MetaFilter posts tagged with Microsoft

Every party should be a windows 7 party

Artw — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:13:01 -0800

Hosting Your Windows 7 Torrenting Party (Previously)

The virtual dice rolling has got to go.

lazaruslong — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:27:35 -0800

The Microsoft Surface was the subject of much ridicule. When Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade had the chance to sit down with one at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, known colloquially as the ETC, they saw potential for the Surface to become an amazing tool for Dungeons and Dragons tabletop gaming. They offered some suggestions to the team, and months later, SurfaceScapes is the result. Video. Wired Article with some more info on the ETC. The project is the work of a team of designers from the ETC. Currently, they only have a basic Game Master tool set programmed, but the researchers are working to enhance the player experience.

(Don't) Think Pink

CheeseDigestsAll — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:18:41 -0800

In the light of the Microsoft/Sidekick data disaster, it might be a good time to take a look at just what's happening with Microsoft's half billion dollar investment in Danger. Despite already having a mobile phone operating system (Windows Mobile) and an entire division (Zune) just itching to go head to head with Apple's iPhone. Microsoft decided to turn Danger into a skunkworks for "Project Pink," named, apparently, after the pop star. Now, According to MobileCrunch, the project is two years late, most of the team has left or been fired, Microsoft hasn't managed to create an app store, and the demoralized team is more enamored of their iPhones than their own product. Once the first leaks hit, more details began to trickle out. First there were photos. Then, the stories of management incompetence and mis-handling of vendor relationships, with Palm and Motorola dropping Microsoft entirely. Aside from the loss of $500,000,000 and running into the ground what was one of the most innovative cell phone companies, things are looking bleak for Microsoft mobile systems in general. The newly released WinMo 6.5 was not well received and phones running it reportedly have a 25% return rate according to Verizon.

Danger data loss

finite — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:29:30 -0800

T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger probably lost all Sidekick users' data. They continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost.

Microsoft have the Bestest Ads

minifigs — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:44:44 -0800

Microsoft attempt to recreate the magic of the Songsmith commercial (previously) with Windows 7 Launch Parties

Microsoft! now! provides! Yahoo! search!

jaduncan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:18:23 -0800

Microsoft's Bing now provide Yahoo! seach. Yahoo, a 1994 internet pioneer of search, has now agreed to stop researching search tech and start using Bing. Some say it's a small deal, a Google deal rerun, and one says it's a tar pit. As pointed out, nobody yet knows if Yahoo can choose another provider if it all goes wrong.

You can go to the bathroom whenever you want at Microsoft

JeffL — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:24:14 -0800

You can go to the bathroom whenever you want at Microsoft Bonus Parody

Yes, Sir, this Is War!

Muddler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:48 -0800

Microsoft Office 2010 - for free, on the web. Yeah, you heard me right. "The company also announced that Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering." Not to be outdone by Google, who recently announced it was trying to take a bite out of Windows not to mention Office, Microsoft has decided to offer a web version of Office 2010 for free - and it will even support non-IE browsers.

Of course you realize, this means war!

Chocolate Pickle — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:10:43 -0800

Google Chrome OS: Google says it will release a new operating system, built around its Chrome browser, which will be open source and will initially be targeted at netbooks. Shipment is expected second half of 2010. No response yet from Microsoft. This is the biggest shot across the bow of Microsoft since Navigator and OS/2 and Java. Gates is retired now. I wonder if Ballmer knows how to cope with an existential challenge?

"It's where you put your search terms. Correct?"

chorltonmeateater — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:58:21 -0800

What is a browser? Nobody seems to be sure. Whatever one is, Microsoft are convinced that Internet Explorer 8 is the best of the lot: if you disagree, you might like to get the facts. After all, only the best browser could offer you potential winnings of $10,000 for using it (unlike 'old Firefox', 'tarnished Chrome', or 'boring Safari'). It looks like Internet Explorer isn't willing to be bullied anymore.

The dry, technical language of Microsoft's October update did not indicate anything particularly untoward.

The Whelk — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:40:29 -0800

Its reach is impossible to measure precisely, but more than 3 million vulnerable machines may ultimately have been infected. : The inside story on the Conficker Worm at New Scientist.

Freedom! Horrible, horrible freedom!

sloe — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:14:55 -0800

Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer in Europe "Microsoft said it made it’s decision following an anti-trust investigation by the European Union." "This means that computer manufacturers and users will be free to install Internet Explorer on Windows 7, or not, as they prefer" - Dave Heiner, deputy general counsel for Microsoft. Related: Bing (6% market share launch) and the Browser Wars which are still being won by IE or pretty much a dead heat between IE and FF depending on who you sample. Apple nod: Safari's come from behind upset?

Gang Bing

boo_radley — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:46:06 -0800

Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, goes beta. Cribbed from live.com, the layout for bing is... strangely familiar. Early reviews are mixed, with mixed results, mostly noting that the results less useful than google, especially when it comes to google.

