This article states that Yahoo Inc. is facing seven shareholder lawsuits alleging that the slumping Internet pioneer bungled its response to Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., provided a breakdown of the suits in an annual report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The documents did not provide any new information about Yahoo pushing away Microsoft, which is trying to do a hostile takeover. Five of the suits state that Yahoo’s board breached its duty by turning away Microsoft offer, which was 44.6 Billion dollars, without trying to negotiate a better deal, according to the annual report. The other two suits state that Yahoo unfairly favored Microsoft’s “inadequate” bid even though the board eventually turned down the original cash-and-stock offer of $31 per share.
There are many advantages and disadvantages of this lawsuit. The disadvantages are for Yahoo. They will be losing more money in their already declining state. The other disadvantage for Yahoo is that is has more to worry because now it has to find another corporation that will give them a better payoff while trying not to get overtaken by the Microsoft corporation. Right now, there are no advantages for Yahoo but the Microsoft Corporation does have some. They are that if Microsoft wins this law suit then it will bring them one step closer to hostilely takeover Yahoo.
This affects me because if Yahoo is takeover by Microsoft or any other company than it will change how user use Yahoo. Many things will be changed. I am a Yahoo user and I know that Yahoo will probably be taken over, and this will cause major changes like memory space and Yahoo messenger. I do not know that if the changes are going to be good or bad but I know that there are going to be changes.
i beleive akshit article is very intresting about how yahoo is cutting shares and how it is a bunch of crap. i would sue them for every dollar they are worth
Microsoft has excessively been trying to take control of Yahoo Incorporations. Microsoft was willing to pay $31 per share to Yahoo for the original cash and stock. However, Yahoo, Inc rejected this offer. Through unsuccessful, yet continued, attempts to control Yahoo, Inc, Microsoft lowered the denomination because of the stock decline in their own company. The stocks in Microsoft declined by 13 percent since the Yahoo, Inc predicament has been abiding. The current bid now stands at $28.94 per share. Yahoo, Inc is attempting to find better deals and alternative options that will provide the Yahoo shareholders with an enhanced payoff. This is about $40 billion. Through all difficulty and hard work, analysts believe that Microsoft will end up controlling Yahoo. Yahoo is currently facing 7 lawsuits by its shareholders who allege Yahoo for not negotiating a better deal with Microsoft.
Some advantages of this conflict between Microsoft and Yahoo are that with a combined company, there can be an efficient internet and improved technology through the web. The merging companies get a higher share than the other opposing companies. This is an advantage for those big companies. Some disadvantages are that the smaller companies get damaged by the bigger ones. The big merged companies can take over the other smaller ones, as well as reduce the shares amount. For profit purposes, jobs will be eliminated for some workers who may need them.
For us, Yahoo and Microsoft are exceptionally different companies. They will have a big impact and change to the internet. It affects me because if Yahoo combines with Google, Myspace.com, or Microsoft, then it will just make it easier for me or the others on the internet. Google can get better by acquiring Yahoo or Microsoft can assist its users and make advancements through Yahoo, and people who love socializing sites such as Myspace.com will be able to get new tools for their profiles or do things they couldn’t do before. Yahoo’s services might get better with new ideas and I can use it for my research or etc. Combining Yahoo with either of the top giants will change how I search things on the internet.
Microsoft says enhancements planned for IE 8 include improved support for Ajax programming and better security.
By Paul McDougall InformationWeek February 26, 2008 03:40 PM
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) plans to launch a test version of the next major edition of its Internet Explorer Web browser by the end of June at the very latest, a company official said on a blog post Tuesday. "A beta version of Internet Explorer 8 will be released in the first half of 2008," said a developer writing on Microsoft's Explorer blog.
Currently in development, Explorer 8 hit a major milestone in December when it passed the "Acid2 Face" test, which measures the extent to which a browser conforms to a series of widely used Web standards. Among the enhancements planned for IE 8 are improved support for Ajax programming and better security, Microsoft has said.
Microsoft also needs to ensure that Explorer 8 will be compatible with Web sites designed for earlier versions of the software. A number of corporate IT departments, as well as the federal Department of Transportation, have shied away from IE 7 -- released in October 2006 -- due to such concerns.
Explorer 8 is just one of numerous products that Microsoft plans to release in the months ahead. On Wednesday, the company plans to formally launch Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 at an event in Los Angeles.
Later this year, Microsoft will release Small Business Server 2008. It's also planning to ship a public beta of its Silverlight 2 Web presentation technology in the coming weeks.
All of this comes at a time when Microsoft is engaged in a high stakes bid for its Internet rival Yahoo. Microsoft has offered more then $40 billion for Yahoo, but so far the board of directors at the Web portal have rejected the pitch.
Some analysts have questioned whether Microsoft would be able to keep all of its product development schedules on track while at the same time attempting to close and integrate a multi-billion dollar acquisition.
Akshit is right...if Yahoo is sold than it will change how people use Yahoo...I think he makes a very valid point of how this whole situation can be helpful or hurtful to the global Yahoo users and shareholders...
