Sunday, February 24, 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 - caveat emptor on licensing issues!

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.

Microsoft was established to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The company's 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.

As of 2013, Microsoft is market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including internet search (with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be entering the PC vendor market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface tablet computer.

In the 1990s, critics began to contend that Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws.

History

1975?83: Founding and company beginnings

Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion in computer programming, were seeking to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems's (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer. Allen noticed that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device; after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didn't actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter. Although they developed the interpreter on a simulator and not the actual device, the interpreter worked flawlessly when they demonstrated the interpreter to MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 1975; MITS agreed to distribute it, marketing it as Altair BASIC. They officially established Microsoft on April 4, 1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the original name of "Micro-Soft," as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, "ASCII Microsoft". The company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979.

Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, called Xenix. However, it was MS-DOS that solidified the company's dominance. After negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M OS, which was set to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC). For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, which IBM rebranded to PC-DOS. Following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to reverse engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles, but no such restriction applied to the operating systems. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOS's available software selection, Microsoft eventually became the leading PC operating systems vendor. The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease.

1984?94: Windows and Office

While jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20. Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on March 13 the company went public; the ensuing rise in the stock would make an estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Due to the partnership with IBM, in 1990 the Federal Trade Commission set its eye on Microsoft for possible collusion; it marked the beginning of over a decade of legal clashes with the U.S. Government. Microsoft announced the release of its version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987; meanwhile, the company was at work on a 32-bit OS, Microsoft Windows NT, using ideas from OS/2; it shipped on July 21, 1993 with a new modular kernel and the Win32 application programming interface (API), making porting from 16-bit (MS-DOS-based) Windows easier. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated.

In 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office. The software bundled separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. On May 22 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 with a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor. Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas. Novell, a Word competitor from 1984?1986, filed a lawsuit years later claiming that Microsoft left part of its APIs undocumented in order to gain a competitive advantage.

On July 27, 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division filed a Competitive Impact Statement that said, in part: "Beginning in 1988, and continuing until July 15, 1994, Microsoft induced many OEMs to execute anti-competitive "per processor" licenses. Under a per processor license, an OEM pays Microsoft a royalty for each computer it sells containing a particular microprocessor, whether the OEM sells the computer with a Microsoft operating system or a non-Microsoft operating system. In effect, the royalty payment to Microsoft when no Microsoft product is being used acts as a penalty, or tax, on the OEM's use of a competing PC operating system. Since 1988, Microsoft's use of per processor licenses has increased."

1995?2005: Internet and the 32-bit era

1993 took over from the Federal Trade Commission, a protracted legal wrangling between Microsoft and the department ensued, resulting in various settlements and possible blocked mergers. Microsoft would point to companies such as AOL-Time Warner in its defense.]]

Following Bill Gates's internal "Internet Tidal Wave memo" on May 26, 1995, Microsoft began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. The company released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive multitasking, a completely new user interface with a novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API. Windows 95 came bundled with the online service MSN, and for OEMs Internet Explorer, a web browser. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows 95 boxes because the boxes were printed before the team finished the web browser, and instead was included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack. Branching out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and NBC Universal created a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants. In October 1997, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court, stating that Microsoft violated an agreement signed in 1994 and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.

Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000 to Steve Ballmer, an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new position for himself as Chief Software Architect. Various companies including Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to, among other things, increase security and protect intellectual property through identifying changes in hardware and software. Critics decry the alliance as a way to enforce indiscriminate restrictions over how consumers use software, and over how computers behave, a form of digital rights management; for example the scenario where a computer is not only secured for its owner, but also secured against its owner as well. On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of United States v. Microsoft, calling the company an "abusive monopoly"; it settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004. On October 25, 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase. The company released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo. In March 2004 the European Union brought antitrust legal action against the company, citing it abused its dominance with the Windows OS, resulting in a judgment of ?497million ($613million) and to produce new versions of Windows XP without Windows Media Player, Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.

2006?10: Windows Vista, mobile, and Windows 7

Released in January 2007, the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, focused on features, security, and a redesigned user interface dubbed Aero. Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time, featured a "Ribbon" user interface which was a significant departure from its predecessors. Relatively strong sales of both titles helped to produce a record profit in 2007. The European Union imposed another fine of ?899million ($1.4billion) for Microsoft's lack of compliance with the March 2004 judgment on February 27, 2008, saying that the company charged rivals unreasonable prices for key information about its workgroup and backoffice servers. Microsoft stated that it was in compliance and that "these fines are about the past issues that have been resolved".

