story first appeared on usatoday.com
Microsoft has stepped up to prove naysayers wrong on early Windows 8 adoption.
Tami Reller, the software giant's new co-chief of the Windows division, told a Credit Suisse investor conference in Arizona on Tuesday that Window 8 upgrades are outpacing Windows 7 in its first month.
Microsoft's long-term outlook as operating system leader has come into question as PC sales slacken amid a consumer frenzy over tablets and smartphones from the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google and Amazon.com.
Windows 8 became available Oct. 26, but doubts about its extreme makeover raised uncertainty about its commercial appeal to big businesses. The Window 8 debut has required a major overhaul of both the software and company in a bid for mobile relevance.
This month, Microsoft reorganized its Windows unit that resulted in the departure of long-time veteran and Windows chief Steven Sinofsky.
Microsoft executives Reller and Julies Larson-Green were tapped to lead the division.
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Microsoft Jumps on the Tablet Bandwagon
Story first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled the first computer it has ever made, a tablet called the Surface that comes with a keyboard and other features designed to stand out in a market dominated by Apple Inc.
The new device, unveiled by the Microsoft Chief Executive at an event for journalists, is a sign of the new tactics the software giant has been forced to embrace as it tries to make up lost ground in the mobile market.
Microsoft said the smallest Surface tablet is 9.3 millimeters thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, which is similar to Apple's iPad, at 9.4 millimeters thick and 1.44 pounds. The Surface has a 10.6-inch screen compared with the iPad's 9.7-inch screen.
The Surface has a built-in kickstand and magnetic cover, which also acts as a touch keyboard. Microsoft didn't say whether the device would connect to cellular data networks or would be Wi-Fi only.
The Surface will be priced like comparable tablets. Microsoft will sell the tablets itself at Microsoft's handful of retail stores and through some online channels.
Microsoft didn't identify contractors who will manufacture the hardware, or provide much clarity on timing—except to say that the first Surface models will arrive when Windows 8 is generally available, which is expected to be in the second half of the year.
The new tablet device is styled as a vehicle to exploit its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, and a variant called Windows RT that relies on different kinds of computer chips. The software is the first from Microsoft designed with tablet computers in mind, offering an interface called Metro that is designed to be controlled by a user touching a display.
Microsoft executives repeatedly use the words "no compromises" to describe the tablet computers they envision running Windows 8 and Windows RT—which means that users will be able to use work-oriented tools like Microsoft Word and Excel programs, not just be used for watching movies and surfing the Web.
Microsoft also emphasized the use of the Surface with a keyboard, a convertible usage model that the company has helped champion and Apple has publicly discounted.
The Surface is a PC, the Surface is a tablet and the Surface is something new that Microsoft thinks people will really love.
Microsoft's involvement with tablet-style computing goes back more than three decades, supplying software to companies for products designed to be activated with a pen-style device. But those machines failed to gain wide acceptance. The Surface, and the new versions of Windows, are an attempt to emulate the touch-based interaction that Apple popularized with the iPhone and iPad.
The company also used the name Surface for a tabletop computer it first demonstrated several years ago.
Microsoft executives said the company's decision to make a homegrown tablet computer fits with the history of Microsoft making hardware when it is needed to bolster the company's software, such as Microsoft's making one of the earliest computer mouses.
But by making its own tablet, Microsoft also risks taking sales away from a coming crop of Windows-powered tablets from its own allies. Microsoft traditionally has left the making of computers to partners such as Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. Microsoft treading on the hardware-makers turf threatens to strain that long-standing business arrangement.
The computer makers' business is dependent on Microsoft, so they may not express annoyance publicly at Microsoft's trading on the hardware makers' turf. But at least some hardware executives are fuming privately at Microsoft's decision.
Microsoft's move to make its own tablet comes with consequences, which is complicating choices for consumers and complicating relations with third-party manufacturers.
Microsoft showed off the two versions of the Surface. The versions running Windows 8 will run chips from Intel Corp., which supplies chips used in most PCs. The versions running Windows RT will be powered by chips from Nvidia Corp. based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC, a variety of chips widely used in cellphones and tablets.
Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled the first computer it has ever made, a tablet called the Surface that comes with a keyboard and other features designed to stand out in a market dominated by Apple Inc.
The new device, unveiled by the Microsoft Chief Executive at an event for journalists, is a sign of the new tactics the software giant has been forced to embrace as it tries to make up lost ground in the mobile market.
Microsoft said the smallest Surface tablet is 9.3 millimeters thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, which is similar to Apple's iPad, at 9.4 millimeters thick and 1.44 pounds. The Surface has a 10.6-inch screen compared with the iPad's 9.7-inch screen.
The Surface has a built-in kickstand and magnetic cover, which also acts as a touch keyboard. Microsoft didn't say whether the device would connect to cellular data networks or would be Wi-Fi only.
The Surface will be priced like comparable tablets. Microsoft will sell the tablets itself at Microsoft's handful of retail stores and through some online channels.
Microsoft didn't identify contractors who will manufacture the hardware, or provide much clarity on timing—except to say that the first Surface models will arrive when Windows 8 is generally available, which is expected to be in the second half of the year.
The new tablet device is styled as a vehicle to exploit its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, and a variant called Windows RT that relies on different kinds of computer chips. The software is the first from Microsoft designed with tablet computers in mind, offering an interface called Metro that is designed to be controlled by a user touching a display.
Microsoft executives repeatedly use the words "no compromises" to describe the tablet computers they envision running Windows 8 and Windows RT—which means that users will be able to use work-oriented tools like Microsoft Word and Excel programs, not just be used for watching movies and surfing the Web.
Microsoft also emphasized the use of the Surface with a keyboard, a convertible usage model that the company has helped champion and Apple has publicly discounted.
The Surface is a PC, the Surface is a tablet and the Surface is something new that Microsoft thinks people will really love.
Microsoft's involvement with tablet-style computing goes back more than three decades, supplying software to companies for products designed to be activated with a pen-style device. But those machines failed to gain wide acceptance. The Surface, and the new versions of Windows, are an attempt to emulate the touch-based interaction that Apple popularized with the iPhone and iPad.
The company also used the name Surface for a tabletop computer it first demonstrated several years ago.
Microsoft executives said the company's decision to make a homegrown tablet computer fits with the history of Microsoft making hardware when it is needed to bolster the company's software, such as Microsoft's making one of the earliest computer mouses.
But by making its own tablet, Microsoft also risks taking sales away from a coming crop of Windows-powered tablets from its own allies. Microsoft traditionally has left the making of computers to partners such as Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. Microsoft treading on the hardware-makers turf threatens to strain that long-standing business arrangement.
The computer makers' business is dependent on Microsoft, so they may not express annoyance publicly at Microsoft's trading on the hardware makers' turf. But at least some hardware executives are fuming privately at Microsoft's decision.
Microsoft's move to make its own tablet comes with consequences, which is complicating choices for consumers and complicating relations with third-party manufacturers.
Microsoft showed off the two versions of the Surface. The versions running Windows 8 will run chips from Intel Corp., which supplies chips used in most PCs. The versions running Windows RT will be powered by chips from Nvidia Corp. based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC, a variety of chips widely used in cellphones and tablets.
For more Electronics
News, visit the Electronics America blog.
For more national and worldwide Business News, visit the Peak News
Room blog.
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the Michigan Business News blog.
For more Health News, visit the
Healthcare and Medical News blog.
For more Real Estate News,
visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
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visit the Nation of Law blog.
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News, visit the Advertising, Marketing and Media blog.
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visit the Environmental Responsibility News blog.
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blog.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Microsoft Revamps Bing
Story first appeared in USA Today.
In the real world, when folks decide where to eat, what to buy, which movie to go see and so on, they frequently seek the recommendations of friends and so-called experts.
Three years after launching its "Decision Engine," Microsoft is overhauling Bing to make its online search engine more social. Though it's taking a different path, Bing's strategy resembles that taken by rival Google, still the dominant player in search.
As part of the new Bing, people you know, and in some cases, strangers, are more prominently featured in the decision-making mix that includes Facebook and other networks.
Not everything in this still-early-stage preview is working smoothly . For one thing, users ran into trouble getting all the new Bing features to show up on the Mac's Safari Web browser (which Microsoft says is related to the version and will be fixed).
You can check out the changes for yourself at Bing.com/new, but consumers must still wait a few weeks for all the latest features to be made available.
In the real world, when folks decide where to eat, what to buy, which movie to go see and so on, they frequently seek the recommendations of friends and so-called experts.
Three years after launching its "Decision Engine," Microsoft is overhauling Bing to make its online search engine more social. Though it's taking a different path, Bing's strategy resembles that taken by rival Google, still the dominant player in search.
As part of the new Bing, people you know, and in some cases, strangers, are more prominently featured in the decision-making mix that includes Facebook and other networks.
Not everything in this still-early-stage preview is working smoothly . For one thing, users ran into trouble getting all the new Bing features to show up on the Mac's Safari Web browser (which Microsoft says is related to the version and will be fixed).
You can check out the changes for yourself at Bing.com/new, but consumers must still wait a few weeks for all the latest features to be made available.
For more Electronics
News, visit the Electronics America blog.
For more national and worldwide Business News, visit the Peak News
Room blog.
For more local and state of Michigan Business News, visit
the Michigan Business News blog.
For more Health News, visit the
Healthcare and Medical News blog.
For more Real Estate News,
visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For more Law News,
visit the Nation of Law blog.
For more Advertising
News, visit the Advertising, Marketing and Media blog.
For more Environmental News,
visit the Environmental Responsibility News blog.
For information on website optimization or for the latest SEO News, visit the SEO Done Right
blog.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Microsoft Knocks Out Another Botnet
Story first appeared in The New York Times.
Last Friday, Microsoft employees and federal marshals raided command centers in Pennsylvania and Illinois used by criminals to run a botnet, a cluster of infected computers used to steal personal and financial information from millions of victims.