Microsoft releases Windows servers for 2008 with Heroes theme, this news sever offers virtualization and a smaller footprint. Microsoft's Hyper-V was delayed, but Windows Server 2008 could finally spur adoption of Windows Vista if Microsoft fixes some problems. Before its release the developers worked on technical details and tested beta systems. This new server will revolution computing systems as we know it with the new features it has for consumers, the public release will be some time in the third quarter. The advantages of these systems will be allowing the consumer to more broad area of computing experience, some of the new features is virtualization, increased power, a smaller footprint, and advancements in management and remote access. New features include Hyper-V, a hypervisor. A hypervisor is a layer of software that operates between the hardware and the operating software Windows Server 2008's virtualization is highly scalable, permitting multiprocessor guests, memory allocations of more than 32GB per machine, and integrated virtual switch support. This disadvantage is that Vista Microsoft’s earlier product may be diminished due the major upgrade to the new server and programs. Plus the fact that many consumers prefer Microsoft XP over Vista, does lower market value. So far there are some kinks to work out, but the production will continue. This will affect me because when I but a new computer it will most likely include this new system. I will have to update all my old programs that I need into this new system, and find out how this system works. This will mostly be where I put my skills to the test when it comes to helping with working more with computer science.
This article is about phones from Nokia are loaded with software that is able to "read" photographed documents. It works; it turns the text on photographed documents into speech. It's able to tell a user the denomination of folded money, as well as provide information from a restaurant menu, phone book or fax. The technology to "read" data from photographed material is by no means new, but the National Federation of the Blind says it's the first time it has been incorporated into a cell phone, putting such technology into an easy-to-carry package.
There are lots of advantages from this new invention. It can help many illiterate and dyslexic people. And it can be a plus for lazy people also. Or say you can’t read something; take a picture of it and your phone will read it for you. Awesome! From my point of view I think there are no disadvantages.
This affects me cause one day if I get visually impaired or something, I can get a Nokia phone to help me out. Or if I don’t feel like being lazy (which happens often) I can just take a snapshot, and let it read something for me.
This article is about phones from Nokia are loaded with software that is able to "read" photographed documents. It works; it turns the text on photographed documents into speech. It's able to tell a user the denomination of folded money, as well as provide information from a restaurant menu, phone book or fax. The technology to "read" data from photographed material is by no means new, but the National Federation of the Blind says it's the first time it has been incorporated into a cell phone, putting such technology into an easy-to-carry package.
There are lots of advantages from this new invention. It can help many illiterate and dyslexic people. And it can be a plus for lazy people also. Or say you can’t read something; take a picture of it and your phone will read it for you. Awesome! From my point of view I think there are no disadvantages.
This affects me cause one day if I get visually impaired or something, I can get a Nokia phone to help me out. Or if I don’t feel like being lazy (which happens often) I can just take a snapshot, and let it read something for me.
EU fines Microsoft a record $1.3 billion Regulators: Software giant has defied 2004 antitrust ruling
updated 2:53 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 27, 2008 www.msnbc.msn.com
This article is about how; Microsoft is being fined by the European union imposed a record $1.3 billion fine on the world’s largest software company for failing to fully comply with a 2004 antitrust order. Microsoft has not decided whether to appeal the penalty, which amounts to a fraction of the $14.07 billion it earned in fiscal 2007. In all, the company has been fined just under $2.4 billion by European antitrust regulators over the years. There are no advantages to this fine to us but there may be some disadvantages with it because we the consumer may have to pay extra because of the money they had lost. The company deserves to be fined that money because they broke a contract and they make billions and billions a year. This event was a good thing because it shows that a person has to go threw a agreement and if they break it then they will have to pay a fine and the European union showed that they will always be truthful to there word.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has settled on a new brand name for its family of low-power processors, which formerly were referred to by the code names "Silverthorne" and "Diamondville." Now dubbed "Atom," the new processors will find their way into low-power mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and ultra low-cost computers. Atomic Level - Intel also announced the Intel Centrino Atom processor technology brand for MID platforms, which will consist of multiple chips designed for better Internet performance in pocket-sized devices. "The other product [Diamondville] is aimed at [is] the really low-end laptop/desktop market, and that's future generations of the Classmate PC. There's a strong sense there will be a market in developing economies for very low-cost but fully featured PCs and laptops. The trick will be manufacturing them so they can be sold for US$200 to $300," King said. With Atom, Intel is betting that demand for a new category of low-cost, Internet-centric mobile computing devices, dubbed "netbooks," and basic Internet-centric desktop PCs dubbed, "nettops," will grow substantially over the next several years. Inside the Atom Intel says its Atom processor is based on an entirely new microarchitecture designed specifically for small devices and low power -- but it maintains the Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set compatibility that consumers are accustomed to when using a standard PC and the Internet. The Atom design also supports multithreading for better performance. The chips measure less than 25 mm, making it Intel's smallest and lowest-power processor yet. To paint a picture, Intel says that up to 11 Intel Atom processor dies -- the tiny slivers of silicon packed with 47 million transistors each -- would fit in an area the size of an American penny. The Centrino Atom For higher-end MID devices, Intel's Centrino Atom processor technology brand will take the lead. It's formerly codenamed "Menlow," and it includes the Intel Atom processor, a low-power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, and thinner and lighter designs. They key value proposition, of course, is to allow new devices to access the Internet without guzzling battery power. "Intel can get 2,500 of these chips on a single wafer, compared with 250 of their regular chips, and what that means is they could sell these for a tenth of what they sell the others for," he explained, noting that other factors, such as packaging and distribution, won't actually scale to such low prices.
