Trojan masquerades as Microsoft Security Essentials

 Is a Trojan as Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) in an attempt to trick people disguised in downloading fake security products, security company warns F-secure. The malware is chief research officer at F-secure of drive-by download attacks by Mikko Hypponen, distributed. Fake MSE tries to scare victims to purchase the equally fake security software to fictitious infections to resolve, he said in a blog post. The fake MSE found sees by Microsoft in February of F-secure much like a similar fake version reported.

Seems, that all successful anti-malware at some point and with 30 million users worldwide, imitated clearly MSE head of security and privacy at Microsoft UK is very successful, said Cliff Evans. "Rogue security software one of the commonly used methods, make money from victims gamers become," he told computer weekly. "Our advice to organizations and individuals maintain a current anti-malware solution from a trusted provider is," he said. Microsoft offers up to 10 users through free downloads, MSE for home use and for small businesses said Evans, and larger organizations, we recommend Forefront Security products.

Windows 7 which says fastest-selling operating system always Microsoft

 Windows 7 is the fastest-selling operating system in history, Microsoft claimed with 240 million licenses sold in the first year. This is more than in October 2009 until end 2010 forecast by market research firm IDC 63 million copies. As of September, Windows 7, new consumer was running to 93% PC and had more than 17% market share at global level, according to NET applications.

Six months after the launch, 100% of the over 18,000 OEM partner of Microsoft's Windows 7 PC versus 70% for Windows Vista PCs in the first six months, said sold Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows Communications Manager at Microsoft. "Last year, we saw that customer satisfaction for Microsoft Apple in February and the had the American customer satisfaction index report may, showed outdated jumping in customer satisfaction for Microsoft in 2010 compared" he wrote in a blog post.

Both indexes identify Windows 7 as the decisive factor for improved customer satisfaction for Microsoft, said LeBlanc. Companies are always on the Windows 7 train, he said, but gave no figures for corporate adoption of the operating system. In January 2010, click Microsoft announced, a 60% increase in profits in his second financial quarter, but this was especially due to strong demand as companies still holding back investment were.

That changed active tests last year, with 89% business oganisations and/or deploying Windows 7 in the next two years, according to research firm Forrester, and the average return on investment 131% in just over 12 months, according to a Microsoft customer survey. Growth in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was in the past year, with number of desktops and laptops running Windows 7 up almost 500% since January, according to market research firm, SpiceWorks greatest. Big business customers include General Motors (30,000 users), Samsung, Expedia, and Continental Airlines.

Microsoft Streets as well as Trips 2006 [OLD VERSION]

Microsoft Streets as well as Trips 2006 [OLD VERSION]

• Customizable trip-planning program with updated maps for U.S. as well as Canada
• Easily find hotels, ATMs, as well as some-more with over 1.8 million points of interest
• Plan trips as well as work out mileage, time, as well as expenses; door-to-door directions
• Easily try latest areas; supplement mixed destinations as well as fast change route
• More than 5.4 million miles of routable roads as well as highways

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 is a customizable outing formulation program which helps we get correct directions, simply try latest areas, as well as find a services we wish as well as need along a way. Streets & Trips gives we some-more outing formulation facilities than any online mapping site, so we can devise a outing formed upon your specific preferences.Microsoft Streets as well as Trips 2006 is a customizable outing formulation program which helps we get correct directions, simply try latest areas as well as find a services we wish as well as need along a way. With some-more personalized outing formulation facilities than online mapping sites, as well as finish map coverage of both a USA as well as Canada, Streets as well as Maps 2006 will fast infer to be an essential messenger for all of your trips.

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MS Word Web vs. Google Docs

Microsoft put the last piece of its online office suite puzzle in place Monday, officially launching its Web-based suite of Microsoft Office applications called Office Web Apps.
What follows is a look at Microsoft's newest offering Word Web App that was just introduced Monday with kickoff of Office Web Apps.
Google Docs also offers a version history feature, but I found Microsoft's solution to be more straightforward and easier to use.
Microsoft is off to a pretty good start with the Word Web App, all they need to do is figure out how to extend browser support, get rid of the bugs and this will be a great Web-based word processor.

Microsoft Releases Office Web Apps on SkyDrive

Microsoft is announcing the availability of Office Web Apps on SkyDrive for users in select countries. The platform gives users the ability to view and edit Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote documents online, via the browser. Microsoft hopes that such cloud functionality will give it an edge in the battle against Google Apps and similar Web-based productivity suites, which occupy a small portion of the market but threaten to increase their share in coming years.