Bill Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008 while retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects. Azure Services Platform, the company's entry into the cloud computing market for Windows, launched on October 27, 2008. On February 12, 2009, Microsoft announced its intent to open a chain of Microsoft-branded retail stores, and on October 22, 2009 the first retail Microsoft Store opened in Scottsdale, Arizona; the same day the first store opened Windows 7 was officially released to the public. Windows 7's focus was on refining Vista with ease of use features and performance enhancements, rather than a large reworking of Windows.

As the smartphone industry boomed beginning in 2007, Microsoft struggled to keep up with its rivals Apple and Google in providing a modern smartphone operating system. As a result, in 2010, Microsoft revamped their aging flagship mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, replacing it with the new Windows Phone OS; along with a new strategy in the smartphone industry that has Microsoft working more closely with smartphone manufactures, such as Nokia, and to provide a consistent user experience across all smartphones using Microsoft's Windows Phone OS. It used a new user interface design language, codenamed "Metro", which prominently used simple shapes, typography and iconography, and the concept of minimalism.

Microsoft is a founding member of the Open Networking Foundation started on March 23, 2011. Other founding companies include Google, HP Networking, Yahoo, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and 17 other companies. The nonprofit organization is focused on providing support for a new cloud computing initiative called Software-Defined Networking. The initiative is meant to speed innovation through simple software changes in telecommunications networks, wireless networks, data centers and other networking areas.

2011?present: Rebranding, Windows 8, and Surface

Following the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft underwent a gradual rebranding of its product range throughout 2011 and 2012. Its logos, products, services, and websites adopted the principles and concepts of the Metro design language. Microsoft previewed Windows 8 in Taipei in June 2011. The operating system was designed to power both personal computers and tablet computers. A developer preview was released on September 13, and was replaced by a consumer preview on February 29, 2012. On May 31, 2012, the release preview version was released. On June 18, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Surface, the first computer in the company's history to have its hardware made by Microsoft themselves. On June 25, Microsoft announced that it was paying $1.2 billion to buy the social network Yammer. On July 31, 2012, Microsoft launched the Outlook.com webmail service to compete with Gmail. On September 4, Microsoft released Windows Server 2012. On October 1, Microsoft announced it is launching a news operation when Windows 8 launches later in the month. It is part of a new-look MSN. On October 26, Microsoft launched Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface. Three days later, it launched Windows Phone 8. To cope with the potential increase in demand for products and services, Microsoft opened a number of "holiday stores" across the US to complement the ever-growing increase of bricks and mortar Microsoft Stores that have been sprouting up in 2012.

Product divisions

For the 2010 fiscal year, Microsoft had five product divisions: Windows Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division, and Entertainment and Devices Division.

Windows Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division

The company's Client division produces the flagship Windows OS line such as Windows 7; it also produces the Windows Live family of products and services. Server and Tools produces the server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as a set of development tools called Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, a web application framework, and System Center Configuration Manager, a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include: Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database management system, Microsoft Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail and scheduling features, Small Business Server, for messaging and other small business-oriented features; and Microsoft BizTalk Server, for business process management.

Microsoft provides IT consulting ("Microsoft Consulting Services") and produces a set of certification programs handled by the Server and Tools division designed to recognize individuals who have a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers ("Microsoft Certified Solution Developer"), system/network analysts ("Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"), trainers ("Microsoft Certified Trainers") and administrators ("Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator" and "Microsoft Certified Database Administrator"). Microsoft Press, which publishes books, is also managed by the division. The Online Services Business division handles the online service MSN and the search engine Bing. As of December 2009, the company also possesses an 18% ownership of the cable news channel MSNBC without any editorial control; however, the division develops the channel's website, msnbc.com, in a joint venture with the channel's co-owner, NBC Universal.

Business Division

The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office including Microsoft Office 2010, the company's line of office software. The software product includes Word (a word processor), Access (a relational database program), Excel (a spreadsheet program), Outlook (Groupware, frequently used with Exchange Server), PowerPoint (presentation software), Publisher (desktop publishing software) and Sharepoint. A number of other products were added later with the release of Office 2003 including Visio, Project, MapPoint, InfoPath and OneNote. The division also develops enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for companies under the Microsoft Dynamics brand. These include: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and Microsoft Dynamics SL. They are targeted at varying company types and countries, and limited to organizations with under 7,500 employees. Also included under the Dynamics brand is the customer relationship management software Microsoft Dynamics CRM, part of the Azure Services Platform.

Entertainment and Devices Division

The Entertainment and Devices Division produces the Windows CE OS for embedded systems and Windows Phone for smartphones. Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, eventually developing into the Windows Mobile OS and now, Windows Phone. Windows CE is designed for devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The division also produces computer games that run on Windows PCs and other systems including titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, and houses the Macintosh Business Unit which produces Mac OS software including Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division designs, markets, and manufactures consumer electronics including the Xbox 360 game console, the handheld Zune media player, and the television-based Internet appliance MSN TV. Microsoft also markets personal computer hardware including mice, keyboards, and various game controllers such as joysticks and gamepads.