In the Article it states that Microsoft is cutting the price of its new operating system, Vista. From the writer of the article he tells us that he has never seen Microsoft cut the price of Windows in 20 years. Microsoft said that they tested different marketing things in different areas and it seemed that cutting the price of the software seemed to work best for them. The author speculates that laziness of the many computer users and how they normally stick with the OS that came preloaded on their computers. He also states the many bad reviews of Vista and the driver problems. The main reason that Vista doesn’t sell that well is because many people like mentioned before don’t buy Vista they buy computers with a preloaded OS, only a choice few buy it, those are the people who build computers and the ones who are big tech enthusiasts. A positive of this price cut is consumers can now get the OS for cheaper and more can afford it. However, the negative is that many people stick with the OS preloaded on their computers and only update if absolutely necessary. Another negative is that maybe because of the price cut people might buy Vista and not know that XP is way better or that Vista has many bugs and problems that will most likely occur. A negative is that Windows loses money on software that they worked hard to develop. This does affect me because eventually I plan on building my own computer soon and though it may be cheaper now I don’t plan on buying Vista instead intend on buying XP because Vista is still experiencing bugs and problems that haven’t been fixed yet. Microsoft has kept up with XP enough that it far outdistances Vista, to put it kindly XP is Olympic sprinter and Vista is a fat lazy slob who can walk two feet let alone run two feet. However, if they get Vista working as well or better than XP than I will upgrade and the price cut will be nice for my wallet.
Microsoft Cuts Vista Prices! Never in history have you herd that Microsoft was cutting off any prices for anything right? Well Microsoft has cutted the price for Vista, for the first time. Not just that this is the first time in history where they cut a price on any current product of theirs. The price of the operating system was suppose to range from $299 but dropped to $219 for Vista Ultimate. But you could also get Vista Home Premium, upgrade version, for $129. All other Vista editions remain priced the same.
The goods of this price cut down, is that more people will buy there products. This would most likely mean they’ll have a lot more income of money, and maybe more popularity votes to the company too. The bad part to this is people who have already bought this product for about $300 wouldn’t want the time to spend extra money to upgrade to vista home premium, when they already bought the original. What I think is that they should just make one product that’s perfect no bugs or problems wrong with it, so people wouldn’t be wasting there money. Just buy and go and never come back to the store. Also by my prospective I think vista sucks, it’s slower than XP, even though vista has more effects. Older software that we mostly use on daily bases is compatible to XP only.
If I bought the product after Microsoft vista cut the prices and had got the better version of it, then it would be great. There wouldn’t be anything to worry about, except the slowness of the operating system and software capability. But if I bought the product before the cut of the prices and the fixed problems, then I would be a very upset person. Knowing that I bought a product that sucks, that’s slow and isn’t updated, I would do anything to get my money back or a refund. Everybody else in the world who bought it, I think has the same perspective s me. If they bought it before the cut then they’ll probably have a angry mood about the product and also the company. If they bought it after, then they’ll most likely be happy like me. But truthfully the people who bought the product before the cut should sue the company for coming out with to many upgrades or something like that.
Microsoft is trying to get their stock prices to rise and gain more money to benefit Bill Gates. He dosen't care wether anyone is happy with his purchases or even hit sells as long as he gains money at the end of the day. I think buying out Yahoo is an inadequate decision for Microsoft. Yahoo is barely managing to stay afloat and there is no garuntee people would flock to the new company.
Net Neutrality Freedom of speech is one of the most sacred rights that Americans value. Net neutrality tries to ensure communication companies aren’t using their role as internet service providers to censor content. Comcast Communications is charged with preventing it users from accessing Bit Torrent in a timely matter. The company said it was lowering the bandwidth dedicated to the site to improve network efficiency, and that the change was unnoticeable to most users. Opponents of the company’s actions are saying that it is potentially denying users from accessing content on the internet and violating their right to choose. The FCC held a hearing on net neutrality and it effects on users and companies. The hearing included major names in the telecommunication industry, including Verizon and Comcast. The FCC in later months will decide either to enforce net neutrality to an extent or let companies continue their practice of regulating their networks how they feel. Net Neutrality allow companies to regulate their networks how they feel to better improve efficiency or for some other reason. If the company so choose to, without government interference, they could block users from accessing sites that are frequently trafficked, online programs, or other things they may deem harmful. The companies could also charge for the bandwidth that users use and this action could potentially be discriminatory because it penalizes them for accessing the same internet, that the company just provides access to, more frequently than others. Net Neutrality also can prevent companies from regulating their networks to better suit their customers. Telecommunication companies for the most part shouldn’t have to be regulated by the government, because it can effect how well companies operate and preventing future growth. Net Neutrality could allow me to access sites without fear that companies could give out my information unwarranted or block me from accessing sites. Regulation on the internet can make companies more accountable for their actions. At the time it can make it harder for me to access the internet if companies are not allowed to monitor and regulate their networks for mine or others benefit for better service.
Microsoft being regulated is good to keep them in check, but if the public chooses to use Microsoft let them and don't try to hinder their progress. Microsoft also has to realize it has to make its products more open for others use and lower its restrictions on its products.