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Windows Service Packs, Project Pink Rumors Dominated Microsoft Week

Microsoft-related rumors about Project Pink smartphones being unveiled April 12, along with more enterprise-centric announcements concerning updates to Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, dominated the company’s news this week. In addition, screenshots and a March 27 build of what is purportedly the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) made their way onto the Internet. News from Microsoft and other tech companies found itself largely overshadowed by intense media focus on Apple and its newly released iPad.
– News from Microsoft and other tech companies this week was
largely eclipsed by Apple, whose iPad tablet dominated headlines during its
first days in general release. Nonetheless, a number of rumors surfaced related
to several large Microsoft projects, including a Windows 7 Service Pack 1.

More IT news on this link >>>

Sales Microsoft Xbox better than Top Wii and PS3

Six months with being named the generally unreliable record game console, with a failure rate eight era with the intention of of the Nintendo Wii and more than twice with the intention of of the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox is topping sales charts.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the top promotion video-game console in February, topping the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 pro the initially calculate since 2007.


While PS3 came in third amongst the three video-game consoles, sales were 30% privileged year-over-year, "even while retail supply is reported to wait constrained," NPD analyst Anita Frazier understood in a statement released in the dead of night Thursday.

Bay Area Internet Solutions Raja Hammound, Group Product Manager by Adobe, by endeavor 2.0 2009 giving a sample of Adobe LiveCycle ES2 Al Williams gives you a demor of One-Der: The One Instruction CPU
Bay Area Internet Solutions
Xbox 360 sales reached 422,000 units continue month, while Sony shipped 360,100 PS3s and Nintendo 397,900 Wiis, according to The NPD Group. The Xbox 360 nabbed the top stain pro the initially calculate since September 2007, as the relief of Halo 3 drove sales earlier period rivals.

Nevertheless, sales of all hardware, which furthermore include the PS2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS, were down from a time past, NPD understood. The industry as a total, which includes hardware, software, and accessories, was furthermore down, with element sales declines greater than dough sales, as a upshot of privileged mean retail prices in everything apart from console hardware.

The record game industry, everywhere the tradition of proprietary console hardware and high-margin corporal media runs deep, is signaling a budge headed for cloud-hosted gaming.

Inside the games class, the top 10 games were split amongst the three consoles: Three all pro the PS3 and Wii platforms and four pro the Xbox 360. Bioshock 2 was the best-selling game in February, with more than 750,000 units sold.

5 Things about Windows Phone 7

1. It's part Zune Phone

Unlike each other iPhone competitor in the mobile interval, Microsoft offers furthermore offers an iPod competitor. The Zune the stage a major role in the Windows Phone 7 Series. The satiated slate of Zune facial appearance makes its way to the software. Users can take note to composition, check made known FM telephone system, and aid Zune Social to share their composition recommendations with acquaintances. It's thumbs down small addition. Prior to the relief of Windows Phone 7 Series, Apple's iPhone was the single device to dual as an PMP. All with the intention of has altered.

2. Gaming the stage a major role

For the initially calculate, gaming is before a live audience a major role in a mobile platform. According to Microsoft, Windows Phone 7 Series will integrate Xbox Live. Gamers will be able to mess about Xbox Live games on their Windows Phone 7 Series diplomacy, sync with their accounts on their Xbox 360s, and look up other gamers aptly from the device. Considering Xbox Live now has ended 20 million subscribers, Windows Phone 7 Series might be the chosen device pro gamers.

3. Go social

Although the iPhone and Android-based diplomacy figure social applications with the intention of can be downloaded from their respective app supplies, Windows Phone 7 Series software has social elements built aptly in. The software's "People" focal point allows users to think it over all their friends' newest status updates from the social networks they're using. It even provides the skill to bring up to date Facebook status made known of the box. Microsoft didn't announce Twitter support solely yet, which will hurt the software, but it deserves kudos pro realizing the substance of mobile social networking.

4. The first name might hurt it

There's little debating with the intention of Windows Phone 7 Series was a bad perception. Whatever made Steve Ballmer and his team decide with the intention of they must energy to promote with such an awful first name is anyone's estimate. Soon, you'll be able to approve of an iPhone, an Android device, a BlackBerry, or a Windows Phone 7 Series manufactured goods? Yikes. There's still calculate pro Microsoft to occur up with a better first name pro its software. And although it won't look skilled if it changes things up, it doesn't be inflicted with much of a choice—Windows Phone 7 Series solely doesn't graze it.

