Microsoft has promised to dispatch an investigative team to a Chinese factory allegedly engaged in workplace violations, with a full audit to be conducted the week of April 19. However, the National Labor Committee report that sparked Microsofts action also documents how the KYE factory in Dongguan has a supposed history, according to its sources, of covering up violations such as the use of underage workers ahead of both government and corporate audits. That report also alleges that workers are coached on what to say to auditors before their arrival. Microsoft insists it has been monitoring workplace conditions at the factory on a regular basis.
- Microsoft announced plans April 15 to investigate allegations of labor violations at a Chinese factory building its products, in response to an April 13 report by the National Labor Committee. However, that same report suggests the factorys management has a system for disguising potential violat...

Microsoft ended support for Windows Vista RTM April 13, meaning that those who wish to continue to use a supported version of the much-maligned operating system must update their copies with service packs. Mainstream support for Vista ends April 10, 2012, while extended support for Vista Business and Vista Enterprise will end April 11, 2017. The number of users of Vista and Windows XP has been steadily falling in recent months, as the newer Windows 7 claims an accompanying larger share of the U.S. operating system market. Microsoft is also adjusting its product support life-cycle policy to offer limited support under very specific circumstances.
- Microsoft ended support for Windows Vista RTM, the original and patch-free version of its much-maligned operating system, on April 13. Those who want to continue using a supported version of Vista will need to update their copies with service packs. quot;What does 'End of Support' mean? quot; ...

Microsoft debuted its Kin One and Kin Two smartphones, aimed at a 15-to-25-year-old demographic, during high-profile presentations in San Francisco and New York City on April 12. The smartphones emphasize social networking and the ability to near-instantly share videos, images and messages with a wide variety of contacts. While the presence of the Kin One and Kin Two may not drastically sway Microsofts fortunes in the smartphone arena, analysts suggest that this new initiative shows how serious the company is about being a competitor in the consumer mobile space.
- Microsofts new Kin One and Kin Two smartphones, aimed at a younger audience, were unveiled during a high-profile presentation in San Francisco on April 12, with journalists in New York City following along via live video feed. Both devices, whose features emphasize social networking, will mak...

Microsoft unveiled its Kin One and Kin Two smartphones during high-profile presentations in San Francisco and New York on April 12, showing off the devices targeted at a younger, social-networking-happy demographic. The Kin One is a compact device with a sliding form-factor, reminiscent in many ways of the Palm Pre, while the Kin Two is more akin in its length and heft to the Sidekick, another smartphone that was aimed at a social-centric audience. In addition to presenting an aggregation of social-networking feeds on its home screen, both the Kin One and Kin Two emphasize connectivity through embedded cameras capable of shooting video, and an online Kin Studio that uploads data from the phone to the cloud for later retrieval. Both the Kin One and the Kin Two, once released in May on Verizon Wireless network, will be the first Windows Phones to feature integration with Zune media player.
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Microsoft revealed two new smartphones, the Kin One and Kin Two, during several high-profile presentations in San Francisco and New York on April 12. Scheduled to debut on Verizon at some point in May, the phones are designed for a younger demographic heavily into social networking. Both the Kin One and Kin Two include sliding keyboards, cameras for shooting video, and software designed to facilitate the sharing of content with friends. Kin One and Kin Two may be something of an offshoot of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's broader smartphone operating-system initiative due to roll out on devices near the end of 2010.
- Microsoft unveiled Kin One and Kin Two, two smartphones targeted at a younger demographic, during several high-profile presentations in San Francisco and New York on April 12. The devices, which seem to be the culmination of the long-rumored “Project Pink,” incorporate cameras, touch screens and...

Microsoft will release a beta of its Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 with a variety of tweaks in areas such as user interface and integrated archiving. Following the June SP1 release, IT administrators will have more granular control over e-mail storage policies and other matters. Microsoft finds itself challenged in the corporate messaging and collaboration arena by a number of companies including Mozilla and Cisco Systems, as well as Google with its Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.
- Microsoft plans on releasing the beta of its Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 in June, bringing a number of changes to user interface, integrated archiving and other areas. quot;SP1 will include fixes and tweaks in areas you've helped us identify, including a roll-up of the roll-ups we've r...