But two days earlier, a separate group of cybersecurity researchers based in San Francisco quietly took down another botnet using more technical means. The five researchers, from four security firms — Crowdstrike, Dell SecureWorks, the Honeynet Project and Kaspersky Labs – worked together to decrypt and successfully commandeer the so-called Kelihos.b botnet that was using over 100,000 infected computers to blast pharmaceutical spam and, in some cases, steal Bitcoins, a virtual currency that is impossible to recover once stolen.
The two takedowns were not timed to coincide with one another, nor were the two groups even aware they were operating in tandem. But they point to a renewed effort by technologists to take the lead in combating digital crime rather than waiting for law enforcement authorities to take action.
Microsoft has preferred to take botnets down through court actions. Including Friday’s raid, Microsoft has disrupted four botnets in the last few years through civil suits. In each case, Microsoft sought secret court orders that allowed it to seize Web addresses and servers that run the botnets, without first alerting their owners.
In the case of Kelihos.b, researchers took a more technical approach. They successfully reverse-engineered the botnet’s structure and analyzed its cryptography, then injected their own file into its communication network. That file instructed infected computers to send any information to a “sinkhole” controlled by Crowdstrike, rather than to the command-and-control server run by criminals.
Within a few minutes of infiltrating Kelihos.b, over 85,000 infected computers started communicating with Crowdstrike’s sinkhole. As more infected users went online, Crowdstrike said that figure quickly jumped to 110,000. By Friday, researchers said the criminals behind Kelihos.b had already abandoned the botnet and moved on.
By dismantling their tools this way, the researchers said they gleaned valuable information about the criminals’ techniques. Experts advise that it is best for companies to employ a professional Managed IT Service to police their online security.
Of the infected machines, 84 percent were exploited using a loophole in Microsoft Windows XP. Researchers also noted that the vast majority of infections — a quarter of all identified machines — were in Poland and that the botnet’s creators spread Kelihos.b through a “pay-per-install” model typically favored by hackers in Eastern Europe. A senior lawyer in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, said he had a high degree of confidence that the culprits behind the botnet Microsoft took down last Friday were also based in Eastern Europe.
That information could potentially be valuable in combating future threats. Unless a botnet’s owners and clients are put behind bars, takedowns tend to be temporary. Microsoft’s earlier disruption of a Waledac botnet, for example, lasted only as long as the time it took its creators to modify its architecture slightly to create a new botnet. Kelihos.b is a second-generation version of Kelihos, another botnet that was shut down last September.
For more technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Last Friday, Microsoft employees and federal marshals raided command centers in Pennsylvania and Illinois used by criminals to run a botnet, a cluster of infected computers used to steal personal and financial information from millions of victims.
But two days earlier, a separate group of cybersecurity researchers based in San Francisco quietly took down another botnet using more technical means. The five researchers, from four security firms — Crowdstrike, Dell SecureWorks, the Honeynet Project and Kaspersky Labs – worked together to decrypt and successfully commandeer the so-called Kelihos.b botnet that was using over 100,000 infected computers to blast pharmaceutical spam and, in some cases, steal Bitcoins, a virtual currency that is impossible to recover once stolen.
The two takedowns were not timed to coincide with one another, nor were the two groups even aware they were operating in tandem. But they point to a renewed effort by technologists to take the lead in combating digital crime rather than waiting for law enforcement authorities to take action.
Microsoft has preferred to take botnets down through court actions. Including Friday’s raid, Microsoft has disrupted four botnets in the last few years through civil suits. In each case, Microsoft sought secret court orders that allowed it to seize Web addresses and servers that run the botnets, without first alerting their owners.
In the case of Kelihos.b, researchers took a more technical approach. They successfully reverse-engineered the botnet’s structure and analyzed its cryptography, then injected their own file into its communication network. That file instructed infected computers to send any information to a “sinkhole” controlled by Crowdstrike, rather than to the command-and-control server run by criminals.
Within a few minutes of infiltrating Kelihos.b, over 85,000 infected computers started communicating with Crowdstrike’s sinkhole. As more infected users went online, Crowdstrike said that figure quickly jumped to 110,000. By Friday, researchers said the criminals behind Kelihos.b had already abandoned the botnet and moved on.
By dismantling their tools this way, the researchers said they gleaned valuable information about the criminals’ techniques. Experts advise that it is best for companies to employ a professional Managed IT Service to police their online security.
Of the infected machines, 84 percent were exploited using a loophole in Microsoft Windows XP. Researchers also noted that the vast majority of infections — a quarter of all identified machines — were in Poland and that the botnet’s creators spread Kelihos.b through a “pay-per-install” model typically favored by hackers in Eastern Europe. A senior lawyer in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, said he had a high degree of confidence that the culprits behind the botnet Microsoft took down last Friday were also based in Eastern Europe.
That information could potentially be valuable in combating future threats. Unless a botnet’s owners and clients are put behind bars, takedowns tend to be temporary. Microsoft’s earlier disruption of a Waledac botnet, for example, lasted only as long as the time it took its creators to modify its architecture slightly to create a new botnet. Kelihos.b is a second-generation version of Kelihos, another botnet that was shut down last September.
For more technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Supercookies Stealing Personal Information
Story first appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
Major websites such as MSN.com and Hulu.com have been tracking people's online activities using powerful new methods that are almost impossible for computer users to detect, new research shows. Unfortunately, security solutions may not be effective against these so called "supercookies".
What 'History Stealing' Is
The new techniques, which are legal, reach beyond the traditional "cookie," a small file that websites routinely install on users' computers to help track their activities online. Hulu and MSN were installing files known as "supercookies," which are capable of re-creating users' profiles after people deleted regular cookies, according to researchers at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley.
Websites and advertisers have faced strong criticism for collecting and selling personal data about computer users without their knowledge, and a half-dozen privacy bills have been introduced on Capitol Hill this year.
Many of the companies found to be using the new techniques say the tracking was inadvertent and they stopped it after being contacted by the researchers.
The associate general counsel at MSN parent company Microsoft Corp., said that when the supercookie was brought to their attention, and they were alarmed by it. It was inconsistent with their intent and their policy. He said the company removed the computer code, which had been created by Microsoft.
WSJ reports so-called 'supercookies' reside in web sites that are tracking web users' activities and can continue to track users after they click a box to remove cookies from their computer.
Hulu posted a statement online saying it acted immediately to investigate and address the issues identified by researchers. It declined to comment further.
The spread of advanced tracking techniques shows how quickly data-tracking companies are adapting their techniques. When The Wall Street Journal examined tracking tools on major websites last year, most of these more aggressive techniques were not in wide use.
But as consumers become savvier about protecting their privacy online, the new techniques appear to be gaining ground.
A Stanford researcher identified what is known as a "history stealing" tracking service on Flixster.com, a social-networking service for movie fans recently acquired by Time Warner Inc., and on Charter Communications Inc.'s Charter.net.
Such tracking peers into people's Web-browsing histories to see if they previously had visited any of more than 1,500 websites, including ones dealing with fertility problems, menopause and credit repair, the researchers said. History stealing has been identified on other sites in recent years, but rarely at that scale.
The researchers determined that the history stealing on those two sites was being done by Epic Media Group, a New York digital-marketing company. Charter and Flixster said they didn't have a direct relationship with Epic, but as is common in online advertising, Epic's tracking service was installed by advertisers.
The chief executive of Epic, says his company was inadvertently using the technology and no longer uses it. He said the information was used only to verify the accuracy of data that it had bought from other vendors.
Both Flixster and Charter say they were unaware of Epic's activities and have since removed all Epic technology from their sites. Charter did the same last year with a different vendor doing history stealing on a smaller scale.
Gathering information about Web-browsing history can offer valuable clues about people's interests, concerns or household finances. Someone researching a disease online, for example, might be thought to have the illness, or at least to be worried about it.
The potential for privacy legislation in Washington has driven the online-ad industry to establish its own rules, which it says are designed to alert computer users of tracking and offer them ways to limit the use of such data by advertisers.
Under the self-imposed guidelines, collecting health and financial data about individuals is permissible as long as the data don't contain financial-account numbers, Social Security numbers, pharmaceutical prescriptions or medical records. But using techniques such as history stealing and supercookies "to negate consumer choices" about privacy violates the guidelines.
Until now, the council has been trying to push companies into the program, not kick them out.
Last year, the online-ad industry launched a program to label ads that are sent to computer users based on tracking data. The goal is to provide users a place to click in the ad itself that would let them opt out of receiving such targeted ads. (It doesn't turn off tracking altogether.) The program has been slow to catch on, new findings indicate.
The industry has estimated that nearly 80% of online display ads are based on tracking data. Only 9% of the ads they examined on the 500 most popular websites—62 out of 627 ads—contained the label. They looked at standard-size display ads placed by third parties between Aug. 4 and 11.
The industry says self-regulation is working. The labeling program has made tremendous progress.
Several Microsoft-owned websites, including MSN.com and Microsoft.com, were using supercookies.
Supercookies are stored in different places than regular cookies, such as within the Web browser's "cache" of previously visited websites, which is where the Microsoft ones were located. Privacy-conscious users who know how to find and delete regular cookies might have trouble locating supercookies.
Supercookies have also been found on Microsoft's advertising network, which places ads for other companies across the Internet. As a result, people could have had the supercookie installed on their machines without visiting Microsoft websites directly. Even if they deleted regular cookies, information about their Web-browsing could have been retained by Microsoft.
Microsoft's representative said that the company removed the code after being contacted, and that Microsoft is still trying to figure out why the code was created. A spokeswoman said the data gathered by the supercookie were used only by Microsoft and weren't shared with outside companies.
Separately last month, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, found supercookie techniques used by dozens of sites. One of them, Hulu, was storing tracking coding in files related to Adobe Systems Inc.'s widely used Flash software, which enables many of the videos found online, the researchers said in a report. Hulu is owned by NBC Universal, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal.
Hulu was one of several companies that entered into a $2.4 million class-action settlement last year related to the use of Flash cookies to circumvent users who tried to delete their regular cookies.
