Microsoft has owned the tech conversation this week after its announcement of Windows Phone 7 - a complete mobile rebirth for Microsoft with technology that looks nothing like the previous version of Windows Mobile.
A major aspect of that conversation: Does WP7 have a chance to make inroads in a market dominated by established players Apple, RIM and Google.
The IT group at tech services company Unisys has been thinking about a social networking platform for two years now.
But some recent factors finally put a plan into action: the arrival of a new CEO two years ago who believed strongly in social networking technology and the arrival of Microsoft's SharePoint 2010 with new social features.
Google recently celebrated the 3 millionth business to sign on for Google Apps. Although it's hard to tell what that really means because Google Apps revenue is still tiny, the milestone does signify customer growth and momentum.
But what exactly happens when a company "Goes Google"? It would be nice, certainly for Google, if businesses were replacing everything with Google Apps. But that is not usually the case, according to Google Apps customers and industry analysts. Google Apps are being used primarily to save money (US$50 per user per year for Google Apps Premier Edition) and work in conjunction with Office applications and e-mail systems such as Outlook and Lotus Notes.
Enterprise adoption of SharePoint is rapidly on the rise: A new survey from document management company Global 360 reveals that 90 per cent of the survey's 886 respondents currently use SharePoint, with eight per cent using SharePoint 2010.
It's a little ironic that the main focus of yesterday's Internet Explorer 9 beta launch event in San Francisco was to de-emphasize the browser itself.
Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS will regain some of the smartphone market share it has lost recently - but will still be in last place in 2014, according to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
This isn't necessarily bad news for Microsoft; any growth is cause for celebration given that Redmond has been pushed to the back of the smartphone line behind mobile young guns Apple (iPhone) and Google (Android).
Is it any surprise that acronyms have taken over our lives? They fit perfectly in our fast-paced, multi-tasking society. Why say something in words if you can say it in letters?
Windows 7 is only 10 months old, but it's never too early to glance on down the road at Windows 8.
Microsoft is keeping a tight lid on any information about "Windows 8." But back in June, leaked slides on the web indicate that, with its next client OS, Microsoft will push for near-instant start-up times, integrated facial recognition technologies, support for USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0, compatibility across different devices through the cloud, and simpler streaming of movies and TV shows to any screen.
Windows 7 momentum is slowly but surely spilling over into the corporate world as long-frozen tech budgets begin to thaw and new PCs are purchased.
Research firm Forrester predicts that enterprise-wide adoption of Windows 7 will pick up in the second half of 2010 as IT managers develop upgrade strategies and test their applications.
If your business is still running Service Pack 2 of Windows XP, security problems are lurking around the corner, according to new research from IT services vendor Softchoice stating that almost 80 percent of organizations surveyed risk a security breach if the do not upgrade to SP3.
Why should SP2 users fear the reaper? Because Microsoft is ending support for SP2 on July 13, a date that was established when Windows XP SP3 was released on April 21, 2008. Paid support and security updates for SP2 will no longer be available, although Microsoft has stated that Windows XP SP2 users will still be allowed to access Microsoft online Knowledge Base articles, FAQs and troubleshooting tools.
As Microsoft clarifies its cloud computing strategy this week at its TechEd conference in New Orleans, president of Microsoft's server and tools business Bob Muglia sat down with CIO.com to share guidance for CIOs considering a move to the cloud.
But before a CIO chooses a cloud provider, be it Microsoft or a Microsoft partner, Google, Amazon or others, there are key questions to ask, such as: How responsive is the cloud company? How much access does the cloud provider offer or deny? What does the cloud provider require of you? How prepared is the cloud provider to answer due-diligence questions about physical security and disaster recovery?
As Microsoft CIO, Tony Scott oversees the software giant's security, infrastructure, and messaging and business applications, and helps support the product and corporate business groups as well as Redmond's global sales and marketing organisation.
So you know, it's kind of an important job.
It's no secret that the past few years have been the era of the frozen IT budget. As the global economy went south in 2008, most enterprises went into belt-tightening mode.
Now a thaw is beginning, according to a new report by research firm Forrester, as tech spending is set to increase and major corporate PC refreshes are scheduled for the next 12 to 18 months that will introduce a new operating system, productivity suite, browser and applications. While this is great news for Windows 7, it opens up a new set of challenges for the Internet Explorer browser.
In the business battle to rule the enterprise office suite of the future, Microsoft and Google both must overcome significant problems.
On Google's side, despite the Google Apps price advantage and Google's announcement that 2 million companies are now using Google Apps, various research data still shows Google is losing out in the enterprise. Google Apps adoption not only lags way behind Microsoft but also trails behind OpenOffice and even IBM's Lotus Symphony. Estimated revenue for Google Apps in 2009 is $50 million, a tiny portion of the company's $22 billion war chest.
Cloud-based e-mail may be generating powerful market buzz, but in the enterprise, Microsoft Exchange today remains the dominant e-mail platform.