We already know quite a few details about Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's upcoming attempt to retain - or grow - its market share in the browser world. Standards and speed are the main focus of IE9, and if a video of the upcoming beta release is anything to go by, they're doing pretty well. Just... Did they just manage to make the interface even less appealing?   Microsoft has fed us a number of builds for Internet Explorer 9, and while theyshowed off the speed improvements as well as the muc

My post late last week about unplanned downtime for Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) seemingly has opened the floodgates for more similar reports.   On September 7, I began receiving notes from several customers of Microsoft’s hosted Online Services — which include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Online, Live Meeting and the BPOS bundle of these services — of yet more access problems.   Today’s outage, which several users have told me is still ongoing

Microsoft has released to manufacturing (RTM’d) the Windows Phone OS 7.0, company officials announced on September 1.   “While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners’ hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete,” blogged Terry Myerson, the Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone Engineering.   Microsoft is expected to hold some kind of Windows Phone 7 launch event in October. Company officials have said the

Microsoft officials are acknowledging that they are planning to add ActiveSync support to Hotmail on August 30.   The new capability will let Hotmail users get push e-mail on cell phones and other devices (even if they aren’t trying to sync with an Exchange Server on the back-end), company execs told News.com on August 26. The ActiveSync addition also will allow Hotmail users to sync contacts and calendars across their iPhones, iPod Touch devices, Android phones and (once they are available) t

Companies waiting too long to organise the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 face a shortage of skilled professionals to manage the migration, according to research from analyst firm Gartner.       The company says demand for properly qualified personnel will push up migration costs as professionals will be able to name their price for undertaking contracts.   "Microsoft will support Windows XP for four more years," said Charles Smulders, managing vice president at Gartner. "With most

Microsoft announced general availability of the final version of Exchange 2010 Service Pack (SP) 1 on August 25.   Included in SP1 are the usual fixes and updates made to Exchange 2010 since Microsoft shipped that product in October 2009. But SP1 also includes new features and functionality, including archiving and discovery updates, Outlook Web App improvements, mobile user and management improvements and “some highly sought after additional UI for management tasks,” officials said earlier th

Summary: "Microsoft Russia’s press site, on August 25, posted information and a photo that seem to be connected to the coming IE 9 beta. (The site has since pulled their post, but I grabbed the information and screen shot in the nick of time.)"     Microsoft has delivered four developer previews of Internet Explorer (IE) 9 so far, but has yet to show off the new interface for its next-generation browser. That is expected to happen on September 15, during Microsoft’s beta launch event in Sa

Windows 95 launched 15 years ago today, Mary Jo Foley reminds us.     Today, after 15 years of additional technology evolution--and after memories of the event have been obliterated by semi-annual blockbuster launches of Apple products--it's hard to believe that the Windows 95 launch was a big deal.   But it WAS.   In fact, it was a monstrous deal.   Windows 95 catapulted Microsoft into the mainstream consumer consciousness, in a way that no other Microsoft product ever had. It cappe