The Berkeley researchers also found that Hulu's website contained code from Kissmetrics, a company that analyzes website-traffic data. Kissmetrics was inserting supercookies into users' browser caches and into files associated with the latest version of the standard programming language used to build Web pages, known as HTML5.
In a blog post after the report was released, Kissmetrics said it would use only regular cookies for future tracking. The company didn't return calls seeking comment.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Major websites such as MSN.com and Hulu.com have been tracking people's online activities using powerful new methods that are almost impossible for computer users to detect, new research shows. Unfortunately, security solutions may not be effective against these so called "supercookies".
What 'History Stealing' Is
The new techniques, which are legal, reach beyond the traditional "cookie," a small file that websites routinely install on users' computers to help track their activities online. Hulu and MSN were installing files known as "supercookies," which are capable of re-creating users' profiles after people deleted regular cookies, according to researchers at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley.
Websites and advertisers have faced strong criticism for collecting and selling personal data about computer users without their knowledge, and a half-dozen privacy bills have been introduced on Capitol Hill this year.
Many of the companies found to be using the new techniques say the tracking was inadvertent and they stopped it after being contacted by the researchers.
The associate general counsel at MSN parent company Microsoft Corp., said that when the supercookie was brought to their attention, and they were alarmed by it. It was inconsistent with their intent and their policy. He said the company removed the computer code, which had been created by Microsoft.
WSJ reports so-called 'supercookies' reside in web sites that are tracking web users' activities and can continue to track users after they click a box to remove cookies from their computer.
Hulu posted a statement online saying it acted immediately to investigate and address the issues identified by researchers. It declined to comment further.
The spread of advanced tracking techniques shows how quickly data-tracking companies are adapting their techniques. When The Wall Street Journal examined tracking tools on major websites last year, most of these more aggressive techniques were not in wide use.
But as consumers become savvier about protecting their privacy online, the new techniques appear to be gaining ground.
A Stanford researcher identified what is known as a "history stealing" tracking service on Flixster.com, a social-networking service for movie fans recently acquired by Time Warner Inc., and on Charter Communications Inc.'s Charter.net.
Such tracking peers into people's Web-browsing histories to see if they previously had visited any of more than 1,500 websites, including ones dealing with fertility problems, menopause and credit repair, the researchers said. History stealing has been identified on other sites in recent years, but rarely at that scale.
The researchers determined that the history stealing on those two sites was being done by Epic Media Group, a New York digital-marketing company. Charter and Flixster said they didn't have a direct relationship with Epic, but as is common in online advertising, Epic's tracking service was installed by advertisers.
The chief executive of Epic, says his company was inadvertently using the technology and no longer uses it. He said the information was used only to verify the accuracy of data that it had bought from other vendors.
Both Flixster and Charter say they were unaware of Epic's activities and have since removed all Epic technology from their sites. Charter did the same last year with a different vendor doing history stealing on a smaller scale.
Gathering information about Web-browsing history can offer valuable clues about people's interests, concerns or household finances. Someone researching a disease online, for example, might be thought to have the illness, or at least to be worried about it.
The potential for privacy legislation in Washington has driven the online-ad industry to establish its own rules, which it says are designed to alert computer users of tracking and offer them ways to limit the use of such data by advertisers.
Under the self-imposed guidelines, collecting health and financial data about individuals is permissible as long as the data don't contain financial-account numbers, Social Security numbers, pharmaceutical prescriptions or medical records. But using techniques such as history stealing and supercookies "to negate consumer choices" about privacy violates the guidelines.
Until now, the council has been trying to push companies into the program, not kick them out.
Last year, the online-ad industry launched a program to label ads that are sent to computer users based on tracking data. The goal is to provide users a place to click in the ad itself that would let them opt out of receiving such targeted ads. (It doesn't turn off tracking altogether.) The program has been slow to catch on, new findings indicate.
The industry has estimated that nearly 80% of online display ads are based on tracking data. Only 9% of the ads they examined on the 500 most popular websites—62 out of 627 ads—contained the label. They looked at standard-size display ads placed by third parties between Aug. 4 and 11.
The industry says self-regulation is working. The labeling program has made tremendous progress.
Several Microsoft-owned websites, including MSN.com and Microsoft.com, were using supercookies.
Supercookies are stored in different places than regular cookies, such as within the Web browser's "cache" of previously visited websites, which is where the Microsoft ones were located. Privacy-conscious users who know how to find and delete regular cookies might have trouble locating supercookies.
Supercookies have also been found on Microsoft's advertising network, which places ads for other companies across the Internet. As a result, people could have had the supercookie installed on their machines without visiting Microsoft websites directly. Even if they deleted regular cookies, information about their Web-browsing could have been retained by Microsoft.
Microsoft's representative said that the company removed the code after being contacted, and that Microsoft is still trying to figure out why the code was created. A spokeswoman said the data gathered by the supercookie were used only by Microsoft and weren't shared with outside companies.
Separately last month, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, found supercookie techniques used by dozens of sites. One of them, Hulu, was storing tracking coding in files related to Adobe Systems Inc.'s widely used Flash software, which enables many of the videos found online, the researchers said in a report. Hulu is owned by NBC Universal, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal.
Hulu was one of several companies that entered into a $2.4 million class-action settlement last year related to the use of Flash cookies to circumvent users who tried to delete their regular cookies.
The Berkeley researchers also found that Hulu's website contained code from Kissmetrics, a company that analyzes website-traffic data. Kissmetrics was inserting supercookies into users' browser caches and into files associated with the latest version of the standard programming language used to build Web pages, known as HTML5.
In a blog post after the report was released, Kissmetrics said it would use only regular cookies for future tracking. The company didn't return calls seeking comment.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Holiday Sales Didn't Help Microsoft
First appeared in NY Times
Weak sales of personal computers made for a tough holiday selling season for Microsoft.
The results, released Thursday after the markets closed, are a sign of the challenges that Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., faces as it tries to adapt to deep changes in the technology industry. While Microsoft continues to reap profits from products like Windows and Office, growth is shifting away from the personal computer industry on which those two software franchises rest toward mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
The company said net income in its second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, declined slightly to $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, from $6.63 billion in the year-earlier period. The company said revenue was up 5 percent at $20.89 billion.
The earnings exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who had predicted 76 cents a share, though Microsoft fell short of their revenue forecast of $20.93 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
The PC market is looking increasingly shaky. Microsoft said revenue from Windows, one of the pillars of its profits, fell 6 percent, to $4.74 billion, in the quarter.
Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said that most analysts had braced for poor Windows sales but that the actual numbers were worse than most had expected.
“We were negative 4 percent, and they still missed,” he said.
In an interview, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Peter S. Klein, said the decline in Windows sales was the result of problems in the consumer market, not purchases of PCs by businesses, which continued to grow during the quarter. He said the sales of the inexpensive laptops known as netbooks were especially bad, falling to 2 percent of worldwide consumer PC shipments in the quarter, from 8 percent a year earlier.
Worldwide shipments of PCs fell 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period, while PC shipments in the United States fell 5 percent for all of 2011, the worst showing since 2001, according to the International Data Corporation. IDC attributed the anemic results to weak economic conditions and shortages of hard disks caused by flooding in Thailand, a manufacturing center for those devices.
The weakness in Microsoft’s report also reflects competition from cellphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
After stumbling in mobile phones and tablets in recent years, Microsoft finally has software products for these devices that are winning positive early reviews. But Microsoft’s tablet and cellphone plans have not yet begun to produce big sales.
The company released its redesigned mobile operating system, Windows Phone, in fall 2010, but the first smartphones that used the software were lackluster and had tepid support from wireless carriers. Microsoft is betting that a partnership with Nokia, the Finnish cellphone maker, will help turn around its mobile business. The first devices from their collaboration went on sale only recently.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system are devouring most of the market. During the fourth quarter, Android phones accounted for 51.7 percent of the smartphones acquired by United States consumers within three months, while the iPhone accounted for 37 percent, according to estimates by Nielsen. Phones running Microsoft software, including an older operating system it is no longer developing, accounted for 3.8 percent, Nielsen said.
Microsoft is also developing a new version of its flagship operating system, Windows 8, to run tablet computers. Early test versions of the software have been praised by developers and technophiles. The software is not expected to go on sale until late this year, though.
Other parts of Microsoft’s business are performing well, especially its entertainment and devices division, dominated by sales of the Xbox video game system and related products. Revenue from that division grew 15 percent to $4.24 billion from the year-earlier period, reflecting strong sales of the Xbox 360 console, the Kinect game sensor and the Xbox Live online game service.
Another standout was Microsoft’s server and tools division, which sells databases and other software to businesses. That division’s sales rose 11 percent, to $4.77 billion.
Weak sales of personal computers made for a tough holiday selling season for Microsoft.
The results, released Thursday after the markets closed, are a sign of the challenges that Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., faces as it tries to adapt to deep changes in the technology industry. While Microsoft continues to reap profits from products like Windows and Office, growth is shifting away from the personal computer industry on which those two software franchises rest toward mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
The company said net income in its second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, declined slightly to $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, from $6.63 billion in the year-earlier period. The company said revenue was up 5 percent at $20.89 billion.
The earnings exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who had predicted 76 cents a share, though Microsoft fell short of their revenue forecast of $20.93 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
The PC market is looking increasingly shaky. Microsoft said revenue from Windows, one of the pillars of its profits, fell 6 percent, to $4.74 billion, in the quarter.
Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said that most analysts had braced for poor Windows sales but that the actual numbers were worse than most had expected.
“We were negative 4 percent, and they still missed,” he said.
In an interview, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Peter S. Klein, said the decline in Windows sales was the result of problems in the consumer market, not purchases of PCs by businesses, which continued to grow during the quarter. He said the sales of the inexpensive laptops known as netbooks were especially bad, falling to 2 percent of worldwide consumer PC shipments in the quarter, from 8 percent a year earlier.
Worldwide shipments of PCs fell 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period, while PC shipments in the United States fell 5 percent for all of 2011, the worst showing since 2001, according to the International Data Corporation. IDC attributed the anemic results to weak economic conditions and shortages of hard disks caused by flooding in Thailand, a manufacturing center for those devices.