5. The interface is unique

It's tricky to fully be grateful for the interface on a Windows Phone 7 Series lacking in fact considering it. Unlike the iPhone or Android-based diplomacy, Microsoft's software doesn't stick to grids with the intention of users can click on to bring about their way around the software. Instead, the interface mimics the Zune HD's. Users can slide their fingers around the screen to check over uncommon options. Text is straightforwardly readable. And perhaps generally importantly, it's perfectly unique to whatever thing now existing on the promote. Even better, the phone chains multitouch, so users can instinctively control the interface.

MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 2010 LAUNCH RE-SET FOR APRIL 12

Microsoft has rescheduled the start of its enterprising Visual Studio 2010 code utilization papers and the accompanying .Net Framework 4 planning platfom to Apr 12, after having scrapped a designed March 22 promulgation date.

See other IT news...

Bing vs Google war of giant

New statistics trade show Microsoft's share of searches is down not more than 4 percent, having risen all through the before three months. Google, meanwhile, captures 90 percent of search traffic.

I am not guaranteed I perfectly believe these newest statistics, from NetApplications and StatCounter. Nielsen's facts are quite uncommon, as are Comscore's -- both giving Bing a much better share of the search pie. Let's produce it a month or two previous to declaring Bing's marriage to be ended.

Bing was introduced in May as the successor to Microsoft's before search engines.

Microsoft continues to waste solidly on search equipment investigate and development. Bing is single the tip of the iceberg, though progress is gradual since search is such a enormous conundrum. Anything you develop with the intention of improves search should be almost infinitely scalable and able to be existing pro emancipated.

That's a pretty tall order. You need innovation in all areas, counting the affair preparation, to take search to the then level.

While Google is now, pro generally public, the initially word in search, I don’t think it's the continue word. Even with ongoing changes to increase accuracy and get on to results easier to manipulate and digest, Google searches still return way too much of could you repeat that? I don't aspire.

If it takes looking through three pages of results to discover could you repeat that? I wanted, Google has disastrous me. I know I am expecting Google to be psychic--essentially to understand could you repeat that? I aspire even as I be inflicted with a tricky calculate explaining it--but with all Google knows in this area me, it doesn't seem like an unjust ask for.

Maybe Google will come across this challenge. Maybe it will be Microsoft. The gambling nepotism Google, but you by no means know could you repeat that? Will take place. The Netflix prizewinners are examples of could you repeat that? Can be made to match users with improved search results.
Bing is an model of could you repeat that? I call a "demographic" search engine, tailored not to be all things to all searchers, as is Google, but to pull towards you a defined audience. Inside Bing's justification, with the intention of earnings shoppers.

I believe but cannot verify with the intention of Bing could generate more revenue for every search (in stipulations of customer costs as a upshot of searching) than Google. Even if with the intention of were real, however, it would single dilute Google's leadership by solely a smidge.

The Yahoo/Microsoft deal, must it pass regulatory muster--and it deserves to--will help Bing's share, but won't sort out much to reduce Google's facts.

Xbox 360 - Least Reliable Console

A extra study on game console reliability confirms the standard mind-set with the intention of Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the smallest amount dependable of the current crop of fit top systems. According to SquareTrade, Nintendo's Wii is nine era more dependable than Microsoft's Xbox, and four era more than Sony's PlayStation 3. The study scrutinized failure tariff pro ended 16,000 extra game consoles covered by its standalone supplementary insurance diplomacy. Inside the initially two years of ownerswith the intention of 2.7 percent of Wsemiwners reported a logic failure, compared with 23.7correlatedt of Xbox 36left overand 10 percent of PS3 owners. The skilled news pro Xbox 360 owners? RROD failures appear to (finally) be in decline in 2009. There's a caveat: SquareTrade says it believes Microsoft's warranty plan (an exceptional, estimably reliable plan, in my opinion) "may upshot in an underreporting of failures by Xbox 360 owners to insideuareTrade, relation to the other consoles." Slightly more thaconundrumof all Xbox 36renownedlwith the intention of ended semi ring of death" relateveterane rwith the intention ofnmiscalculation1.7% were "otherconundrumres. Because the RROD problem is so widely known to be covered by Microsoft’s warranty, we believe that more customers bypass SquareTrade and reported faillackingankly to the Microsoft. Email survey respondents look after to be a self-selecting assemble, so the data must be used directionally very than definitively, particularly since we did not survey PS3 and Wii owners with the same question. With with the intention of caveat in mind, applying the survey data to the analysis shows with the intention of the Xbox 360 failure rate may possibly be as distinguished as 35%.