Microsoft is taking a look at the portability of USB devices and figuring out how they can make the user feel more at home when they have to use a different computer. They are developing a new product called StartKey for USB devices and possibly SD cards. Users like their personalized settings, and Microsoft wants to enable them to take those settings with them. Microsoft’s goal is to create a whole environment from the software to allow all of this to run to a software development kit for third-party developers. This software is being marketed towards developing countries where users might not have a Windows computer at home but have access to one at work or an internet café. Little is still known about StartKey, how much of Windows XP will be on the USB drive, how much will it cost, and will virtualization play a factor in it. StartKey sounds like a great idea for developing countries; it allows customization where there usually is none. Third-party developers might be able to find good use for this idea of Microsoft; time will only tell if this will be a flop or mild success. Is this idea a great one though? Not really, it will be a convenience for some people but what they really should focus on is making their operating systems more secure and stable. Will I use this technology? It depends on how successful third-party developers are at creating something worth while, to make the USB device a real convenience. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1232
Gaivorlor you should really check your sources because you really just said the oposite thing net nutrality is. Its a bad thing!!!! the companies take over the internet. The internets over 60% user uploaded, the radio was like that till companies took over, same is happening to the internet.
sorry i was home sick and sam told me that this is due. so here ya go.
Software Isolated Processes Advances in languages, compilers, and tools open the possibility of significantly improving software. For example, Singularity uses type-safe languages and an abstract instruction set to enable what they call Software Isolated Processes (SIPs). SIPs provide the strong isolation guarantees of OS processes (isolated object space, separate GCs, separate runtimes) without the overhead of hardware-enforced protection domains. In the current Singularity prototype SIPs are extremely cheap; they run in ring 0 in the kernel’s address space. Singularity uses these advances to build more reliable systems and applications. For example, because SIPs are so cheap to create and enforce, Singularity runs each program, device driver, or system extension in its own SIP. SIPs are not allowed to share memory or modify their own code. As a result, they can make strong reliability guarantees about the code running in a SIP. They can verify much broader properties about a SIP at compile or install time than can be done for code running in traditional OS processes. Broader application of static verification is critical to predicting system behavior and providing users with strong guarantees about reliability. Microsoft has made the announcement at its Microsoft Research TechFest 2008 event in Redmond, that the Singularity Research Development Kit (RDK) 1.1 is now available for academic non-commercial use. Its based off of Multics which all operating systems are based off of it was created about 40 years ago.
Eddie what I got from your comment was Microsoft is raising stock prices but i think their not. And bill Gates woudlnt get money from the stocks, and if he just sells his then it would be way cheaper. But the prices of stock allways go up and down. Was it a big jump in prices??
ohh and one more thing why does it say Paul McDougall on your article cheat much?? loser! ohh and who ever was talking bout server 08. its allready out for sale. lolz owned
This is in respone to the net neutrality article that Gaivorlor wrote. You got yourself mixed up in what net neutrality really means. According to wikipedia "Network neutrality refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers."
In respone to Kevin's article on Windows server 2008. I fail to see how upgrading to server 2008 will spur adoption of vista, yes it is valid that if Microsoft fixes some problems in Vista that it will spur adoption but that has nothing to do with server 2008. Also you go on to talk about how Vista may be diminished due to upgrading to server, servers do not use Vista they use OS's specifically designed for server functions like server 2003 or red hat linux, vista and xp are not used to run servers. You could potentially use Vista as a server but you would have none of the features needed for a server, making it a fruitless effort. If you buy a new computer it would not include server, unless you are buying a server machine which I highly doubt. Most programs will integrate over to server, if you do still choose to use it, which can be checked with the compatibility wizard. Also use spell check before posting an article, it is 'new server' not 'news sever'. Define what a 'smaller footprint' is, I know what you mean by that but some people will not. Define 'Hyper-v' when you talk about how it was delayed, we don't know what you are talking about just from reading it or why it is even important to server 2008. The developers did not test beta systems, that would imply testing say a new motherboard or cpu architecture, what they did was test the beta release of server 2008 on systems, also many people in the IT field were given access to the beta to help the developers with issues that they might not have foreseen. The public release was Feb 27 2008 with the RTM on Feb 4 2008, not the 3rd quarter of this year as you stated. Also its 'some of the new features are virtualization' not 'is virtualization'. Virtualization has been out since the 1960s, Microsoft just now integrated it into the OS. What is 'increased power'? Do you mean that it runs faster? If so how is that a new feature? Also when listing items use 'and' for the last item listed not for the last two items listed. Its 'The disadvanage' not 'this disadvantage'.Its 'does lower its market value' not the whole market value of Microsoft when comparing the two OS's. What kinks need to be worked out, are you talking about Vista? Then you say production will continue so I am assuming server 2008, but it has already been shipped, and again what kinks? I hope you don't 'but a new computer' I would rather 'buy' one than 'but' one. 'When it comes to learning more about computer science' not 'when it cmes to helping with working more with computer science.'
This for Brittany I think she makes a good point about the Nokia phones and how it works for the consumer. The product is good for those who are starting out with a phone.
In response to Brittany's article I think its great companies that do not specialize in devices for the blind and deaf are including the devices in there prototypes. Brittany is right that people who can see and hear will use this tech for an excuse to be lazy. Its a great article and i agree 100%.
This is to Jacob I believe that Microsoft should pay the fine, The little man has to pay his fine or he goes to jail. Not paying it would look bad on the Corporation as a whole and would mean they were over the law. I believe that everyone including companies should be held to the same standards.