X-Rayed X-Boxes (And Other Video Game Consoles)

Effigy2000 — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:28:39 -0800

Reinier van der Ende, an x-ray technician at the largest hospital in the northern part of the Netherlands, decided to combine his work with one of his hobbies and proceeded to x-ray his collection of video game consoles, peripherals and game cartridges. Here are the fruits of his labour. There's also an x-ray of an X-Box 360 that dosen't appear to be part of the main set (it's part of this subset). No indications of whether its red-ringed or not, though. [via]

"No crime is so great as daring to excel." -- Winston Churchill

orthogonality — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:00:29 -0800

A little detective work traced the problem to default date format conversions and floating-point format conversions in the very useful Excel program package. The date conversions affect at least 30 gene names; the floating-point conversions affect at least 2,000 if Riken identifiers are included. These conversions are irreversible; the original gene names cannot be recovered.

Yet another reason not to use Excel as your "database".

They're Leasing Old Gateway Stores

Xurando — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:00:34 -0800

Microsoft announced today, it will open a small number of stores to compete directly against Apple. Some think it's a dubious idea. "In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them."

Microsoft Songsmith

mrzarquon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:20:45 -0800

Microsoft has just announced Songsmith. What is it? I think it is some Karaoke / Garageband / Guitar-hero like thing.

All I do know is: The promotional ad video for it is a trainwreck.

Zune apocalypse

yellowbinder — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:00:26 -0800

So you've decided that you're uneasy with Apple's virtual monopoly on digital music. So you picked Microsoft's Zune. Hell, maybe you even got a tattoo! You're bucking the trend, and you're satisfied with your purchase. It's not like Microsoft would make a faulty machine, would they? Well...Happy New Year!

Zero-Day

chuckdarwin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:33:52 -0800

BBC: Users of the world's most common web browser (good old IE!) have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed. Microsoft Security Advisory 961051. Microsoft Corp. has tipped off its users of a “huge increase” in hacking attacks exploiting a critical unpatched vulnerability in some versions of its flagship web-browser Internet Explorer (IE), and notified that some of these attacks have originated from hacked porn websites. In addition to IE7, other versions like IE 5 and IE 6 have also been found to be vulnerable to the flaw, which on proper exploitation could enable a hacker to seize complete control over victim’s computer, the company added. The flaw essentially originates from the improper handlings of DHTML data bindings due to a memory corruption error. Though the hackers have been exploiting the vulnerability for more than a week, the company notified an upswing in attacks over the weekend. Researchers Tareq Saade and Ziv Mador in one of their postings on Malware Protection Center blog said, “Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2 percent of users worldwide may have been exposed to websites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability”. The researchers purported that the hackers have now changed their methodology of attacks, as instead of using malicious websites for attacks, they are now using compromised legitimate websites to trick the users. Incidentally Trend Micro Inc has estimated that around 6,000 websites have been infected so far to exploit the vulnerability, with the count “quickly increasing in number”.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

up in the old hotel — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:49:40 -0800

The National Security Agency is building a data center in San Antonio that’s the size of the Alamodome. Microsoft has opened an 11-acre data center a few miles away. Coincidence? Not according to author James Bamford, who probably knows more about the NSA than any outsider. Bamford's new book reports that the biggest U.S. spy agency wanted assurances that Microsoft would be in San Antonio before it moved ahead with the Texas Cryptology Center. Bamford notes that under current law, the NSA could legally tap into Microsoft’s data without a court order. Whatever you do, don't take pictures of it the spy building unless you want to be taken in for questioning.

OS Wars: The African Theatre

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:14:08 -0800

Microsoft and Linux have been battling for dominance in Africa for some time now. In South Africa, Linux elicited the help of a former Microsoft executive, to which Windows countered with a massive free software giveaway. A more recent front has been in Nigeria, where Mandriva looked set to secure a government contract, until Microsoft allegedly paid $400,000 to have that contract dumped. Microsoft, for its part, has denied the allegations.

The biggest hacker in China

strangeguitars — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:41:02 -0800

Microsoft is taking unprecedented measures to combat China's piracy. The people aren't happy. Is the company shooting itself in the foot?

You Get To Join The Clown Club

Xurando — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:54:24 -0800

The Wait is over. Microsoft brings Seinfeld and Gates together. The verdict?. Meh. (Previously).

Je me souviens ... l'accord de partage de l'utilisateur

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:53:09 -0800

Facil, an open-source community based in Québec, is suing the Québec government for buying Microsoft software when free alternatives are available. Facil's press release says, in part, "From February to June 2008, FACIL has noticed sales of proprietary software for more than 25 million dollars. These purchases were made for products offered by large multinational enterprises, with no regard to suppliers in Quebec. ... While most of the developed countries have started, a few years back, migrating their technological infrastructures to Free Software, Quebec's public administration is far behind." Some applaud Facil's move. Others, not so much.

It's sort of like Minority Report, I guess.

signal — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:27:35 -0800

the first full release of Photosynth. Stonehenge. Venice. Previously 1,2,3. PC only.