Microsoft lures buy-curious vixens, corduroys with a cheap fondle
Surface slab sales latest: Will no one rid Ballmer of these turbulent tabs?
Microsoft is slashing the price on its Windows 8-powered Surface RT tablets to slap the unwanted kit into students' palms.
For a limited time, Redmond will knock 60 per cent off the price of a 32GB ARM-driven fondleslab to $199 (£127); a 32GB with Touch Keyboard Cover will be slashed by 58 per cent to $249 (£158); and a 32GB RT …
Ex-Microsoft man plans brand of consumer marijuana 'fine cigars'
Puff the magic, drag on one of these
An ex-Microsoft executive plans to establish a chain of retail outlets serving premium marijuana across the US, both to get rich and - apparently - to undermine drugs traffickers.
James Shively is reported to buying up medical marijuana dispensaries in the states of Washington and Colorado and boasted the business will produce …
Minty fresh Linux: Olivia hits the virtual shelves
More MintSource, vicar?
The Linux Mint project has released version 15 of the desktop that they’re calling the “most ambitious release since the start of the project.”
New features in Linux Mint - based on Ubuntu - include elements designed to make management and use easier and smoother.
The distro also features a driver manager for installing and …
Former Microsoft Windows chief: I was right to kill the Start button
And to leave halfway through the Win 8 rollout
Ex-Windows chief Steven Sinofsky is “happy” with the miserable sales record of tablets and PCs running his Windows 8 baby.
Speaking at the Wall St Journal’s D11 conference yesterday, Sinofsky pitched sales of Windows 8 licences as something to be proud of, saying the jury’s out on who will win - Apple, Android/Samsung... …
Google nuke thyself: Mountain View's H.264 righteous flame-out
How MPEG LA tamed a giant - and will again
Back in 2010, champions of a free web were ecstatic over Google's plan to seed the internet with a patent-free video. VP8 was going to crush the patent-heavy H.264, now celebrating its 10th birthday. Or so we were told.
In May of 2010, Google open-sourced VP8, the video compression codec component to the audio-visual WebM format …
Drupal hacked, resets passwords after millions of accounts exposed
Websites running our CMS are safe, insists top brass
Hackers are believed to have compromised the accounts of millions of users operating or developing the Drupal open-source content management system (CMS).
The Drupal Association says an individual or group has gained unauthorised access to the accounts on its Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org sites.
Information exposed includes …
Opera debuts Chromium-luvvin' desktop browser Next 15
Replumbed Norwegian browser beta released
The biggest change to Opera's browser in 17 years has debuted, with code for Opera Next released today for Windows and Mac.
Opera Software today announced the beta availability of a completely re-engineered version of its browser that rips out the old plumbing in favour of Chromium, the open-source code that's the basis for …
SAP in search of autistic software engineers who 'think different'
Pilot scheme goes global after team productivity boost
SAP wants to hire engineers diagnosed with autism - or people who "think differently" in the words of the enterprise software giant.
In a big push to fill out its ranks of developers, testers and bods involved in data quality assurance, SAP has turned to Specialisterne, a group dedicated to finding work for those with autism. …
Yahoo 'won't screw Tumblr'? Then Tumblr will screw its balance sheet
Comment Mayer attempts to saddle up the web-ad unicorn
Famously, Yahoo! has promised during its $1.1bn buy of hipster blog site Tumblr not to "screw it up".
If I was a Yahoo! shareholder, I should hope not - given the head-spinning number of dollars. But not screwing up is like Google’s promise to “not do Evil” – impossible to comply with, and something people throw back at you.
In …
Word 2 to Office 365 and beyond: The good, the bad and the Ribbon
Live Chat Discuss Microsoft's past and future here, Friday, 24 May, 14:00
Since the pioneering work of Word and Excel daddy Charles Simonyi, Microsoft has set the gold standard on productivity applications on the PC.