Culture

Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In April 2004 Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, titled Channel9, that provides a wiki and an Internet forum. Another community site that provides daily videocasts and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006. Free technical support is traditionally provided through online Usenet newsgroups, and CompuServe in the past, monitored by Microsoft employees; there can be several newsgroups for a single product. Helpful people can be elected by peers or Microsoft employees for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles them to a sort of special social status and possibilities for awards and other benefits.

Noted for its internal lexicon, the expression "eating our own dog food" is used to describe the policy of using prerelease and beta versions of products inside Microsoft in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. This is usually shortened to just "dog food" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. Another bit of jargon, FYIFV or FYIV ("Fuck You, I'm [Fully] Vested"), is used by an employee to indicate they are financially independent and can avoid work anytime they wish. The company is also known for its hiring process, mimicked in other organizations and dubbed the "Microsoft interview", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a manhole cover round?".

Microsoft is an outspoken opponent of the cap on H1B visas, which allow companies in the U.S. to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas makes it difficult to hire employees for the company, stating "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap" in 2005. Critics of H1B visas argue that relaxing the limits would result in increased unemployment for U.S. citizens due to H1B workers working for lower salaries. The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, a report of how progressive the organization deems company policies towards LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) employees, rated Microsoft as 87% from 2002 to 2004 and as 100% from 2005 to 2010 after they allowed gender expression.

Criticism

Criticism of Microsoft has followed the company's existence because of various aspects of its products and business practices. Ease of use, stability, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. More recently, Trojan horses and other exploits have plagued numerous users due to faults in the security of Microsoft Windows and other programs. Microsoft is also accused of locking vendors into their products, and not following and complying with existing standards in its software. Total cost of ownership comparisons of Linux as well as Mac OS X to Windows are a continuous point of debate.

The company has been in numerous lawsuits by several governments and other companies for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in a highly publicized anti-trust case. Additionally, Microsoft's EULA for some of its programs is often criticized as being too restrictive as well as being against open source software.

Microsoft has been criticized (along with Yahoo, AOL, and other companies) for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China. Microsoft has also come under criticism for outsourcing jobs to China and India. There were reports of poor working conditions at a factory in southern China that makes some of Microsoft's products.

Corporate affairs

The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as is customary for publicly traded companies. Members of the board of directors as of June 2010 are: Steve Ballmer, Dina Dublon, Bill Gates (chairman), Raymond Gilmartin, Reed Hastings, Maria Klawe, David Marquardt, Charles Noski, and Helmut Panke. Board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting using a majority vote system. There are five committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws.

When Microsoft went public and launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 1986, the opening stock price was $21; after the trading day, the price closed at $27.75. As of July 2010, with the company's nine stock splits, any IPO shares would be multiplied by 288; if one was to buy the IPO today given the splits and other factors, it would cost about 9cents. The stock price peaked in 1999 at around $119 ($60.928 adjusting for splits). The company began to offer a dividend on January 16, 2003, starting at eight cents per share for the fiscal year followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year, switching from yearly to quarterly dividends in 2005 with eight cents a share per quarter and a special one-time payout of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year. Though the company had subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock remained steady for years.

One of Microsoft's business tactics, described by an executive as "embrace, extend and extinguish," initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own version which is then incompatible with the standard, which in time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft's new version. Various companies and governments sue Microsoft over this set of tactics, resulting in billions of dollars in rulings against the company. Microsoft claims that the original strategy is not anti-competitive, but rather an exercise of its discretion to implement features it believes customers want.

Financial

Standard and Poor's and Moody's have both given a AAA rating to Microsoft, whose assets were valued at $41?billion as compared to only $8.5?billion in unsecured debt. Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to $2.25?billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds.

For the first time in 20 years Apple Inc. surpassed Microsoft in Q1 2011 quarterly profits and revenues due to a slowdown in PC sales and continuing huge losses in Microsoft's Online Services Division (which contains its search engine Bing). Microsoft profits were $5.2 billion, while Apple Inc. profits were $6 billion, on revenues of $14.5 billion and $24.7 billion respectively.

Microsoft's Online Services Division has been continuously loss-making since 2006 and in Q1 2011 it lost $726 million. This follows a loss of $2.5 billion for the year 2010.

On July 20, 2012, Microsoft posted its first quarterly loss ever, despite earning record revenues for the quarter and fiscal year. Microsoft reported a net loss of $492 million; the 2007 acquisition of advertising company aQuantive for $6.2 billion and problems associated with it have been cited as the cause.

