The on again off again courtship between Yahoo and Microsoft has taken another turn. The Redmond software giant, is in talks to buy Yahoo Inc.’s search business for $20 billion. Microsoft does not plan to bid for all of the Internet-services giant, after it abandoned a $47.5 billion proposal last summer. Under a deal the companies are planning, Microsoft also would support new management for Yahoo, possibly led by Jonathan Miller, the former chairman and chief executive of AOL. Two weeks ago, Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder, stepped down as CEO.

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

“An application has expectedly quit. Windows 3.x has come to the closing moments of its long life. On 1 November Microsoft stopped issuing licences for the software that made its debut in May 1990 in the US. The various versions of Windows 3.x (including 3.11) released in the early 1990s, were the first of Microsoft’s graphical user interfaces ..”

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On the 25th anniversary of the Windows operating system, TIME looks back at some of Microsoft’s biggest wins — and its worst mistakes

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The third ad for Microsoft’s new campaign. “Not Alone” and in this ad no Jerry Seinfeld this time. Bill Gates makes a brief appearance. The main message here is that PC users are in all walks of life and are not the typical stereotyped user some would have you believe.

Tags: Bill Gates, Microsoft

The second ad for Microsoft’s new campaign. I like the hidden humor in the commercial, but I still don’t see where this ad campaign is going. Maybe these first 2 ads are just to get people watching. I’m interested to see where this goes for all that money. Will they go with the merits of a PC or bag the opposition?

Tags: Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft

Microsoft has started its new ad campaign featuring its founder Bill Gates and sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld.

This is part of a new USD $300 million ad campaign being developed for Microsoft, which is aimed at combating the public’s poor perception of the company’s latest PC operating system Windows Vista. Vista has been continually slammed in the media since its release as being hard to use compared with rival products from Apple.

I watched the ad and well its quirky and a little strange at best. Will this campaign help restore faith in Vista just in time for the release of the next version of windows or will it die a horrible slow death?

At least I’m glad to see Microsoft get up off the deck and at least return serve to the Apple Mac v PC ads that have been so successful. These star the totally annoying dweeb Justin Long who is supposed to represent the Mac and the fantastic John Hodgman repping the PC. I just love the role John Hodgman plays, he just makes it.

The latest Get A Mac vs PC ad is “Off The Air” so check it out.

Tags: Apple, Microsoft

Shares of Yahoo Inc tumbled 21 percent in pre-market trade on Monday after Microsoft Corp withdrew its $47.5 billion takeover offer for the Internet search and media company.
The decline also followed Citibank’s downgrade on Yahoo shares to “sell” from “buy”.

The stock tumbled to $22.65 on Monday morning. The shares rose nearly 7 percent to $28.67 on Friday on hopes of an agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo.

Yahoo shares fell 15 percent to $24.37 by market close today.

Source: Reuters

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

Microsoft said Saturday that it was abandoning its blockbuster bid to acquire Yahoo after the two companies could not agree on a price.
The breakdown followed a meeting in Seattle on Saturday morning between Microsoft C.E.O. Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, and Yahoo C.E.O. Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder and chief executive.

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REDMOND, Washington, May 04, 2008. Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO).

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Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

Ask the average consumer on the street about Windows and many will insist XP is less annoying, more stable and works just fine, thanks.

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Tags: Microsoft, Vista