Subject:

Microsoft Corporation

  • Blogs

    January 14, 2011

    Bill Gates Tops Steve Jobs in Political Donations; Microsoft Outspends Apple Inside the Beltway

    ​There was a time when Bill Gates wouldn't deign to politick. He was a successful software salesman who didn't need to grease palms or seek government largesse. His company and employees donated a mere $251,474 during the 1996 federal election cycle, for example. Then came 1998, the beginning ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 10, 2011

    Microsoft Joins the Multi-Touch Mouse Party More Than a Year After Apple

    ​Microsoft's appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week has been widely panned as a flop--devoid of any big, exciting, non-Kinect related news. But on Friday, the tech giants unfurled perhaps their best hope of changing the stale narrative with this fancy ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 3, 2011

    Susanna Martini, Edmonds Cerebral Palsy Sufferer, Upset That Kinect Won't Recognize Her in Wheelchair

    ​For about 24 hours on the day the Microsoft Kinect was debuted on Nov. 4, rumors exploded that the device had trouble recognizing black people. Those rumors, however, were quickly debunked as a lighting--not a racism-- based problem. But now there's at least one member of a different minority ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 29, 2010

    Microsoft Gets 141 New Enemies in Upcoming Supreme Court Case

    ​It's not just the i4i development firm that thinks Microsoft stole a bit of editing technology that ended up in an older version of Word. Besides several lower courts that think so too, 141 other smaller companies just signed a brief in support of i4i (no word if they picked the 141 number fo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 12, 2010

    Verizon Plans Resurrection of Microsoft Kin

    ​It took all of six weeks between the time Microsoft released its kid-friendly, semi-smart phone the Kin in June, to the time they conceded that no one liked it and they quit making it. Verizon apparently missed the memo or has found a way to make the little phone a little less crappy. In eith ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 21, 2010

    First Reviews of Windows Phone 7: Good, But Not Good Enough

    ​It's not enough that Microsoft come out with a good phone. Seeing as how Windows Phone 7 is being released four years after Apple launched its iPhone and two years after Google did the same with Android, a merely good offering won't be good enough for many people to go through the hassle of s ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 18, 2010

    Microsoft Puts a Stop to Sham Piracy Investigations

    ​Just a month ago, Microsoft seemed like a villain after The New York Times exposed the company's cooperation with efforts by the Russian government to crack down on political dissidents. The scenario went like this: Russia would accuse advocacy organizations it didn't like of pirating Microso ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 1, 2010

    Steve Ballmer's Not the Only Microsoft Millionaire Who Doesn't Want to Pay Income Tax On His Raise

    ​Steve Ballmer finished the last fiscal year, which ends in June at Microsoft, with $1.34 million in total compensation--a nearly 6 percent raise over last year, according to the Seattle Times. As has already been reported, he wants to hang onto as much of that cash as he can, donating $100,00 ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 29, 2010

    What Made This Year's Microsoft Company Meeting the 'Best Ever'?

    ​Yesterday, roughly 20,000 Microsoft workers packed Safeco Field for the company's annual meeting. An Amy Sedaris-hosted event that anonymous blogger Mini-Microsoft declared the "Best...Ever." So what made it the best?

  • News

    September 8, 2010

    Does Not Compete

    The absurd effects of the San Francisco Bay Guardian "predatory pricing" suit.

  • Blogs

    August 27, 2010

    Microsoft to Offer Bribes to Make Windows Phone 7 Better

    ​If you haven't heard anything about Microsoft's new smartphone, the cleverly named Windows Phone 7, expect that to change in t-minus, oh, four months or so. The answer to Google's Droid and Apple's iPhone -- ya know, just half a decade later -- comes out around the holidays, and according to ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 25, 2010

    Microsoft, Apple and Google: Who Makes the Most Cash?

