Microsoft, Web Software | featured news

Two weeks ago, Mozilla announced a major milestone for its Firefox web browser: one billion downloads. They even launched OneBillionPlusYou.com to mark the occasion and demonstrate just how large one billion really is.

Microsoft will offer a free Web-based version of Office as it looks to compete with Internet-based software from Google and increased competition from "open source" products.

Google said it will allow users of its email and calendar to access the online services through Microsoft Office, as it tries to woo business users.

Power browsers are coming. And they'll look mighty familiar. Software is supposed to be a mature industry, characterized by some sort of mono- or duopoly. How to explain, then, the activity around Web browsers. Three of the tech industry's biggest names -- Microsoft, Google and Apple -- each has a significant in-house browser development effort, with periodic fresh releases.