It's been nearly four years since Microsoft first released Windows Phone, and what it has gotten after many millions of dollars in development and marketing costs, plus its $US7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia, is this: a worldwide smartphone market share of less than 3 per cent. And that number has been going down, not up.
What we've seen so far suggests that Microsoft's new CEO is his own man and willing to buck the company's traditional ways.
Now that Microsoft has made OneNote free for consumers, can it compete with the well-known Evernote? Preston Gralla offers his take on both.
Apple repeatedly bows to censorship demands in places like China.
CEO Ballmer and his predecessor shared a vision of how Microsoft could stay on top by focusing on Windows.
The preview of Windows 8.1 reveals an operating system that corrects many, but not all, of its previous mistakes.
Although the preview of Windows 8.1 fixes some of the problems users complained about in the previous version of the OS, is it enough? We take a close look at Microsoft's update.
AVG Internet Security 2011 is aimed at those looking for a do-it-all piece of software, offering anti-virus, anti-spyware, a rootkit detector and killer, firewall, link scanner, online shield, email scanner, identity protection, spam killer and more.
The world's most popular compression program just got better. WinZip 14.5 Pro (US$50, 3-day free trial) adds a slew of useful features to the venerable program's already impressive suite, most notably adding a Microsoft Office-style ribbon that puts all of the program's considerable power within easy reach. No longer will you need to hunt through deep levels of menus. You can now perform tasks such as burning .zip files to a CD or DVD, or sending a .zip file via FTP, with a single click on the ribbon.
The new version of Google Docs sports considerable collaboration tools, as well as improved editing and formatting, a faster, more useful spreadsheet and new collaborative drawing software.
As protections against garden-variety <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/85/Malware+and+Vulnerabilities">viruses and malware</a> have become more effective, malware writers have turned to new ways to infect computers in the pursuit of profit. Two increasing threats are malware spread via bad <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9157638/Facebook_Complete_coverage">Facebook</a> links and so-called scareware -- malware that masquerades as virus-scanning software.
Apple, Google and Microsoft are locked in a three-way struggle for industry dominance, competing to varying degrees on hardware, computer and cell phone operating systems, applications, entertainment, Internet search and more.
<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137060/Microsoft_Update_Latest_news_features_reviews_opinions_and_more">Microsoft</a>'s just-released beta of the Outlook Social Connector aims to solve a formidable problem: How to retain Outlook's centrality when social networking sites and services such as <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9157638/Facebook_Complete_coverage">Facebook</a>, LinkedIn and <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9157658/Twitter_update_News_blogs_opinions_and_more_about_the_microblogging_service">Twitter</a> have become increasingly important. It largely succeeds.
Nearly 10 years ago, on April 3, 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered that Microsoft be broken up into two companies -- one to develop and sell operating systems, and the other to develop and sell other types of software. The order came as a result of a federal antitrust suit against the company and a finding of fact that said Microsoft had abused its monopoly power.
<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,81837-order,3/description.html">Windows Access Panel</a> is a free, moderately useful program that can make it easier for you to change Windows settings that you otherwise wouldn't know how to alter. It doesn't actually give you any tools or access to settings that aren't otherwise available in Windows. Rather, it gives you one-click access to settings that normally require several clicks to reach. Instead of having to navigate your way through the Control Panel, or dig deep into menus, you can quickly get right to the setting you want.