    ​There are many ways to compare tech kings Microsoft, Apple and Google. You could hang a computer engineer upside down by his Keds from the rooftop of a tall building and demand he pick a favorite. But that might result in a felony. You could judge them them strictly by how high their stock pr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 14, 2010

    Microsoft Seeks iPad Users for Careful, Not-at-All Creepy Study Session

    ​Microsoft's strategy of making fun of Apple's crowd-pleasing products hasn't been going so well. So CEO Steve Ballmer has introduced a new strategy: copy everything Apple is doing! To help navigate this brave new path, the folks in Redmond have decided that the best way to emulate their bigge ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 7, 2010

    Microsoft's Kin Saves The Roots' Drummer From Pain of Missed Flight

    ​Microsoft's Kin was an absolute embarrassment for the Redmond company, even by the low standards of Microsoft phones. The mobile device -- marketed to teens who weren't smart enough to realize they could buy an iPhone for less money -- was pulled from stores after only six weeks. But in the a ... More >>

  • News

    June 30, 2010

    The Times and the 'Soft Hit It Off

    Their relationship seems a little too cozy for comfort.

  • Blogs

    June 28, 2010

    Microsoft Tries to Roar Back at Critics, Ends Up Whimpering Instead

    ​As much as an obscenely profitable company that produces millionaires the way other operations pump out widgets can act like a cornered animal, Microsoft is that animal. Amateur crystal ball-gazers (including yours truly) have spent the past months predicting dark clouds in the tech company's ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 25, 2010

    Microsoft and The Seattle Times Are Going Steady

    ​Microsoft and The Seattle Times have long been friends. But lately it seems like the friendship between the region's second-largest company and the city's only remaining print daily has blossomed into something more substantial -- like the kind of thing you might see while flipping by Cinemax ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 21, 2010

    Has Microsoft Really Only Sold 500 Kin Phones?

    ​Microsoft hasn't had a successful gadget in ages. And its new line of smartphones, the Kins, doesn't look like a threat to break the losing streak. The phones are "deeply flawed" and even Microsoft doesn't seem to know what they're for, marketing them to teens even though they can't watch You ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 1, 2010

    Steve Ballmer Is Driving Microsoft Off a Cliff

    Say what you will about Steve Jobs' mom jeans, but he'd never be caught looking this silly on camera.​Even for non-techies, it's easy to understand just how far Microsoft has fallen since Steve Ballmer was put in charge. Ballmer -- the sweatinest, spittinest CEO this side of the Mississippi - ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 7, 2010

    The Meanest Corporation on Earth? Microsoft Files Lawsuit Against Smiley Face People

    ​Nobody's laughing and least of all smiling at Microsoft today over an alleged trademark infringement by two California companies who market those digital smiley faces. In a federal court lawsuit in Seattle, sourpuss MS CEO Steve Ballmer ​ et al claim that Digispace Solutions and yMulti ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 6, 2010

    Google Chrome Speed Test Helps Explain Why Internet Explorer Is Dying (VID)

    Reports indicate it will take a full seven years for Microsoft's Internet Explorer to die off completely. A timetable that's sure to accelerate once everyone sees what kind of cool, Rube Goldberg-esque crap you can pull with Google's Chrome.

  • News

    April 28, 2010

    Google Strikes Back?

    How might the search giant retaliate for the Seattle Storm's alliance with Bing?

  • Music

    April 28, 2010

    Rhapsody in Zune

    The best feature of Microsoft's underrated mp3 player just lost some of its shimmer.

  • Blogs

    April 23, 2010

    Microsoft Beats Google in Critical WNBA Branding Battle

    Microsoft and the Storm--partners in decision engineering!​Just like in Europe, corporate logos are increasingly common on the jerseys of our pro athletes. Xbox360 Live has been slapped on the chests of the Sounders for several seasons, and now our WNBA franchise is joining the Microsoft famil ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 15, 2010

    Microsoft Supplier Hires Kids, Pays Them Less Than a Dollar an Hour in Supposed "Sweatshops"

    The workers' rights group says this picture of young workers taking a nap during a 15-hour shift was smuggled out of the Chinese factory.​A non-profit purporting to defend the rights of workers around the world has just released a report slamming Microsoft. Entitled "China's Youth Meet Microso ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 14, 2010

    New Ad Campaign for Hotmail Is Everything We Expect From Microsoft--Awkward, Baffling, Hard to Escape

    Even this guy doesn't understand "the new busy."​As Caleb observed yesterday, even on those occasions when Microsoft has a really great product to offer, somehow the presentation is always a little...off. They're just trying too hard. Or overthinking. This results in embarrassments such as t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 5, 2010

    Microsoft Trying to Steal iPad's Spotlight With Mysterious Product Launch?