The weakness in Microsoft’s report also reflects competition from cellphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
After stumbling in mobile phones and tablets in recent years, Microsoft finally has software products for these devices that are winning positive early reviews. But Microsoft’s tablet and cellphone plans have not yet begun to produce big sales.
The company released its redesigned mobile operating system, Windows Phone, in fall 2010, but the first smartphones that used the software were lackluster and had tepid support from wireless carriers. Microsoft is betting that a partnership with Nokia, the Finnish cellphone maker, will help turn around its mobile business. The first devices from their collaboration went on sale only recently.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system are devouring most of the market. During the fourth quarter, Android phones accounted for 51.7 percent of the smartphones acquired by United States consumers within three months, while the iPhone accounted for 37 percent, according to estimates by Nielsen. Phones running Microsoft software, including an older operating system it is no longer developing, accounted for 3.8 percent, Nielsen said.
Microsoft is also developing a new version of its flagship operating system, Windows 8, to run tablet computers. Early test versions of the software have been praised by developers and technophiles. The software is not expected to go on sale until late this year, though.
Other parts of Microsoft’s business are performing well, especially its entertainment and devices division, dominated by sales of the Xbox video game system and related products. Revenue from that division grew 15 percent to $4.24 billion from the year-earlier period, reflecting strong sales of the Xbox 360 console, the Kinect game sensor and the Xbox Live online game service.
Another standout was Microsoft’s server and tools division, which sells databases and other software to businesses. That division’s sales rose 11 percent, to $4.77 billion.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Suicidal Xbox Makers
First appeared in the Boston Globe
Dozens of workers assembling Xbox video game consoles climbed to a factory dormitory roof, and some threatened to jump to their deaths, in a dispute over job transfers that was defused but highlights growing labor unrest as China’s economy slows.
The dispute was set off after contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group announced it would close the assembly line for Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 models at its plant in the central city of Wuhan and transfer the workers to other jobs, workers and Foxconn said Thursday.
Workers reached by telephone said Foxconn initially offered severance pay for those who wanted to leave rather than be transferred, but then reneged, angering the workers; Foxconn, in a statement, disputed that account, saying only transfers were offered, not severance.
The workers climbed to the top of the six-story dormitory on Jan. 3 and threatened to jump before Wuhan city officials persuaded them to desist and return to work, according to the workers and accounts online. The workers gave varying estimates of the numbers involved in the strike, from 80 to 200, and photos posted online showed dozens of people crowding the roof of the boxy concrete building.
“Actually none of them were going to jump. They were there for the compensation. But the government and the company officials were just as afraid, because if even one of them jumped, the consequences would be hard to imagine,’’ said Wang Jungang, an equipment engineer in the Xbox production line, who left the plant earlier this month.
The fracas is the latest labor trouble to hit Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. that makes iPads and iPhones for Apple Inc. as well as Xboxes and other gadgets, helping consumer electronics brands hold down costs. Its massive China plants are run with military-like discipline, which labor rights activists say contributed to spate of suicides in 2010.
Foxconn said that all workers on the Xbox line were offered transfers at their current pay but that 150 demanded severance and not all of them participated in the rooftop protest. “It is our understanding that certain individuals threatened to jump from the building if their demands were not met,’’ the statement said.
Strikes and other job actions have risen in recent months across China as factories cope with rising costs, scarce credit and declining orders from Europe, the United States and domestic companies. Complicating matters is the approaching Lunar New Year, a time when many of the migrant workers who man factories quit jobs to return home temporarily before looking for better paying employment.
Foxconn’s Wuhan plant employs 32,000 people. The site previously had a couple of suicides or attempted ones a couple years back, prompting the government to take over the operations of the dormitories, said Wang, the equipment engineer.
After the rooftop protest, Microsoft said in a statement that it investigated, finding that the dispute centered on Foxconn’s staffing and transfer policies, not working conditions. “After the protest, the majority of workers chose to return to work. A smaller portion of those employees elected to resign, the statement said.
Ultimately, Foxconn said, 45 of the employees resigned from the company while the rest chose to stay. It did not say whether the resigning workers were given compensation. Wang, the engineer, said he received $4,700 (30,000 yuan) in compensation but that was because he planned his departure early, telling his supervisor six months ago he would leave.ionals, our award-winning solutions include custom displays, exhibit rentals, trade show graphics, shipping, installation and exhibit storage.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Microsoft Is Coming Back
First appeared on CNN Money
Perhaps it's time for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to develop a new monkey boy dance?
Ballmer is set to take the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday night (for the last time) and he's likely to rave about Microsoft's Xbox and Kinect gaming devices and its upcoming Windows Phone with partner Nokia (NOK).
Cue the Gloria Estefan? (If you haven't seen Ballmer's famous 2001 pep rally speech to developers, please do yourself a favor and click here. It's an amusing 75 seconds.)
Ballmer may finally have plenty of reasons to repeatedly jump up and down again.
While Microsoft's stock has been stuck in the tech version of No Man's Land between value and growth for about a decade, investors have taken a liking to Mister Softee so far in 2012.
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) shot up more than 8% last week. The stock is now less than 5% below its 52-week high of $29.46. If the momentum keeps building, it's possible that Microsoft can finally surpass the $30 level that it's flirted with for the past few years but can't seem to crack.
Microsoft still may appeal more to the value crowd than investors craving sexy growth. The stock trades for only about 10 times earnings estimates for this fiscal year -- which ends in July. And earnings per share are only expected to rise 2% this year and 11% in fiscal 2013.
Awesome, unreleased gadgets of CES
There's also that pretty big dividend. Microsoft yields 2.8%, nearly a percentage point higher than a 10-year Treasury if you're keeping score at home.
With $57 billion in cash, Microsoft could easily afford to keep boosting its payout for the foreseeable future.
"The stock is just too cheap and you have the dividend," said Gary Bradshaw, manager of the Hodges Equity Income (HDPEX) fund in Dallas. "It's been a dismal performer but Microsoft has grown earnings over the past few years and there's probably little downside.
The fact that Microsoft has been so unloved for so long could also mean that it may not take much for the stock to move significantly higher. Investors have grown accustomed to new product releases underwhelming the market. A big hit could go a long way.
"People say it's a PC stock and PCs are dead. You can't argue with that," Bradshaw said. "But there's still a lot of growth in emerging markets. And Windows Phone and Windows 8 are coming down the pike. It's got the potential to be a growth stock again."
There is, dare I say it, growing excitement about Windows 8, Microsoft's next operating system. That is currently scheduled to debut sometime later this year.
If early reviews of beta versions of Windows 8 for developers are to be believed, Microsoft may finally have some software that can help it in the rapidly growing tablet market. Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPad and the many devices running on Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android are early leaders in tablets.
The new four horsemen of tech
But hopes are high for Microsoft's tablet-ready Windows. That's because Microsoft has finally agreed to move beyond its heavy reliance on processor leader Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and also embrace chips designed by ARM Holdings (ARMH), the U.K. company often referred to as the Intel of mobile semiconductors.
"Yes, it's an old stodgy technology company compared to others but you have plenty of exposure to growth areas like mobile, search cloud and gaming with Microsoft," said Ted Parrish, co-manager or the Henssler Equity Fund (HEQFX) in Kennesaw, Ga. "Rumors of Microsoft's demise are always greatly exaggerated."
Parrish owns the stock in his fund and said that he's hopeful Windows 8 will be as successful as Windows 95 was for Microsoft. That may be tough given the increased competition from Apple and others.
But Parrish owns Apple too. So he is hedging his bets in tech ... which is a pretty smart move for anyone looking to invest in a sector that can often be as unpredictable as Ballmer's dance moves.
Best of StockTwits: Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) kicks off the earnings parade Monday but there's little excitement. And Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY, Fortune 500) is buying hepatitis C drug developer Inhibitex (INHX) for a huge premium. That's got biotech investors thrilled.
bradloncar: I've never seen a company post decent earnings just a week after announcing a restructuring. Don't expect $AA to be the first today.
Agreed. In fact, I think earnings overall won't be as strong as many hope. For more about that, check out this column I did last week.
Cash_Cow: $BMY buyout of $INHX will get the funds buying up small cap pharmaceuticals trading at dead lows like $ANX $ARNA $HGSI $ABIO $SQNM $POZN
Investors need to be careful. There could be a feeding frenzy in biotech. (See next tweet) But many small cap drug companies are unprofitable and risky. Hence, they deserve to be trading at their lows.
EXPstocktrader: Roche is probably pissed that $BMY has stepped on a deal that they intended to Buy IMO and we may have a horse race here soon.
The BMY deal, combined with last year's purchase of Pharmasset (VRUS) by Gilead Sciences (GILD, Fortune 500), could mean that Big Pharma will try and buy up the other companies working on hep C treatments. Achillion (ACHN) and Idenix (IDIX) both surged Monday.
jfahmy: Movies, Drugs, and iPads are all up this morning...What else do you need really?
Coffee? Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) and Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) are both down though. Oh well.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
LAWSUIT AGAINST MICROSOFT BRINGS GATES TO THE STAND
Lawsuit against Microsoft brings gates to the stand
Story first appeared in the Associated Press.
Microsoft's Bill Gates returns to the witness stand Tuesday to defend his company against a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit that claims the software giant tricked a competitor into huge losses and soared onto the market with Windows 95. A Boston Intellectual Property Lawyer was keeping himself posted as the case continued.
Utah-based Novell Inc. sued Microsoft in 2004. The company says Gates duped them into thinking he would include its WordPerfect writing program in the new Windows system, then backed out because he feared it was too good. A Frankfurt Intellectual Property Lawyer watched the high profile case closely.
Novell said it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss.
Gates testified Monday that Microsoft was racing to put out Windows 95 when he dropped technical features that would no longer support the rival's word processor because engineers warned it would crash the system. A Leeds Intellectual Property Lawyer thought that this appeared to be a reasonable answer.
Windows 95 was a major innovation, and Gates said he had his mind on larger issues. A Nashville intellectual Property Lawyer said this is not uncommon.