Environment

Microsoft is ranked on the 17th place in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics (16th Edition) that ranks 18 electronics manufacturers according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Microsoft's timeline for phasing out BFRs and phthalates in all products is 2012 but its commitment to phasing out PVC is not clear. As yet (January 2011) it has no products that are completely free from PVC and BFRs.

Microsoft's main U.S. campus received a silver certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program in 2008, and it installed over 2,000 solar panels on top of its buildings in its Silicon Valley campus, generating approximately 15 percent of the total energy needed by the facilities in April 2005.

Microsoft makes use of alternative forms of transit. It created one of the worlds largest private bus systems, the "Connector", to transport people from outside the company; for on-campus transportation, the "Shuttle Connect" uses a large fleet of hybrid cars to save fuel. The company also subsidises regional public transport as an incentive. In February 2010 however, Microsoft took a stance against adding additional public transport and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to a bridge connecting Redmond to Seattle; the company did not want to delay the construction any further.

Microsoft was ranked number 1 in the list of the World's Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2011.

Marketing

In 2004, Microsoft commissioned research firms to do independent studies comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows Server 2003 to Linux; the firms concluded that companies found Windows easier to administrate than Linux, thus those using Windows would administrate faster resulting in lower costs for their company (i.e. lower TCO). This spurred a wave of related studies; a study by the Yankee Group concluded that upgrading from one version of Windows Server to another costs a fraction of the switching costs from Windows Server to Linux, although companies surveyed noted the increased security and reliability of Linux servers and concern about being locked into using Microsoft products. Another study, released by the Open Source Development Labs, claimed that the Microsoft studies were "simply outdated and one-sided" and their survey concluded that the TCO of Linux was lower due to Linux administrators managing more servers on average and other reasons.

As part of the "Get the Facts" campaign Microsoft highlighted the .NET trading platform that it had developed in partnership with Accenture for the London Stock Exchange, claiming that it provided "five nines" reliability. After suffering extended downtime and unreliability the LSE announced in 2009 that it was planning to drop its Microsoft solution and switch to a Linux based one in 2010.

Logo

Microsoft adopted the so-called "Pac-Man Logo", designed by Scott Baker, in 1987. Baker stated "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s? to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed." Dave Norris ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but it was discarded. Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. In 2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of "Where do you want to go today?". During the private MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange) conference in 2010, Microsoft unveiled the company's next tagline, "Be What's Next.".

On August 23, 2012, Microsoft unveiled a new corporate logo at the opening of its 23rd Microsoft store in Boston indicating the company's shift of focus from the classic style to the tile-centric modern interface which it uses/will use on the Windows Phone platform, Xbox 360, Windows 8 and the upcoming Office Suites. The new logo also includes four squares with the colors of the then-current Windows logo. This logo is, however, not completely new - it was featured in Windows 95 commercials from the mid-90s. Moreover it resembles the new logo of DVDVideoSoft, which was introduced several months prior the new Microsoft's logo.

File:Microsoft - Where do you want to go today.svg|Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used from 1987 to 2012 with the 1994?2002 slogan "Where do you want to go today?". File:Microsoft logo & slogan.svg|Microsoft logo as of 2006?2011, with the slogan "Your potential. Our passion." File:The Microsoft logo & slogan.png|Logo by Microsoft with the slogan"Be What's Next." 2011?2012. File:Microsoft.svg|Introduced on August 23, 2012 to symbolize the "world of digital motion" and Microsoft's "diverse portfolio of products." 2012-present .

See also

  • List of Microsoft topics
  • References

    External links

    Category:1975 establishments in the United States Category:Cloud computing providers Category:Companies based in Redmond, Washington Category:Companies established in 1975 Category:Software companies of the United States Category:Software companies based in Washington (state) Category:Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Category:Companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States

