Today Microsoft is posting a commissioned study conducted by The Harrison Group to determine whether there is a high correlation between the presence of unlicensed software in mid-market companies and IT related problems those companies might face. Not surprisingly companies that have more counterfeit software in their environment tend to have more .. more »

Helping small businesses not just survive but thrive is key to our global economic recovery. Together, small and midsize businesses employ the majority of the world’s workforce and as we all know, will be the key to future job creation. Cutting costs and being more productive are top of mind for all of us, including small business owners who had to.. more »

The July 2010 Optional Update is now available on the ECE for Microsoft Windows Embedded Point of Service and/or Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. This update includes additional Japanese fonts, namely the "Meiryo Collection Version 5.00 for Windows XP to increase legibility of characters on LCD screens". If you have questions on accessing the ECE, .. more »

If you are a user of the Point of Service newsgroup you might have seen the announcements in the newsgroup that they are to be discontinued in June. Here is the essence of the announcement which supplies answers to some common questions- What is Happening? This message is to inform you that Microsoft will soon begin discontinuing newsgroups and .. more »

I’m sure most of you have used the Windows 7 Calculator for the odd sum that you need to quickly add up, but it turns out this calculator is much improved on previous versions of Windows. There’s a whole bunch of other features thrown in there which you mightn’t know about at first. Here’s a couple of them; How many times have you needed to work out.. more »

that it would be phasing out Windows XP on its new computers this month, ahead of Microsoft’s October 22 deadline. The company suggested that customers still needing to run Windows XP applications do so using Windows 7′s XP Mode feature. that Windows XP would not be offered as a preinstalled OS after October 22, though customers still have the righ.. more »

I saw a recent DOJ case the other day that highlights the risks of buying counterfeit software. The DOJ  (PDF link) says that the individual who sold the counterfeit software through online auctions also utilized a keylogger to capture account numbers and passwords send them back to himself. This case is a good example of how more can be at risk wh.. more »

Hi, I’m Alex Heaton, Group Product Manager for Windows Intune at Microsoft. Today, I’m happy to share some news about which is our forthcoming solution for PC management and security. Windows Intune brings together both Windows cloud services and software to keep PC’s well managed and up to date with the latest version of Windows. Windows Intune.. more »

Throughout our ongoing conversations with customers, specifically the business executives and IT pros, we’ve recognized a common thread across all the organizations. Regardless of size or business, there is a strong need to balance the needs of the end user with the requirements of the organization to maintain strong security and reduce costs. Th.. more »

1. Start a command prompt. This can be done by clicking on Run from the Start menu, typing ‘cmd’ and pressing Enter. 2. Extract the file from the package by changing directories to the directory where you have saved the update and typing the following at the command prompt: is the path where you would like to expand the update file, you may choo.. more »

Windows Embedded for Point of Service RTM is a SKU based on Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, and has utilized XP SP2 updates for servicing. Support for Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 retired after the July, 2010 updates, however Windows Embedded for Point of Service RTM support does not retire until after the October, 2010 updates. .. more »

With the sales of Windows 7 continuing to bestrong and the upcoming release of the restarted Windows Mobile platform: Windows Phone 7, the consumer product which has inspired the mobile OS reboot continues to take a back seat in the headlines even as it continues to progress. Zune may not bethe most popular Microsoft brand out there, but it’s lo.. more »

windows phone logo 300x300 150x150 First Windows Phone 7 Advert Hits the Web The first advertisement for Windows Phone 7 has emerged, this one on YouTube on the WindowsPhoneUK channel. The advert that the site says was shown at a secret cinema screening and is not for television, shows a Windows Phone 7 device appearing in a desert as a mirage. The .. more »

Just a friendly reminder that the Gadget Development Contest for Windows SideShow entry period ends this coming Friday, July 18, at 11:59pm PDT, so be sure to get your entries finished and submitted before then!  We want to see what you can do! - Dan.. more »

In this release we're making it easier to install and stay up to date with the latest release of WGA Notifications. We've changed the installation experience and are again using the Windows Update install prompt we have used previously. There are a couple of reasons we're doing this now. One is that in recent research, customers (particularly the .. more »

We’ve been talking about the value that Windows 7 Professional brings to small businesses for a while, including productivity benefits that can help businesses save time and money. Today we’d like to share some details from an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft , which explores the business value and return on investment (ROI) of Windows 7 for .. more »

We’ve been talking a lot lately about the value of desktop virtualization and how to get the biggest bang for your buck from it. We certainly recognize that you have your work cut out for you – managing your technology infrastructure in a way that ensures the highest degree of security and compliance while also managing the proliferation of appl.. more »

Small businesses are the genesis of all large companies today. While it’s hard to believe, we’re a good example of this. Microsoft started with two employees – Bill Gates and Paul Allen and grew to more than 90,000 employees today, with 1.1 billion PC users worldwide. Key to this growth, Bill and Paul had a clear vision for how personal comput.. more »

Hello, I’m Olivia Riley Cornejo, and starting today I’ll be blogging about the experiences some of our commercial customers (large and small) are having in their Windows 7 deployments. Hopefully their stories will help answer questions you may be having about migrating to Windows 7 in your own environment and inspire you to try it for yourself. Oh, .. more »

Hello my Name is Nachiket Acharya and today I am going to talk about usefulness of an SDK and use it to create applications for the SDK. Brent Bishop has posted an article on this site for Automating the Creation of an OS Design Project and Modifying an OS Design Programmatically. In this article – we will discuss what the importance of an SDK is.. more »