Microsoft cuts Xbox price by 25 percent

By Gabriel Madway and Franklin Paul, reuters
Microsoft Corp plans to slash the price of its high-end Xbox 360 video game console by $100, or 25 percent, stepping up the price war in the video game console market.
Effective Friday, Microsoft will drop the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to $299.99 in the United States, just days after Sony Corp cut the rival PlayStation 3 to $299 from $399. Analysts have said the cuts will pressure Nintendo Co Ltd to lower the price of its best-selling Wii console, which retails for $249, but for now the company is standing firm. "We don't have such a plan," Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said when asked about a price cut. Among this generation of game consoles, the Xbox is No. 2 in the United States behind the Wii. But U.S. sales of the Xbox are up 17 percent this year, the only console to show growth. The price on the entry-level Xbox Arcade model will stay at $199.99, and Microsoft will phase out its mid-range Xbox Pro model, leaving it with two models. The Pro will sell for $249.99 until supplies run out.
Since PS3, Xbox and Wii are increasingly centerpieces of home entertainment, their sales can spur purchases of software, accessories and other media, and boost traffic at retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and GameStop. And while the unit that runs Xbox is a small part of Microsoft's overall sales -- at about 11 percent -- it is the company's biggest weapon in the battle to control entertainment in the living room. Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said the price cut was in the works for some time and was not a response to Sony's cut. Rather, he said, the price reduction will attract new buyers and help simplify Microsoft's product mix for manufacturers and retailers as well as customers. "It really makes the decision for consumers a lot easier," he said. "They're either price conscious and they gravitate toward the Arcade, or they want the full Xbox 360 experience."
In Europe, the Elite price will shrink by 50 euros ($71) to 249.99 euros, or 199.99 pounds ($324) in Britain. Chris Lewis, head of Xbox Europe, said the cut would help Microsoft match or beat its 2008 performance, when it increased unit sales of Xboxes more than 80 percent in Europe.
Beyond console sales, the cuts by Microsoft and Sony should provide a lift to a broader gaming industry has been stuck in a slump brought on by a lack of big-name releases and a recession that has pinched consumer spending.
Indeed, game publishers like Activision Blizzard have clamored for price cuts, which often boost sales of software. "Software makers should be quite happy about it," KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide said. "The industry should stage a bit of a recovery in the second half of this year."

Bing Coming to IPhone Apps

By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
Microsoft is targeting the iPhone as another avenue for boosting usage of its Bing search engine.
On Thursday, Microsoft released a software developer kit designed to make it easier for iPhone developers to build access to Bing into their applications. Using the SDK, a developer can build an iPhone application that searches Bing for Web information, images, videos, news and phonebook results.
Developers can only query Bing from applications built on Cocoa or Cocoa Touch, APIs (application programming interfaces) for building applications on the iPhone.
Google is the default search engine in the iPhone's Safari browser, and users can decide to switch that to Yahoo. Otherwise, if iPhone users want to access Bing today they have to type in the URL.
The SDK will also let developers incorporate Bing searches into applications for Macintosh computers.
While Microsoft and Apple compete in the mobile-phone market, other Microsoft services and applications are already available on the iPhone. For instance, the iPhone supports Microsoft's ActiveSync to let people access their Exchange e-mail. In addition, Microsoft's Live Labs group released an iPhone application for Seadragon, the technology that lets users browse through potentially very large images.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Price to Drop $100 in the US

Microsoft will lop US$100 rancid its highest-priced Xbox 360 game console on Friday, solely weeks with a akin move by Sony as the war pro game console promote share produces better deals pro consumers.
The Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite console will be cut-rate to $299.99 in the U.S., the company understood. Microsoft will furthermore decrease the fee of the Xbox 360 Pro console to $249.99, a $50 reduction, while the Xbox 360 Arcade will wait $199.99.
The fee reductions are predestined to get on to Xbox 360 consoles more striking yet to be of the celebration season.
Earlier this month, Sony lopped $100 rancid the fee of its premium PlayStation 3 game console to $299.99. That apparatus boasts a Blu-ray Disc player in addition to gaming functions. Sony has sought to get on to the device a manufactured goods pro anyone's living opportunity, not solely public who take pleasure in games.
The foremost difference linking the three Xbox 360 models is storage space room. The Xbox 360 Arcade has single 256MB of storage space, while the Xbox 360 Pro boasts 60GB of storage space and the Xbox 360 Elite carries 120GB of storage space. The PlayStation 3 comes in 80GB and 120GB configurations.