    af:Microsoft als:Microsoft am:??????? ang:Microsoft ar:?????????? ast:Microsoft az:Microsoft bn:?????????? ????????? zh-min-nan:Microsoft map-bms:Microsoft Corporation be:Microsoft be-x-old:Microsoft bg:?????????? bar:Microsoft bs:Microsoft br:Microsoft ca:Microsoft cs:Microsoft cy:Microsoft da:Microsoft de:Microsoft dv:?????????????? et:Microsoft el:Microsoft es:Microsoft eo:Microsoft eu:Microsoft fa:?????????? fr:Microsoft fy:Microsoft ga:Microsoft gl:Microsoft Corporation gan:?? hak:M?-ngi?n K?ng-s?? ko:??????? hy:?????????? hi:????????????? hr:Microsoft ilo:Microsoft id:Microsoft ia:Microsoft Corporation is:Microsoft it:Microsoft Corporation he:????????? jv:Microsoft ka:Microsoft kk:Microsoft sw:Microsoft ht:Microsoft ku:Microsoft ky:Microsoft la:Microsoft lv:Microsoft lt:Microsoft jbo:maikrosaft hu:Microsoft mk:Microsoft ml:?????????????? mt:Microsoft mr:???????????? ?????????? ms:Microsoft mn:Microsoft my:??????????????? na:Microsoft nl:Microsoft ne:??????????? ja:??????? no:Microsoft nn:Microsoft oc:Microsoft or:??????????? uz:Microsoft pnb:??????????? ps:?????????? km:Microsoft pms:Microsoft nds:Microsoft pl:Microsoft pt:Microsoft kaa:Microsoft ro:Microsoft qu:Microsoft ru:Microsoft sa:????????????? sah:Microsoft sq:Microsoft scn:Microsoft si:?????????????? simple:Microsoft sk:Microsoft Corporation sl:Microsoft szl:Microsoft so:Microsoft ckb:?????????? sr:?????????? sh:Microsoft fi:Microsoft sv:Microsoft tl:Microsoft ta:???????????? tt:Microsoft te:???????????? th:?????????? tg:Microsoft tr:Microsoft tk:Microsoft uk:Microsoft ur:??????????? ug:?????????? ??????? vec:Microsoft Corporation vi:Microsoft fiu-vro:Microsoft wa:Microsoft war:Microsoft wuu:???? yi:?????????? yo:Microsoft zh-yue:?? zh:??

    Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2013/02/24/Microsoft_Office_2013_caveat_emptor_on_licensing_issues/

    aaron smith wilt chamberlain joe arpaio cat in the hat green eggs and ham wiz khalifa and amber rose oh the places you ll go

    Saturday, February 16, 2013

    Goodell paid more than $29 million by NFL in 2011

    NEW YORK (AP) ? Nice job, Roger Goodell. Here's your pay: $29.49 million.

    NFL owners nearly tripled the commissioner's compensation in the 2011 tax year and likely made Goodell the best paid commissioner in U.S. sports.

    According to the league's most recent tax return, much of Goodell's pay comes in the form of a $22.3 million bonus. His base pay was $3.1 million. The NFL was scheduled to file the return Friday.

    While the league declined comment on specifics, it must, by law, make the return available upon request.

    In 2011, the NFL went through a long lockout prior to the season. Goodell helped work out the new 10-year labor deal that ended the labor strife. That was followed by lucrative new TV contracts with CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC.

    For the year beginning April 1, 2011, and ending March 31, 2012, Goodell was paid $29,490,000, which included $3,117,000 in base pay, $22,309,000 in bonus and incentive compensation, and most of the rest in "other reported compensation," the tax return said.

    Goodell earned a total of $11.6 million in 2010.

    "The NFL is the most successful and best-managed sports league in the world," said Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who is chairman of the league's compensation committee, in a statement. "This is in no small part due to Roger's leadership and the value he brings to the table in every facet of the sport and business of the league. His compensation reflects that."

    By comparison, Saints quarterback Drew Brees is the league's highest paid player with a five-year deal averaging $20 million.

    Goodell's compensation was first reported by SportsBusiness Daily.

    The next-highest paid NFL official in 2011 was general counsel Jeff Pash. He earned $8.829 million, including $5.93 million in bonus compensation. Pash was the chief labor negotiator during the collective bargaining agreement talks.

    Former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue received $8.58 million, all but $1 million in retirement and deferred compensation.

    It is believed Major-League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and NBA Commissioner David Stern earn somewhere in the mid-$20 million range, but neither league's tax returns are public. Both leagues are set up as for-profits.

    "Unlike most CEO's of major companies, who are compensated with stock options, the NFL does not provide that," said Marc Ganis, the president of SportsCorp, which does consulting work with the NFL. "So a performance-based bonus is another way of compensation."

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/goodell-paid-more-29-million-nfl-2011-222807173--nfl.html

    kansas city chiefs Javon Belcher express kindle fire Jenny Johnson olivier martinez ny lottery

    Thursday, December 27, 2012

    Cellular fuel gauge may hold the key to restricting cancer growth

    Dec. 27, 2012 ? Researchers at McGill University have discovered that a key regulator of energy metabolism in cancer cells known as the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) may play a crucial role in restricting cancer cell growth. AMPK acts as a "fuel gauge" in cells; AMPK is turned on when it senses changes in energy levels, and helps to change metabolism when energy levels are low, such as during exercise or when fasting. The researchers found that AMPK also regulates cancer cell metabolism and can restrict cancer cell growth.

