Microsoft Watch

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Microsoft Blog
Monitoring the goings-on in Redmond and the software industry.
Latest entries:
· Ballmer defends decision to cut Xbox price
· Bringing business intelligence to the masses
· Q & A: Craig Mundie on his college tour
(See links to other Microsoft and tech blogs in the right column)

Software Notebook

· Microsoft test-driving Wi-Fi use in vehicles
· Boxed software faces uncertain future
· Microsoft to buy back shares?
· Microsoft goes on a shopping spree
· Microsoft ramps up efforts to counter Apple

AP Tech Wire

· New Google tool reveals marine protected areas
· Asustek's low-priced Eee PC helps boost revenue
· Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk
· AMD to spin off factories in bid to save money
· Judge orders RealNetworks to pull copying software
· SAP says business turmoil hurting its revenue
More headlines

People behind Microsoft

· Akhtar Badshah: The philanthropies chief has non-profit pedigree
· Michael Klein: The company's art curator has brains, braggadocio and a wad of Microsoft money
· Ward Cunningham: Wiki pioneer planted the seed and watched it grow
· Microsoft CIO Rick Devenuti: He has grown alongside company over 20 years
· Bob Visse: MSN marketer likes excitement and intensity
· Christian Borgs and Jennifer Tour Chayes: A fun-loving husband-and-wife team of theoretical physicists

Microsoft aims to ease interaction in SQL Server data
Microsoft Corp. said Monday that a forthcoming version of its SQL Server would feature tools that would make it easier for more people in a company to interact with a database the software creates and manages.

Bellevue billionaire Charles Simonyi heads for space again
Local billionaire Charles Simonyi hopes his return trip to the International Space Station will promote the private space race as well as science.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2008
Microsoft's Mundie takes over college talks from Gates
Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, embarks on a tour of five college campuses this week, taking on a role long associated with Chairman Bill Gates.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2008
Microsoft hiring under review
Citing challenging economic conditions, Microsoft said Friday it would review its hiring plans and "make some adjustments as appropriate."

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008
Technology Briefing
Microsoft plans search center in Europe ... Sony's newest reader has a built-in light ... Nintendo expects game sales increase.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2008
Microsoft forced to go on the offensive
Microsoft Corp.'s operations chief took it personally when one of the company's biggest accounts was threatened by Google Inc.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
Microsoft chief Ballmer earns $1.35 million in 2008
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer received a pay package valued at about $1.35 million for fiscal 2008, a year in which the software maker's profit climbed despite the troubled U.S. economy.

Technology Briefing
Group to promote laptops for mobile broadband links ... Microsoft shuffles duties of Yusuf Mehdi, Bill Veghte ... Shares of Apple fall 17.9% on worries about slowdown ... and more.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2008
Ballmer: Tech industry can weather downturn
Although the technology industry is not immune to the troubles facing the U.S. economy, it is positioned to weather a downturn, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer said in a talk Thursday evening in Santa Clara, Calif.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Appeals court sides with Microsoft in MP3 case
Microsoft Corp. convinced a federal appeals court Thursday that it shouldn't have to pay $1.5 billion in damages to Alcatel-Lucent SA, after a lower court threw out the jury's record verdict over the MP3 digital-music standard.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Technology Briefing
Microsoft cuts Xbox 360 prices in Asian markets ... Redesigned MySpace Web site begins music sales today ... Oracle expands into selling hardware.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
Microsoft expands bus service
Microsoft will add nine routes to its Connector bus service for employees on Oct. 6, expanding the system it put in place a year ago.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
Microsoft says it will buy back $40 billion in stock, raise dividend
Chaos in the money markets gave Microsoft Corp. an opening Monday to announce that it would take on debt for the first time, launch a new $40 billion stock buyback plan and raise its dividend.

Microsoft data 'nerve center' opens in Texas
Microsoft Corp.'s most technologically advanced data center opened Monday in Westover Hills, Texas.

Previous headlines

SPECIAL REPORTS

Open source's threat is growing
The success of the Apache Web server underscores the growing influence of the open-source movement in the world of software development. The trend has deep implications for traditional software companies.

An early look at the next Windows
Microsoft lifted the curtain on the next generation of Windows. Code-named Longhorn, it will allow new connections among otherwise disparate programs and networks.

Should Microsoft be liable for bugs?
A defect is found in one of the world's most popular products. Less than a month later, its consequences emerge -- idling workers around the globe, causing huge losses for businesses and generally inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of people.

All the new kids on the blog
Blogs, as they're known, are a phenomenon across the Internet, but for big companies such as Microsoft, they bring both opportunity and risk.