Brits to get Windows 7 for £65

After confusing customers with European editions and upgrade versions, Britain will be able to buy a full copy of Windows 7 for just £65 – a massive discount on the full price and what Americans will be paying.
At the moment on Amazon.co.uk, a Home Premium version of Windows 7 can be bought for just £64.98 – what the site calls a 57 per cent discount. The Professional version is on sale for £149.98, a discount of 32 per cent, while the Ultimate edition is available for £168.98, a discount of 26 per cent.
Those prices are significantly less than what’s on offer in the US. On Amazon.com, the versions are selling for $199.99 (£121.65), $299.99 (£182.48) and $319.99 (£194.64) – meaning the UK is paying less for Microsoft products than Americans, a change from the usual situation.
The pricing confusion follows efforts by Microsoft to keep the European Commission happy over competition complaints. First, Microsoft said it would be shipping a European edition of Windows 7. That version would not include a preloaded copy of Internet Explorer.
Because of that, European buyers would not be able to get an upgrade copy. Instead, they would have had to buy the full version. To keep things fair, Microsoft decided to offer the full version at an upgrade price – a decent discount.
Then Microsoft dropped the “E version” plans, deciding instead to run a browser ballot across its users, notifying them that other browers exist aside from IE.
That meant Microsoft could now sell the standard Windows 7 versions across Europe, but some people had already bought full versions of the new OS at a discounted price through pre-orders, leading to confusion over what exactly Microsoft was planning on shipping to them in October.
Adding to the confusion, the UK Microsoft store is still selling European versions of the OS.
Amazon has reportedly said its current pricing was “indefinite”, while Microsoft said it could not confirm any pricing details. Windows 7 is available at retail on 22 October.
Pre-order by amazon...

Software for virtualizing XP on Windows 7

by Elizabeth Montalbano

Microsoft Tuesday released software that uses virtualization to allow people to run applications in Windows 7 as if they are running in XP, making it easier for applications written for older versions of the OS to run on Windows 7.

Microsoft made the Windows XP Mode Release Candidate available for public download from the Microsoft Download Center, Microsoft Connect and on the Windows home page, the company said.

It also detailed some of the release's changes from earlier versions in a post on the Windows Team Blog. A release candidate in Microsoft's product-development cycle means the product is near completion.

Windows XP Mode is an optional feature of the Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions, and is aimed at helping small- and medium-size businesses upgrade to Windows 7 by giving them a virtual Windows XP environment capable of running business and productivity applications compatible with XP.

The feature is similar to Apple's Classic mode, introduced on Mac OS X, that allowed people to run legacy Mac applications on OS X, which was a drastic change to the platform and would not have run older Mac applications without the feature.

Like Mac OS X, Microsoft's Windows Vista also was a major architectural shift from previous versions of Windows, and Microsoft ran into a massive application-incompatibility problem with the OS. This led many people -- particularly business users dependent on legacy Windows applications -- to stay on XP or downgrade to XP after buying a Vista machine. By the time Vista had been released, XP had been available for more than five years, so even applications build for older versions of the Windows client OS -- such as Windows 2000 -- run fairly well on it.

When discussing Windows XP Mode publicly, Microsoft executives have said that Windows XP Mode was created to remedy this problem. At the company's recent Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft Senior Vice President of Windows Bill Veghte acknowledged that Vista's architectural changes came at the cost of compatibility, and described XP Mode as a way to ensure the same thing would not happen with Windows 7.

Windows 7's release to manufacturing is expected later this week, and its worldwide general availability is slated for Oct. 22.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade...
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade...
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade...