    The discovery was made by Russell (Rusty) Jones, an assistant professor at McGill's Goodman Cancer Research Centre and the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine. Jones along with his team is the first to show that AMPK can act as a tumour suppressor in animals. The research will be published December 27 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

    "Cancer is a disease in which cells lose their normal restraints on growth and start to divide uncontrollably. But, in order for cells to grow quickly they need enough energy to complete the task," Jones explained. "AMPK acts like the fuel gauge in your car -- it lets the body know when energy levels are low, and stops cell growth until there is enough gas in the tank. We wanted to see if this fuel gauge could affect the development and progression of cancer. We found that mice lacking AMPK developed tumours faster, suggesting that AMPK is important for keeping tumour development in check, at least for some types of cancer." For this study, Jones' team focused specifically on a type of blood cancer known as lymphoma. They discovered that the protein Myc, which is activated in more than half of all cancers, could promote lymphoma more rapidly when mice were deficient for AMPK.

    One of the ways cancer cells support their enhanced rate of growth is by changing their metabolism, or how they generate energy. Cancer cells are different from normal cells in our body because they preferentially use sugar to fuel their growth. Jones discovered that AMPK plays a specific role in restricting cancer cells' ability to use sugar to fuel their growth. "For cancer cells with low AMPK levels, their metabolism goes into overdrive," explained Prof. Jones. "They use sugar more efficiently, allowing them to grow faster. These results suggest that turning on AMPK in cancer cells may be one way that we can restrict cancer growth."

    Jones' breakthrough builds on his previous discovery that the widely prescribed medication metformin, a common diabetes drug, can restrict tumour cell growth. The results bring promise that common therapeutics that turn on AMPK and alter cellular metabolism, such as metformin, may become novel tools for cancer therapy. Jones and his colleagues at McGill are currently exploring clinical applications based on this research.

    Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

    Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by McGill University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

    Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


    Journal Reference:

    1. Brandon Faubert, Gino Boily, Said Izreig, Takla Griss, Bozena Samborska, Zhifeng Dong, Fanny Dupuy, Christopher Chambers, Benjamin?J. Fuerth, Benoit Viollet, Orval?A. Mamer, Daina Avizonis, Ralph?J. DeBerardinis, Peter?M. Siegel, Russell?G. Jones. AMPK Is a Negative Regulator of the Warburg Effect and Suppresses Tumor Growth In?Vivo. Cell Metabolism, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.12.001

    Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

    Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

    Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/S3OtxBo-Q-Q/121227130327.htm

    Hurricane Sandy Nyc aapl Saanvi Venna vikings Colin Powell Tyrann Mathieu noaa

    Can Obama Avert the Fiscal Cliff without Mitch McConnell? (Atlantic Politics Channel)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273484493?client_source=feed&format=rss

    dfw 1930 census nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village dallas fort worth tornado

    Monday, December 17, 2012

    Chinese leaders promise reform, spending if needed

    BEIJING (AP) ? China's new Communist Party leaders are promising reforms aimed at reducing reliance on exports and more spending if needed to prop up a shaky economic recovery.

    In the first statement of their economic goals since taking power in November, the new party leaders pledged continuity Sunday with long-term plans aimed at nurturing self-sustaining growth and raising incomes. There was no indication of plans for major changes or new stimulus.

    They promised to support domestic consumption, the growth of small businesses that generate jobs and more migration by rural residents into expanding cities to find better-paid jobs.

    The new party general secretary, Xi Jinping, and other leaders are under pressure to overhaul an economic model based on exports and investment that delivered three decades of rapid growth but is running out of steam. Companies and political analysts are watching to see how far they are willing to go in remodeling the state-dominated economy.

    In the shorter term, they also need to keep a recovery from China's deepest economic downturn since the 2008 global crisis on track.

    Party leaders promised a "proactive fiscal policy" and "prudent monetary policy" in a statement distributed by the official Xinhua News Agency at the end of a two-day annual planning meeting. That refers to willingness to boost government spending if needed and to keep credit easy so long as inflation stays low.

    The world's second-largest economy is limping out of the slump that pushed growth to a three-and-a-half-year low of 7.4 percent in the latest quarter but weak November trade data suggested the rebound might be faltering.

    The World Bank and other analysts say Beijing needs to curb dominant state companies and promote service industries and consumer spending to keep incomes rising. They say without prompt action, growth might slow abruptly, leaving China stuck at middle-income levels.

    Possible reforms face potential opposition from state companies that might see their privileges diminished and have influential allies in the party.

    "If China does not change its strategy, it risks falling into the 'middle income trap'," Robert Zoellick, former World Bank president, said in a speech at a Beijing business conference last week.