Microsoft's decision to end support for Intel's Itanium chip in its server architecture, along with terminating future development of its Essential Business Server, suggests that the company is attempting to shift its server business to take advantage of what it sees as developments in both the processor architecture and cloud computing space. At the same time, its moves in the consumer space, including the brutal elimination of several legacy products and the upcoming release of several new ones, suggest a parallel streamlining of its products.
- Microsofts recent decision to end support for Intels Itanium chip in its server architecture, along with the elimination of its Essential Business Server (EBS) development, suggests that the company is trying to reposition to take advantage of several developing business IT trends, including virt...

Microsoft could reclaim its flagging market share in many consumer areas with a new wave of products, including Windows Phone 7 and Bing, according to a new report from research firm Jefferies Co. These products represent the possible fruits of increased Microsoft spending in research and development. However, while software such as Bing and Project Natal will definitely allow Microsoft to compete more aggressively in certain segments, it will be years before these products, if successful, translate into appreciable revenue streams.
- Microsofts new wave of products, including Windows Phone 7 and Project Natal, have the potential to help the company regain market share in the consumer segment, according to a new report from research firm Jefferies amp; Co. In addition to representing a potential source of future revenue, that...

Microsoft finds its latest request for a multiple-judge review in a long-running patent-infringement suit brought by i4i rejected by a federal appeals court. Microsoft had asked for a panel of 11 judges to review its arguments in the case, in which i4i alleges that Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 violate its custom XML-related patents. In August 2009, a federal judge in a U.S. District Court ordered Microsoft to pay $300 million and pull copies of Word 2003 and 2007 from store shelves within 90 days, a ruling that set off months of legal maneuvering.
- It may be April Fools' Day, but it's doubtful that Microsoft finds anything funny in a federal appeals court having declined its latest request for a multiple-judge review in an intellectual property lawsuit. The case, in which i4i alleges that Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 violate its custom XML-...

Microsoft extends its Windows 7 Enterprise Trial program until the end of 2010, allowing IT professionals a 90-day trial of Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. While Microsoft says the extension is due to popular demand, recent statements by the company suggest that Windows 7 is not being adopted by businesses in the same way as by consumers. Altogether, Microsoft says, it has sold 90 million copies of Windows 7 since the operating system launched in October 2009.
- Microsoft has extended its Windows 7 Enterprise Trial program to Dec. 31, 2010. While an official blog post says the extension was quot;due to popular demand, quot; recent executive comments suggest that Windows 7 is experiencing slowed uptake among enterprises and small and midsize businesses. ...

Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system scored high satisfaction numbers from users in a recent survey. However, only 10 percent of Windows XP and Windows Vista users also reported they would upgrade to Windows 7 within the next six months. A Forrester analyst suggests that Windows 7 has broken the usual pattern of users primarily acquiring the new Windows OS when purchasing fresh hardware. Windows 7 has sold 90 million copies since its release in October 2009, according to Microsoft.
- About 86 percent of surveyed Windows 7 users said they were satisfied with the operating system, according to a recent report by analyst company Forrester Research, but only 10 percent of Windows XP and Windows Vista users said they planned to upgrade to Windows 7 within the next six months. Tha...

Microsoft is exploring the idea of microblogging within an enterprise context, with its Office Labs group testing an application now called OfficeTalk. Like Twitter, OfficeTalk allows users to follow and read messages from other users, post their own messages, and create a profile. After a Microsoft internal test conducted among 10,000 users, and involving hundreds of daily messages, the Office Labs group now wants to conduct a concept test with a small number of companies. As the popularity of Twitter and microblogging has grown, businesses have been studying how to incorporate such applications into their daily activities.
- Microsoft is exploring how to build a microblogging application for enterprise use, according to a March 17 posting on the Microsoft Office Labs blog, and plans on expanding a concept test of the software to more users in the near future. During this testing phase, the application has been given...

Microsoft saw market share for certain major European markets decline during the period between Feb. 9 and March 10, according to analysis firm StatCounter, while other browsers experienced an uptick in their number of users. This could perhaps be due to the March 1 introduction of a Web browser choice screen that offers European users of Windows the chance to download a browser other than Internet Explorer. Smaller browsers featured on that ballot screen have tried to engage Microsoft to make visual changes that feature their products more prominently.
- Microsoft has seen market share for Internet Explorer decline in certain European markets following the March release of a quot;Web browser choice screen quot; designed to give Windows users in the European Union a selection of browsers other than Internet Explorer, according to Web analysis fir...

