MICROSOFT

Amazon said on Thursday that it will begin offering music from Sony BMG without digital rights management, allowing purchases to freely distribute the downloads.

In its second executive shuffle of the year, Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday that the head of the unit which produces its valued Office software suite, plans to retire in September to be replaced by Stephen Elop, the former chief operating officer at Juniper Networks.

Microsoft will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple's iPhone, Chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No, we won't do that. In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile program, Gates was quoted as saying in the interview published on Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp sought to bolster its enterprise search efforts and increase its European presence as it announced Tuesday that it will offer to acquire Norwegian search firm Fast Search & Transfer ASA for about $1.2 billion.

Players in Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming community can soon watch television shows and movies on demand in addition to playing games, the world's largest software maker said.

Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates at the world's largest technology show predicts that his industry is on the cusp of the next digital decade.

Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it will offer a free downloadable video game to users of its Xbox online gaming service after the network was plagued with connection troubles over the holidays. Xbox Live General Manager Mark Whitten said the problems stemmed from a massive increase in new users of the service over the holiday season, when sales of video game hardware and software surge.

Microsoft Corp sold 4.3 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the last three months of 2007, helped by hit titles such as Halo 3 and Mass Effect, according to company data released on Thursday. But the software giant also said it was disappointed with problems that had plagued its online gaming service for days and offered a free downloadable game to more than 8 million users.

You're doomed if you think those grandiose I'll never waste money or buy anything on impulse again resolutions are going to stick. They'll be gone before the leftover spinach dip if you don't whittle them down to size.

The software company co-founded by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates nearly two years ago is seeing the benefits of more stringent intellectual property policies in China, with a decline in piracy rates and improved results at its mainstay Windows division.

Microsoft has signed a deal to share detailed information about its Windows software with a free software group, marking one of the first concrete results of the European Commission's anti-trust sanctions meted against the software giant.

A Microsoft General Manager broke Microsoft's silence regarding Internet Explorer 8 by sharing details on a blog post of about its new web browser that will launch in the first half of 2008.

Microsoft Corporation, Google Inc., and Yahoo! pay fines amounted $31.5 million with the U.S to resolve claims on their past promotion of illegal gambling, United States attorney said Wednesday.

Viacom announced a 5 year alliance with the world's largest software company on Wednesday, giving the content created significant online reach.

Microsoft launched a test version of virtualization software ahead of schedule that will compete with offerings from the technology’s market leader VMWare.

Opera Software, a smaller competitor in the web browser business, asked European Commission regulators on Thursday to investigate the possibility of anti-competitive conduct by Microsoft Corp over the inclusion of the Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system.

A small Norwegian maker of Web browsers, backed by an industry coalition, has filed the first complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission since the software giant lost a landmark antitrust case earlier this year.

Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it has acquired Multimap, one of Britain's top online mapping companies, for an undisclosed sum in attempt to offer better targeted advertising.

Corp. on Wednesday completed the acquisition of Multimap, one of U.K.'s top online mapping companies at undisclosed amount, in a move to boost its advertising business.

Microsoft Corp released on Tuesday the first major update for Office 2007 a month ahead of schedule.

Microsoft Inc announced the launch of its beta Office Live Workspace on Monday, marking its debut onto the already bustling arena of web-based programs.