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Posts tagged Microsoft
Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9 to the masses
Mar 15th
Microsoft have released the final build of their Internet Explorer 9 web browser in an attempt to stem its steady loss of users to alternative browsers like Firefox and Chrome. IE9 features an enhanced user interface with the removal of unnecessary toolbars and the amalgamation of the address and search boxes into one field and the alignment of the address/search bar and tabs into one row. The new browser also offers impressive speed improvements and also great leaps in support for web standards like HTML5. Web standards are a common set of guidelines offered by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) that browser vendors and web developers are expected to adhere to to ensure a consistent experience across all software. Internet Explorer has been notoriously poor at this in the past, and Microsoft has sought to rectify their previous errors.
The improvement in web standards support will be welcomed with open arms by web designers such as us at Areatrade as it means less extra code is needed to ensure compatibility in all software. Microsoft has recently been calling for the small minority of users still stuck on version 6 of the software to upgrade to a newer version. Many IT departments have More >
Microsoft to launch final Internet Explorer 9 on March 14th
Feb 18th
Technology giant Microsoft is to release the latest update to their well-used web browser Internet Explorer on the 14th of March at the SXSW (‘South by South-West’) conference in Austin, Texas. The Release Candidate version of the browser has impressed many in the tech community with its superb speed and standards-compliance. This means that web developers will have an easier time creating websites that function as expected in all browsers.
You can try the Release Candidate preview yourself by downloading it at http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/, but be warned that as a non-final version it may be susceptible to a few remaining bugs and security issues.
Yahoo Search Ads Now Served by Microsoft
Oct 28th
What that means is that all advertising on both Bing and Yahoo search is now powered by Microsoft’s adCenter. That gives advertisers access to the combined inventory of both services, which accounts for about 27.9% of all searches according to the latest numbers from comScore.
Yahoo started serving search results powered by Bing back in August. However, it’s important to note that the two companies are continuing to develop their own features around the same set of algorithmic search results. For instance, Bing recently launched Facebook integration that surfaces results based on what your friends have “liked.”
For its part, Yahoo says that it “remains focused on delivering unique consumer experiences … and on increasing user engagement in our owned-and-operated search products to help drive high-quality traffic into the combined marketplace.” To that end, the company unveiled some big changes to its interface earlier this month.
Do you think they will ever catch Google?
Buying Adobe may not help Microsoft fight Apple
Oct 8th
The rumors are swirling today about a secret meeting between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to discuss a possible Microsoft acquisition of Adobe.
The question is whether it will change the game in favor of Microsoft and Adobe, or whether it benefits their main rival, Apple.
The chatter stems from a report in The New York Times. According to the publication, Ballmer arrived with a small entourage at Adobe’s offices to discuss Apple and its increasing influence over the mobile market via the iPhone (iPhone).
Microsoft, which has lost significant chunks of the mobile market in recent years, is trying to make a big comeback through Windows Phone 7 (Windows Phone 7). Adobe on the other hand suddenly became mortal enemies with Apple after Apple banned Flash from the iPad.
What’s really got the markets stirring though is how the two companies might respond to the Apple threat: via acquisition. According to the report, the possibility of Microsoft acquiring Adobe was discussed. That little tidbit of information drove Adobe’s stock price up 11.5% today.
The Apple brand is way to strong at present with both combined would ‘Microdobe’ or ‘ Adobosoft’ (bad ideas of name merge I know) be able to More >