Microsoft

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Tech Firms to Fix Monster They Created

Email, IMs keep employees available and distracted

(Newser) - Google, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM are partnering are on a new initiative to help workers distracted by emails and instant messages improve their productivity, the New York Times reports. The Information Overload Research Group, a nonprofit launching next month, will devise cultural and technological solutions to reduce the digital deluge...

Yahoo Strikes Deal With Google on Search Ads

Announcement comes just hours after Microsoft deal falls through

(Newser) - Yahoo struck a deal today with Google to display its rival's search ads, just hours after announcing the end of talks with Microsoft on a possible merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal with Google, which still faces months of federal scrutiny, could bring in $800 million a year...

Microsoft, Yahoo End Talks, Rule Out Merger

Weekend meeting torpedoes hopes of a merger

(Newser) - Looks like a Microsoft-Yahoo marriage is off—for good this time, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a meeting last weekend, Microsoft representatives stated “unequivocally” that the software giant was not interested in purchasing all of Yahoo for any price. Yahoo then ruled out an alternative of selling Microsoft...

Harrah's Rolls Dice on Surface
 Harrah's Rolls Dice on Surface 
Jun 12, 2008 12:27 PM CDT

Harrah's Rolls Dice on Surface

Microsoft's touch-screen tables debut at Rio

(Newser) - A Las Vegas casino has become the first to roll the dice with the much-touted Microsoft Surface, a touch-screen table that lets gamblers order drinks, watch YouTube videos, and even flirt. Harrah’s Rio hotel yesterday installed 6 of the tables, which start at $10,000, the AP reports. “...

Startup Site Wants to See Your Paycheck

Glassdoor.com gives users dirt on others in exchange for theirs

(Newser) - Ever wonder how much people at Google or Microsoft really make? Just-launched Glassdoor.com wants to tell you, TechCrunch reports. Essentially, the site collects self-submitted compensation reports and reviews for as many jobs at as many firms as possible. Open to everyone are full details for Googe, Yahoo, Microsoft, and...

Dissed by Vista, Businesses Return the Favor

Consumer-focused OS sports poor performance, big cost

(Newser) - Microsoft's strategy of marketing Vista to consumers has turned off its other core constituency, the Wall Street Journal reports: business. Certainly, technical issues and a fat price tag have decimated the number of companies planning to install it: Just 26% of IT departments say they expect to install Vista by...

Icahn: Yahoo Poison Pill 'Reprehensible'

But pricey severance plan kicks in if Icahn wins proxy fight, Yahoo says

(Newser) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn yesterday called Yahoo’s poison-pill severance plan, designed to deter hostile takeovers, “reprehensible,” the Wall Street Journal reports, but Yahoo said the measure would kick in if Icahn wins control of the board. "Now they found a way to entrench themselves forever,"...

Four Nations Fight Microsoft Doc Standard

Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa and India target format

(Newser) - Four nations have appealed to stop the fast-track adoption of Microsoft’s Office Open XML file format as an international standard, a world standards body announced yesterday. Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa and India have all appealed. The exact reason is unknown, but many have complained that the March vote to...

Icahn Again Skewers Yahoo
 Icahn Again Skewers Yahoo 
Jun 9, 2008 1:18 PM CDT

Icahn Again Skewers Yahoo

'Why did you permit Google to leave you in the dust?' investor asks board

(Newser) - Investor Carl Icahn broadened his attacks on Yahoo today, targeting not only the recent failure of a Microsoft takeover deal but longtime performance issues, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Why did you permit Google to leave you in the dust?" he wrote to the board.

Gates Departure Should Calm the Waters

Joint leadership with Ballmer slowed, hurt Microsoft's growth

(Newser) - Bill Gates’ departure from full-time employment at Microsoft on June 27 will end 8 contentious years in which Gates has attempted to stay onboard while nominally beneath his close friend and new CEO, Steve Ballmer. Though they built the company together, this “ambassadorial succession” produced mixed results, with Gates...