Gates said Novell just couldn't deliver a Windows 95 compatible WordPerfect program in time for rollout, and its own Word program was actually better. He said that by 1994, Microsoft Word was rated No. 1 in the market above WordPerfect. A Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Lawyer said she liked Microsoft Word.
WordPerfect once had nearly 50 percent of the market for computer writing programs, but its share quickly plummeted to less than 10 percent as Microsoft's own office programs took hold.
Microsoft lawyers say Novell's loss of market share was its own doing because the company didn't develop a Windows compatible WordPerfect program until months after the operating system's rollout. A San Francisco intellectual Property Lawyer agreed this would be a tough argument.
Gates called it an "important win" in an email to executives.
Attorneys for Novell, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group as a result of a merger earlier this year, concede that Microsoft was under no legal obligation to provide advance access to Windows 95 so Novell could prepare a compatible version. The Redmond, Wash.-based company, however, enticed Novell to work on a version, only to withdraw support months before Windows 95 hit the market, Novell attorney Jeff Johnson said. A Zurich intellectual Property Lawyer listen closely.
Microsoft lawyer David Tulchin argued that Novell's missed opportunity was its own fault, and that Microsoft had no obligation to give a competitor a leg up.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz late Monday denied Microsoft's request to dismiss the case. He said Novell's claims appeared thin but that he would let the case continue another month and allow a jury to decide. An Athens Intellectual Property Lawyer said a jury would have a tough choice to make.
Gates was the first witness to testify Monday in his company's defense after a month-long case by Novell. Cross-examination begins Tuesday.
Gates, a billionaire, began by testifying about Microsoft's history. He was just 19 when he helped found the company. Today, Microsoft is one of the world's largest software makers, with a market value of more than $210 billion. A Bucharest Intellectual Property Lawyer would like to have Gates as a client.
Story first appeared in the Associated Press.
Microsoft's Bill Gates returns to the witness stand Tuesday to defend his company against a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit that claims the software giant tricked a competitor into huge losses and soared onto the market with Windows 95. A Boston Intellectual Property Lawyer was keeping himself posted as the case continued.
Utah-based Novell Inc. sued Microsoft in 2004. The company says Gates duped them into thinking he would include its WordPerfect writing program in the new Windows system, then backed out because he feared it was too good. A Frankfurt Intellectual Property Lawyer watched the high profile case closely.
Novell said it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss.
Gates testified Monday that Microsoft was racing to put out Windows 95 when he dropped technical features that would no longer support the rival's word processor because engineers warned it would crash the system. A Leeds Intellectual Property Lawyer thought that this appeared to be a reasonable answer.
Windows 95 was a major innovation, and Gates said he had his mind on larger issues. A Nashville intellectual Property Lawyer said this is not uncommon.
Gates said Novell just couldn't deliver a Windows 95 compatible WordPerfect program in time for rollout, and its own Word program was actually better. He said that by 1994, Microsoft Word was rated No. 1 in the market above WordPerfect. A Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Lawyer said she liked Microsoft Word.
WordPerfect once had nearly 50 percent of the market for computer writing programs, but its share quickly plummeted to less than 10 percent as Microsoft's own office programs took hold.
Microsoft lawyers say Novell's loss of market share was its own doing because the company didn't develop a Windows compatible WordPerfect program until months after the operating system's rollout. A San Francisco intellectual Property Lawyer agreed this would be a tough argument.
Gates called it an "important win" in an email to executives.
Attorneys for Novell, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group as a result of a merger earlier this year, concede that Microsoft was under no legal obligation to provide advance access to Windows 95 so Novell could prepare a compatible version. The Redmond, Wash.-based company, however, enticed Novell to work on a version, only to withdraw support months before Windows 95 hit the market, Novell attorney Jeff Johnson said. A Zurich intellectual Property Lawyer listen closely.
Microsoft lawyer David Tulchin argued that Novell's missed opportunity was its own fault, and that Microsoft had no obligation to give a competitor a leg up.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz late Monday denied Microsoft's request to dismiss the case. He said Novell's claims appeared thin but that he would let the case continue another month and allow a jury to decide. An Athens Intellectual Property Lawyer said a jury would have a tough choice to make.
Gates was the first witness to testify Monday in his company's defense after a month-long case by Novell. Cross-examination begins Tuesday.
Gates, a billionaire, began by testifying about Microsoft's history. He was just 19 when he helped found the company. Today, Microsoft is one of the world's largest software makers, with a market value of more than $210 billion. A Bucharest Intellectual Property Lawyer would like to have Gates as a client.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
SKYPE BID OVER THREE TIMES OF LAST YEAR’S VALUE
SKYPE BID OVER THREE TIMES OF LAST YEAR’S VALUE
The Federal Trade Commission is letting software giant Microsoft Corp. proceed with its largest deal ever, a $8.5 billion bid for web chat and call service Skype.
The FTC announced Friday that it had finished its review of the buyout so it can proceed if the Department of Justice also approves. Both agencies must review any deal worth more than $65.2 million, according to the FTC.
Microsoft already has a Skype-like service called Windows Live. But Skype lets users of different kinds of computers and phones chat directly. The deal could enable Microsoft to sell more digital advertising and offer more popular business conferencing tools.
Microsoft's bid is more than three times Skype's value 18 months ago when eBay Inc. sold a two-thirds stake to private equity firm Silver Lake.
The Federal Trade Commission is letting software giant Microsoft Corp. proceed with its largest deal ever, a $8.5 billion bid for web chat and call service Skype.
The FTC announced Friday that it had finished its review of the buyout so it can proceed if the Department of Justice also approves. Both agencies must review any deal worth more than $65.2 million, according to the FTC.
Microsoft already has a Skype-like service called Windows Live. But Skype lets users of different kinds of computers and phones chat directly. The deal could enable Microsoft to sell more digital advertising and offer more popular business conferencing tools.
Microsoft's bid is more than three times Skype's value 18 months ago when eBay Inc. sold a two-thirds stake to private equity firm Silver Lake.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Microsoft's Kinect Already Hacked?
PC Mag
Has someone already won the $2,000 bounty for delivering open-source drivers that work with Microsoft's recently released Kinect motion-tracking system? Odds are looking good!
Here's the background. Adafruit Industries announced a $2,000 prize last week for anyone who managed to hack into the Kinect in an effort to unlock the device for use with hardware other than the Xbox 360. In short, here's the official challenge: "Upload your code, examples and documentation to GitHub. First person / group to get RGB out with distance values being used wins, you're smart – you know what would be useful for the community out there. All the code needs to be open source and/or public domain."
Well, user AlexP over at the NUI Group Community Forums has posted a video that appears to show a Kinect being controlled via a standard PC interface. That's the only background we have so far, so it remains to be seen whether the potential submission will actually fulfill all the criteria of Adafruit's contest.
Nevertheless, one thing is certain: Microsoft won't be very happy about the results.
"Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products," said a company spokesperson in an interview with CNet. "With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."
So why the challenge? Adafruit is hoping that the Kinect's "radar camera," as Make magazine senior editor Phillip Torrone puts it, can be unlocked for use with robotics. But as for specific purposes, the sky's the limit—Nintendo's gyroscopic Wii Remote, after all, has been transformed into everything from a VR head-tracking device to the controller of a 15-ton robotic arm.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Android, iPhone Leave Windows Mobile In Dust
Information Week
Windows Phone 7 can't arrive fast enough for Microsoft, which saw its share of the smartphone OS market fall a stunning 66% in just three months, according to new data released Monday.
Market watcher Canalys reported that Windows Mobile's share of the U.S. smartphone market slipped to just 3% in the three months ended September 30. That's down from about 9% in the second quarter. Microsoft's rivals, meanwhile, are surging.
Apple's iPhone, with a 26% share, was the best selling single platform shipped during the quarter. RIM, developer of the corporate-friendly BlackBerry, held a 24.2% stake. Google's Android OS, which is available on devices from a host of manufacturers, was the most popular mobile OS overall, with a 44% share.
Microsoft is hoping to avoid utter irrelevancy in the increasingly important smartphone market when it launches Windows Phone 7 later this month. AT&T will offer models from HTC, Samsung, and LG, while T-Mobile will stock units from HTC and Dell. Verizon and Sprint plan to begin offering Windows Phone 7 phones next year.
The OEM devices cover a broad range of form factors, from the Dell Venue Pro's slide-out keyboard to the HTC Surround's Dolby speakers, but all conform to a reference design laid out by Microsoft. All Windows Phone 7 devices, for instance, will feature a start screen that's grouped into six "Smart Tiles", from which users can view real-time updates and access calling, social media, messaging, photo, e-mail, and personal applications and services.
Canalys analyst Chris Jones said he believes Windows Phone 7 gives Microsoft a chance to get back into the smartphone race.
"Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it," said Jones, in a statement. "The integration of Microsoft service assets, such as Xbox Live, Bing, Zune, and Office, greatly strengthens the proposition and we are confident that the initial array of products will perform well," said Jones.
The first Windows Phone 7 devices hit the U.S. market on November 8.
Market watcher Canalys reported that Windows Mobile's share of the U.S. smartphone market slipped to just 3% in the three months ended September 30. That's down from about 9% in the second quarter. Microsoft's rivals, meanwhile, are surging.
Apple's iPhone, with a 26% share, was the best selling single platform shipped during the quarter. RIM, developer of the corporate-friendly BlackBerry, held a 24.2% stake. Google's Android OS, which is available on devices from a host of manufacturers, was the most popular mobile OS overall, with a 44% share.
Microsoft is hoping to avoid utter irrelevancy in the increasingly important smartphone market when it launches Windows Phone 7 later this month. AT&T will offer models from HTC, Samsung, and LG, while T-Mobile will stock units from HTC and Dell. Verizon and Sprint plan to begin offering Windows Phone 7 phones next year.