BingTweets Blends Microsoft Bing, Twitter for Real-time Search

by Clint Boulton, eweek.com
Microsoft, Twitter and Federated Media meet in the middle for BingTweets, a real-time search mashup of the Bing search engine and Twitter Web service. The tool, Microsoft's latest attempt to move users from Google and Yahoo to Bing, culls trends from Twitter and filters them into categories such as Popular Now, People, Places and Products.
Microsoft impressed some folks in the blogosphere when it configured its Bing search engine to index Twitter tweets two weeks ago.
While Google and Yahoo weigh whether or not to index tweets, Microsoft moved to press its real-time search advantage with BingTweets, which fuses Bing search results and Twitter content. Microsoft partnered with media publisher Federated Media and Twitter on the site, which culls trends from Twitter and filters them into categories such as "Popular Now," "People," "Places" and "Products." Bing Director Whitney Burk explained the rationale behind BingTweets in a blog post July 14. "Many people share their thoughts on Twitter, and search engines don’t currently do a great job of capturing that real-time content," Burk wrote. "We designed Bing to help you make faster, more informed decisions, and, since people often turn to real-time content to help them make decisions, BingTweets was a logical next step."
The site is quite the mashup of Bing and Twitter and there is a lot going on with this site in a short space. For starters, the top left toolbar includes the Popular Now, People, Places and Products tabs. Directly underneath lies the Tweet stream from Twitter, and to the right of that is a pared down version of the Bing search engine.
Directly above Bing is a tweet toolbar to let users either post tweets to Twitter, or post them to some 45 content sites, including Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon. Above the tweet toolbar at the top right is a search box to let users sift through Bing and Twitter for queries that aren't included among the hot topics.
In clicking the Popular Now this morning, the hot topic was last night's Major League Baseball All-Star game. Once that was clicked on, BingTweets began streaming all the current tweets on it in the tweet box, and the "All Star Game" popped up in the search bar in Bing to provide all of the latest news on the event. Above that, the Tweet toolbar displayed the prompt: "Check out BingTweets about All Star Game http://bit.ly/rtiCt #bing," which users can elect to post to Twitter or to the other content partner sites by clicking on the Tweet This or Share This buttons.
The site is no huge leap for Microsoft, but it puts another feather in Bing's cap versus Google and Yahoo, which Microsoft is chasing in the search market. According to the new June 2009 results from comScore, Google grabbed 65 percent of the U.S. search market share, Yahoo nabbed 19.6 percent, while Microsoft's share was 8.4 percent, up a quarter of a percent from May, before Bing launched.
Many analysts attribute Microsoft's uptick to curiosity about Bing, and do not feel Bing will ultimately rip the search crown from Google. JP Morgan's Imran Khan surveyed 750 people and found that 98 percent of people won't switch to Bing. Those who do switch will leave AOL and Ask.com, not Google or Yahoo.
"Of our total survey population, 25.8 percent of our respondents claim that they use AOL search less than before the Bing launch and 24.0 percent of our respondents claimed that they used Ask search less than before the Bing launch," Khan wrote. "Conversely, only 10.6 percent and 16.4 percent of the respondents claimed to use Google and Yahoo search less than before the Bing launch, respectively."
Ultimately, Khan found that most people are comfortable using Google and Yahoo, which means Microsoft would have to create a "markedly better product" and "significantly expand its distribution."
That's consistent with a June sampling from Web design firm Catalyst Group.

Microsoft Office To Launch For Free On Web

skynews
Microsoft is continuing to war with Google for internet dominance as it reveals the next version of its Office software will be available for free online
Office 2010 will feature free and lightweight versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote, Microsoft revealed at a developer conference.
It is a direct challenge to Google's Docs range of productivity tools, launched three years ago.
Microsoft is also planning to allow users to co-author documents in real time - a similar move to Google's upcoming product Wave, the successor to Google Docs.
Office 2010, likely to be released early next year, is just the latest move in an ongoing battle between the two firms. Last week, Google announced plans to create an open-source operating system to directly rival Microsoft Windows. The software, called Chrome OS, will run directly from a computer's internet connection and will be totally integrated with Google's wide range of web services. Last month, Microsoft relaunched its web search service, called Bing, to make it more directly competitive with Google's search engine. Analyst Matt Rosoff at technology firm Directions On Microsoft said: "The fact that Microsoft is developing (an online document suite) at all is a response to Google. "This is a move that they probably wouldn't have made if they didn't have to, but there is enough competition bubbling up that they thought they needed a response."
On Monday, Microsoft also revealed plans to expand its MSN website to rival popular music streaming software Spotify. Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, told The Daily Telegraph: "Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently." The service, due to launch later this month, will allow users to listen to music for free. Spotify, which launched in March, offers millions of tracks from all the major record labels to be streamed for free with occasional radio-style adverts.