    But what does it all mean!​Well this was predictable. With the tech world's attention focused squarely on the launch of the iPad, it makes sense that two of Apple's biggest competitors would start furiously waving their hands yelling, "Don't forget about us!" First there was the curious bit o ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 5, 2010

    Quiz: Microsoft's New Super-Secret Product or Las Vegas Nightclub

    Microsoft's inspiration for the name of its new product.​As Caleb noted earlier, the interwebs are abuzz with news of the invites Microsoft sent out to a super secret product-unveiling of some kind next Monday. So now the blogging nerds are speculating as to what exactly Bill Gates will unvei ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 24, 2010

    Microsoft Uses Tech Blog to (Sort of) Confirm Courier

    The Courier. It exists! Probably!​Microsoft's normal response to most inquiries about new or rumored products is usually succinct: "No comment." So it's noteworthy when the tight-lipped company offers more than its typical two-word answer, let alone when they farm out the publicity to a tech b ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 15, 2010

    Microsoft Employees Use iPhones, Also Enjoy Oxygen and Committed Relationships

    Steve Jobs's dark merlot stains the collars of about 10 percent of Microsoft employees.​Ask anyone who works at Microsoft whether or not they have co-workers who use an iPhone and you're bound to get one or two stories about employees who'll refuse to answer a call in front of their boss, beca ... More >>

  • News

    March 10, 2010

    Xbox Live Now Gay-Friendly

    Gaming's "don't ask, don't tell" policy has been rescinded.

  • Blogs

    March 1, 2010

    Seattle Blogs: Would Hockey Work in Seattle?

    Possible Seattle hockey sponsors include Microsoft, Amazon and every orthodontist with a sense of humor in a 15-mile radius.​Today's blogs are happy Canada won the gold. It's like America winning in gun-related deaths -- it means all is right with the world. - The P-I's sports blog asks if th ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 15, 2010

    Ross Hunter Wants to Give Microsoft $100 Million Tax Break, Washington Still Poor

    A new bill would give Microsoft an unexpected windfall, right when the state's hurting the most.​Washington may soon be broke. So perhaps now is not the best time for Rep. Ross Hunter to suggest one of the state's richest companies get a tax break. In 1997, Microsoft opened a small office in ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 10, 2010

    Reader: Faith in Microsoft, Like Faith in God, Is Misplaced

    Let us pray.​Reader Paul Fitzgerald responds to Microsoft Declares Itself Still Innovative, Not at All Clumsy. "Whenever I have a problem that needs a software solution, I never say, 'I wonder if Microsoft has a solution' It's always Google or Linux that seems to be thinking about the softwar ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 4, 2010

    Microsoft Imagines Alternate Universe in Which Bing Is Profitable

    No one understood why the toilets in Microsoft's online services division were always clogged.​Bing, Microsoft's "decision" engine, costs the company a ton of money. How much? According to Henry Blodget at Silicon Business Insider, Microsoft has spent $667 million for every point of market s ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 4, 2010

    Former Microsoft Vice President Describes Environment of "Creative Destruction"

    Dick Brass, who spent seven years at Microsoft, holding an Amazon Kindle.​It's one thing for a simple blogger with no experience inside the halls of Redmond to make light of Microsoft. It's quite another for a man who worked there for seven years to describe it as a company that "routinely man ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 14, 2010

    Microsoft Tax Dodge Letter Gets Sent to 150 Legislators, One Responds

    State Sen. Adam Kline was the only lawmaker to ask about Microsoft's billion-dollar tax dodge.​Microsoft makes a ton of money in Washington state. But for the past 12 years, because Microsoft takes advantage of a loophole in Nevada, some of the money that should have been taxed wasn't. Added u ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 11, 2010

