Microsoft Support & Discussions

Microsoft announced this week a new partnership with travel-search provider Kayak. Here are a few questions (and fewer answers) about Redmond’s latest Bing-related deal. View the full article

Supersite This week's app of the week is Basic Spanish for Dummies, and it helped my family and I make our way around Spain on a recent vacation. ... View the full article

Windows IT Pro An often irreverent look at some of this week's other news, including non-news about the lack of a Microsoft Tablet OS until 2012, some others who are unhappy with Apple's cockiness over an evolutionary product update, misreporting about a Microsoft executive's comments about the Mac, Microsoft's attempt to kill IE 6, Microsoft's place on the smart phone map, XP and Vista users get an auto-run update automatically, and how to bring your Xbox LIVE avatar to life. ... View the full article

What’s the latest with the Windows Phone 7 update saga? Will NoDo show next week? And has Mango gone soft? View the full article

Microsoft has launched a new Web site that is aimed at stepping up its campaign to move users off Internet Explorer (IE) 6. View the full article

Supersite I've been looking at my various desktop and portable PCs and have begun the process of wiping them out and reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows 7 with SP1. There are different ways to do this, but lately I've opted out of the Setup DVD and have instead been using a USB memory key. Here's how it works. ... View the full article

Windows IT Pro The first Windows Phone 7 software update could arrive as soon as next week, adding crucial features that were missing when the new mobile OS launched last fall and closing the functional gap between Windows Phone and its more mature competition. ... View the full article

There are (and have been) a number of different slates and tablets in various phases of test/development by different teams at Microsoft. I discovered yet another today, when searching the Microsoft Research site. View the full article

Microsoft has rolled out a new incentive to attract and keep more Bing users: Group deals. View the full article

Supersite I get a lot of silly email from the Apple diehards. Here's how I really feel. ... View the full article

How do you feel about avatar usage in the workplace? Do you foresee a bunch of your work colleagues in cartoon form holding virtual meetings in the not-so-distant future? View the full article

Windows IT Pro Apple introduced the iPad 2 as expected on Wednesday, and that's the problem: There were absolutely no surprises at all, at least about the device itself, whose feature set was revealed by rumor sites weeks in advance. ... View the full article

There’s been a simmering debate as to whether Microsoft understands the tablet/slate market, and Apple’s announcement of the iPad 2 on March 2 turned up the heat on that subject. View the full article

The researchers at International Data Corp. (IDC) released their latest worldwide server market share data this week. As was true in the last quarter of 2009, Windows servers are far and away the leader in share as measured by of percentage of revenue, the firm found. View the full article

Supersite Today: Apple's less-than-humble descriptions of itself, iPad 2 launch day arrives, T-Mobile revives the Sidekick and gives it an Android heart, Call of Duty or sign of weakness, Windows 8 concepts are just that, and Microsoft's call for HTML 5 goodness. ... View the full article

Supersite Apple today announced the iPad 2, a minor and evolutionary update to its market-leading tablet device. There were no major surprises at all, with virtually all of the feature set, accessories, and applications having been previously divulged by various rumor sites and other sources. But the iPad is important, and this update, while disappointing in its lack of scope, will no doubt usher in another year of market dominance and sales for the company. ... View the full article

Supersite In this week's mailbag: Windows Home Server 2011 and AD domains, Windows Home Server data migration, Windows Phone 7 and WM-DRM content, a coming WHS 2011 and Windows SBS 2011 Essentials comparison, Netflix and subtitles, and a few comments about the direction of the new SuperSite. ... View the full article

Windows IT Pro Apple took to the offensive this week in its bid to convince the courts to toss aside Microsoft's complaint that Apple's attempt to trademark the term "App Store" was invalid. ... View the full article

Supersite Microsoft announces a big milestone for Windows Live Mesh, it's PC-to-PC and PC-to-web file synchronization service: It has connected 5 million devices, with over 3 million users syncing 2.2 petabytes to the cloud, since its release in September. ... View the full article

The latest version of my regular Microsoft Codename Tracker is out and ready for download. New to the latest version, among several entries, is “Blackbird,” a new Microsoft cloud codename. View the full article

Microsoft is launching a contest to encourage developers to create native HTML5 content that doesn’t require browser plug-ins. View the full article

Microsoft announced general availability on March 1 of its ‘other’ new tablet/slate OS: its Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system, codenamed ‘Chelan.’ View the full article

Supersite Today: Apple COO Tim Cook doesn't realize how hypocritical he really is, silliness and the iPhone 5, reasonable conjecture about the iPhone 5, W3C considering Microsoft's Do Not Track proposal, Ford delivers Sync to Europe, and thoughts on Microsoft/Nokia. ... View the full article