http://news.cnet.com/8300-13860_3-56.html Beyond Binary en-us A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com Copyright 1995-2008 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:10:00 PST Windows 7 beta in January? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10112024-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Windows enthusiasts were buzzing on Tuesday over a Microsoft blog posting that makes it seem as if a beta version of Windows 7 should be ready by next month.

In a blog posting on Microsoft's Technet site, Keith Combs suggests those wanting to get their hands on the beta ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10112024-56.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:10:00 PST Ina Fried Microsoft-HP cashback saga continues http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10112023-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Microsoft is still trying to sort things out following a glitch on Friday that prevented people from getting a promised 40 percent cash back on purchases made on HP.com via Microsoft's Live Search Cashback program.

A crush of traffic led to a glitch that apparently led to a ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10112023-56.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:52:00 PST Ina Fried Microsoft expands Vista SP2 testing http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10111587-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Microsoft said on Tuesday that it is ready for broader testing of Windows Vista Service Pack 2, the second collection of fixes for the latest version of the operating system. In addition to bug fixes and performance tweaks, Service Pack 2 adds support for Blu-ray, Bluetooth 2.1, and Windows ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10111587-56.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:04:00 PST Ina Fried Windows Live gets its social makeover http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10111403-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary (Credit: The new Windows Live Home page bears more than a passing resemblance to social sites like Facebook.)

Microsoft has started to roll out a series of changes, outlined in November, that give Windows Live a more social networking-like feel.

Windows Live staples such ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10111403-56.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:04:00 PST Ina Fried Microsoft puts data centers on wheels http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10111198-75.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary

Microsoft is taking its container approach to data centers a step further, making the building housing the data center itself a module.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=b4d189d3-19bd-42b3-85d7-6ca46d97fe40" target="_new" title="Microsoft Generation 4.0 Data Center Vision">Video: Microsoft Generation 4.0 Data Center Vision</a>

In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft detailed what the "generation four" data centers will look like.

"This is a

...

Originally posted at News - Microsoft

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10111198-75.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:50:00 PST Ina Fried Microsoft apologizes for Cashback glitches http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10110422-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Microsoft on Monday apologized for glitches on its Live Search Cashback site, which frustrated online shoppers looking to scoop up Black Friday deals.

Amid heavy volume on Friday, consumers encountered a range of problems from site sluggishness to seeing the wrong amount of cash back show up in their accounts. ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10110422-56.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:07:00 PST Ina Fried Blockbuster working on Live Mesh app http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10110249-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Blockbuster and Microsoft are working together on an effort to use Live Mesh as a means to give consumers a way to reach their video content from a variety of devices.

A Microsoft representative said on Monday that Microsoft's Live Services team is working with Blockbuster on "building some ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10110249-56.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:59:00 PST Ina Fried Microsoft, Yahoo said in talks on search deal http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10109877-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary Updated 6:15 AM PST November 30

According to one report, Yahoo and Microsoft may once again be working on a search deal.

The Times of London reported this weekend that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo's search business for $20 billion. According to the paper, former AOL ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10109877-56.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:56:00 PST Ina Fried Five big things Microsoft got right http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10109406-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary With so many people pointing out the external challenges and internal missteps from Microsoft, it is easy to pile on criticism.

One longtime watcher of the company, Directions on Microsoft, has a new report out looking at five big things the software maker has done right.

The analysis is on the Internet ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10109406-56.html Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:23:00 PST Ina Fried Energizer says Microsoft's a great host http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10105084-56.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=BeyondBinary SAN FRANCISCO--One might think that as a CIO, it would be tough to have someone else running all of your desktops and many of your servers.

Not so, says Randy Benz, CIO of Energizer. For more than three years, Energizer has handed off much of those duties to Microsoft. And ...

]]> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10105084-56.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:00:00 PST Ina Fried