The OEM devices cover a broad range of form factors, from the Dell Venue Pro's slide-out keyboard to the HTC Surround's Dolby speakers, but all conform to a reference design laid out by Microsoft. All Windows Phone 7 devices, for instance, will feature a start screen that's grouped into six "Smart Tiles", from which users can view real-time updates and access calling, social media, messaging, photo, e-mail, and personal applications and services.
Canalys analyst Chris Jones said he believes Windows Phone 7 gives Microsoft a chance to get back into the smartphone race.
"Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it," said Jones, in a statement. "The integration of Microsoft service assets, such as Xbox Live, Bing, Zune, and Office, greatly strengthens the proposition and we are confident that the initial array of products will perform well," said Jones.
The first Windows Phone 7 devices hit the U.S. market on November 8.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Microsoft, Cisco Alumni Use Tech Savvy to Get Giants to Series
Bloomberg
The San Francisco Giants, backed by owners from Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Intel Corp., are bringing Silicon Valley knowhow to bear as they take on the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
Under former Microsoft General Counsel Bill Neukom, who took over as managing general partner in 2008, the team is increasingly using technology to hone players’ skills and draw more fans. The Giants also put a bigger emphasis on pitching after years of relying on Barry Bonds’s home runs.
The Giants use motion-sensor suits to help evaluate throwing and hitting mechanics and a specially outfitted pitching machine that shoots different-colored balls at more than 100 miles per hour (160 kph) to help batters overcome blind spots. The team also is the first to use software that sets ticket prices based on supply and demand, similar to airlines or hotels. Such innovations, along with players’ raw talent and a $357 million waterfront ballpark, have helped boost the club’s value almost fivefold since the ownership group took over.
“The point is to be restless about where technology can help us on the baseball side and on the business side,” Neukom, also the Giants chief executive officer, said in an interview in the team’s offices at AT&T Park. The Giants got an early lead in the series last night, beating the Rangers 11-7 in game one.
Franchise’s Value
The ownership group, called San Francisco Baseball Associates LP, bought the Giants for $100 million in 1992, saving them from moving to Florida. The team is now worth $483 million, making them the ninth-most-valuable franchise among the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball, according to Forbes magazine. The Giants also own a third of Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, the cable channel that carries their games.
The Giants’ backers, who get seats between home plate and the dugout along the third-base line, include Arthur Rock, a former Intel chairman and Apple Inc. director; Yahoo board member Arthur Kern and the company’s former president, Jeff Mallett; Cisco executive Dan Scheinman; and venture capitalist Paul Wythes. Hewlett-Packard Co. co-founder William Hewlett was an owner before his 2001 death.
“We’re talking about some of the premier guys in Silicon Valley,” said Larry Baer, the club’s president and chief operating officer. In addition to the technology industry veterans, the 31 owners include investor Charles Johnson, chairman of Franklin Resources Inc., a mutual-fund company in San Mateo, California.
Monetary Boost
Reaching the World Series is worth “several millions of dollars” in additional revenue, Baer said, without elaborating. About 4,000 new season ticket applications have been received by the club since the beginning of September, when the team began its push toward clinching the 21st National League title in its 127-year history. The Giants haven’t won a World Series since moving to San Francisco from New York in 1958.
“The real benefit is 2011, where you can drive season tickets, where you can drive sponsorships, where we can drive pricing,” said Baer, 53.
Playing in the World Series will bolster the Giants’ season-ticket sales, merchandise orders, endorsement deals and TV revenue, said Richard Walden, the head of sports business at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Private Bank unit. Still, consistently winning year after year does more for a team’s value than a single championship appearance, he said. JPMorgan helped the Giants finance their ballpark, which opened in 2000.
Long Run
“It will translate over time if they maintain the same discipline with regard to the on-the-field and off-the-field management of the club,” Walden said. “It doesn’t necessarily make a huge difference unless you have a long history of winning.”
The team’s investors aren’t seeking a short-term moneymaker, Neukom said.
“The basic business model is to invite investors who are passionate about baseball to make an investment and to recognize, however, that it is not a near-term strategic investment,” Neukom said. “If you want to have a fund for your grandchildren to go to private schools in case the public schools aren’t what you want them to be, then don’t put that money here.”
Neukom, who became an owner in 1995, orchestrated Microsoft’s legal defense against antitrust allegations by the U.S. government in the 1990s. He first started working with Microsoft after Bill Gates’s father asked Neukom to help the younger Gates build the software company, which had about a dozen employees at the time.
Gates’s Pitch
Neukom, 68, also helped give Gates some pointers on baseball. In the late-1980s, Gates was invited to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game. To practice the day before, Neukom, Gates and Mariners catcher Dave Valle went into the woods behind Microsoft’s headquarters for a few warm-up throws.
“He threw about six pitches, went back to work and the next night in the Kingdome he threw a nice pitch,” Neukom said.
Neukom took over as the team’s managing general partner after former Safeway Inc. CEO Peter Magowan stepped down. Magowan and Baer led the effort to purchase the Giants and build the ballpark adjacent to San Francisco Bay.
When the Giants sought investors to help keep the team from moving to Florida in the 1990s, technology executives were an obvious option because of Silicon Valley’s proximity to San Francisco, Baer said. The technology hotbed, home to Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, is about 40 miles from the city.
“We were dialing for dollars,” he said.
Dot-Com Boom
The Giants’ ballpark was the first privately financed major league venue since Los Angeles’s Dodger Stadium in 1962. The effort was aided by the dot-com boom, Baer said. It would have been tougher to get funding to build the ballpark after the bubble burst in 2000, he said.
The stadium was the first to offer Wi-Fi Internet service to fans in 2004. Now the Giants are exploring ways to distribute content on mobile devices and social networks, Neukom said.
When he took over, the team was five years into a six-year playoff drought and rebuilding after Bonds’s departure. Bonds, who set home run records as a Giant, saw his career marred by steroids allegations. He is scheduled for trial in March on charges of obstruction and lying to a federal grand jury in 2003, when he said he never knowingly took the drugs.
Neukom aimed to create a new vision and wrote a manifesto called the “Giants Way,” outlining priorities, including identifying and nurturing talent, teamwork and conditioning.
The Giants’ four starting pitchers in the World Series came up through its minor league system. That includes two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who pitched 5 2/3 innings in last night’s game. The bearded reliever, Brian Wilson, and rookie catcher Buster Posey also were drafted by the team.
“We’re very proud of that,” said Neukom, who was showered with champagne in the team clubhouse after the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the National League pennant and earn a spot in the World Series. “If we’re playing good baseball, lots of other good things will follow.”
Under former Microsoft General Counsel Bill Neukom, who took over as managing general partner in 2008, the team is increasingly using technology to hone players’ skills and draw more fans. The Giants also put a bigger emphasis on pitching after years of relying on Barry Bonds’s home runs.
The Giants use motion-sensor suits to help evaluate throwing and hitting mechanics and a specially outfitted pitching machine that shoots different-colored balls at more than 100 miles per hour (160 kph) to help batters overcome blind spots. The team also is the first to use software that sets ticket prices based on supply and demand, similar to airlines or hotels. Such innovations, along with players’ raw talent and a $357 million waterfront ballpark, have helped boost the club’s value almost fivefold since the ownership group took over.
“The point is to be restless about where technology can help us on the baseball side and on the business side,” Neukom, also the Giants chief executive officer, said in an interview in the team’s offices at AT&T Park. The Giants got an early lead in the series last night, beating the Rangers 11-7 in game one.
Franchise’s Value
The ownership group, called San Francisco Baseball Associates LP, bought the Giants for $100 million in 1992, saving them from moving to Florida. The team is now worth $483 million, making them the ninth-most-valuable franchise among the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball, according to Forbes magazine. The Giants also own a third of Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, the cable channel that carries their games.
The Giants’ backers, who get seats between home plate and the dugout along the third-base line, include Arthur Rock, a former Intel chairman and Apple Inc. director; Yahoo board member Arthur Kern and the company’s former president, Jeff Mallett; Cisco executive Dan Scheinman; and venture capitalist Paul Wythes. Hewlett-Packard Co. co-founder William Hewlett was an owner before his 2001 death.
“We’re talking about some of the premier guys in Silicon Valley,” said Larry Baer, the club’s president and chief operating officer. In addition to the technology industry veterans, the 31 owners include investor Charles Johnson, chairman of Franklin Resources Inc., a mutual-fund company in San Mateo, California.
Monetary Boost
Reaching the World Series is worth “several millions of dollars” in additional revenue, Baer said, without elaborating. About 4,000 new season ticket applications have been received by the club since the beginning of September, when the team began its push toward clinching the 21st National League title in its 127-year history. The Giants haven’t won a World Series since moving to San Francisco from New York in 1958.
“The real benefit is 2011, where you can drive season tickets, where you can drive sponsorships, where we can drive pricing,” said Baer, 53.
Playing in the World Series will bolster the Giants’ season-ticket sales, merchandise orders, endorsement deals and TV revenue, said Richard Walden, the head of sports business at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Private Bank unit. Still, consistently winning year after year does more for a team’s value than a single championship appearance, he said. JPMorgan helped the Giants finance their ballpark, which opened in 2000.
Long Run
“It will translate over time if they maintain the same discipline with regard to the on-the-field and off-the-field management of the club,” Walden said. “It doesn’t necessarily make a huge difference unless you have a long history of winning.”
The team’s investors aren’t seeking a short-term moneymaker, Neukom said.
“The basic business model is to invite investors who are passionate about baseball to make an investment and to recognize, however, that it is not a near-term strategic investment,” Neukom said. “If you want to have a fund for your grandchildren to go to private schools in case the public schools aren’t what you want them to be, then don’t put that money here.”
Neukom, who became an owner in 1995, orchestrated Microsoft’s legal defense against antitrust allegations by the U.S. government in the 1990s. He first started working with Microsoft after Bill Gates’s father asked Neukom to help the younger Gates build the software company, which had about a dozen employees at the time.
Gates’s Pitch
Neukom, 68, also helped give Gates some pointers on baseball. In the late-1980s, Gates was invited to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game. To practice the day before, Neukom, Gates and Mariners catcher Dave Valle went into the woods behind Microsoft’s headquarters for a few warm-up throws.