27 comments:
This article states that Yahoo
Inc. is facing seven shareholder
lawsuits alleging that the
slumping Internet pioneer bungled
its response to Microsoft Corp.'s
unsolicited takeover bid. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., provided a breakdown of the suits in an annual report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The documents did not provide any new information about Yahoo pushing away Microsoft, which is trying to do a hostile takeover. Five of the suits state that Yahoo’s board breached its duty by turning away Microsoft offer, which was 44.6 Billion dollars, without trying to negotiate a better deal, according to the annual report. The other two suits state that Yahoo unfairly favored Microsoft’s “inadequate” bid even though the board eventually turned down the original cash-and-stock offer of $31 per share.
There are many advantages and disadvantages of this lawsuit. The disadvantages are for Yahoo. They will be losing more money in their already declining state. The other disadvantage for Yahoo is that is has more to worry because now it has to find another corporation that will give them a better payoff while trying not to get overtaken by the Microsoft corporation. Right now, there are no advantages for Yahoo but the Microsoft Corporation does have some. They are that if Microsoft wins this law suit then it will bring them one step closer to hostilely takeover Yahoo.
This affects me because if Yahoo is takeover by Microsoft or any other company than it will change how user use Yahoo. Many things will be changed. I am a Yahoo user and I know that Yahoo will probably be taken over, and this will cause major changes like memory space and Yahoo messenger. I do not know that if the changes are going to be good or bad but I know that there are going to be changes.
i beleive akshit article is very intresting about how yahoo is cutting shares and how it is a bunch of crap. i would sue them for every dollar they are worth
Microsoft has excessively been trying to take control of Yahoo Incorporations. Microsoft was willing to pay $31 per share to Yahoo for the original cash and stock. However, Yahoo, Inc rejected this offer. Through unsuccessful, yet continued, attempts to control Yahoo, Inc, Microsoft lowered the denomination because of the stock decline in their own company. The stocks in Microsoft declined by 13 percent since the Yahoo, Inc predicament has been abiding. The current bid now stands at $28.94 per share. Yahoo, Inc is attempting to find better deals and alternative options that will provide the Yahoo shareholders with an enhanced payoff. This is about $40 billion. Through all difficulty and hard work, analysts believe that Microsoft will end up controlling Yahoo. Yahoo is currently facing 7 lawsuits by its shareholders who allege Yahoo for not negotiating a better deal with Microsoft.
Some advantages of this conflict between Microsoft and Yahoo are that with a combined company, there can be an efficient internet and improved technology through the web. The merging companies get a higher share than the other opposing companies. This is an advantage for those big companies. Some disadvantages are that the smaller companies get damaged by the bigger ones. The big merged companies can take over the other smaller ones, as well as reduce the shares amount. For profit purposes, jobs will be eliminated for some workers who may need them.
For us, Yahoo and Microsoft are exceptionally different companies. They will have a big impact and change to the internet. It affects me because if Yahoo combines with Google, Myspace.com, or Microsoft, then it will just make it easier for me or the others on the internet. Google can get better by acquiring Yahoo or Microsoft can assist its users and make advancements through Yahoo, and people who love socializing sites such as Myspace.com will be able to get new tools for their profiles or do things they couldn’t do before. Yahoo’s services might get better with new ideas and I can use it for my research or etc. Combining Yahoo with either of the top giants will change how I search things on the internet.
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206900309
Microsoft Readies Internet Explorer 8 Beta
Microsoft says enhancements planned for IE 8 include improved support for Ajax programming and better security.
By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
February 26, 2008 03:40 PM
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) plans to launch a test version of the next major edition of its Internet Explorer Web browser by the end of June at the very latest, a company official said on a blog post Tuesday.
"A beta version of Internet Explorer 8 will be released in the first half of 2008," said a developer writing on Microsoft's Explorer blog.
Currently in development, Explorer 8 hit a major milestone in December when it passed the "Acid2 Face" test, which measures the extent to which a browser conforms to a series of widely used Web standards. Among the enhancements planned for IE 8 are improved support for Ajax programming and better security, Microsoft has said.
Microsoft also needs to ensure that Explorer 8 will be compatible with Web sites designed for earlier versions of the software. A number of corporate IT departments, as well as the federal Department of Transportation, have shied away from IE 7 -- released in October 2006 -- due to such concerns.
Explorer 8 is just one of numerous products that Microsoft plans to release in the months ahead. On Wednesday, the company plans to formally launch Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 at an event in Los Angeles.
Later this year, Microsoft will release Small Business Server 2008. It's also planning to ship a public beta of its Silverlight 2 Web presentation technology in the coming weeks.
All of this comes at a time when Microsoft is engaged in a high stakes bid for its Internet rival Yahoo. Microsoft has offered more then $40 billion for Yahoo, but so far the board of directors at the Web portal have rejected the pitch.
Some analysts have questioned whether Microsoft would be able to keep all of its product development schedules on track while at the same time attempting to close and integrate a multi-billion dollar acquisition.
Akshit is right...if Yahoo is sold than it will change how people use Yahoo...I think he makes a very valid point of how this whole situation can be helpful or hurtful to the global Yahoo users and shareholders...
Microsoft releases Windows servers for 2008 with Heroes theme, this news sever offers virtualization and a smaller footprint. Microsoft's Hyper-V was delayed, but Windows Server 2008 could finally spur adoption of Windows Vista if Microsoft fixes some problems. Before its release the developers worked on technical details and tested beta systems. This new server will revolution computing systems as we know it with the new features it has for consumers, the public release will be some time in the third quarter.