With the Office software suite, Microsoft built a moneymaker worth billions of dollars that has been further sustained by a network of devs who’ve reinforced the cash machine with add-ons …
Biz bods: Tile-tastic Windows 8? NOOO. We lust after 'mature' Win 7
Tired corporates prefer predecessor, says analyst
Windows 8 won't become an enterprise IT standard as customers dump Microsoft's legacy PC operating system XP. Instead, corporate IT departments will stick to what they know and install Windows 7.
That’s according to technology analyst Forrester, which reckoned Windows 7 is fast becoming the de-facto PC operating system for big …
Lonely-heart Maltese techie vs Bonnie Tyler for Eurovision crown
Eurovision 2013 32 years since that Bucks Fizz feelin'
A hopelessly sweet song about a ruthlessly organised techie who gets the girl will fight with the ballad from rock vixen Bonnie Tyler and 24 other acts to lift the Eurovision Song Contest crown Saturday night.
Gianluca Bezzina will represent not just his home land of Malta but carry the misty eyed wishes of girl-shy geeks Europe …
Hey, Teflon Ballmer. Look, isn't it time? You know, time to quit?
Analysis Microsoft chief defies pundits by hanging on - we reveal how
Those who upgraded to Windows 8 aren't the only ones unhappy with the new touch-driven operating system - Wall Street is too. Just don't expect any of the criticism hurled at Steve "Teflon" Ballmer, Microsoft's shy and retiring boss, to stick.
The chief executive is under fire from money men who responded to tech reporters …
Software AG attempts to barge aboard crowded Cloud bandwagon
Vorsprung durch folgende, nicht wahr?
Software AG is late to the cloud computing party - but Europe’s second largest maker of on-premises enterprise software has vowed to “get it right”.
Daren Roos, chief operating officer at the German giant, told The Reg: “We will deliver something that works. We are committed to doing a proper cloud.”
And to prove it, he …
Microsoft: YES! You can have your desktop back again for FREE!
No, no, no need to thank us - we love you all
Microsoft has confirmed that it will issue its Blue update to Windows 8 without charge, with first code scheduled at the company’s Build conference starting on June 26.
This is in line with Redmond's previous policy in which users have been charged only for an entirely new iteration of the Windows OS, not for service packs and …
Bill & Jobs' excellent adventure: Steve's tech looked better than mine
Design eye for the QWERTY guy
“We did tablets – lots of tablets – well before Apple did, but they put these pieces together in a way that succeeded.”
Bill Gates had a few kind words for old rival Steve Jobs at the weekend, conceding Apple’s late co-founder had a gift for design and admitting that Microsoft had missed its opportunities on tablets.
In an …
World Web Consortium warms HTML bed for forced DRM snuggle
Web fragmentation argument beaten by web fragmentation defence
The World Web Consortium (W3C) is pressing ahead with plans to standardise Digital Rights Management (DRM) in HTML, despite opposition to the proposal.
The W3C's chief executive Jeff Jaffe announced imminent publication of a first draft of the specification for Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) on Thursday.
The draft is now here …
Office 365 supremo seizes control of Microsoft's purse strings
Redmond's first female CFO credited with services cash shift
Top Microsoft exec Amy Hood, who masterminded the multi-billion-dollar Skype and Yammer deals, is Redmond's new CFO.
Hood was named today as the new custodian of the corporate purse. She replaces numbers-man Peter Klein, who announced his exit in April but will stay on until June.
She is the first woman to occupy the chief …
Coke? Windows 8 is Microsoft's 'Vista moment'. Again
PCs built for people not designed by data
Microsoft has decided to backtrack on Windows 8 and loosen the Metro straitjacket the new OS applies to the traditional desktop.
This U-turn is being described by commentators as Microsoft’s ""New Coke Moment" – where a business drops a brand-new flavour and reverts to the trusted and loved old recipe following a backlash from …
Microsoft: All RIGHT, you can have your Start button back
We blew it but now we're gonna Blue it, says Redmond
Big changes to "key" parts of Windows 8 are coming after Microsoft admitted it “could and should have done more” on its big answer to Apple’s iOS for tablets.
