Nicholas Kolakowski

Apple’s patent-infringement lawsuit against HTC, and possibly other handset manufacturers, has the potential to affect Microsoft as it ramps up to the release of Windows Phone 7 Series devices later in 2010. Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC on March 2, alleging that the manufacturer violated some 20 patents related to the iPhone’s interface, architecture […]

Microsoft announced a substantial bet this week, with CEO Steve Ballmer indicating during a March 4 talk at the University of Washington that his company would henceforth rely on the cloud as inspiration for its upcoming products and services. “We shipped Windows 7, which had a lot that’s not cloud-based. Our inspiration now starts with […]

A Microsoft executive indicated that the company plans to stay the course in China, despite the recent dispute between Google and the Chinese government that saw the search engine giant threatening to pull its operations out of the country. “Regardless of whether or not Google stays, we will aggressively promote our search and cloud computing […]

Microsoft is preparing to launch two branded smartphones with a sliding keyboard, the realization of its long-rumored and longer-gestating “Project Pink,” according to reports. The devices would be targeted at a younger demographic and feature a heavy emphasis on features such as social networking, despite the presence of a physical keyboard that is nominally the […]

Microsoft faces a new issue in its long-running dispute with the European Commission over the bundling of Internet Explorer 8 in copies of Windows. Although Microsoft introduced a “Web browser choice screen” March 1 that was supposed to avert those bundling concerns by presenting European users with a randomized list of browsers, the smaller browser […]

Google announced its acquisition of DocVerse, which allows groups to collaborate online on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, on March 5. The purchase gives Google another competitive angle as it seeks to expand Google Docs, its online productivity suite, in both the consumer and business segments. “For the many people who use desktop software, […]

Microsoft announced March 5 that it will discontinue its future development of Windows Essential Business Server effective June 30. Originally designed as an IT infrastructure option for midsize businesses, EBS found itself faced with a rapidly changing landscape thanks to the advent of cloud computing and virtualization. With business-related tools for those evolving areas present […]

Microsoft and Google may be competitors in a number of areas, notably search and smartphone operating systems, but Microsoft nonetheless seems determined to port a number of its mobile applications onto Google Android. The latest in this trend, announced on March 3, is Microsoft Tag, which uses a smartphone’s camera module to “read” a customized […]

Google is unveiling Gesture Search, which allows users to search through their Google Android smartphones via tracing a letter on the screen. The application represents yet another variant on mobile search, which has become a more active field of endeavor for companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple as smartphones proliferate among both businesses and […]

Apple’s patent-infringement lawsuit against HTC comes at a time when Google Android, the smartphone operating system that will be incorporated into many HTC devices through the end of 2010, has been gaining ground in the ever-hotter smartphone wars. According to data released by analytics firm Quantcast March 1, the iPhone claimed 63.7 percent of the […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggested during a March 4 speech at the University of Washington that, despite his company having made its fortune through desktop-based software platforms such as Windows and Office, the primary focus going forward will be on the cloud and applications derived from it. “We shipped Windows 7, which had a lot […]

Pop quiz: What do the cities of Topeka, Kan., Boulder, Colo., Aspen, Colo., Park City, Utah, Grand Rapids, Mich. and an increasing number of U.S. cities have in common? They are all either competing or mulling over whether to compete for a contract to test-market a Google broadband service. Topeka even went so far as […]