Europeans Fine Microsoft $700 Million Over Lack of Browser Choice

The technology behemoth that is Microsoft has been fined more than $AU700 million for failing to offer it’s OS users a choice of different internet browsers in Europe.

The company was found to have breached its own 2009 commitment to introduce a pop-up screen offering users a choice of browser, rather than just Internet Explorer. The pop-up was introduced as part of an earlier European Union competition case, but was dropped in a Windows 7 update in early 2011.

Microsoft claims the omission was simply the result of a “technical error”. The tech-behemoth was fined 561 million euros – $AU711 million – taking the total cost of its regulatory troubles in Europe to 2.15 billion euros – $AU2.75 billion – since 2002.

The European Commission, which acts as competition regulator across the 27-member European Union, said it found Microsoft broke its undertaking between May 2011 and July 2012. The Commission said it takes such settlement commitments very seriously :: Read the full article »»»»

OOPS! Microsoft Posts First Ever Loss, Half a Billion Dollars Misplaced?

That behemoth that is Microsoft – under the steerage of Steve Ballmer – has reported its FIRST EVER quarterly loss as a publicly listed company.

The company misplaced almost half a billion dollars – $US492 million – in the fourth quarter due to a massive $US6.2 billion write-down related to its 2007 acquisition of aQuantive, a digital advertising firm aimed at helping Microsoft compete against Google and others.

The news is dire, not deathly though, Microsoft still posted an annual profit of $US16.98 billion and said the results reflected “solid revenue growth and rigorous cost discipline”.

In stark contrast, that other behemoth, Google, has reported an 11 per cent jump in second quarter profit to $US2.79 billion. Google said the result was boosted by a 21 per cent jump in revenues from its internet sites.

Microsoft’s Curtain Call Keynote at CES gets the Pogo Treatment

The end of an Era. Microsoft has drawn the curtain on an industry institution, The Microsoft Keynote at CES. For the past 15 years they have had a grip on the podium that kicks off America’s largest consumer and electronics show. This is the show that every Technoid worth his weight in silicon attends. Like Mecca it is every noids duty to make the journey at least once in their life time. With Steve Ballmer and Ryan Seacrest taking center stage for Microsoft’s final keynote address to the CES the attending Technorati seemed to have given the final show a collective Meh. Still Ballmer did his best to emulate a living human being with an intact sense of humor.

In honor of this auspicious occasion Australian techno - doff doff – remix masters Pogo have pulled together a salute to the partnership. It’s funny, it’s moving and it will get you tapping your toes. With the highlights of 15 years of keynote events presented in 120 seconds Pogo have packed in the memorable moments. With enough source material to give the best reality TV show an entertaining run for its money Pogo selected from 11 Bill Gates speeches – blue screen of death included -, 4 speeches from pre-eminent monkey man Steve Ballmer, 8 celebrity guests – including the Rock – and far too many interview sweaters to count. Read the full article »»»»

Browser Wars Warm Up: Google Chrome Sidles Up Behind Internet Explorer as the Second Most Popular Web Browser

Much chatter has been spewing from the interweb on Googles Chrome browser taking up second place in the three way battle for browser supremecy. Headlines like “Google’s Chrome browser surging past Firefox” and “Will Google Chrome kill Firefox? ” A slow news week perhaps?

The build up has been the usual steady and well thought out Google conquest, when Google Chrome launched in 2008, net experts espoused that Mozilla/Firefox had the most to lose from Chromes release. Right about now: the behemoth that is Microsoft must be looking in the rear view wondering just how long before it loses it’s long held grip on browser superiority?

This week Google Chrome has finally slotted itself into second place in the browser wars. According to web analytics company StatCounter Chrome now has 25.69 percent of the market while Firefox has 25.23 percent, hardly a surge, but nice work if you can get it!. Both browsers are trailing Microsofts stallwart browser Internet Explorer, IE still owns 40.63 percent of the market. Read the full article »»»»

On the Surface: The Samsung – Microsoft Collaborative Interface Revolution

Many products don’t make the transition from idea to retail product, vapor ware is the name given to these product ideas and prototypes that simply disappear into the ether. With an incredibly popular demonstration earlier this year at CES ‘Surface‘ seemed too good to be true, and looked like one of those ideas that just may end up being an ether dweller. Thankfully ‘Surface‘ isn’t one of those products, with the announcement this week that ‘Surface SUR40‘ is available for pre-order in 23 countries. Microsoft and Samsung have delivered more than just a new touch screen, ‘Surface‘ is a new way of collaborating.

The Samsung SUR40 Surface is the retail version of the Über coffee table demonstrated at CES earlier this year, with the finished product being slimmer and lighter than the demonstration. Most often seen in it’s table format, flat out, Surface can just as easily be mounted on a wall or installed at an angle in kiosks and information booths.

“Samsung worked closely with Microsoft, quickly evolving the Surface from a frumpy gadget to it’s current thin design, and with the most powerful vision-based capabilities in the LCD market, Surface shines.

“The Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface delivers an interactive experience not available anywhere else and will change the way companies engage with their customers,” said Jeong-Hwan Kim, senior vice president of Display Sales & Marketing team at Samsung Electronics. Read the full article »»»»