The advantages of these systems will be allowing the consumer to more broad area of computing experience, some of the new features is virtualization, increased power, a smaller footprint, and advancements in management and remote access. New features include Hyper-V, a hypervisor. A hypervisor is a layer of software that operates between the hardware and the operating software Windows Server 2008's virtualization is highly scalable, permitting multiprocessor guests, memory allocations of more than 32GB per machine, and integrated virtual switch support.
This disadvantage is that Vista Microsoft’s earlier product may be diminished due the major upgrade to the new server and programs. Plus the fact that many consumers prefer Microsoft XP over Vista, does lower market value. So far there are some kinks to work out, but the production will continue.
This will affect me because when I but a new computer it will most likely include this new system. I will have to update all my old programs that I need into this new system, and find out how this system works. This will mostly be where I put my skills to the test when it comes to helping with working more with computer science.
This article is about phones from Nokia are loaded with software that is able to "read" photographed documents. It works; it turns the text on photographed documents into speech. It's able to tell a user the denomination of folded money, as well as provide information from a restaurant menu, phone book or fax. The technology to "read" data from photographed material is by no means new, but the National Federation of the Blind says it's the first time it has been incorporated into a cell phone, putting such technology into an easy-to-carry package.
There are lots of advantages from this new invention. It can help many illiterate and dyslexic people. And it can be a plus for lazy people also. Or say you can’t read something; take a picture of it and your phone will read it for you. Awesome! From my point of view I think there are no disadvantages.
This affects me cause one day if I get visually impaired or something, I can get a Nokia phone to help me out. Or if I don’t feel like being lazy (which happens often) I can just take a snapshot, and let it read something for me.
This article is about phones from Nokia are loaded with software that is able to "read" photographed documents. It works; it turns the text on photographed documents into speech. It's able to tell a user the denomination of folded money, as well as provide information from a restaurant menu, phone book or fax. The technology to "read" data from photographed material is by no means new, but the National Federation of the Blind says it's the first time it has been incorporated into a cell phone, putting such technology into an easy-to-carry package.
There are lots of advantages from this new invention. It can help many illiterate and dyslexic people. And it can be a plus for lazy people also. Or say you can’t read something; take a picture of it and your phone will read it for you. Awesome! From my point of view I think there are no disadvantages.
This affects me cause one day if I get visually impaired or something, I can get a Nokia phone to help me out. Or if I don’t feel like being lazy (which happens often) I can just take a snapshot, and let it read something for me.
EU fines Microsoft a record $1.3 billion
Regulators: Software giant has defied 2004 antitrust ruling
updated 2:53 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 27, 2008
www.msnbc.msn.com
This article is about how; Microsoft is being fined by the European union imposed a record $1.3 billion fine on the world’s largest software company for failing to fully comply with a 2004 antitrust order. Microsoft has not decided whether to appeal the penalty, which amounts to a fraction of the $14.07 billion it earned in fiscal 2007. In all, the company has been fined just under $2.4 billion by European antitrust regulators over the years.
There are no advantages to this fine to us but there may be some disadvantages with it because we the consumer may have to pay extra because of the money they had lost. The company deserves to be fined that money because they broke a contract and they make billions and billions a year.
This event was a good thing because it shows that a person has to go threw a agreement and if they break it then they will have to pay a fine and the European union showed that they will always be truthful to there word.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has settled on a new brand name for its family of low-power processors, which formerly were referred to by the code names "Silverthorne" and "Diamondville."
Now dubbed "Atom," the new processors will find their way into low-power mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and ultra low-cost computers.
Atomic Level -
Intel also announced the Intel Centrino Atom processor technology brand for MID platforms, which will consist of multiple chips designed for better Internet performance in pocket-sized devices.
"The other product [Diamondville] is aimed at [is] the really low-end laptop/desktop market, and that's future generations of the Classmate PC. There's a strong sense there will be a market in developing economies for very low-cost but fully featured PCs and laptops. The trick will be manufacturing them so they can be sold for US$200 to $300," King said.
With Atom, Intel is betting that demand for a new category of low-cost, Internet-centric mobile computing devices, dubbed "netbooks," and basic Internet-centric desktop PCs dubbed, "nettops," will grow substantially over the next several years.
Inside the Atom
Intel says its Atom processor is based on an entirely new microarchitecture designed specifically for small devices and low power -- but it maintains the Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set compatibility that consumers are accustomed to when using a standard PC and the Internet. The Atom design also supports multithreading for better performance. The chips measure less than 25 mm, making it Intel's smallest and lowest-power processor yet. To paint a picture, Intel says that up to 11 Intel Atom processor dies -- the tiny slivers of silicon packed with 47 million transistors each -- would fit in an area the size of an American penny.
The Centrino Atom
For higher-end MID devices, Intel's Centrino Atom processor technology brand will take the lead. It's formerly codenamed "Menlow," and it includes the Intel Atom processor, a low-power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, and thinner and lighter designs. They key value proposition, of course, is to allow new devices to access the Internet without guzzling battery power.
"Intel can get 2,500 of these chips on a single wafer, compared with 250 of their regular chips, and what that means is they could sell these for a tenth of what they sell the others for," he explained, noting that other factors, such as packaging and distribution, won't actually scale to such low prices.
