stand on stage and show off a new version of Windows on a tablet computer. It won't be the first time. But, when Windows chief Steven Sinofsky shows off an early version of its next touch-enabled, tablet-friendly operating system to independent developers at their annual conference in Anaheim next Tuesday, there is a sense that it really matters.

Microsoft will soon take the wraps off the biggest update to its operating system in 16 years. The Windows software giant unveiled a new blog and Twitter feed for its upcoming Windows 8 operating system Monday -- a first tantalizing look at the development of its next-generation flagship product, the software that powers most of the computers on the planet.

To recap, Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, sent a shot across the bow of Apple, Microsoft and Oracle, accusing them of participating in an “organized campaign” to take Google’s Android platform down through patent lawsuits.

Are users of other Web browsers smarter than the people who use Microsoft's Internet Explorer? A new survey doesn't quite say so. But it sure as heck suggests it. The survey by AptiQuant, a Vancouver-based Web consulting company, gave more than 100,000 participants an IQ test, while monitoring which browser they used to take the test.

In its quarterly earning released on Monday, IBM reported revenues of $26.7 billion – up 12% from the same period last year. With IBM reporting its 4th consecutive quarter of double digit revenue growth, its shares have marched higher since its announcement. The stock is up nearly 50% in the last year surpassing Microsoft as the second largest technology company by market cap behind Apple. IBM’s primary competitors include HP, Dell and Oracle.

Sales of Microsoft Corp's flagship Windows software disappointed for the third straight quarter, taking the gloss off better-than-expected earnings that were aided by an unusually low tax rate.

On Thursday, the computer giant accidentally published a splash page advertising Tulilip - a social project under to the Microsoft-owned domain name socl.com.

Baidu and Microsoft have added another element to their developing cooperation: This year the Chinese search engine will start sourcing some results for users' English-language searches from Microsoft's Bing search engine, the two companies said.

The case could turn into the biggest showdown between the government and a major technology company since the Microsoft antitrust trial more than a decade ago.