    In a tacit acknowledgement of possible obstacles, Sunday's statement said change would require "greater political courage and wisdom."

    The new leadership promised to "accelerate structural reform," open markets further and encourage efficiency, though they gave no details of possible changes. It said "enhancing quality and efficiency of economic growth" will be a "central task."

    Factory output, consumer spending and other indicators are improving in the current quarter but analysts say a recovery is likely to be gradual and too weak to drive a global rebound without improvement in Europe and the United States.

    Data last week showed November trade deteriorated sharply following a rebound that started in August. Export growth plunged to 2.9 percent over a year earlier from October's 11.6 percent. Imports were flat, down from October's 2.4 percent growth.

    Sunday's statement gave no indication the leadership plans to depart from the party's official annual economic growth target of 7.5 percent through 2015.

    It promised to support the orderly growth of cities, a key element in raising incomes by allowing migrants from the countryside to look for better-paid urban jobs.

    The leadership pledged to increase domestic demand, though it gave no details of how it will do that.

    Companies are under pressure to help boost consumer spending by putting more money in workers' pockets through wage hikes. Other changes require longer-term effort, such as freeing up money in household budgets by raising government spending on schools, health care and other social programs.

    Sunday's statement promised one step in that direction: more spending on building affordable housing and other initiatives aimed at spreading money to China's poor.

    Earlier statements by the new leadership suggested they want to narrow China's yawning and politically sensitive wealth gap between an elite who have benefited from economic reform and the poor majority.

    The new party Politburo pledged this month to pursue both economic growth and "social harmony and stability."

    The government is due to release a long-awaited report this month on proposals for policy changes to narrow the wealth gap.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-leaders-promise-reform-spending-needed-025859281--finance.html

    colton bo ryan the last waltz earth day activities mel gibson splunk dark shadows

    On foreign policy, Kerry is Obama's good soldier

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic Sen. John Kerry stands tall as President Barack Obama's good soldier.

    The Massachusetts lawmaker has flown to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times to tamp down diplomatic disputes, spending hours drinking tea and taking walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai or engaging in delicate negotiations in Islamabad.

    It's a highly unusual role for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman: envoy with a special but undefined portfolio.

    Kerry has pushed the White House's national security agenda in the Senate with mixed results. He successfully ensured ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty in 2010 and most recently failed to persuade Republicans to back a U.N. pact on the rights of the disabled.

    Throughout this past election year, he skewered Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at nearly every opportunity and was a vocal booster for the president's re-election. Kerry memorably told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August: "Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago."

    Obama seems likely to reward all that work by nominating the 69-year-old Kerry, perhaps in the coming days, to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as the nation's top diplomat. The prospects for the five-term senator soared last week when U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, a top contender for the post, withdrew from consideration to avoid a fierce fight with Senate Republicans.

    A Kerry nomination has been discussed with congressional leaders, and consultations between the White House and congressional Democrats have centered on the fate of his Senate seat, according to officials familiar with the situation who were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. If the seat were in play, it could boost the prospects for recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown to win back a job in Washington.

    At the same time, Obama is considering one of Kerry's former Senate colleagues, Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, for the Pentagon's top job.

    The selection of Kerry would close a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful who succeeded where Kerry had failed.

    Senate colleagues in both parties say Kerry's confirmation would be swift and near certain, another remarkable turnaround. Eight years ago, the GOP ridiculed Kerry as a wind-surfing flip-flopper as he tried and failed to unseat Bush.

    "If he is nominated, he comes into the position with a world of knowledge. He's someone who certainly understands how the legislative process works, and I think he will be someone that Congress will want to work with in a very positive way," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is poised to become the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee next year.

    Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said "there's no question he has a very strong depth of knowledge of these issues. Certainly qualified."

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has taken to jokingly referring to Kerry as "Mr. Secretary."

    Kerry and McCain, defeated presidential candidates who returned to the Senate, have joined forces repeatedly during the past few decades. In July 1995, the two decorated Vietnam War veterans provided political cover to President Bill Clinton when he normalized U.S. relations with Vietnam. Clinton had been dogged by questions about his lack of military service.

    Last year, Kerry and McCain were outspoken in pushing for a no-fly zone over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's forces attacked rebels and citizens. This month, they stood together in arguing for the disabilities treaty against staunch Republican opposition and complaints that it could undermine U.S. national sovereignty.

    The pact fell five votes short of ratification, and Kerry called it "one of the saddest days I've seen" in his years in the Senate.

    "Today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country," he said, his frustration evident.