“He threw about six pitches, went back to work and the next night in the Kingdome he threw a nice pitch,” Neukom said.
Neukom took over as the team’s managing general partner after former Safeway Inc. CEO Peter Magowan stepped down. Magowan and Baer led the effort to purchase the Giants and build the ballpark adjacent to San Francisco Bay.
When the Giants sought investors to help keep the team from moving to Florida in the 1990s, technology executives were an obvious option because of Silicon Valley’s proximity to San Francisco, Baer said. The technology hotbed, home to Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, is about 40 miles from the city.
“We were dialing for dollars,” he said.
Dot-Com Boom
The Giants’ ballpark was the first privately financed major league venue since Los Angeles’s Dodger Stadium in 1962. The effort was aided by the dot-com boom, Baer said. It would have been tougher to get funding to build the ballpark after the bubble burst in 2000, he said.
The stadium was the first to offer Wi-Fi Internet service to fans in 2004. Now the Giants are exploring ways to distribute content on mobile devices and social networks, Neukom said.
When he took over, the team was five years into a six-year playoff drought and rebuilding after Bonds’s departure. Bonds, who set home run records as a Giant, saw his career marred by steroids allegations. He is scheduled for trial in March on charges of obstruction and lying to a federal grand jury in 2003, when he said he never knowingly took the drugs.
Neukom aimed to create a new vision and wrote a manifesto called the “Giants Way,” outlining priorities, including identifying and nurturing talent, teamwork and conditioning.
The Giants’ four starting pitchers in the World Series came up through its minor league system. That includes two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who pitched 5 2/3 innings in last night’s game. The bearded reliever, Brian Wilson, and rookie catcher Buster Posey also were drafted by the team.
“We’re very proud of that,” said Neukom, who was showered with champagne in the team clubhouse after the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the National League pennant and earn a spot in the World Series. “If we’re playing good baseball, lots of other good things will follow.”
Monday, October 4, 2010
Microsoft taps tech Leader to head 'Office' Division
Associated Press
Microsoft Corp. has picked an insider with engineering expertise to head up its Office software division, filling a spot left vacant in September when the most recent president left to become Nokia Corp.'s CEO.
Kurt DelBene, an 18-year Microsoft veteran, was named president of the Microsoft Office division. Most recently, DelBene, 50, led engineering and development for the division that includes the Office desktop programs, SharePoint and the Exchange e-mail system.
DelBene's role will be slightly narrower than that of his predecessor, Stephen Elop. It won't include oversight of Microsoft's business solutions group, which makes financial, supply chain and customer relationship management software. That group will be led by Kirill Tatarinov; both he and DelBene will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.
Chris Capossela, DelBene's peer and a senior marketing and product management executive in the Office group, was also seen as a candidate. He will now report to DelBene.
Matt Rosoff, an analyst for the independent research group Directions on Microsoft, said part of Microsoft's motivation for the appointment is to make sure it has technical people in leadership positions.
"Internally, Microsoft gets criticism from some employees saying there are too many marketing people in high positions," Rosoff said in an interview. Both Ballmer and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner come from sales and marketing backgrounds.
Microsoft is also promoting Andy Lees to president of Microsoft's phone business and Don Mattrick to president of the group that includes the Xbox game console, the Zune media player and Internet television technology.
Both were senior vice presidents of their respective groups.
The Windows Phone and Xbox efforts were under one umbrella until this spring, when Robbie Bach, the president of the division, retired.
Microsoft's Xbox group is doing well, with strong console sales and the much-anticipated release of Kinect, a new motion-detecting controller that makes a joystick-style controller unnecessary.
But critics wonder whether Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's attempt to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android phone system, is coming too late.
Lees' promotion indicates Microsoft isn't planning any big changes in the phone group until it sees how the new system is received in the market, Rosoff said.
Kurt DelBene, an 18-year Microsoft veteran, was named president of the Microsoft Office division. Most recently, DelBene, 50, led engineering and development for the division that includes the Office desktop programs, SharePoint and the Exchange e-mail system.
DelBene's role will be slightly narrower than that of his predecessor, Stephen Elop. It won't include oversight of Microsoft's business solutions group, which makes financial, supply chain and customer relationship management software. That group will be led by Kirill Tatarinov; both he and DelBene will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.
Chris Capossela, DelBene's peer and a senior marketing and product management executive in the Office group, was also seen as a candidate. He will now report to DelBene.
Matt Rosoff, an analyst for the independent research group Directions on Microsoft, said part of Microsoft's motivation for the appointment is to make sure it has technical people in leadership positions.
"Internally, Microsoft gets criticism from some employees saying there are too many marketing people in high positions," Rosoff said in an interview. Both Ballmer and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner come from sales and marketing backgrounds.
Microsoft is also promoting Andy Lees to president of Microsoft's phone business and Don Mattrick to president of the group that includes the Xbox game console, the Zune media player and Internet television technology.
Both were senior vice presidents of their respective groups.
The Windows Phone and Xbox efforts were under one umbrella until this spring, when Robbie Bach, the president of the division, retired.
Microsoft's Xbox group is doing well, with strong console sales and the much-anticipated release of Kinect, a new motion-detecting controller that makes a joystick-style controller unnecessary.
But critics wonder whether Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's attempt to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android phone system, is coming too late.
Lees' promotion indicates Microsoft isn't planning any big changes in the phone group until it sees how the new system is received in the market, Rosoff said.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Microsoft Sells $4.75 Billion of Bonds With Portions at Record-Low Coupons
Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp., one of four non- financial U.S. companies with AAA ratings, sold $4.75 billion of bonds, including three- and five-year maturities at the lowest coupons on record.
The company’s $1 billion of 0.875 percent notes due in 2013 and $1.75 billion of 1.625 percent debt maturing in 2015 have the lowest interest rates of more than 3,500 securities in the Barclays Capital U.S. Corporate Index of investment-grade company debt.
The world’s biggest software maker sold the bonds a day after its board boosted its dividend and approved the issuance of as much as $6 billion in new debt. The offering came as yields on investment-grade debt fell to 3.718 percent, the lowest level since daily records began on Oct. 31, 1986, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data.
“A name like Microsoft is always going to garner the biggest and best investors,” said Anne Daley, managing director at Barclays Capital in New York, which helped underwrite the sale.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, also sold $1 billion each of 10- and 30-year bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 4.5 percent, 30-year debt tied for the lowest coupon with an issue last month from Johnson & Johnson.
Cash Held Overseas
Proceeds from Microsoft’s sale may be used to fund working capital, capital expenditures, stock buybacks and acquisitions, the company said today in a regulatory filing. The company also plans to pay for dividends and share repurchases because much of its cash is held overseas, a person familiar with the matter said last week.
Peter Wootton, a Microsoft spokesman, wasn’t available to comment today.
The 3-year notes yield 25 basis points more than similar- maturity Treasuries; the 5-year debt pays a 40 basis-point spread; the 3 percent securities due in 2020 pay 55 basis points; and 30-year bonds pay 83 basis points, Bloomberg data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Spreads on investment-grade debt rose 1 basis point today to 184 basis points, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service also rank Exxon Mobil Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Automatic Data Processing Inc. as AAA, or an equivalent Aaa, the same level they assign to U.S. government debt.
Higher Dividend
Microsoft reported $36.8 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of last quarter. Much of that is held overseas, forcing the company to pay taxes on any of the money used for dividends or stock repurchases.
Microsoft boosted its quarterly dividend by 3 cents, or 23 percent, to 16 cents a share yesterday.
The dividend and share repurchase programs reflect Microsoft’s commitment to returning capital to shareholders and confidence in its long-term growth prospects, Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said yesterday in a statement.
“You can take it as a sign of soft expected future stock- market performance,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist and economist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of acquisition opportunities, doesn’t have a lot to do internally, apparently, with this capital, so they’re giving it back to shareholders.”
Debut Sale
Microsoft sold its first bond in May 2009, a $3.75 billion offering, in a bid to diversify its capital structure and add to its cash pile for acquisitions, capital expenses and share buybacks. The sale comprised $2 billion of 2.95 percent, 5-year notes; $1 billion of 4.2 percent, 10-year debt; and $750 million of 5.2 percent, 30-year bonds.
In June, Microsoft raised $1.15 billion of interest-free financing from its first sale of convertible bonds.
“It’s a perfect storm for issuers right now between low rates, tight spreads and the fact that investors continue to have cash to put to work,” Daley said. “We expect the active new issue calendar to continue.”
In addition to Barclays, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped underwrite today’s sale.
The company’s $1 billion of 0.875 percent notes due in 2013 and $1.75 billion of 1.625 percent debt maturing in 2015 have the lowest interest rates of more than 3,500 securities in the Barclays Capital U.S. Corporate Index of investment-grade company debt.
The world’s biggest software maker sold the bonds a day after its board boosted its dividend and approved the issuance of as much as $6 billion in new debt. The offering came as yields on investment-grade debt fell to 3.718 percent, the lowest level since daily records began on Oct. 31, 1986, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data.
“A name like Microsoft is always going to garner the biggest and best investors,” said Anne Daley, managing director at Barclays Capital in New York, which helped underwrite the sale.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, also sold $1 billion each of 10- and 30-year bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 4.5 percent, 30-year debt tied for the lowest coupon with an issue last month from Johnson & Johnson.
Cash Held Overseas
Proceeds from Microsoft’s sale may be used to fund working capital, capital expenditures, stock buybacks and acquisitions, the company said today in a regulatory filing. The company also plans to pay for dividends and share repurchases because much of its cash is held overseas, a person familiar with the matter said last week.
Peter Wootton, a Microsoft spokesman, wasn’t available to comment today.
The 3-year notes yield 25 basis points more than similar- maturity Treasuries; the 5-year debt pays a 40 basis-point spread; the 3 percent securities due in 2020 pay 55 basis points; and 30-year bonds pay 83 basis points, Bloomberg data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Spreads on investment-grade debt rose 1 basis point today to 184 basis points, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service also rank Exxon Mobil Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Automatic Data Processing Inc. as AAA, or an equivalent Aaa, the same level they assign to U.S. government debt.