Microsoft's week involved the MIX 10 conference in Las Vegas and the detailing of its upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series smartphone platform for developers, along with an announced virtualization partnership with Citrix Systems. While Windows Phone 7 Series will lack backward compatibility with Windows Mobile, Microsoft feels the upcoming devices' application-development platform and consumer sheen will attract developers and consumers in equal measure. In addition to Microsofts advances in those areas, the company also faces two patent-infringement lawsuits in the same East Texas court that gave it so much trouble in 2009.
- Microsofts week centered on the MIX 10 conference in Las Vegas and more revelations about the Windows Phone 7 Series, as Microsoft seeks to draw developers to the upcoming smartphone platform. If nothing else, Windows Phone 7 Series represents a clean break from Microsofts past in the smartphone ar...

Microsoft finds itself on the receiving end of a second lawsuit by small IT company VirnetX, after being hit with a $105.7 million judgment in the first suit. VirnetX is alleging that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 infringe on its patents. Microsoft's recent legal troubles in East Texas include a patent-infringement suit by Toronto-based i4i, which won a substantial judgment against Microsoft in 2009.
- Microsoft found itself subjected to yet another lawsuit by VirnetX on March 17, a day after losing a $105.7 million judgment to the smaller IT company in an East Texas court. The second lawsuit alleges that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 infringe on the same two VirnetX patents at issue in...

Microsoft had a Web- and mobile-centric week, centered on developments with its upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series and a redesigned MSN homepage, as well as another report of incremental market-share gains for its Bing search engine. The news also highlighted that interlinked nature of Microsoft's competitors in the online space, including Google, Yahoo and Apple.
- Microsofts news this week primarily existed in the online and mobile arenas fitting, considering the companys increased focus on those spaces as it attempts to develop viable businesses apart from its flagship desktop software applications. On March 9, Microsoft rolled out its redesigned MSN ho...

Microsoft and Adobe are working to port Flash Player 10.1 to Internet Explorer Mobile on the Windows Phone 7 Series, according to an Adobe executive, which would allow devices running Microsofts upcoming smartphone operating system to play rich content on a variety of Websites. Reports from February had suggested that Flash would not be supported on the first generation of Windows Phone 7 Series devices. Microsoft's hardware partners, including Hewlett-Packard, have been emphasizing their Adobe Flash support as a differentiator between their mobile products and those produced by Apple, such as the iPad and iPhone.
- Microsoft and Adobe are apparently working together to ensure that Windows Phone 7 Series supports Flash Player 10.1, according to a blog posting by an Adobe executive. Enabling that support could possibly counter February reports that the first generation of Microsofts new smartphone operating ...

Microsoft began rolling out its redesigned MSN homepage on March 9, five months after first previewing the newly streamlined Website. Among new features, Microsoft has integrated social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook into the homepage, as well as MSN Local Edition, which tailors news and information to the users geographical location. Microsoft executives have previously noted that the redesign is intended to appeal not only to consumers, but also to advertisers, as Microsoft and Yahoo engage in a three-way battle with Google for users and advertising dollars.
- Microsoft began rolling out its redesigned MSN homepage on March 9, emphasizing the Websites stripped-down design and integration with social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook. The redesign, first previewed in November, includes 50 percent fewer links and an emphasis on white spa...

Microsoft could attract consumers to its Windows Phone 7 Series, once the new smartphone operating system is released later in 2010, according to Jefferies Co. analyst Katherine Egbert. In her March 9 research note, Egbert suggests that devices running Windows Phone 7 Series could appear on the market as early as 2010, and that Microsofts decision to restrict its partners ability to customize the operating system, and thus present a consistent user experience, will also help it gain mobile users.
- Microsoft could renew its presence in the mobile consumer market with the release of Windows Phone 7 Series devices later in 2010, according to a March 9 research note from Jefferies amp; Co. analyst Katherine Egbert. Egbert apparently met with Mindy Mount, CFO of Microsofts Electronic and E...

Microsoft will release the full version of Office 2010 to businesses May 12, around a month before consumers are given the newest version of the company's productivity suite. A Microsoft executive also indicated in a blog posting that Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 were all on track to be released to manufacturing in April. Office 2010 incorporates cloud-based access to stripped-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, in a bid to challenge other online services such as Google Apps.
- Businesses will be able to purchase the full version of Office 2010 May 12, roughly a month before consumers get their hands on Microsofts next-version productivity suite. “For businesses, we will launch the 2010 set of products, including Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Proje...