Microsoft announces that a Windows HPC Server 2008 beta-based system now ranks among the top 25 supercomputers of the world. They have also announced a release-candidate version of the operating system software available for download towards the end of June. The final release version of this software will be available by the end of this year.

A Beta 2 version of the said software was used by NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) in a system which ranked 23 in the list of top 500 supercomputers. The NCSA achieved 68.5 TFLOPs and 77.7% efficiency on 9,472 cores, making this one of the most powerful supercomputing systems in the world. This also marks the first time a Microsoft operating system-based cluster made it into the top 25.

The founder and head of Microsoft, the world's largest software company Bill Gates steps down on Friday. One of the richest men in the world, Gates will now work full time for his charitable organization The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The 52-year-old will continue to be chairman though, but will only retain a nominal role in the software empire. He is still is the biggest shareholder of the company and his 8.7 per cent stake in Microsoft is worth about 23 billion dollars.

Gates authored the personal computer revolution three decades ago when he founded Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen.

Microsoft released a commemorative video paying tribute to Bill's service to the company, titled "Bill Gates: Looking back, Moving Ahead". It can be watched on the company's website here.

Microsoft has issued some fresh code for Windows Vista SP1 users in the form of a performance and reliability update. This specific release targets all Windows Vista editions, and promises to resolve various issues that have been submited by customers using the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services. It's also said to help improve the performance and reliability of Windows Vista. The update is available for both Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and 64-bit here.

Rumors are circulating once again that Microsoft is holding acquisition talks with Yahoo. This time Microsoft's offer is supposedly lower than its previous offer of 33 USD per share, which yahoo turned down when it requested 37 USD per share. The rumored talks have given a slight boost to Yahoo's stock, which started at 21.18 USD today, but rose to 23.71 USD. The stock also exhibited a higher than normal trading volume of 68.1 million share, compared to a daily average of 39.3 million. Representative of both Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment on the rumored talks.

Microsoft has started a recruitment-drive aimed at Yahoo's engineers after futile attempts to acquire the company.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Microsoft sent a detailed email to marketing staff and select engineers. The email reportedly said. "I know a lot of people from Yahoo have been reaching out to us lately because they are nervous about the pending layoffs. I wanted to give you an opportunity to explore Microsoft careers as well."

Microsoft has several offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it is now showing a renewed interest in adding office space and employees. Microsoft already has offices in San Francisco and Mountain View, about one million square feet of office space, and 2,000 employees.


Sources: DailyTech, The Mercury News

We are all aware of the cliché of scientists, engineers, and nerds drawing elaborate sketches of their ideas on restaurant napkins. Well one such enterprising engineer has decided to thrust this cliché into the 21st century. Avery Holleman's napkin PC concept, which focuses on collaboration and data sharing within its own network, has won this year's Microsoft Next-Gen PC Design Competition. The design of the Napkin PC in fact does resemble the design of a Napkin holder. It features multiple touchscreen devices networked together. Digital pens allow users to draw on the screens just like they would a napkin.

"I had an idea about a system where the user would be able to interact with any number of interfaces connected to the same network, Holleman said. "I felt I had good ideas. But they needed a package."

While contemplating a square he had drawn out as the display for the device Holleman realized it looked just like a napkin. The judges also seemed to like the idea, giving Holleman first prize as well as the Chairman's Award and 20,000 USD in Cash.

Last month we brought information about the first Power Pack for Windows Home Server OS. Today, Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Release Candidate for public beta testing. Again, this pack should fix the data corruption errors (KB #946676) with Windows Home Server that have plagued the OS since its release. Additional list of known issues are available on the Windows Home Server forums. Download the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC from Microsoft Connect (registration is required).

Note: In an email sent to all beta testers Microsoft suggests that even with the public Power Pack 1 RC installed, users should back up all their files just in case "something happens".

Yesterday during the first day of Computex, Rob Young - a senior director of Microsoft OEM group - said that Microsoft will once more extended the deadline for selling Window XP licenses with low-cost desktops until 2010. Microsoft has been under pressure from computer makers that produce and sell UMPCs, because their machines are still not fast enough to run Vista, but are better suited for the old Windows XP OS. In April Microsoft extended its deadline for selling Windows XP licenses to June 30th. Now "nettop" makers like ASUS and their Eee PC have two more years to sell Windows XP. Microsoft is currently supplying Windows XP licenses to more than 20 OEMs including Acer, ASUSTeK, Dell, HP, MSI and others.

