Office politics: Microsoft vs. GoogleThe latest version of Microsoft Office is a desperate attempt to keep up with web based offerings like the far cheaper Google Apps system. Can Microsoft maintain its dominance?
Microsoft
Do you really need Office 2010?
Microsoft is about to launch its latest iteration of Office, Office 2010 — and it’s going free and online to counter the rise of Google Docs. Of course, Google says “don’t bother”. But should you? Lifehacker weighs it up.
Google gets a Microsoft make-over
Google has undergone a face-lift — and it looks suspiciously like Microsoft’s Bing. It won’t change your search results, says search guru John Battelle but it will change the way we search.
rumour 
Microsoft gives up on its iPad killer
Microsoft has stopped developing its “Courier” tablet, according to inside sources, allowing Apple’s iPad to go unchallenged in the e-Reader marketplace.
Inside Microsoft’s Chinese teen sweatshop
Read the US National Labor Committee’s damning report into the Chinese factory producing products for Microsoft, where teenagers work 15-hour shifts, six or seven days a week, for 52 cents an hour to produce the computers and gadgets we use every day.
Beneath the skivvy: the dark side of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs emerged, iPad tucked firmly under his arm, as the saviour leading publishers out of the paywalls darkness. But what happens when they realise Steve Jobs is just a ruthless businessman? asks Ryan Tate.
Microsoft’s new phone: kid’s stuff
Microsoft has unveiled its new phone: the Kin, and it looks great — if you’re a teenager, says Gizmodo. It isn’t a smartphone and doesn’t run apps or programs or videos. But it’s great for using Facebook.
The love that dare not speak its name: Microsoft workers and their iPhones
They love their Jesus phones down at Microsoft, with 10,000 iPhone users accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year. Its much to the chagrin of Microsoft bosses, with workers now attempting to hide their iPhones from Apple hating execs.
The secret story behind Windows
Former Microsoft Product Manager Tandy Trower explains how he transformed an unpopular operating system into one of the most popular and important products of all-time.
Microsoft unveils its iPhone killer
Microsoft has uncovered its Windows Phone 7 Series, and Gizmodo declares it “groundbreaking”. With Apple, Google and Microsoft now ruling the smartphone market, “Phones are officially computers that happen to fit in your pocket.”
Winer: Why isn’t Google’s Buzz bugger-up a bigger scandal?
Google did something “seriously wrong” by violating users’ privacy on Buzz, says legendary blogger Dave Winer. This should be a huge scandal, but the press is helping them cover it up.
Internet Explorer 6: The True Hollywood Story
Internet Explorer 6: The True Hollywood StorySmashing Magazine tells the story of the widely maligned Internet Explorer 6, in comic form: the epic rise to fame in 2001, and the big crash to earth when upstarts Firefox and Safari hit the scene. The big cliffhanger ending: when will it die?
Former VP: How Microsoft lost its cool
Microsoft has truckloads of cash, employs some of the smartest people on Earth, and, until recently, completely dominated the computer industry. So how come it didn’t invent the iPad, iPod, BlackBerry or Kindle? Former VP Dick Brass explains.
rumour 
Google set to launch its own app store
Insiders have told the WSJ that Google is planning its own App Store with add-ons for services like Gmail and Google Docs, as the company’s next front in its assault on Microsoft’s Office suite.
Crikey Says: Bill Gates spends some Idol time on Twitter
Bill Gates tweeted for the first time this morning. And who, of all the tweeps in the twitterverse — the world leaders, the great thinkers, the tech visionaries — did he start conversing with first?
Dump Internet Explorer? Stay alert but not alarmed
In the wake of cyber attacks on Google, media outlets are relaying recommendations from government information security agencies to stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. So do you really need to break up with your browser?
German government: Ditch Internet Explorer
Berlin has issued a statement recommending all German internet users — that’s 76% of the country’s 82m people — stop using Microsoft’s default Internet Explorer browser, following a report that it was a vulnerability in IE that allowed Chinese hackers to attack Google.
Google’s China move: fresh pressure to heed human rights wrongs
Internet and media companies desperate to gain a share of the massive Chinese market are now facing fresh pressure to heed human rights concerns, following Google’s announcement that it will cease to censor search engine results in China.
Yelp! Who says no to Google and half a billion dollars?
Yelp, a US web site that reviews local restaurants and shops, has walked away from late negotiations for a Google deal worth half a billion dollars. Has someone else — Apple? Microsoft? — offered them a better strategic deal?
inside info 
Twitter finally turns a profit
Twitter’s real-time search deals with Microsoft and Google — worth about $25 million combined — will see the company finally turn a (small) profit this year, according to company insiders.
graph pr0n The top 5 tech companies of the decade
A look at the market capitalisation of the top five tech companies over the past 10 years: Microsoft remained dominant from start to end, but has dipped significantly and is now under heavy threat from Google and Apple.
Microsoft vs. Google, round 567: Bing Maps launched
Microsoft has fired the latest shot in the search engine wars, launching its own map service to compete directly with Google Maps. Bing Maps lets users view satellite maps in 3D, and integrate apps like Twitter to overlay extra data.
Murdoch and Microsoft: the mice are trying to roar
Rupert Murdoch thinks Microsoft has all the answers, which it once did. But when it comes to the internet, it has struggled, and mostly failed, to buck or control the currents of the business, writes Michael Wolff.
Baffled by Murdersoft? Making sense of Murdoch and Microsoft
This rumoured deal between Microsoft and News Corporation is all about attention. So how would the parties benefit? Stilgherrian breaks it down.
Media briefs: Dark lords Murdoch & Microsoft v Google … That’s just not cricket
Sony launches missile Sony has launched a new salvo in the battle for the home media centre market against Windows Media Centre-based PCs and Apple’s “Digital Media Hub” strategy. PlayStation 3, already in 675,000 Australian homes — and 20% of those in the last three months — gains a new “TV” icon. Initially this provides direct access ABC iView […]
