Microsoft keeps firing back at Google accusations that Bing copies its Web-search results, with an executive claiming Google is worried about Bing’s progress. – Google accusing Bing of
copying its Web-search results, blogged a Microsoft executive Feb. 2, is possibly
motivated by the search-engine giants fears of losing ground to its upstart
rival.
“We do not copy results from
any of our competitors. Period. Full stop,” Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice preside…
News Analysis: Microsoft has been accused by Google of using the search giant’s search results. Although Microsoft has acknowledged that it uses "clickstream data," it needs to fight Google on this issue. – Microsoft and Google are at it again. In a shocking announcement on Feb. 1,
Google revealed that it believes Microsoft’s Bing platform is using its search
engine results in some cases. The company provided several examples of the
issue, and said that it even created fake search results to see if …
Microsoft is a fascinating company to watch. Financially, the firm performs better than the vast majority of tech companies in the world, generating billions of dollars in revenue and profits every year. But when it comes to customer perception, it doesnt enjoy the admiration it once had for its technical prowess and growth potential. In fact, these days many still call the company the "Evil Empire," while others view it as an aging giant thats slowly but surely being taken down by more innovative competitors. At the center of this image problem is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. For years, Ballmer has led the company through the ups and downs of being a technology company. But he has watched as Microsofts stock price has remained relatively stagnant over the years while more nimble competitors, such as Google and Apple, have passed it by. The train wreck that was Vista, the decline of Microsofts mobile business, and to his credit, the resurgence of Microsofts flagship operating system with Windows 7, have all occurred on Ballmers watch. But along the way he hasnt done much to help Microsoft regain its image as an agile, innovative company with a vision for steady growth into the distant future. As a result, the time has come for Ballmer to go. The list of people that might be able to replace Ballmer is long. But when its all said and done, only one person can supplant the Microsofts CEO: its co-founder Bill Gates. – …
Google says Microsoft cheated by aping its search results. Microsoft disagreed with that term, but acknowledged using customer data to improve results. Pundits weigh in. – Google Feb. 1 capped a public smear campaign that
backfired by claiming that Microsoft’s Bing team is indeed cheating by copying
its results for some Web search queries.
Google last summer looked at the search results for an
unusual misspelled query, torsorophy. Google returned the correct spel…
Microsoft and Yahoo are trading blame for a Windows Phone 7 data-drain issue related to synchronization between Yahoo Mail and Windows Phone Mail Client. – Microsoft has
blamed Yahoo Mail for a “data-drain” bug affecting a small subset of Windows
Phone 7 devices. However, Yahoo seems intent on shoveling that blame right back
on its rival-backslash-partner.
The fun
originally began when an unknown subset of Windows Phone 7 users began
complaining …
Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," which could accelerate Androids presence in the tablet market, could also complicate Microsofts Windows tablet plans. – Google Android 3.0, codenamed Honeycomb, could complicate
Microsofts nascent tablet efforts.
Scheduled for a media unveiling Feb. 2 at Googles Mountain
View, Calif., headquarters, Honeycomb has been designed with larger screens in
mind, including a retooled, tablet-friendly virtual keyboard and…
Microsoft and Google executives traded barbs at the Farsight Summit over Googles accusations that Bing is copying its Web-search results. – Microsoft and Google executives engaged in some contentious back-and-forth during a Feb. 1 roundtable discussion at the Farsight Summit, suggesting emotions are high in the wake of Google accusing Bing of copying its Web-search results.
“Our testing has concluded that Bing is copying Google Web-se…
Microsoft vehemently denied copying Google search results but acknowledged using customer data to improve its Bing search engine. Google disagreed, and the back and forth flowed. – A vice president for Microsoft’s Bing team denied configuring the Bing
algorithm to copy Google search results in an effort to boost search market
share.
What Bing does use is quot;clickstream, quot; or customer data from its
Bing toolbar to improve its search results, said Harry Shum, corporat…
Google is accusing Microsoft’s Bing search engine of copying Googles Web-search results, just ahead of a major Microsoft search event. – Google officials are accusing
Microsofts Bing of “copying” their Web-search results.
