Pedro Hernandez

Microsoft is reportedly on the verge of slashing Windows Phone 8 licensing fees, a move that may help the company make gains against Android and iOS, the current mobile operating system champs. The software giant is said to be mulling a similar gambit to shore up OEM support for low-cost Windows 8.1 tablets and other […]

Microsoft is again calling on governments to take action on data security and privacy. As part of an IT industry that is still reeling from the National Security Agency (NSA) cyber-spying scandal, Microsoft continues to turn up the volume on its campaign to push for stronger data protections. This time, using the RSA security conference […]

Microsoft has issued the first major service pack (SP1) for Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 and Exchange Server 2013, smoothing over some of the bumps between the business productivity portfolio, the company’s latest OS builds and the devices that run them. In a Feb. 25 blog post, Microsoft marketing manager Chris Schneider claimed that SP1 “delivers […]

As the April 15 deadline to file tax returns approaches, taxpayers flock to the Web for help according to Simone Berkower and Turker Keskinpala of Microsoft’s Bing Relevance Team. “When we looked at the spiking searches related to taxes, we realized that the vast majority of people were looking for one type of thing: tax […]

In its bid to become a global cloud computing powerhouse, Microsoft is looking far and wide. This time, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company set its sights on Japan. Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of Cloud and Enterprise marketing at Microsoft, announced in a Feb. 25 blog post that the company was just about to flip […]

Last year, Microsoft took aim at Chromebooks with ads that featured personalities from the reality TV show Pawn Stars. Now the software giant is reportedly taking more drastic action by incentivizing OEMs. Bloomberg revealed on Feb. 22 that Microsoft is planning on massive price cuts to spur adoption of low-cost Windows 8.1 devices. “Microsoft Corp. […]

Microsoft has officially acknowledged a new update for Windows 8.1, slated to arrive during the spring, after several leaks alerted industry watchers to its existence. After boasting of blog post, Belfiore admitted that the company is indeed planning a spring update. Pledging that Microsoft will “continue on a more rapid release cadence where we deliver […]

Microsoft is backing the White House in its efforts to revamp a patent system that has become the source of litigation between technology companies and IP holding firms. On Feb. 20, the Obama administration announced new executive actions, including an initiative to crowdsource prior art and expand the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) […]

Cortana may be a holographic AI in the Halo video games, but she may soon become an important part of Microsoft’s efforts to improve its fortunes in the smartphone market. The company’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, Cortana is expected to provide voice-enabled actions and contextual search capabilities. The Bing-powered technology was first […]

Social media can help build reputations or wreck them, warns Microsoft. And efforts to repair the damage can be costly. Jacqueline Beauchere, chief online safety officer at Microsoft, revealed that “an estimated nearly $6 billion was spent in 2013 to help mitigate risks associated with financial and time loss due to personal or professional reputational […]