In the Article it states that Microsoft is cutting the price of its new operating system, Vista. From the writer of the article he tells us that he has never seen Microsoft cut the price of Windows in 20 years. Microsoft said that they tested different marketing things in different areas and it seemed that cutting the price of the software seemed to work best for them. The author speculates that laziness of the many computer users and how they normally stick with the OS that came preloaded on their computers. He also states the many bad reviews of Vista and the driver problems. The main reason that Vista doesn’t sell that well is because many people like mentioned before don’t buy Vista they buy computers with a preloaded OS, only a choice few buy it, those are the people who build computers and the ones who are big tech enthusiasts.
A positive of this price cut is consumers can now get the OS for cheaper and more can afford it. However, the negative is that many people stick with the OS preloaded on their computers and only update if absolutely necessary. Another negative is that maybe because of the price cut people might buy Vista and not know that XP is way better or that Vista has many bugs and problems that will most likely occur. A negative is that Windows loses money on software that they worked hard to develop.
This does affect me because eventually I plan on building my own computer soon and though it may be cheaper now I don’t plan on buying Vista instead intend on buying XP because Vista is still experiencing bugs and problems that haven’t been fixed yet. Microsoft has kept up with XP enough that it far outdistances Vista, to put it kindly XP is Olympic sprinter and Vista is a fat lazy slob who can walk two feet let alone run two feet. However, if they get Vista working as well or better than XP than I will upgrade and the price cut will be nice for my wallet.
Microsoft Cuts Vista Prices!
Never in history have you herd that Microsoft was cutting off any prices for anything right? Well Microsoft has cutted the price for Vista, for the first time. Not just that this is the first time in history where they cut a price on any current product of theirs. The price of the operating system was suppose to range from $299 but dropped to $219 for Vista Ultimate. But you could also get Vista Home Premium, upgrade version, for $129. All other Vista editions remain priced the same.
The goods of this price cut down, is that more people will buy there products. This would most likely mean they’ll have a lot more income of money, and maybe more popularity votes to the company too. The bad part to this is people who have already bought this product for about $300 wouldn’t want the time to spend extra money to upgrade to vista home premium, when they already bought the original. What I think is that they should just make one product that’s perfect no bugs or problems wrong with it, so people wouldn’t be wasting there money. Just buy and go and never come back to the store. Also by my prospective I think vista sucks, it’s slower than XP, even though vista has more effects. Older software that we mostly use on daily bases is compatible to XP only.
If I bought the product after Microsoft vista cut the prices and had got the better version of it, then it would be great. There wouldn’t be anything to worry about, except the slowness of the operating system and software capability. But if I bought the product before the cut of the prices and the fixed problems, then I would be a very upset person. Knowing that I bought a product that sucks, that’s slow and isn’t updated, I would do anything to get my money back or a refund. Everybody else in the world who bought it, I think has the same perspective s me. If they bought it before the cut then they’ll probably have a angry mood about the product and also the company. If they bought it after, then they’ll most likely be happy like me. But truthfully the people who bought the product before the cut should sue the company for coming out with to many upgrades or something like that.
Brittany article is very good invetion. This invention will help many people and it will also make people lazier. So it is good and bad.
Microsoft is trying to get their stock prices to rise and gain more money to benefit Bill Gates. He dosen't care wether anyone is happy with his purchases or even hit sells as long as he gains money at the end of the day. I think buying out Yahoo is an inadequate decision for Microsoft. Yahoo is barely managing to stay afloat and there is no garuntee people would flock to the new company.
Net Neutrality
Freedom of speech is one of the most sacred rights that Americans value. Net neutrality tries to ensure communication companies aren’t using their role as internet service providers to censor content. Comcast Communications is charged with preventing it users from accessing Bit Torrent in a timely matter. The company said it was lowering the bandwidth dedicated to the site to improve network efficiency, and that the change was unnoticeable to most users. Opponents of the company’s actions are saying that it is potentially denying users from accessing content on the internet and violating their right to choose. The FCC held a hearing on net neutrality and it effects on users and companies. The hearing included major names in the telecommunication industry, including Verizon and Comcast. The FCC in later months will decide either to enforce net neutrality to an extent or let companies continue their practice of regulating their networks how they feel.
Net Neutrality allow companies to regulate their networks how they feel to better improve efficiency or for some other reason. If the company so choose to, without government interference, they could block users from accessing sites that are frequently trafficked, online programs, or other things they may deem harmful. The companies could also charge for the bandwidth that users use and this action could potentially be discriminatory because it penalizes them for accessing the same internet, that the company just provides access to, more frequently than others. Net Neutrality also can prevent companies from regulating their networks to better suit their customers. Telecommunication companies for the most part shouldn’t have to be regulated by the government, because it can effect how well companies operate and preventing future growth.
Net Neutrality could allow me to access sites without fear that companies could give out my information unwarranted or block me from accessing sites. Regulation on the internet can make companies more accountable for their actions. At the time it can make it harder for me to access the internet if companies are not allowed to monitor and regulate their networks for mine or others benefit for better service.
This is a reply to Jacob.
Microsoft being regulated is good to keep them in check, but if the public chooses to use Microsoft let them and don't try to hinder their progress. Microsoft also has to realize it has to make its products more open for others use and lower its restrictions on its products.
Hammond is right...vista is having many problems and maybe cutting the price down will increase the sales of vista...
Microsoft is taking a look at the portability of USB devices and figuring out how they can make the user feel more at home when they have to use a different computer. They are developing a new product called StartKey for USB devices and possibly SD cards. Users like their personalized settings, and Microsoft wants to enable them to take those settings with them. Microsoft’s goal is to create a whole environment from the software to allow all of this to run to a software development kit for third-party developers. This software is being marketed towards developing countries where users might not have a Windows computer at home but have access to one at work or an internet café. Little is still known about StartKey, how much of Windows XP will be on the USB drive, how much will it cost, and will virtualization play a factor in it.
