Nicholas Kolakowski

Apple‘s sales of its Snow Leopard OS X update are outpacing those of its previous operating system releases, Leopard and Tiger, according to an analysis by research firm the NPD Group.The NPD Group’s tracking service estimates that Snow Leopard is outselling the original Leopard by a 2-to-1 margin, and outselling Tiger by 4-to-1, during the […]

Microsoft offered users of Windows Live the chance to experiment with a limited technical preview of Office Web Apps, the online version of its Office productivity suite, on Sept. 17. The beta version of Web Apps will be released at some point during Fall 2009. Microsoft has been developing stripped-down, browser-accessible versions of its productivity […]

Microsoft may be finding its partnership agreement with Yahoo under antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic. “There are ongoing informal discussions between the European Commission and Microsoft and Yahoo on their search engine partnership,” an unnamed source told Reuters on Sept. 15, but declined to elaborate further. Under the original terms of the […]

Microsoft‘s general manager of corporate strategy, Charles Songhurst, used a Sept. 14 question-and-answer session at New York’s Jefferies Annual Technology Conference to outline Redmond’s strategy for Bing, suggesting that the search engine has yet to be pushed fully onto the global stage. “We haven’t launched Bing in International,” Songhurst told the audience. “It’s active and […]

Microsoft‘s Bing search engine, which made its high-profile debut this summer, occupied some 10.7 percent of the U.S. search engine market in August, according to new data released by research firm Nielsen.That market share made Bing the fastest-growing online search provider, with a month-over-month increase of 22.1 percent. It came in third place in the […]

A new Forrester Research report detailing the costs and challenges of supporting IT workers, commissioned by Microsoft as part of Redmond’s promotional push for Windows 7, suggests that increased worker mobility is the future of the enterprise, but that increased movement could present major IT administration challenges. The report, titled “The Costs and Challenges Associated […]

Microsoft Bing’s Visual Search Takes On Google’s Similar Images Microsoft launched the beta version of its Visual Search for Bing, its search engine, on Sept. 14. Visual Search presents its users with a series of image galleries, which can then be clicked and scrolled through to find a particular one – all without ever having […]

Microsoft released the Zune HD, the touch-screen media player intended as an answer to Apple’s iPod Touch, on Sept. 15. Available in 16GB and 32GB sizes, with a 3.3-inch touch-screen, the Zune HD features Wi-Fi capability, an integrated HD radio receiver and high-definition video output for watching 720p HD movies and TV shows on an […]

Apple has slashed the price of its 160GB Apple TV to $229, a fairly substantial reduction from the original $329, while eliminating the original 40GB model entirely from its product lineup. The adjustment was performed quietly, with visitors to the Apple Website on Sept. 14 noting that the Apple TV offerings had been pared down […]

Microsoft announced on Sept. 14 that it planned to release Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 in late October 2009, around the time that it rolls out Windows 7. MDOP’s software platform, which includes group policy management tools, a diagnostics and recovery toolset and other applications designed to smooth enterprise transition to the new […]

A Microsoft-sponsored Forrester Research report into the costs and challenges of supporting IT workers has become the basis for Redmond’s newest push to support Windows 7, its upcoming operating system. Using the report’s data, which suggests that SMBs (small and midsize businesses) and the enterprise are under assault by bloated corporate PC images, decentralization problems […]

Microsoft rolled out Visual Search for Bing, its search engine, on Sept. 14. The beta feature allows users to search for information visually by clicking through image options, as opposed to typing in a search query. Bing’s Visual Search is accessible here. Visual Search presents dozens of searchable image galleries. If users want to search […]