    Kerry has traveled extensively for the administration, to Afghanistan in May as a strategic partnership agreement loomed large in the decade-plus war. He was in Pakistan last year in the midst of a diplomatic crisis after Raymond Davis, a CIA-contracted American spy, was accused of killing two Pakistanis.

    Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Pakistan around that time and recalled Kerry's influence.

    "I arrived in Islamabad I think five days after Ray Davis had been taken into a jail in the Punjab and was at very real risk of being hauled out of the jail and lynched," Coons said. "Sen. Kerry was about to show up and negotiate on behalf of the administration. And it was clear that both the diplomats and the military folks we met with viewed him as a real man of credibility and experience who was likely to contribute meaningfully to those negotiations."

    Davis pleaded self-defense. After weeks of wrangling between the U.S. and Pakistan, he was released in exchange for "blood money" paid to the dead men's relatives.

    This year, Kerry has presided over committee hearings on treaties and other major issues, but there has been little legislative work. He didn't draw much attention to the committee, avoiding possible embarrassments for the administration in an election year.

    Corker said he would have liked for the committee to devote more time to events in Libya, Syria and other countries.

    "I think he's tried to accommodate our concerns and at the same time seek a balance ... giving the administration the headroom they needed to do what he and the administration felt was best. I understand that," he said, speaking of Kerry.

    Coons said Kerry's deliberate work is often behind the scenes.

    "The role of the chairman ... is not always getting your picture taken with George Clooney, standing around with heads of state, going to receptions in Foggy Bottom," he said. "It's also lots and lots of time listening to folks who've got concerns whether it's on behalf of the defense community, the business community, the diplomatic community and being the person who's at the intersection of all that and trying to keep the Senate productively engaged in a very dangerous world with a lot of emerging threats."

    ___

    Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Boston contributed to this report.

    ___

    Donna Cassata can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DonnaCassataAP

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/foreign-policy-kerry-obamas-good-soldier-173621370--politics.html

    ash wednesday kate walsh cnn debate equatorial guinea marine helicopter crash chicago weather star jones

    Sunday, December 2, 2012

    PFT: Polamalu to have 'significant role' this week

    Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick watches from the sidelines during their NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in PhiladelphiaReuters

    Amid rampant reports and rumblings that Eagles quarterback Mike Vick believes the team is using his concussions as an excuse to keep him on ice while the team tries out younger players, the Eagles have issued a statement from Vick.

    But the statement omits any clear statement from Vick that he believes the Eagles aren?t putting a thumb on the concussion assessment scale.

    ?I want to thank my fans for the thousands of well wishes,? Vick says.? ?I also appreciate the support of the entire Eagles organization. I feel strong and healthy. ? As a professional athlete, I want to play in every game but the NFL has a specific protocol to protect players.?? My focus is to complete this process successfully, so I can rejoin my team on the field.?

    Earlier in the day, coach Andy Reid addressed more specifically the question of whether politics are keeping Vick on ice.

    ?[T]here?s nothing to that,? Reid told reporters.? ?I?ve talked with Michael and Michael is good.? I don?t know where things get started but Michael is fine with it.? He understands that everything is in the best interest of him right now and making sure that he?s ready to go.?

    Reid also essentially said that, when Vick is cleared to play, he will.? ?Michael is the quarterback of this team,? Reid said.? ?That?s how I?ve approached it from the get go.? I?ve told you guys that.? Until I tell you guys differently, that?s how I feel.? Michael understands that so that?s the important thing.? I just want to make sure there?s open communication between us.?

    Trainer Rick Burkholder said that reports Vick have regressed aren?t true, but that Vick has plateaued in his recovery.? Burkholder also disputed the suggestion that the concussion is being used as a way to justify not playing Vick; ?There?s no conspiracy here,? Burkholder said.

    Still, the suspicion has been present from the outset that Vick isn?t injured as badly as advertised, and that the concussion allowed the Eagles to bench him without actually benching him.? From Vick?s perspective, not playing makes it hard to persuade other teams that he deserves a starting job and the contract that goes along with it after the Eagles inevitably cut him in the offseason, avoiding a $15.5 million salary for 2013.

    And even if the Eagles aren?t fudging the concussion assessment results (indeed, there?s no evidence that they are), there?s a good chance they?re privately pleased with the situation, since it allows them to give Nick Foles extended reps and development.? As Reid said Friday regarding the decision to cut defensive end Jason Babin, ?It gives some of our young players, who I think deserve the right and can help us win football games, the opportunity to play.?

    That same reasoning applies to Foles.? Even though he has yet to help them do anything other than lose football games.

    Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/30/steelers-expect-polamalu-to-have-significant-role-this-week/related

    best picture nominees 2012 academy awards 2012 albert nobbs a star is born oscar nominees oscar nominations 2012 kombucha tea