Microsoft Support & Discussions

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, shortcomings of Windows 7 as a tablet operating system is the fact that it is not touch-centric it is still designed first and foremost for keyboard/mouse input. Microsoft plans to remedy this with Windows 8. But that’s hardly the only touch-centric technology it has in the hopper. Last week, [...] Source: All About Microsoft

Users of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) suite are reporting on July 19 yet another “service disruption” — one that sounds very much like the June 22 one that affected a number of users of Microsoft’s cloud service. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul In late 2005, Microsoft announced the formation of its Windows Live division, which would integrate online services and applications that were previously branded with MSN more closely with its core Windows products. This retrospective covers the first three generations, or "waves," of Windows Live products and services, covering roughly the period from 2006 through 2008. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft announced today that its upcoming Explorer Touch Mouse will arrive in September and will cost $50 in the US. This new mouse joins the Touch Mouse ($80, coming this fall) and the Arc Touch Mouse ($60, available now) in the company’s stable of touch-based pointing devices. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul For all the doom and gloom surrounding Microsoft, the software giant’s critics conveniently overlook one simple fact: This company is generating cash faster than ever, and with its most recent fiscal year completed, Microsoft has another record-breaking year on the books. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Windows Home Server 2011 is currently significantly cheaper than usual, and a steal at the prices I am seeing. If you’re interested in building your own Windows Home Server 2011-based servers, as I’ve done, this might be the right time to jump. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Windows Server 8 will include "hundreds" of new features, according to Microsoft, though as with Windows 8, the software giant will wait until its BUILD conference in September to reveal most of them. Source: Win Super Site

Microsoft is building a “digital learning archive,” which may be akin to its HealthVault electronic-medical records system. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft execs have been talking up Avatar Kinect — the ability to conduct virtual meetings among avatars using the Kinect sensor — for months. Finally, the release date for the technology seems close at hand. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul Codenamed Whistler, Windows XP was in development for less than two years and finally consolidated the previously separate Windows 9x and NT/2000 product lines. It also added the first major new UI skin to the system since Windows 95, providing a completely different look and feel than previous Windows versions while retaining the same usage model. Source: Win Super Site

Microsoft plans to share more information on its “Roslyn” compiler-as-a-service (CaaS) project during its annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit this week. Source: All About Microsoft

With Google phasing out its Google Health electronic-records service, Microsoft is wooing Google Health users and developers to move their data and applications over to Microsoft’s HealthVault alternative. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft has postponed its usual fall Mediaroom IPTV Technical Conference until some time in early 2012. Does the delay mean Orapa is behind schedule? Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul Usually only Apple can generate this much prerelease excitement for a product that may or may not happen. But online retailer Amazon.com has struck virtual gold in the rumor circuit this summer thanks to persistent leaks about its plans to compete with Apple’s iPad. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul I’m currently plotting my migration away from Gmail and to Microsoft’s email services, so this is interesting timing for me. In the past few weeks, Microsoft has announced a number of improvements to its free web-based email service, Hotmail. And while I had covered one of the previous updates, regarding dramatic performance improvements, I’m a bit behind on two others. They’re equally important. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul I’ve subscribed to The New York Times for over a decade now and ... I just give up. This paper is so pro-Apple and so anti-Microsoft that it’s hard to excuse anymore. It’s blatant, it’s constant, and it’s too much. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft today announced that it is offering up to a quarter million dollars for new information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the Rustock botnet’s operators. This is the first time the software giant has offered a reward like this since 2009, with Conficker. Source: Win Super Site