Microsoft's Bing gains on Yahoo, Google

reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's market share of the U.S. Internet search market increased modestly in June, the first month that it fielded its new Bing search engine, according to the latest data from research firm ComScore.
Microsoft captured 8.4 percent of U.S. Internet searches in June, up from 8 percent the month before, largely at the expense of rival Yahoo Inc, whose market share fell to 19.6 percent in June from 20.1 percent in May.
Market leader Google Inc's share
"Given all the publicity and advertising around Bing, we were expecting a month-on-month increase," said Citi analyst Mark Mahaney, in a research note issued soon after the figures were published.
"But we think it's too early -- need three to four months to call a trend -- and the June move wasn't material enough to make any definitive statements as to whether Bing is a search market share game changer," said Mahaney. "We continue to view Bing as a very solid product, but one facing a very large uphill battle."
Microsoft has been pouring investment into its money-losing online services business in an attempt to counter Google's dominance in the Internet search market.
There is still a possibility that Microsoft will strike a partnership with Yahoo to combine their online advertising strengths, after Microsoft's aborted attempt to buy Yahoo outright last year.
Microsoft shares rose 3.1 percent to $23.83 on Nasdaq. Yahoo and Google shares also rose.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Derek Caney and Gunna Dickson)

Microsoft EU e-store collapses amid crush of Windows 7 pre-orders

by Gregg Keizer, computerworld
Microsoft's European online store crashed today under the load from customers eager to grab discounted copies of Windows 7.
During the outage, the site displayed a message that said, "Due to the eagerly anticipated Windows 7 pre-order offer, we're experiencing a higher level of demand on our website than usual. This means you can't access the site right now and we're sorry about that."
The store was briefly back online at 11 a.m. ET, but an hour later it had again gone down. According to a report by the BBC, Amazon's UK store claimed that it had moved more copies of Windows 7 in the sale's first eight hours than it did in the 17-week run of a similar pre-order offer in 2006 for Windows Vista.
The sale, a repeat of the U.S. pre-order deals that ended last Saturday, kicked off today when Microsoft offered heavy discounts on Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional in the U.K., France and Germany. The discounts are good through Aug. 14, or until supplies last.
That caveat came into play on Amazon.com's French and German stores, both which announced early Wednesday that they had sold out their allotments of the specially-priced editions. Amazon's German store, for instance, said today that it had exhausted its supply of the €49.97 Home Premium, and instead was taking new pre-orders at €119.97.
The sell-out of Windows 7 pushed Home Premium and Professional to the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, on Amazon's French and German software bestseller lists.
Microsoft is selling Windows 7E Home Premium in the U.K. for £49.99, a 67% discount from the list price of £149.99, and selling Professional for £99.99, 55% under the usual £219.99.
European customers will receive Windows 7 in special editions, dubbed "E" for "Europe," that have been stripped of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). A month ago, Microsoft decided to yank IE8 from Windows 7 in an effort to head off EU antitrust regulators, who may still force the company to take more drastic measures.
Instead, Microsoft has shifted the responsibility for a browser to computer makers, who will decide which browser or browsers to install. The lack of a browser in Windows 7E shoved Microsoft's "Internet Pack" -- a bundle that includes both IE8 and Windows Live Essentials -- to the No. 2 spot on Amazon's German software bestseller list today. Amazon is charging German customers #8364;3.99 for the pack.
The introduction of Windows 7E has presented Microsoft with a major problem: Because it will block Vista users from doing "in-place" upgrades to Windows 7 -- to do otherwise would leave a version of IE on the machine -- the company isn't selling "Upgrade" editions. Instead, it's selling the "Full" editions, which are usually more expensive, at "Upgrade" prices.
The discounted prices for Windows 7 in the EU and the U.K. were for the Full editions, which Microsoft will sell at least through the end of the year. It expects to eventually solve the technical issues, at which point it will introduce its standard two-tier Upgrade/Full retail pricing.
Customers who pre-order Windows 7 won't receive their copies until on or after Oct. 22, the day that Microsoft officially launches the operating system.