Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley's blog covers the products, people and strategies that make Microsoft tick.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates talked up his vision for a micropayments strategy during the World Economic Forum in Davos. The strategy sounds a lot like Microsoft's existing "Points" system that allows Xbox and Zune customers to make small-dollar-value purchases over the Web.
Microsoft has contacted a number of beta testers to seek input it will use to customize Internet Explorer (IE) 8, the next version of its Web browser. A Microsoft survey included a number of questions around RSS feeds, Favorites and browser navigation, in general.
I asked some of the best known of the Windows experts out there for one -- just one -- piece of advice they'd give to users who have decided to take the Windows Vista plunge. Here's what they said -- and showed, via some interesting screen-shot captures.
Another question: Is it Intuit's fault that its older products don't work on Vista? Or Microsoft's fault for changing the operating system in a way that it breaks them?
I've been wanting to weigh in on the whole pay-per-blog controversy that is swirling around the Web as of late. This news tidbit gives me a way-in. (Plus, when will I ever have a chance to get the words "Bill Gates" and "Hooters" in the same headline again?)
You've heard of DLL hell. What about hot-fix hell -- the case where multiple Microsoft fixes and/or service packs don't play nicely together?
"Katmai" isn't just a SQL-Server-specific term. "Katmai" also is being used by Microsoft to refer to the next version of System Center Operations Manager, too.
Not all of the new PCs preloaded with Windows Vista are going to come from major PC makers like Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Microsoft is trying to make sure local system builders have something new to offer customers, too.
Microsoft isn't talking publicly (yet) about "Scout," an Office 2007 add-in that Istartedsomething blogger Long Zheng mentions (and posts a screen shot of) in a post today. But the company should be.
As a result of a change to its support policies, announced on January 24, Microsoft is now commiting to support consumer versions of XP through April 2009, and under extended support through April 2014.