“Key aspects” of Windows 8 will be changed, head of marketing and finance for Microsoft’s Windows group Tami Reller has told the Financial Times (log-in needed).
Reller …
Oracle, SAP under attack: How cloud upstarts steal their lunch
Analysis Biz bosses can't wait to offload gear to rivals, or so we're told
After more than 20 years coining it, the Goliaths of the lucrative enterprise software world are about to meet their Davids: nimble rivals touting technology at a sensible price.
And as we shall see, with customers jumping on cheaper services, ultimately the giants could be destroyed by their reliance on expensive support …
Google Chrome slips web fix to addicts suffering net withdrawal
Cache and carry on surfing
A Google engineer has bunged an "offline mode" into the advertising giant's cloud-backed Chrome web browser. It allows users to access previously visited pages if there's suddenly no working internet connection.
Chocolate Factory programmer Randy Smith said he's added an initial implementation of the disconnected mode to the …
Mozilla accuses Gamma of dressing up dictators' spyware as Firefox
Maker of spooks' fave FinSpy served cease-and-desist
Firefox-maker Mozilla claims spook supplier Gamma International disguises its spyware as the popular web browser - and wants it to stop.
The non-profit software foundation slapped a cease-and-desist demand on UK-based FinFisher developer Gamma. In the legal letter, Mozilla said its Firefox trademark is being violated and that …
'I still get on the phone for a $5k deal' - NetSuite CEO's anti-SAP mission
Interview Big cheese spells out tough world of Salesforce and other enterprise tech rivals
California-based Salesforce has been an unstoppable force in Software as a Service (SaaS) for 14 years. It pulled in $3.05bn in revenue last year, and just booted rival enterprise tech maker SAP from its slot as the world's number-one customer relationship management software (CRM) company.
But there’s another SaaS company that …
Amazon: Hard luck Microsoft, AWS will always be cheaper
We're in the driving seat and the only way is down
Amazon’s struck back at Microsoft camp over its "lowering" of its cloud computing prices by touting Amazon’s track record for saving money.
The etailer-turned-cloud-giant’s chief technology officer Werner Vogels yesterday claimed there had been 31 price reductions in AWS since the service went live in 2006 – seven years ago.
He …
Feds urged to probe four US cell big boys over Android holes
Updated Security threat means 'unfair and deceptive business practices'
The four biggest US cell networks could face a government probe, following allegations that security updates for Android smartphones have been held back, leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to hackers.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has formally asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct an investigation …
Google tells Microsoft IE shops: We can help you with those 'legacy apps'
Offers Explorer users Chrome migration extension with long lists
Google is chucking Chrome at businesses whose applications are hardwired to Internet Explorer - and coupled its offer with a snub to Redmond, claiming its once-proud browser has become "legacy".
The Chocolate Factory today released the Chrome Legacy Browser Support extension that - with additional fiddling courtesy of your IT …
Foxconn must pay Microsoft for EVERY Android thing it makes
New deal to earn dosh from Google's labours
Microsoft will collect a royalty for every device built by Foxconn that runs Google operating systems Android or Chrome OS.
Hon Hai, the parent of the Chinese electronics behemoth, confirmed today it has inked a deal to license unspecified Microsoft patents on smartphones, tablets and TVs built by Foxconn that use Google's Linux …
Office 365 - what's in it for you? Speak your brains
Live Chat Navigate the features and licensing maze with Mary-Jo Foley and Team Reg
Microsoft Office is the planet’s most ubiquitous productivity suite and Word and Excel still set the standard on personal productivity apps.
The way the software suite is embedded in each office's day-to-day business means that with each new update, Microsoft finds itself struggling to convince people to upgrade. After all, the …
Teradata buffs Hadoop for the biz intelligence masses
Tools without the HDFS headache
Teradata has polished Apache’s Hadoop Big Data framework for business intelligence and added new tools for quicker and easier querying of massed data.
The data warehousing and BI giant has released Teradata Enterprise Access for Hadoop, which includes two new features: Smart Loader for Hadoop and its trademarked SQL-H.
