Thor Olavsrud

In a bid to make the Office 365 cloud-based productivity suite more attractive to European and US customers subject to regulatory compliance, Microsoft Wednesday announced it would accept contractual obligations and add new software features. In Europe, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said it would now sign the European Union’s standard contractual clauses—commonly referred to as “model clauses”—to […]

Microsoft Monday released an update of its Windows Azure cloud operating system with numerous new features, including a preview of an Apache Hadoop-based distribution for the platform that will add Big Data capabilities. “To help bolster Big Data capabilities on Windows Azure, we are releasing a preview of the Hadoop-based distribution on Windows Azure,” said […]

Placing the blame squarely on a severe shortage in hard disk drives (HDDs), Intel Monday said its fourth quarter revenues are likely to fall short by $1 billion. “The floods in Thailand have had an impact on hard disk drives and, as a result, on PCs,” Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told investors […]

Long-time collaborators Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard extended their relationship to the cloud Friday with a four-year initiative through which they will offer enterprises and governments communication and collaboration tools via public and private cloud services—and hybrid clouds services. Under the deal, HP (NYSE:HPQ) will become a reseller of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office 365, the cloud-based version Microsoft’s […]

Microsoft confirmed Tuesday evening that it would launch the beta program for the latest version of its Windows operating system in late February. It will open the doors on the Windows Store at the same time. Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Web Services at Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), made the announcement at a Windows Store […]

Microsoft Tuesday announced the availability of Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2, adding support for hybrid cloud environments, other enhancements and a number of bug fixes. “SP2 includes much anticipated features such as the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, Address Book Policies, Outlook Web App Mini and Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App, as well as customer […]

Ratcheting up the pressure on its closest competitor, Verizon Wireless Friday announced that it would acquire $3.6 billion worth of spectrum from SpectrumCo, a joint venture of cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The announcement comes a day after AT&T, the second largest wireless provider in the US, called the US […]

With the forthcoming Windows 8, Microsoft is aiming to make upgrading from older versions of its operating system as simple and streamlined as possible, and it is shifting gears to focus on delivering upgrades via the Web rather than physical discs. And users that go the online route won’t have to worry about entering a […]

Hewlett-Packard appears to have stopped the bleeding, but Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman said Monday that the process of repositioning the company poses many challenges and may take years. In its fourth quarter results, released Monday afternoon, HP (NYSE:HPQ) reported that net income was down 91 percent year-over-year. However, that still beat analysts’ expectations. HP […]

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Box has launched a new program intended to spur development of enterprise applications on its cloud-based content management system. To sweeten the deal, it’s putting up $2 million in funding for startups that are “chosen to support the growth and development of future enterprise applications built on the Box platform.” “Slow-moving enterprise […]