"After extensive development and private evaluation, I'm pleased to announce that a public preview of Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC0 is now available. Windows SBS 2008 is the next major release in the Windows Small Business Server product family, and it offers a wave of new features for technology consultants and small business owners," revealed Dean Paron, Group Program Manager, Windows Small Business Server. To learn more of these features feel free to visit Windows Small Business Server 2008 home page. Download the Standard or Premium Release Candidate 0 releases in both 32-bit and 64-bit version from the Microsot TechNet blog.

In a recent blog post Nick Mackechnie, Senior Technical Account Manager at Microsoft New Zealand, has revealed that the next public preview of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 will come in the third quarter of this year.

We are encouraging site administrators to get their sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this year targeted for all consumers.

he wrote two days ago. The second beta for IE8 will render web pages in "standards-compliant" mode by default. Also, the IE 8 Beta 2 build will come as a public beta targeted at all consumers. To learn more, please follow this link.

Most of the time, the console war winner is decided as soon as a company sells 10 million units of their console. With NPD data consistently showing a high demand for the Nintendo Wii, most would agree that Nintendo has already won. By the 10-million-to-win rule, Nintendo won several months ago. At present, Nintendo has sold around 25 million units around the world. Microsoft has sold 19 million Xbox360's, and Sony has sold 12 million PS3's. However, Microsoft refuses to go down without a fight. Microsoft instead set a new competition, and wants to see who can sell 100 million units first. Microsoft feels that they have a superior product, which will inherently shine as time goes on. However, with grocery, gas, and mortgage prices quickly approaching the cost of gaming, the lower initial cost of the Nintendo Wii just might cinch the console war in Nintendo's favor. We shall see.

Microsoft has detailed plans to update its Windows Home Server OS with the release of Power Pack 1. Coming soon, most notably the first Power Pack for Home Server will fix the corruption issues that have plagued the OS since its release. The flaw has been acknowledged by Microsoft for some time now, but until now nothing major has been done.

Due to the nature of the shared folder data corruption bug (KB #946676) a broad beta test program with sufficient time for feedback is required. The time line for a final release will depend on this feedback and testing, in order to deliver a fix of the highest quality. To meet our goals for the beta test we need the number of beta testers who are actively using and testing the Power Pack 1 beta to ramp up very quickly

Microsoft issued this statement to all Windows Home Server users. If you want to participate in the Power Pack 1 beta process, head on over to the Microsoft Home Server website.

Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase their favorite products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback. Key partners including eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears, Zappos.com, and WPP joined Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at advance08, Microsoft's annual advertising customer event, to announce their participation in the new program.

Microsoft Corp. is offering customers greater choice and more flexibility among document formats, as well as creating additional opportunities for developer and competitors, by expanding the range of document formats supported in its flagship Office productivity suite. The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for 20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) scheduled for the first half of 2009, the list will grow to include support for XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

This story comes to prove what can happen if your name does not fit the standards. Last night, a British gamer was banned from the Xbox Live network, for registering with the RichardGaywood gamertag. From Microsoft's point of view nick names that violate the XBL policies are being removed immediately. You can't have a sexual term in you name. Yes, but what if the guy's last name is indeed Gaywood. His real full name is Richard Michael Gaywood. Do we have to change our real names so we can register and get permitted to access what we have paid for.

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:
"In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

"There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions."

Today, Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) announced an agreement that will make the Microsoft Windows operating system available on OLPC's low-cost XO laptops for the world's poorest children. Through this agreement, trials of the XO running Windows are planned to begin as soon as June in key emerging markets. Recognizing that the challenge of providing high-quality education for children in the developing world is too large to be solved by any single organization, Microsoft and OLPC are committed to working with governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure the success of these pilot programs.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million.

