Software, Microsoft Office | featured news

Microsoft launches its new Office software suite which attempts to make its core productivity software easier to use on touch-screen PCs.

Essentially, Rizzo says that Google just throws stuff out there, sees if it sticks and then only continues to develop and support those pieces of software which customers actually want to use. In contrast, Microsoft does lots and lots of planning about what it is going to do and then sticks with it having done so.

The legal battle began in 2007 when i4i sued Microsoft. A federal jury awarded $290 million to i4i after finding that Microsoft, in 2003 and 2007 versions of Word, its word processing application, had infringed i4i's patent relating to text manipulation software.

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.

Microsoft, which competes with Google and IBM in the productivity software market, is speculated to be developing a smartphone-compatible version of its well-known Office productivity software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Microsoft prepares to launch the latest version of its Office software, with features similar to those offered by Google. The latest version of the software has a free online component - called Office Web Apps.

They look more like Microsoft's, but the real change is in new guts.

Office 2010 is due in a few months, but the beta release is available now. It has interface changes, bug fixes, one secret new feature – and although it's still a long way from being finished, it shows much more clearly than the technical preview what you'll be waiting for.

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance on Wednesday to bring advanced business software to smartphones in a bid to counter the dominance of Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry device.