StartKey sounds like a great idea for developing countries; it allows customization where there usually is none. Third-party developers might be able to find good use for this idea of Microsoft; time will only tell if this will be a flop or mild success. Is this idea a great one though? Not really, it will be a convenience for some people but what they really should focus on is making their operating systems more secure and stable. Will I use this technology? It depends on how successful third-party developers are at creating something worth while, to make the USB device a real convenience.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1232
sam milstead
Gaivorlor you should really check your sources because you really just said the oposite thing net nutrality is. Its a bad thing!!!! the companies take over the internet. The internets over 60% user uploaded, the radio was like that till companies took over, same is happening to the internet.
sorry i was home sick and sam told me that this is due. so here ya go.
Software Isolated Processes
Advances in languages, compilers, and tools open the possibility of significantly improving software. For example, Singularity uses type-safe languages and an abstract instruction set to enable what they call Software Isolated Processes (SIPs). SIPs provide the strong isolation guarantees of OS processes (isolated object space, separate GCs, separate runtimes) without the overhead of hardware-enforced protection domains. In the current Singularity prototype SIPs are extremely cheap; they run in ring 0 in the kernel’s address space.
Singularity uses these advances to build more reliable systems and applications. For example, because SIPs are so cheap to create and enforce, Singularity runs each program, device driver, or system extension in its own SIP. SIPs are not allowed to share memory or modify their own code. As a result, they can make strong reliability guarantees about the code running in a SIP. They can verify much broader properties about a SIP at compile or install time than can be done for code running in traditional OS processes. Broader application of static verification is critical to predicting system behavior and providing users with strong guarantees about reliability.
Microsoft has made the announcement at its Microsoft Research TechFest 2008 event in Redmond, that the Singularity Research Development Kit (RDK) 1.1 is now available for academic non-commercial use. Its based off of Multics which all operating systems are based off of it was created about 40 years ago.
Eddie what I got from your comment was Microsoft is raising stock prices but i think their not. And bill Gates woudlnt get money from the stocks, and if he just sells his then it would be way cheaper. But the prices of stock allways go up and down. Was it a big jump in prices??
ohh and one more thing why does it say Paul McDougall on your article cheat much?? loser! ohh and who ever was talking bout server 08. its allready out for sale. lolz owned
This is in respone to the net neutrality article that Gaivorlor wrote. You got yourself mixed up in what net neutrality really means. According to wikipedia "Network neutrality refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers."
In respone to Kevin's article on Windows server 2008. I fail to see how upgrading to server 2008 will spur adoption of vista, yes it is valid that if Microsoft fixes some problems in Vista that it will spur adoption but that has nothing to do with server 2008. Also you go on to talk about how Vista may be diminished due to upgrading to server, servers do not use Vista they use OS's specifically designed for server functions like server 2003 or red hat linux, vista and xp are not used to run servers. You could potentially use Vista as a server but you would have none of the features needed for a server, making it a fruitless effort. If you buy a new computer it would not include server, unless you are buying a server machine which I highly doubt. Most programs will integrate over to server, if you do still choose to use it, which can be checked with the compatibility wizard. Also use spell check before posting an article, it is 'new server' not 'news sever'. Define what a 'smaller footprint' is, I know what you mean by that but some people will not. Define 'Hyper-v' when you talk about how it was delayed, we don't know what you are talking about just from reading it or why it is even important to server 2008. The developers did not test beta systems, that would imply testing say a new motherboard or cpu architecture, what they did was test the beta release of server 2008 on systems, also many people in the IT field were given access to the beta to help the developers with issues that they might not have foreseen. The public release was Feb 27 2008 with the RTM on Feb 4 2008, not the 3rd quarter of this year as you stated. Also its 'some of the new features are virtualization' not 'is virtualization'. Virtualization has been out since the 1960s, Microsoft just now integrated it into the OS. What is 'increased power'? Do you mean that it runs faster? If so how is that a new feature? Also when listing items use 'and' for the last item listed not for the last two items listed. Its 'The disadvanage' not 'this disadvantage'.Its 'does lower its market value' not the whole market value of Microsoft when comparing the two OS's. What kinks need to be worked out, are you talking about Vista? Then you say production will continue so I am assuming server 2008, but it has already been shipped, and again what kinks? I hope you don't 'but a new computer' I would rather 'buy' one than 'but' one. 'When it comes to learning more about computer science' not 'when it cmes to helping with working more with computer science.'
Have a nice day :)
p.s. Liam says u iz n00b
sam
Also, Microsoft and learning about computer science should never be included in the same sentence. It is a time paradox.
This for Brittany
I think she makes a good point about the Nokia phones and how it works for the consumer. The product is good for those who are starting out with a phone.
In response to Brittany's article I think its great companies that do not specialize in devices for the blind and deaf are including the devices in there prototypes. Brittany is right that people who can see and hear will use this tech for an excuse to be lazy. Its a great article and i agree 100%.
This is to Jacob
I believe that Microsoft should pay the fine, The little man has to pay his fine or he goes to jail. Not paying it would look bad on the Corporation as a whole and would mean they were over the law.
I believe that everyone including companies should be held to the same standards.
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