04/12, 12:05pm
Microsoft software roadmap from December leaked
Microsoft has begun sending out a roadmap that shows some details about its future software products such as Office 15, Internet Explorer 10, and Windows Phone to some of its partners. One of them, CEO of Meetroo Maarten Visser, shared part of it over Twitter, revealing said details. Dated December 22, 2011, the images weren't password-protected. Considering the date, the Windows roadmap doesn't mention anything past the Developer Preview and certainly not the Consumer Preview that launched on February 29.
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01/18, 6:45pm
Microsoft's Cutler shifts to Xbox team
Exploration has confirmed that at least two key Microsoft staffers have jumped from the Azure cloud service to the Xbox team. Dave Cutler, best known as the chief architect behind Windows NT, has left for the gamign division, ZDNet heard after talking to Microsoft. While his exact project wasn't known, he would be helping shift the Xbox to a digital media hub, a transition that had already started with the fall 2011 Dashboard update.
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09/03, 12:20pm
Apple may use Amazon, Microsoft for iCloud help
Apple's iCloud service might not just run on non-Mac servers but use outside services, rumors divulged Friday. The remote media sharing and pushing is believed to use a mix of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure to load content. Register contacts understood that Apple wanted to outsource as it wasn't logical for a company focused on "building great consumer experiences" to go to the effort of creating every aspect of the cloud infrastructure from scratch.
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05/10, 11:05am
Microsoft believed overpaying for Skype by 4.5b
Microsoft's $8.5 billion purchase of Skype may have been the result of it being fooled into paying more. Multiple tips claimed Tuesday that Google was bidding but had stopped at $4 billion, less than half what Microsoft paid. TechCrunch was told that Facebook had never been in competition and, while not intentional, ended up convincing Microsoft it had to bid more to stay in the running.
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05/09, 4:05pm
Aims to encourage adoption of MS cloud services
An iOS version of the Windows Azure toolkit is now available for developers, according to the official Microsoft blog. The download simplifies coding for Microsoft's cloud-based OS platform. Included with the iOS toolkit are compiled code libraries, a sample app, documentation, and an Azure deployment package.
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04/14, 3:15pm
Apple hires Microsoft datamanager GM Timmons
Apple's cloud ambitions became clearer late Wednesday with reports that Apple had lured away Microsoft's Datacenter Services General Manager Kevin Timmons. His new role wasn't known but came just two years after he had left a role as the operations lead at Yahoo. The move spotted by Green M3 is believed to have been very recent, and Timmons has yet to update his LinkedIn profile (above) to reflect the change.
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04/06, 1:55pm
Toyota Microsoft deal uses Azure for in-car cloud
Microsoft and Toyota preempted their own special event with word of their plans for in-car cloud technology. Toyota's cars, starting from its 2012 electric cars and plug-in hybrids, will use Windows Azure's cloud services to improve in-car telematics. The upgrades should extend to anything from managing the car battery to music playback and GPS navigation.
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04/05, 6:45pm
Microsoft and Toyota to have April 6 event
Microsoft and Toyota late Tuesday organized a special event for April 6 at 4PM Eastern. The two said little about what it would involve but alluded to a "collaboration" between them. It was important enough that Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer and his Toyota equivalent, Akio Toyoda, would both be present.
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10/18, 10:00pm
Ray Ozzie leaves Microsoft
Microsoft was dealt a hit to its long-term plans as its Chief Software Architect today said he was retiring from the company. The veteran planned to move to the "broader area of entertainment" where Microsoft was still involved, CEO Steve Ballmer wrote in an e-mail. He would stay with the company for an unspecified amount of time to help oversee transitions among various projects.
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