Teradata …
Survey: FOSS biz fans aching for 'enterprise-class' support
6 in 10 suits would even pay for it
The absence of enterprise-grade support for free and open-source software (FOSS) is the single biggest pain point for business customers who are using it.
That’s according to a survey by data-centre automation company Univa, which found 64 per cent of respondents were prepared to pay for supported open-source software.
The …
Firefox 'death sentence' threat to TeliaSonera over gov spy claims
Mozilla may snub telecom giant's new SSL certs
Firefox-maker Mozilla could issue a "death sentence" to TeliaSonera's SSL business over allegations the telecoms giant sold Orwellian surveillance tech to dictators.
The punishment would be an embarrassing blow to the company: it would effectively cut off HTTPS-encrypted websites verified by TeliaSonera from Firefox users, who …
Microsoft brings back Windows watch after Apple seeks 'flexible' bod
Wrap THIS round your appendage, Cupertino
Microsoft is working on a touch-enabled watch despite calling time last year on its earlier efforts. The revelation comes hot on the heels of rumours that rival Apple is working on an iWatch - which were further fuelled by Cupertino's posting of a job ad for a flexible display expert.
The Wall St Journal reports that Microsoft …
Dell axes IT channel middlemen, installs Windows in the factory
Wanna buy a Dell till? No need to pay that integrator
Microsoft has granted Dell the power to install Windows on specialised computers before they leave the factory - neatly bypassing the distribution channel.
Typically, customers buy these machines via an integrator, which provides the software with the kit.
But now Dell's hardware-building biz OEM Solutions can manufacture and …
Mozilla CEO exits just as Firefox mobiles roll out
Two years a long stint in Mozilla time
Mozilla's chief executive is stepping down amid a re-positioning of the managerial brass after barely two years into a mission to take Firefox mobile.
Gary Kovacs, appointed Mozilla's third CEO in November 2010, will vacate his position "later this year" with the Firefox shop now beginning a search for a brand-new chief …
Foot-long slab too big? Microsoft 'has a 7-incher' to stroke
Smaller Surface tab rumoured to chase iPad Mini sales
Microsoft will put a smaller, 7-inch Windows 8-powered Surface laptop-cum-tablet into production this year, according to insiders.
Shrinking the touchscreen slab wasn't part of Microsoft's strategy when the then-Windows chief Steven Sinofsky unveiled Redmond's own 12-inch Surfaces and similar-sized Windows 8 devices from PC …
Maggie Thatcher: The Iron Lady who saved us from drab Post Office mobes
Obituary Who loves their fibre broadband? Now you know who to thank
Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister who worked alongside the world's first business computer and who privatised the UK's phone network, has died. She was 87.
When Britain's Iron Lady came to power in 1979, your average Brit had just one phone, which was fixed to a wall by a wire and connected to a network …
Office for Mac 2008 support umbilical chopped off
But you can buy it again, and keep on buying it
Mac fans wedded to Microsoft Office face a stark choice on April 9 – upgrade or continue running the unsupported Office for Mac 2008.
April 9 2013 is the date when Microsoft will stop providing new code and security fixes for Office for Mac 2008, which launched in January 2008.
Redmond is urging Mac users to take out an Office …
Tick-tock! 40% of PCs start Windows XP malware meltdown countdown
In 365 days, you'll be on your own against the hackers
With one year to go until Microsoft kills free support for Windows XP, if you haven’t got a migration plan in place it’s time to start doing something about it... but don't panic, say the migration experts.
One year from today, on 8 April 2014, Microsoft will stop fixing broken code and no longer release security patches for …
Gartner: RIP PCs - tablets will CRUSH you this year
Bad luck, Windows - you'll do better in 4 more years
PC sales are in terminal decline thanks to the continued popularity of tablets and there’s nothing an anticipated surge in ultramobiles can do to stop it.
