Arguably Microsoft's biggest threat is its irrelevance to Web developers. Though the company dominates personal computing and is a major force in enterprise computing, it remains a distant also-ran to LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/Perl) development for the growing Web ecosystem. On Thursday Microsoft announced its WebsiteSpark program to build inroads with the Web crowd, but the program is unlikely to make a serious dent on LAMP's dominance.

The reason? There are some big strings att...

The new feature shows you pretty Silverlight-powered fly-in thumbnail images for only 50 specific search results (it will be expanded in the future), such as "Digital cameras," "New cars," "MLB players," and "Top songs." As you refine a query from one of the 50 visual searches available, thumbnails that don't match your query anymore fly off screen, and the rest reshuffle to fill in the blank spaces.

In a...

The event, on September 1 in San Francisco, will "share how the two companies collaborated on key enhancements during the development of Windows 7," according to Intel. Steve Smith, vice president and director, Intel's Digital Enterprise Group Operations, and Michael Angiulo, general manager of Windows Planning and PC Ecosystem at Microsoft, will talk at the event. Microsoft plans to launch ...

Microsoft has released a free trial of its cloud-based relational database.

The community technology preview (CTP) of SQL Azure Database was made available Tuesday, along with a preview of an SQL Server driver for building PHP applications for the Azure platform.

The Azure Services Platform, first announced at a developer conference last year, is Microsoft's move into the rapidly growing cloud-computing market. As with all cloud platforms, the idea is to provide scalable, hosted services o...

Microsoft has delivered the next iteration of its flagship database product, SQL Server 2008 R2, to developers for review.

The company released a preview of the software to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on Monday. A community technology preview (CTP) will be available on Wednesday for general download, Microsoft said in a blog post.

SQL Server 2008 R2, previously code-named "Kilimanjaro," is the next generation of the Microsoft SQL Server database platform. The product is planned for release ...

Windows 7 64-bit will soon take over desktop computers.

Consumers have had the option of 64-bit Windows computing since the release of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition in May 2005, four years after the release of Windows XP 32-bit. At the end of 2006, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions were released simultaneously. Yet chances are you're currently using a machine that runs the 32-bit version of Windows.

This is about to change. Windows 64-bit has started to gain a significant footho...

At the Intel Technology Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, an executive described the imminent mobile future, including a major refresh of Netbook silicon, better-designed "ultrathins," and turbo-powered high-end laptops.

Netbooks may undergo the biggest change. Models that appear after Windows 7 ships in October will see the...

Microsoft's proposed "ballot screen" that would let users in Europe choose which browser they want on their PC.

(Credit: Microsoft)

It looks like there won't be a browserless version of Windows 7, after all.

Microsoft said late Friday that it won't ship the Windows 7 "E" version of Windows even though Europe has yet to sign off on its revised plan. The plan calls for the company to ship Windows 7 with Internet Explorer, but present a ballot screen in which users in Europe can decide whether ...

Windows 7 will be more than just a better interface. Under-the-hood changes will allow chips from Intel, Nvidia, and Advanced Micro Devices to ratchet up Windows 7 performance above previous Microsoft operating systems.

Microsoft on Wednesday said it has finalized the code for Windows 7, set to ship with new PCs starting October 22. Improvements will include how Windows handles multitasking, graphics acceleration, and solid-state drives.

Microsoft is working closely with Intel, whose chips w...

The next version of Office moved a step closer to reality on Monday as Microsoft released an invitation-only technical preview of Office 2010.

However, the release of the software will be limited. Attendees of this week's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, as well as the recent TechEd show, will gain access to the desktop versions of Office 2010. Microsoft has also been taking sign-ups via its Office 2010: The Movie teaser Web site.

Also, it won't show off the program's biggest ch...

Microsoft's internal data credits the launch of its new Bing search engine with an 8 percent boost in unique visitors during June.

It's been clear for a while that Bing's launch produced gains for Microsoft during its initial month, but the degree to which that gain was produced by those strolling by as a lark or by those actually using the service daily was unclear. Microsoft released data Monday claiming an 8 percent gain in unique users during the month, and said "based on our own polling...