Yahoo Chair Hits Back at Icahn
Yahoo Chair Hits Back at Icahn
Jun 5, 2008 9:38 AM CDT

Yahoo Chair Hits Back at Icahn

Says corporate raider 'grossly' distorted, lacks 'credible plan' other than Microsoft sale

(Newser) - The chairman of Yahoo's board was quick to fire back at accusations leveled by Carl Icahn yesterday, reports the New York Times. An open letter from Roy Bostock to the corporate raider said Icahn's claim that Yahoo's board had sabotaged a Microhoo deal grossly distorted the board's position, and went...

Icahn to Yang: I've Got Your Pink Slip

Says Jerry wrecked Microsoft deal, and he's out if proxy bid wins

(Newser) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wants Jerry Yang out of Yahoo's CEO seat, and has a pink slip waiting if his proxy action to take over the board is successful, reports the Wall Street Journal. Icahn yesterday unleashed a torrent of criticism of Yang’s role in the aborted Microsoft buyout...

Yahoo Planned Huge Worker Walkout: Lawsuit

Execs also hid $1.5B Microsoft offer to employees

(Newser) - Yahoo planned to pay all 14,000 workers to quit if Microsoft bought the company in a recent takeover bid, a lawsuit unsealed today claims. The shareholder complaint blasts execs for burying Microsoft's $1.5 billion offer to workers, and rejecting a $40-per-share offer last year. Yahoo tried to stop...

Microsoft Warns Windows Users of Safari Threat

(Newser) - Windows and Safari mix like virus-vulnerable oil and water, Microsoft warns, and Windows users should stop surfing with Apple’s web browser until the security holes have been patched. The “blended threat” combines a bug in Safari that downloads files to the desktop automatically and a vulnerability in how...

Feds Approve Icahn's Yahoo Stock Buys

Activist investor plans additional $2.5B outlay to boost proxy bid

(Newser) - The Federal Trade Commission gave Carl Icahn approval to purchase additional chunks of Yahoo stock, part of the activist investor's plan to gain control of the company's board and perhaps force a sale, MarketWatch reports. Icahn already owns 59 million Yahoo shares and options and is reportedly seeking 93 million...

Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment
Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment
OPINION
May 29, 2008 3:05 PM CDT

Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment

Yahoo fallout just the first challenge for Ballmer, Microsoft

(Newser) - Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer are facing a scary, new post-Bill-Gates world, Therese Poletti writes on MarketWatch. On a panel at the All Things Digital conference earlier this week, Ballmer and Gates fielded questions about Microsoft’s failed Yahoo bid and unpopular Vista operating system. “Ballmer and indeed Microsoft...

Failed Microhoo Deal Baffling to Murdoch

Media mogul blames Microsoft's lack of 'big deal' experience

(Newser) - Microsoft’s lack of experience in “buying big things” is a major reason the company didn’t seal its buyout of Yahoo, media mogul Rupert Murdoch tells CNET, who adds he was “mystified” at the lack of a deal. An alliance between Yahoo and Google—"just gushing...

Microsoft to Offer Windows Touch Screen

iPhone-like screen, due by 2010, signals need to replace Vista

(Newser) - Microsoft, still smarting over consumer discontent with its Windows Vista operating system, yesterday offered a peek at the touch-screen operating system it believes will revolutionize personal computing, the Wall Street Journal reports. The OS isn’t expected to hit shelves for 20 months, but already is creating buzz with its...

Microsoft Dumps Book-Scanning
Microsoft Dumps
Book-Scanning
May 25, 2008 8:57 AM CDT

Microsoft Dumps Book-Scanning

Leaves work to Google in shift for struggling online operation

(Newser) - Microsoft is ending its searchable book-scanning process, leaving the task of digitizing libraries’ worth of text to Google, AP reports. The move follows Yahoo’s rejection of Microsoft’s takeover bid and suggests a new direction for the struggling online component of the world’s software king. Microsoft joined the...

GameStop Axes Zune; Microsoft Shrugs

Video game retailer will no longer sell Microsoft's feeble mp3 player

(Newser) - GameStop, a national chain of video game stores, has announced it will no longer carry Microsoft’s floundering Zune digital media player, TheStreet.com reports. "We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the appeal we had anticipated," a spokesman said of...

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