That’s according to beancounters at Gartner, who reckon the outcome will be anaemic growth rates for Microsoft’s Windows in 2013 as Google’s Android blows the doors off. …
Google goes on the Blink in WebKit fork FURORE
Comment Diversity be damned: The view from Mountain View
When Opera Software killed its web browser's rendering engine Presto, and announced it will instead use WebKit, the company did so with the best intentions.
WebKit was a surefire bet: by mainlining the brain juice of Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari - the top dogs on the web and on smartphones - Opera hoped to break out of …
If Google got a haircut, a tie and a suit, would it be Microsoft?
Nobody ever got fired for downloading Chrome. Hmm
Prepare yourself. It's a new month, and that can only mean a tsunami of articles on the popularity of Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox will flood the globe's news aggregators.
For non-mobile computers, March followed the trend emerging over the past 12 months: growth for Chrome, a drop in use of IE and Firefox stuck in a …
Paypal struggles free of VMware lock-in, goes with OpenStack
Deed heeds its need for speed
Paypal is floating thousands of its servers on open-source OpenStack and sidelining VMware to become faster than smaller competitors at building payment apps for the cloud.
eBay’s payment arm hopes for tens of thousands of nodes – half its current total - running on OpenStack by the summer. Paypal is understood to be replacing …
Blighty's revolutionary Cold War teashop computer - and Nigella Lawson
Geek's Guide to Britain Nuclear missile with your sponge finger, sir?
The Victorian offices were bulldozed long ago for a stack of flats and mirrored offices, and there's not a single indication to the significance of this site - or what happened here.
This isn't the scene of a lost battle, and the bones of a missing Plantagenet king do not slumber beneath the car park serving the offices.
Sixty- …
Next from Microsoft: 'Blue', the Windows 8 they hope you don't hate
Vid People are used to a blue screen with Windows, right?
Windows Blue - the supposedly leaked sequel to Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system - will apparently look a lot more like Windows Phone 8 and allow users to further personalise their computers.
Copies of what appears to be build 9364 of Windows Blue are circulating on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks; once the alpha-grade …
ARM's new CEO: You'll get no 'glorious new strategy' from me
Past performance no guarantee of future success, though
ARM Holdings is the kind of quiet success story Britain excels at, and really the sort of thing the data-fiddlers of Silicon Roundabout should aspire to be doing.
ARM doesn’t wrangle data and pass it off as a business model. It designs patentable processor technology that has turned US, Japanese and South Korean electronics …
How to survive a UEFI BOOT-OF-DEATH on Samsung laptops
Matthew Garrett reveals the software surgery needed
Former Red Hatter Matthew Garrett, who cleared Linux's name when the open-source kernel appeared to cause shiny new Samsung laptops to destroy themselves, has offered a survival guide to avoid similar catastrophes.
Nebula programmer Garrett this week warned that Samsung laptops may brick themselves if the computer's UEFI …
Boffin road trip! The Reg presents Geek's Guide to Britain
Geek's Guide to Britain Brains that made Britain exposed, mapped and viewed
Which country is credited with designing more than half of the world’s most important inventions. Is it Germany, home of the VW? Japan, birthplace of the Walkman? The US, land of NASA and Google? No: Britain.
Scientists, engineers, architects and inventors in Britain have made their mark on the world with trains, jet engines, …
Brit web biz waves white flag in Python trademark bout
Veber flees snake pit of online attacks and death threats
UK website hoster Veber has binned its bid to exclusively trademark the word “python” in Europe following talks with the Python Software Foundation (PSF).
In an agreement described by both sides as “amicable”, Veber will also rebrand its hosting and online backup service that it had called Python. The British company and the PSF …
Reg live natter with GNOME superstar Miguel de Icaza
Live Chat Let your fingers do the talking ...
If anyone is a paid-up member of the open source club, surely it is Miguel de Icaza.
He helped found the GNOME UI and desktop beloved by millions and claimed to be the most popular desktop environment for GNU/Linux and UNIX-type operating systems.
For GNOME, De Icaza earned the MIT Innovators under-35 award in 1999, beating …