“Our testing has concluded
that Bing is copying Google Web-search results, and Microsoft doesnt deny
this,” Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow, wrote in a Feb. 1 e-mail to eWEEK. “At
Google, we strongly believe in …
Microsoft suggested an "inefficiency" between Yahoo Mail and the Windows Phone Mail client is causing Windows Phone 7s unexplained data drain for some users. – Microsoft is
blaming Yahoo Mail for a “data-drain” bug affecting a small subset of Windows
Phone 7 devices.
For weeks, the
company had been investigating complaints of smartphones devouring users data,
even when not running applications or cruising the Web. Some users reported
that this unexp…
Microsoft’s earnings call dominated its week, with news of strong Kinect sales. Microsoft also fought TiVo and a Salesforce.com hire. – Microsofts
week was all about the numbers, courtesy of its Jan. 27 quarterly earnings
call.
For the three
months ended Dec. 31, Microsoft chalked up $19.95 billion in revenue and $6.63
billion in net income. It sold some 8 million Kinect units in the hands-free
controllers first 60 days of rel…
Microsoft is warning users about a bug impacting all supported versions of Windows. – Microsoft issued
an advisory on a Windows security vulnerability today after exploit code
for the bug went public.
The bug, which lies in the MHTML (MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML)
protocol handler, can be exploited to cause data leakage. Though
proof-of-concept code for the vulnerability…
Microsoft is betting that customers will embrace its cloud offerings, but executives on the Jan. 27 earnings call offered no timetable for that future ramp-up. – Microsoft may
have adopted an “all in” strategy with regard to the cloud, but its Jan. 27
earnings call suggests the company at least publicly is playing a bit loose
with its roadmap for client adoption of the technology.
That could be
a reflection of some companies reluctance to embrace the c…
Microsoft posted strong quarterly revenues off sales of Kinect and other products, but faces challenges in online services. Net income totaled $6.63 billion. – Numberswise, Microsoft’s latest quarterly earnings suggest a lot of upside
for the company, with a stronger-than-expected $19.95 billion in revenue and
$6.63 billion in net income. However, many of its latest and most high-profile
initiatives including Windows Phone 7 and cloud software have yet …
Microsoft could use its Jan. 27 earnings call to highlight Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 sales, and cloud-services adoption. But its profits could lag behind Apples. – Microsoft is set to announce its latest quarterly earnings
after the market closes Jan. 27.
Analyst estimates
posted by Thomson Reuters suggest the companys overall sales will hit
$19.15 billion, a slight year-over-year uptick, and $5.93 billion in profit.
Should the latter number come to pass…
Microsoft is moving to stop one of its former executives from joining cloud rival Salesforce.com, amidst increasing animosity between the two companies. – Microsoft and Salesforce.com find themselves locked in
conflict again, after the software giant filed a lawsuit to stop a former
executive from joining its cloud-services rival.
Salesforce.com had hired Matthew Miszewski whose LinkedIn
page states his former position as general
manager of world…
Microsofts Windows Phone 7 has shipped 2 million units to carriers, but the number of those sold to consumers remains unclear. – So, how many Windows Phone 7 devices have sold to consumers?
Thats the multibillion-dollar question without an official answer. During this Januarys Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a Microsoft executive told eWEEK that the company had never made a regular habit of releasing comprehensive sa…
The Web tool eases development chores for Windows-based sites, and despite some minor issues, does a good job making popular open-source Web projects more broadly accessible. – Microsofts WebMatrix is a
freely available development tool that lowers the barriers to creating Websites
atop the companys Windows operating system and IIS Web server tandem, both in
terms of locating and installing needed components, and coding data-driven Websites.
Predictably enough,
WebMat…
As part of its Technical Computing initiative, Microsoft opens a new Technical Computing Labs project under its MSDN DevLabs banner. – As
part of its Technical Computing initiative, Microsoft has launched a new effort
known as Technical
Computing Labs (TC Labs) for developers on Microsoft Developer Networks
(MSDN) DevLabs.
TC
Labs provides developers with the opportunity to learn about Technical
Computing technologies, get e…
Microsoft has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against TiVo, asking for an import ban on the latters digital video recorders. – Microsoft has filed a trade complaint against TiVo, accusing
the latter of infringing on four patents.
Microsoft is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission
to stop TiVo from importing its digital video recorders (DVRs). “Microsoft
seeks an order excluding TiVos infringing set-top boxes a…
