Microsoft's New Advertisement

I couldn't help but post this microsoft's new "I am a PC" ad that I noticed today on TV. This is latest ad in Microsoft's $300 million ad campaign. It features 4 and a half year old girl Kylie showing the viewers how to use Windows Live Photo Gallery by sending a picture of her fish to her parents. Watch it yourself.

Microsoft requires IE8 Beta Testers

Microsoft is looking for beta testers to test IE8 beta. Currently the only way to directly file a bug with the IE Team is to be a part of the IE8 Technical Beta program on Microsoft Connect. The next beta version will be released sometime in August.

If you wish to be a part of making IE better by contributing great bug reports then you can email microsoft's IE team at IESO@microsoft.com and tell them a little about yourself including why you’d be a great beta tester.

Microsoft released the first beta of IE8 in March at its MIX 08 conference. The company plans to add more support for industry standard protocols, such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), in the browser and has responded to developer feedback that it needs to bring them in to test IE8 as much as possible so they can prepare Web sites for these changes.

Microsoft made IE 7, the current version of its browser, more standards compliant when it was released in October 2006. However, many Web sites that had been developed to work with older versions of IE that did not support open standards did not work on IE7 and had to be recoded. Microsoft hopes to avoid a similar problem with IE8.

Microsoft's EQUIPT to be available after mid-july

Microsoft's Equipt, a new Office-based software-plus-service bundle, will be available on rent after mid-july. Equipt, which Microsoft describes as its “essential set of software and services for consumers,” includes a version of Office Home and Student 2007; Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft’s PC management/security bundle; a few Windows Live communication/collaboration services; and Office Live Workspace, Microsoft’s online-collaboration add-on to Office.
Equipt will be priced at $69.99/year. One license can be used for three PCs.
If and when Microsoft introduces any updates to any of the Equipt components during the year, subscribers will be entitled to receive them automatically for free as part of their paid subscription.

Bill Gates set to leave Microsoft

Microsoft is sure to witness a major event on 27 June 2008 when Bill Gates, founder, will leave his dream baby. Probably he will continue with his social service activities. As Microsoft's biggest shareholder, Gates will remain chairman and work on special technology projects. His 8.7 percent stake in Microsoft is worth about $23 billion.
I just got some interesting facts about Microsoft; thought I will list here.

Important Dates

Date	Event
1975	Microsoft founded
Jan. 1, 1979	Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington
June 25, 1981	Microsoft incorporates
Aug. 12, 1981	IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0
Feb. 26, 1986	Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, Washington
March 13, 1986	Microsoft stock goes public
Aug. 1, 1989	Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applications
May 22, 1990	Microsoft launches Windows 3.0
Aug. 24, 1995	Microsoft launches Windows 95
Dec. 7, 1995	Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment  to supporting and enhancing the Internet
June 25, 1998	Microsoft launches Windows 98
Jan. 13, 2000	Steve Ballmer named president and chief executive officer for Microsoft
Feb. 17, 2000	Microsoft launches Windows 2000
June 22, 2000	Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer outline Microsoft's .NET strategy for Web services
May 31, 2001	Microsoft launches Office XP
Oct. 25, 2001	Microsoft launches Windows XP
Jan. 15, 2002	Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment to Trustworthy Computing
Nov. 7, 2002	Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PC
Jan. 16, 2003	Microsoft declares annual dividend
April 24, 2003	Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003
Oct. 21, 2003	Microsoft launches Microsoft Office System
July 20, 2004	Microsoft announces plans to return up to $75 billion to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks
June 15, 2006	Microsoft announces that Bill Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company in July 2008, Ray Ozzie is named chief software architect and Craig Mundie chief research and strategy officer
July 20, 2006	Microsoft announces a new $20 billion tender offer and authorizes an additional share- repurchase program of up to $20 billion over five years
Jan. 30, 2007	Microsoft launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System to consumers worldwide

Microsoft's XP is on its way out

Microsoft's much acclaimed and most successful operating system Windows XP will not be available in new PCs from 30 June. Microsoft's website clearly said "After careful consultation with our customers and industry partners, we've decided to proceed with our plan to phase out Windows XP in June." Although Windows XP won't be sold in stores, Microsoft and its partners will continue to offer technical support for Windows XP for months and years to come. In fact, Microsoft plans to support Windows XP until 2014.
Microsoft has decided to provide two type of support for XP - mainstream and extended.

Mainstream support delivers complimentary as well as paid support, free security updates and bug fixes to all Windows customers who purchase a retail copy of Windows XP (i.e. a shrink-wrapped, not pre-installed, copy). Mainstream support for Windows XP will continue through April 2009.

Extended support delivers free security updates to all Windows customers. Customers can also pay for support on a per-incident basis. Extended support for Windows XP will continue until April 2014. New bug fixes require the Extended Hotfix Support program.

Microsoft's Worlwide Telescope

Who says sky is the limit, atleast not for Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope. Microsoft released its Telescope to let amateur and professionals gaze the stars and explore the universe from their computer system. The WorldWide Telescope is a rich Web application that accesses high-resolution images taken by ground- and Earth-orbiting telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. This software is quiet similar to Google Sky.
The main screen of the Worldwide Telescope contains stars visible to the human eye that are mapped into constellations. You can navigate with your mouse in any direction and zoom in or out with its scroll wheel.
The image in this post was created by NASA in 2000 and its called Earth's City Lights.
Just check out the beauty of universe through this Telescope.

Black monday for Yahoo's stock.....

Yahoo's stock took a hit as the US financial markets opened on monday morning, may 5. This happened after Microsoft abandoned its offer to buy Yahoo. Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo at $33 per share whereas Yahoo was eyeing a bid of $37. While I am composing this post the stock is down by more than 15% and Microsoft is trading flat.
What would have been the outcome of the merger if Microsoft had not walked out with its bid? MicroYahoo.
Now that Microsoft decided to give up on acquiring Yahoo, Yahoo's stock price is softly moving down towards a micro value(good one huh!!!)....
There are rumors that Microsoft might again try to acquire Yahoo. Lets wait n watch.