    Breaking: Microsoft Actually Produces a Funny Ad

    Watching Microsoft's pursuit of cool or funny ways to market its products is a little like watching a dog chase his tail: The harder he tries, the faster he ends up spinning in circles. But with this new "24 meets Enemy of the State" spoof trailer for Office: 2010, it looks like the 'Soft has fin ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 23, 2009

    Uh-Oh: Ex-Employee Says Microsoft Today Is Like IBM in 1985

    Time for Microsoft to give up the throne?​Don Dodge was the start-up guru for Microsoft until he got laid off in November. Within a week he was hired at Google. (And thus able to play with all the fun new toys he'd been denied in Redmond.) Now, in an interview with Nick Eaton at the Microsoft ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 18, 2009

    Why Microsoft Cares That You Use Internet Explorer

    Kill it, you rabid little fox! Kill it till it's dead!​Earlier this week, the European Union dropped antitrust charges against Microsoft after the software giant agreed to offer Windows users a choice of 12 different browsers. If you're like me (i.e. you can make a computer crash just by loo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 15, 2009

    Apple Ads Making Fun of Microsoft Are Decade's Best

    It's hard to say Microsoft has had a bad decade. But when AdWeek says that the best ad campaign of the past 10 years is the one that rests on the concept that you're stodgy, unreliable and a compulsive liar, well, it's hard to say things turned out well. The magazine showered Apple with multiple ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 14, 2009

    Seattle Blogs: The Coming Microsoft-Google Phone Wars?

    Cory O'Brien via TwitterOne Google phone to rule them all.​Serving up the best of the local blogosphere, once daily. - All About Microsoft asks if Google's new Nexus One phone will spur a Microsoft copycat. While TechFlash explains how Microsoft inadvertently helped Google build their much-hy ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 11, 2009

    French Army Chooses Open Source Over Microsoft

    The French army knife. Because they give up easily, you see.​First the Los Angeles City Council picked Google's GMail over Microsot's Outlook. Now, the French Army has decided to use Thunderbird, Mozilla's Outlook alternative, after determining it was more secure than Microsoft's. The French ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 7, 2009

    Microsoft Says Graying Boomers Will Never Surrender Their Gadgets!

    Boomers learned to love their gadgets early, and will continue to buy new ones, says Microsoft.​As more baby boomers near retirement, adjust to bifocals, and have their hips replaced, Microsoft predicts the Me Generation will be anything but geezer in its ongoing embrace of technology. The New ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 4, 2009

    Microsoft Trails Firefox in Critical Slovakian Browser Market!

    Is Microsoft losing its grip of tiny Eastern European markets?​Everybody pisses on Internet Explorer, and nowhere more so than in Europe, where antitrust issues have dogged Microsoft for years. Two years back, the European Commission forced the company to sell a version of Windows without its ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 30, 2009

    An Open Letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: Quit Dodging Washington Taxes

    A former employee tells Ballmer to pay up.​Jeff Reifman is everywhere these days. The former Microsoft manager who successfully tracked down Wired editor Evan Ratliff has also found the time to start a new web site. MicrosoftTaxDodge.com is what it sounds like: A site devoted to Reifman's arg ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 25, 2009

    Mac Users Pounce on Microsoft-Saks Windows 7 Twitter Feed

    So that's why no one on Twitter likes Microsoft.​UPDATE: TechFlash says Microsoft may be censoring the offending Tweets. Details after the jump. To remind holiday shoppers about their new OS Windows 7, Microsoft recently bought a display window in legendary New York department store Saks Fift ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 23, 2009

    State, Federal Donations Show Microsofties Bank on Obama, Dems; State Party Also Makes New Donor List

    A couple million from Microsoft is enough to make anyone smile.​It might have been the Bush administration that helped a grateful Microsoft get out of that little antitrust jam created by the Clinton administration a few years back. But it's the Democrats who are overwhelmingly getting the Red ... More >>

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