Computer Support Blog

The return of Bill Gates to save Microsoft would surprise no one. What is surprising is the model Gates could follow to return his company to glory.

That would be the Jobs model – the Steve Jobs model.

When Gates left Microsoft, the company had a successful track record and seemed poised to remain atop the technology marketplace.

Things haven’t exactly turned out that way.  A return by Gates has become, in the minds of many, necessary and inevitable.  But can one man really make that much of an impact? Read more »

On October 22, 2010, Microsoft will end pre installed sales of Windows XP.  Rescuecom’s computer repair experts reveal what the end of Windows XP means for you.

After the 22^nd, users will not be able to purchase a new computer running XP, and retailers are not allowed to sell the boxed version of the OS any longer.   “This is effectively the end of windows XP as a product,” says Rescuecom CEO David Milman.

However, computers that come with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate preinstalled will maintain the ability to downgrade to Windows XP professional throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle.   “Microsoft,” says Milman “is targeting its enterprise customers, as many of them requested additional time before making the move to Windows 7.” Read more »

Microsoft officially announced its Windows Phone 7 OS on Monday and, by doing so, put itself firmly back into the smartphone market.

Totally disconnected from Microsoft’s previous phone OS offerings, Windows Phone 7 continues the pattern first displayed in the Internet Explorer 9 Beta – a product more in line with the competition than the company’s previous work. Read more »

It’s been a good news-bad news week so far for Microsoft.

On the positive side, the company announced a launch event for its Windows Phone 7 line of products, to be held on October 11.  Windows Phone 7 devices are expected to be released next month.

Within twenty four hours, Microsoft’s news had soured somewhat.  For the first time in years, Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s web browser, saw its market share drop below 50%.  At the same time, Google’s Chrome saw continued growth, tripling its market share from the same time last year. Read more »

For users of Windows and its associated applications, the news is not good this morning.

Noted Internet security researcher HD Moore, of Rapid 7, reported Wednesday that 40 different Windows applications have serious security vulnerability.

The vulnerabilities are, according to Moore, similar to one found in Apple’s iTunes for Windows.  Apple has patched the vulnerability in that program. Read more »

As part of its continued efforts to catch up to Apple in the mobile technology market, Microsoft has announced that it will directly connect new Windows Phone 7 smartphones with its Xbox Live service.

The move was announced at the Game Developers Conference Europe, in Germany.  There, Microsoft revealed a list of Xbox Live games coming to the Windows 7 Phone platform, and reiterated their intent to make portable gaming a focus. Read more »

Microsoft has announced an invitation only event in San Francisco on September 15, to launch the beta of Internet Explorer 9, the newest version of the company’s web browser.

The beta had previously been announced, though no official date was released until this week.

The San Francisco event will focus on the “beauty of the web”, and promote IE 9, which Microsoft hopes will restore it to the top of the browser market. Read more »

I think everyone is missing the point of the Yahoo-Microsoft deal. Most people have forgotten Novell, except the people in Provo, UT still reeling from the destruction of the Microsoft machine, and of course, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. Eric Schmidt took over the reins at Novell in March 1997, when Microsoft was outselling Novell’s Netware Operating System 9 to 5, certainly the decline of Novell’s once 90%+ share of the Network Operating System to just about nothing today should not be lost on the folks over at Google. Read more »