Nicholas Kolakowski

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer characterized himself as cautiously optimistic about the next year, telling those assembled for the annual Financial Analyst Meeting on July 30 that Microsoft had “great prospects on the map.” However, Ballmer also refused to suggest any hard numbers, such as sales guidance, to back his enthusiasm. Microsoft is betting heavily that […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the opportunity of his annual Financial Analyst Meeting July 30 to defend his company and lash back at opponents such as Apple. “We are going to come under attack,” Ballmer said, characterizing Microsoft as “deserving” of its increased competition. However, Ballmer was quick to point out to analysts that Microsoft […]

Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for Intel, said at the Intel Technology Summit at July 29 that he thought business adoption of Windows 7 would go “faster” than it did for Windows Vista, which he cited as having service update and compatibility issues. Maloney pointed to Windows 7’s security, […]

Microsoft‘s first retail stores will open this fall in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mission Viejo, Calif., according to the company. Fulfilling an earlier promise to challenge Apple’s retail experience head-on, Microsoft will open a storefront at The Shops at Mission Viejo, which already features an Apple Store. By contrast, the mall in Scottsdale will be competition-free […]

The online-partnership deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is far more collaborative than the one attempted by Microsoft in the summer of 2008, suggesting that both companies have reached a tipping point with regard to their mutual competition with Google. The search ad deal, jointly announced by both companies on July 29, centers on Microsoft powering […]

Microsoft has painted its newly minted Yahoo partnership as the perfect vehicle for driving search and advertising revenue, while saving the company cash in the long term. However, Microsoft has also indicated that the transition will present challenges from a technical perspective. During a July 29 conference call announcing the partnership, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer […]

Apple iPhone and iPod manufacturer Foxconn will pay compensation to the family of an employee who died after an iPhone prototype went missing. On July 16, 25-year-old Foxconn engineer Sun Danyong fell to his death from the twelfth floor of his Shenzhen apartment building, in what local authorities initially ruled a suicide. According to the […]

Oracle recently increased the costs of a few database products, leading Microsoft to address the issue in a corporate blog post affirming the value of SQL Server 2008. However, Oracle’s move may be a play to appeal to procurement managers, in order to build a greater degree of customer loyalty. Ray Wang, an analyst with […]

A report by Deutsche Bank suggests that the release of Microsoft‘s Windows 7 operating system on Oct. 22 will prompt a massive tech refresh and possibly build a renewed market for hardware and software vendors. The release of the new operating system, upon which Microsoft is relying to strengthen its revenue numbers for the second […]

Microsoft announced July 27 that it is accepting application submissions for Windows Marketplace for Mobile, its store for Windows Mobile smartphone applications. Submissions for mobile-device applications will be accepted from 29 supported countries. By the time Windows Marketplace launches in fall 2009, Microsoft plans to have 600 applications available. While certainly a large number, however, […]

Microsoft‘s new search engine, Bing, could be improved by playing an online game. The game, named Page Hunt, presents users with a random Web page and then asks them to input the search terms that will put that page within a search engine’s top five search results. Depending on how close to the top of […]

Microsoft has announced several times that it intends to open retail stores in fall 2009 as part of its new competitive strategy. Despite speculation in the blogosphere, though, Microsoft offered few details about the retail experience it hopes will take some air out of Apple’s sails. Then someone leaked a 140-slide PowerPoint document to Gizmodo […]