Higher Dividend
Microsoft reported $36.8 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of last quarter. Much of that is held overseas, forcing the company to pay taxes on any of the money used for dividends or stock repurchases.
Microsoft boosted its quarterly dividend by 3 cents, or 23 percent, to 16 cents a share yesterday.
The dividend and share repurchase programs reflect Microsoft’s commitment to returning capital to shareholders and confidence in its long-term growth prospects, Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said yesterday in a statement.
“You can take it as a sign of soft expected future stock- market performance,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist and economist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of acquisition opportunities, doesn’t have a lot to do internally, apparently, with this capital, so they’re giving it back to shareholders.”
Debut Sale
Microsoft sold its first bond in May 2009, a $3.75 billion offering, in a bid to diversify its capital structure and add to its cash pile for acquisitions, capital expenses and share buybacks. The sale comprised $2 billion of 2.95 percent, 5-year notes; $1 billion of 4.2 percent, 10-year debt; and $750 million of 5.2 percent, 30-year bonds.
In June, Microsoft raised $1.15 billion of interest-free financing from its first sale of convertible bonds.
“It’s a perfect storm for issuers right now between low rates, tight spreads and the fact that investors continue to have cash to put to work,” Daley said. “We expect the active new issue calendar to continue.”
In addition to Barclays, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped underwrite today’s sale.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Co-Founder Of Microsoft Drives Patent Dispute
They make up the common features of the Internet experience: instant NYSE updates, recommended news stories, supplemental videos along the side of your navigation bar.
Now taking a claim on these popular tech widgets is Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen. He says he owns the intellectual property behind all these innovations, and he's demanding that some of the world's top Web companies pay it forward to use them.
Allen, a 57-year-old software mastermind, sued a sea of Silicon Valley companies on Friday. He targeted Internet giants such as Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and eBay Inc. based on having created their businesses around what he claims is his technology.
Paul Allen's legal action asserts that those three companies as well as eight others are utilizing patented technology developed over 10 years ago at his former Silicon Valley development center. The computer software pioneer did not actually develop any of the technology himself however owns the patents.
His Silicon Valley targets do not plan to go down so lightly. "This lawsuit against some of America's most innovative companies reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace," a Google spokesman said.
Patent litigation as a whole is on the rise, in what is evolving into a lucrative endeavor. Ocean Tomo, a merchantile bank in Chicago that monitors the intellectual-property market, values the licensing market at up to $500 billion.
Allen's lawsuit comes at the heels of firms such as NTP Inc., which regulates and enforces non-tangible patents, and by many critics, have been coined "patent trolls". Courts have tried to make a presence in patent litigation, however with mixed results.
The four intellectual property patents addressed in the suit were created at Interval Research Corporation of Palo Alto, California. Allen financed the tech lab during the Internet bubble with roughly $100 million, however since a decade ago, the lab no longer exists.
Mr. Allen was unavailable for comment, according to spokesman David Postman, who said Mr. Allen's facility developed the technology that he claims to be his own. "We recognize that innovation has a value, and patents are the way to protect that," said Postman.
Mr. Postman also commented that the timing of the lawsuit was in no way related to the status of Allen's health or personal finance. Mr. Allen recently offered to donate the majority of his fortune. Last year, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but has successfully completed treatments and has no current problems.
"It sounds like the classic patent-troll case," said a Stanford Law School professor, who also has experience as a Nashville intellectual property. He mentioned that claims filed by owners of aged patents over technology, especially tech patents that are used so widespread, can be difficult to win.
Paul Allen's attorneys said a group has been reviewing his patent portfolio for years, evaluating what is relevant to the market while tightening the loose ends to complete the patent process. During that time, some of Mr. Allen's patents were sold or licensed.
Ron Laurie, a former intellectual property lawyer who now counsels businesses on patent licensing strategy, claimed Mr. Allen and the companies he owns have typically avoided the litigation process. "He's not been thought of as being in the troll community at all," said Mr. Laurie, who in the past has represented Mr. Allen in other concerns.
Legal professionals claim that an emergence in large settlements for patent holders in recent years have motivated owners to file infringement suits, rather than sell intellectual property, even when patents are several years old.
A perfect example occurred in July when NTP sued Microsoft, Apple Inc. and four other organizations over intellectual property patents involving the wireless transmission of email to PDAs and cellphones. Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry, paid NTP $612.5 million to settle the claim.
Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer of Microsoft, has put a stamp on thousands of patents valued at over hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Myhrvold patents some of his inventions through his firm Intellectual Ventures in Seattle, but also invests in patents to license. A critical ingredient to successful patenting requires consulting with an experienced Nashville intellectual property law firm who can manage the legal complexities.
The companies named in Paul Allen's lawsuit are Google, Facebook, eBay, Apple, Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc., Netflix, Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Staples Inc. and YouTube, a subsidiary of Google.
Noteworthy organizations not present in the defendants' list are Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc. Both companies Mr. Allen has personal and financial ties to. Mr. Postman denied comment on the list of defendants.
EBay said it was currently analyzing the claim and is planning an aggressive defense. "We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously." a Facebook spokesman added.
Mr. Allen's lawsuit outlines violations of four IP patents for technology that are considered to be essential components of e-commerce and Internet search companies, in addition to being critical to the operations of the companies that use them.
One patent's technology enables a website to provide relevant suggestions to consumers for items related to what they currently have on their screen. The same technology allows social-networking websites to relate online activities and interests of its users.
A second key component involved in the dispute allows news readers to quickly pinpoint related stories to a particular topic. The other two patents enable ads, news updates or video images to flash on a user's computer screen, aside from their main activity.
Mr. Allen was the primary source of funds for Interval Research. During the companies prime, the facility employed over 110 professionals, "and was at the forefront in designing next-generation science and technology," the suit says. David Liddle, Interval Research's co-founder and a former Xerox Corp. researcher, could not be reached for comment.
The research pioneer was invested in a number of projects, with objectives to develop technology applicable to Mr. Allen's ventures in cable television and telecommunications. The company also focused on creating technology that could be licensed to investors and other companies.
According to Mr. Allen's lawsuit, in 1998 Interval Research was found listed in Google's "credits" site as an external collaborator and one of many sources of research funding for the founder's research that resulted in Google.com.
The creations of Interval Research extended from motion-detection technology used in video games to technology used for cellular voice-processing. The company dissolved shortly after its plans to commercialize its technology failed to resolve out as planned.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Microsoft set to release Record-Breaking 'Fix-It' Patch
Computer World
Microsoft today said it will deliver a record 14 security updates next week to patch a record-tying 34 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), Office and Silverlight.But people still running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) will receive only a few of those fixes.
"Call it Massive Patch Tuesday," said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of security risk and compliance provider Qualys. "It's a huge update, and more importantly, everybody's involved. I'm actually a little surprised at how large it is."
Eight of the 14 updates were tagged with Microsoft's "critical" label, the highest threat ranking in its four-step scoring system. The remaining six were marked "important," the second-highest rating.
Next week's Patch Tuesday will be a record on several fronts.
The 14 updates -- Microsoft dubs them "bulletins" -- are a record, beating the count from both February 2010 and October 2009 by one. The 34 individual patches equals the single-month record, which was first set last October and repeated in June 2010. And the eight critical updates next week will also tie the record set in October 2009.
Microsoft has been shipping alternating large and small batches of fixes, with the larger-sized updates landing in even-numbered months, so the month's big numbers shouldn't have come as a complete shock. In July, for example, the company issued just four bulletins that patched five vulnerabilities. June's collection, however, amounted to 10 bulletins that fixed 34 flaws.
IE is also patched on an every-other-month schedule. Microsoft last fixed IE flaws in June.
"This is big, not only because of the numbers, but also because they'll affect everybody," said Kandek, referring to next week's lineup.
According to Microsoft's monthly advance notification, the company will deliver 10 updates for Windows, half of them critical, the other five rated important. Two updates will patch one or more critical bugs in IE and Silverlight, while another pair affect Office.
All currently-supported versions of Windows are impacted by multiple updates, Microsoft said, with Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), the oldest edition that receives patches, affected by all five Windows-only critical updates, as well as by the critical IE and Silverlight fixes.
Nor will Windows 7 escape next week: Two of the five critical Windows updates apply to the newest operating system, as do the critical IE and Silverlight patches. Windows 7 will receive at least 10 of the 14 planned updates.
The Office updates are aimed at flaws in Word and Excel, and affect all versions of the word processor and spreadsheet with the exception of those in Office 2010. Both updates also apply to the Mac editions of Word and Excel, said Microsoft.
"A large month was expected," said Kandek, "but my main worry now is for Windows XP SP2 users who haven't upgraded."
Last month, Microsoft retired Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000 from "extended support," which means security patches will no longer to crafted or supplied for those operating systems.
Microsoft made that clear earlier this week when it released an emergency, or "out-of-band" update, to quash a critical bug in Windows shortcuts that hackers have already used to hijack PCs, including machines in multiple companies that oversee important industrial control systems. It did not provide a patch then for XP SP2.
Although Microsoft's policy prevents it from confirming whether unsupported software contains vulnerabilities, it's likely that XP SP2 harbors the same bugs as XP SP3, which will be patched next week.
"All of those for XP SP3 are quite probably also in XP SP2," said Kandek.
Not only will Microsoft not offer the applicable Windows updates to PCs running XP SP2, but it will also deny those machines the critical IE update.
The Office updates may be delivered to users running Windows XP SP2, however; Microsoft evaluates Office's patching needs using the version of the suite running on the system, not on the operating system.
"There's no free pass just because Windows Update doesn't offer you patches," said Kandek, talking to XP SP2 users, who might think they're safe because they won't see any updates offered on Tuesday.
Qualys has offered users of obsolete operating systems a hand by testing some exploits against out-of-support versions of Windows. The company publishes the results on its Web site.
"We'll continue to do this to substantiate our suspicion that [XP SP2] is very vulnerable now that it's not being patched," said Kandek."
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