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One of the unambiguous messages we heard from Microsoft's Build 2011 conference in Anaheim all last week was that development of HTML5 "Metro-style apps" for Windows 8 would be "plug-in free." All requests for Microsoft to "clarify" that rule only underscored the blunt reality of the statement: HTML5 is about the absence of plug-ins, and thus, Metro will have an absence of plug-ins ...

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.

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.

Macintosh, Windows, or Google? Search engine giant Google finally unveiled the first "Chromebook" notebooks at the Google I/O conference on Wednesday, laptop computers from manufacturing giants Samsung and Acer that use Google's Chrome operating system and will go on sale in June.

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.