For personalized flair, the LifeCam VX-5000 features a brightly colored ring around the front of the webcam in the colors Cool Blue, Lucky Green and Fire Red, allowing consumers to choose their favorite to suit their style. To complement the fresh, new look, the LifeCam VX-5000 features MSN Photo Swap, a special feature that lets consumers share digital photos in midvideo conversation and see real-time reactions as both callers view the pictures. The new webcam arrives just in time to help share summer vacation memories and keep consumers connected throughout the year.

Microsoft spokesman Jesse Verstraete announced it was appealing against the record 899 million euro ($1.39 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission for not providing key code to rival software makers and prolonged misbehaviour allegations. "Microsoft today filed to the (EU) Court of First Instance an application to annul the European Commission decision of February 27," the U.S. software giant said in a late Friday mail. "We are filing this appeal in a constructive effort to seek clarity from the court," it said. Microsoft has been fined a total of 1.68 billion euros by the EU for abusing its 95 percent dominance of PC operating systems through its Windows operating system. The Commission had initially fined Microsoft 497 million Euro in March 2004 for deliberately damaging rivals by offering its Windows Media Player with Windows. The second fine of 899 million Euro followed in February 2008, that's also the biggest ever fine imposed on a company by the EU committee.

The China Economic News Service reported today that Microsoft has assigned Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and Nanya PCB to manufacture, test and package the latest version of Xbox 360, codenamed "Jasper". TSMC will build ATI Xenos graphics and memory controller hub (GMCH) for the new Jasper console, using 65nm process. ASE was contracted to package and test the two chips, while Nanya has won orders to supply flip-chip packaging substrates, reports CENS.com. Current Xbox 360 consoles named Falcon utilize GMCH and eDRAM cores manufactured using 90nm process technology at TSMC as well as CPU built at IBM using 65nm fabrication process. The new Jasper Xbox 360s are projected to consume less electricity, use less complex cooling systems and logically produce less noise. In addition the revised consoles will fix the so-called "red ring of death" issue that plagued many Falcon systems. Microsoft will reportedly make available the Jasper version of XBox 360 game console in August this year.

When I first read the original story title what came to my mind were the words of one of our forum members commenting on the release of Windows XP SP3 - "I'm just waiting for the headlines tomorrow about how many problems this has created". However, after a quick read it does not sound so bad, Microsoft is just warning users updating to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) that they won't be able to downgrade from Internet Explorer 7 to the older IE6 without uninstalling the service pack. The warning was posted in a company blog written by the Internet Explorer development team. "If you choose to install XP SP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete," said Jane Maliouta, an IE program manager, in the blog entry. "Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7. If you go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, the Remove option will be grayed out." In related news, Microsoft team also adviced users of the IE8 Beta 1 to uninstall it if they are attempting to install and use Windows XP SP3 in order to prevent their systems from possible future instability issues.

Today, Windows XP Service Pack (SP3) has officially hit the Release to Web (RTW) milestone. The third service pack for Windows XP is now available both on Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers' experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

DOWNLOAD: Network Installation (316.4MB) | ISO CD Image File (545MB).

One more Xbox 360 Blu-Ray rumour goes down. Last week DigiTimes reported that Pegatron Technology has secured an order from Microsoft to manufacture Xbox 360 consoles with Blu-ray support for release this fall. Microsoft today officially denied the report.

As we have stated, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360,

said a Microsoft official in an email to GamePro.

Games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.

End of statement.

Yahoo! has issued a statement in response to Microsoft's decision to pull out of its acquisition offer. Yahoo!'s Chairman Roy Bostock said,

We remain focused on maximizing shareholder value and pursuing strategic opportunities that position Yahoo! for success and leadership in its markets,

From the beginning of this process, our independent board and our management have been steadfast in our belief that Microsoft's offer undervalued the company and we are pleased that so many of our shareholders joined us in expressing that view. Yahoo! is profitable, growing, and executing well on its strategic plan to capture the large opportunities in the relatively young online advertising market.

Yahoo!'s CEO Jerry Yang also added:

With the distraction of Microsoft's unsolicited proposal now behind us, we will be able to focus all of our energies on executing the most important transition in our history so that we can maximize our potential to the benefit of our shareholders, employees, partners and users.