Microsoft, Windows | featured news

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.

Whether you're a die-hard Windows fan or simply a Mac user required to occasionally use Windows, it's hard to argue against the fact that Mac OS X has some killer features. Here's how to get the best of them on Windows.

Microsoft might have shown us its new operating system, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

A tablet-optimized, Windows OS could be ready to see the light of day as early as next week, according to recent market chatter and media reports. The new operating system follows a smart move in January to ditch the older, problematic Wintel legacy and focus on new versions of Windows for the System on a Chip (SoC) architecture, many times more suitable for tablet devices, according to Sandeep Aggarwal at Caris. Trade The News goes so far as to report that these new products are being optimized to work on NVIDIA chips.

Microsoft Corp reported a dip in quarterly sales of its core Windows operating system, mirroring a recent downturn in personal computers and sending its shares down slightly.

In the nature of Microsoft product updates, Window 7 is entering its middle years. Generally, Microsoft comes out with a new update to Windows every three years and Windows 7 is currently 18 months into its game. In that time Microsoft has sold 350M licenses to the operating system making it perhaps the fastest selling software of all time.

Microsoft plans to discuss a new version of its Windows operating system that targets low-power devices and adds support for ARM microprocessors.

Slides describing Microsoft's plans and ambitions for the Windows 8 hardware and software ecosystem have been leaked. In the documents, the company outlines its plans for performance improvements and a Windows Store for third-party software sales.

When Microsoft released Windows XP in October of 2001, the software got upbeat reviews and sold briskly. But I doubt if even XP's biggest boosters would have predicted just how long-running a hit it would be. Nine years later, it's still the the world's favorite operating system.

Microsoft should once again release its next mainstream version of Windows about three years after the last, a roadmap obtained this week reveals. The schedule has the major revision, tentatively titled "Windows 8," launching in 2012 or about three years after Windows 7.