BUSINESSWEEK - Techbeat on August 19

Short answer: No. Not even close. Not for a long time, anyway.

Posted by: Rob Hof

Short answer: No. Not even close. Not for a long time, anyway.

But it’s sure trying hard, and it would be dangerous for anyone to write off Microsoft. Its determination was on display today at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s senior VP of search, portal, and advertising platform group, told the crowd that he sees searchers moving from merely typing keywords into Google to getting tasks done.

Not coincidentally, getting tasks done is essentially Microsoft’s main business, so that sounds a little too convenient. But in fact, searchers are already doing that to varying degrees. Nardella cited an interesting figure: About half the queries on Microsoft’s Live Search site are part of search sessions that extend over 30 minutes.

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Sillicon Alley Insider - Michael Learmonth | August 18, 2008 10:22 AM

Microsoft’s defense of its ad-targeting practices, laid out  in a response to a House inquiry: Sure, we collect data on our Web users. But we’ve been more responsible about it than other guys. And we’re not nearly as bad as the cable operators using spying services like NebuAd.

Microsoft says it began collecting data outside its own Web sites in 2006, when it launched a third-party ad network, and that activity accelerated after the acquisition of aQuantive in 2007. In its defense, Microsoft says it started offering an “opt-out” option on all pages on which it serves ads starting in the Spring. But it says a mere 1,800 users had taken advantage of it. (Our challenge for SAI readers: Please show us where where the “opt-out” option is on these pages. We’d love a screenshot.)

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InformationWeek , Aug 18, 2008 10:38 PM

Posted by Dave Methvin

I like XP, I really do. It’s got a lot of life in it, and runs on systems where Vista can’t even fit. But Taiwan’s announcement of an antitrust investigation into Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s retirement of XP is just crazy.

Let’s review where XP stands. Although you can’t buy a retail license of XP as of June 30, you can buy Vista Business or Vista Ultimate licenses and exercise the XP downgrade rights. Some major OEMs likeDell ( Dell) are are even listening to their customers and doing the downgrade at the factory. So although XP isn’t as easy to get or as cheap as it once was, it’s still available.

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BUSINESSWEEK - The Associated Press  August 15, 2008, 4:47PM ET

GENEVA.

The format used by Microsoft Corp.’s Office 2007 programs to save documents will become an international standard after appeals against the move failed to gather sufficient support, the International Organization for Standardization said Friday.

The decision ends months of wrangling over whether Microsoft’s Office Open XML format should be considered an open standard — a requirement for many lucrative government contracts.

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Fortune - August 14, 2008, 7:52 pm

By Yi-Wyn Yen

Former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi and former Nextel CEO John Chappel will join Carl Icahn as the newest additions to Yahoo’s board.

All eyes are on Icahn and his gang. The three amigos will need to start making changes to placate shareholders soon because if they don’t, it’s likely that nobody on the board will. The three were part of Icahn’s original proxy slate that ran under a campaign to sell Yahoo (YHOO) to Microsoft (MSFT). Icahn dropped the fight in July in exchange for three seats on the company’s board.

Shareholders are still waiting for Yahoo to come up with a plan that will drive up the stock. Since mid-June, when Yahoo announced that talks with Microsoft were over, the stock has dropped roughly 20% in value and has hovered in the low $20s. Microsoft had originally offered to buy Yahoo at $31-a-share. Earlier this month investors re-elected Yahoo’s eight incumbents. But investors signaled their unhappiness with CEO Jerry Yang and chairman Roy Bostock. Yang received 66.3% of the votes while Bostock received the least, with 60.4% votes.

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InformationWeek  - August 14, 2008 05:00 PM

A doctor in India filed suit to prevent the tech companies from showing search ads that promote pre-natal sex selection in violation of Indian law.

By Thomas Claburn

Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have been showing search ads in India that promote pre-natal sex selection in violation of Indian law, a public interest lawsuit charges.Google India, Yahoo India, and Microsoft have been asked by India’s Supreme Court to respond to a complaint filed by Dr. Sabu Mathew George, whose petition claims that the three companies have failed to follow India’s Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act (1994).

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