After Microsoft acquired Skype earlier this month for $8.5 billion, most of the questions revolved around how Skype's IM, voice and video calling features will fit into Microsoft enterprise products such as Outlook and Lync.
How do you solve a problem like Apple and Google?
Research firm Gartner yesterday gave Microsoft a hard diss on the tablet front by not including Redmond in its recent tablet-OS four-year forecast.
Although Google Apps has made progress over the past few years as a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite for businesses, the first big wave of adopters have been government agencies, schools and nonprofit organizations.
Windows Intune, Microsoft's Web-based PC management and security platform, is available today for purchase or for a 30-day free trial.
Marquette University's IT department deployed unified communications tools to improve collaboration among faculty and staff - IT staff collaboration wasn't the priority. But as it turned out, Microsoft's Lync suite of voice, videoconferencing and instant messaging tools proved to be IT's life raft during a snowstorm-related data center calamity.
Is your Windows 7 PC as secure as it could be?
The business benefits of a cloud computing model have been well stated. You cut costs by switching to more flexible on-demand IT resources that can better handle the ebb and flow technology needs at a company.
This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas had the biggest audience since the pre-recession 2008 show, hopefully an early indicator of economic recovery in 2011.
Anticipation was high before this week's Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Microsoft would once and for all present a viable iPad competitor.
What are the implications if Microsoft fails or falls behind in the tablet PC race, which at its current pace, is a decent possibility?
It's always a challenge for IT departments to anticipate how corporate technical demands will evolve, especially when IT budgets have been as tight as a drum for two years.
Lync, the next generation of Microsoft's Office Communications Server software, was unveiled yesterday in New York City, complete with a surprise appearance from Bill Gates via Lync's video conference tool.
Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie's plan to retire, announced in a memo by CEO Steve Ballmer, marks the end of a five-year tenure during which Ozzie helped steer the company to a cloud computing model and helped develop Windows Azure.
Google recently celebrated the <a href="http://advice.cio.com/shane_oneill/12926/3_million_businesses_go_google_but_microsoft_battles_still_about_search">3 millionth business to sign on for Google Apps</a>. Although it's hard to tell what that really means because Google Apps revenue is still tiny, the milestone does signify customer growth and momentum.