software

Microsoft disclaimed comments made by Intel software chief Renée James at Intel's Investor Meeting 2011 at the company's Santa Clara, California, headquarters this week. The Redmond firm said that James’ comments on the next version of Windows were "factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading."

A new national customer satisfaction survey revealed that Americans are now more satisfied with Microsoft’s software than ever. The poll conducted by American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a consumer survey started by the University of Michigan, showed that Microsoft accumulated 79 points which is the three-point increase, a 7% gain, over 2009’ results.

According to a new report from German firm Research2guidance there is a significant gap between the growth of Android Market and Apple’s App Store. The research forecasts that in August 2011 Android Market will overtake Apple's App Store.

In a move to compete with Google which makes updated browsers every six to eight weeks Mozilla announced that it is planning to release four new versions of Firefox this year shortening thus the browser’s cycle. Up to present days Mozilla has released updated versions every 12 to 18 months.

The draft of Mozilla’s Firefox roadmap for 2011 shows that one of the non-profit entity’s priorities is to "ship our new technology to users in smaller bundles, more frequently."

Microsoft has issued the final version of its free security solution after a five-month beta testing program. The new version features updated heuristic engine as well as the addition of network intrusion detection technology.

Besides, the slightly redesigned dashboard allows users to manage Microsoft's firewall from inside MSE. MSE 2.0 also features tighter integration with Internet Explorer as a mechanism for protecting against web-based threats.

According to the stats from the online security vendor Kaspersky Lab computers worldwide contain about 32 million vulnerabilities because most users fail to update their software.

Oracle is purchasing an ecommerce software company Art Technology Group (ATG) for about $1 billion.

Mozilla revoked its plans to roll out the new browser Firefox 4 next month. According to a new schedule the browser will not arrive until "early 2011."

"As discussed in today’s Firefox delivery meeting, release candidate builds are now scheduled to ship in early 2011, with the final GA release shortly after," a Mozilla representative said.

Firefox 4 is now in its sixth beta release. Beta 7 — the "feature complete" beta — was due on September 17, but according to Mozilla's schedule, it will not arrive until November.

CEO of Adobe Systems made a statement to a German newspaper that the company plans to stay independent with no targets to merge with any firm as the speculations in media are reporting the software maker could become an acquisition target for Microsoft.

"Adobe's growth prospects are so great that our focus is on seizing these opportunities as an independent company," Adobe Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen was quoted as saying by daily Financial Times Deutschland on Monday.

Microsoft unveiled at last its new version of a popular web browser saying that it would work at faster speeds, deliver better graphics and be less obtrusive to users. Internet Explorer 9, unlike previous versions and many competing browsers, pushes itself into the background.

"People go to the Web for site, not the browser," said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for IE, at a press event in San Francisco. "Today Web sites are boxed in, the box is the browser."

PlayStation 3 hacking dongle that represents a build-your-own kit, PSGroove, has appeared in the Web. 

PSGroove comprises software that can be downloaded and run on a specific type of USB Flash drive and used in much the same way the PSJailbreak dongle can.

As Motorola introduced a hardware eFuse protection that is meant to enforce software restrictions many websites started offering unofficial versions of Froyo updates for Droid X smartphones. Motorola, in turn sent them cease-and-desist letters urging them to discontinue encouraging users to jailbreak.

Google and other industry experts believe that the lawsuit launched by Oracle against Android is not just an attack on the search giant but it targets open source Java community.

Microsoft announced the end of its discount licensing program that has been very popular among companies’ workers wanting cheaper copies of Office products. The Redmond said its Employee Purchase Program (EPP) terminates in November after 7 years.

EPP has been available to customers buying Microsoft's products under its volume licensing programs.

Microsoft cited declining customer demand for its decision to kill EPP, but noted the vast majority — 90 per cent — of licenses purchased were for its Office suite.

More IT professionals are today needed by financial services companies on Wall Street. The firms are looking for strong programming, database and operating system skills to keep their real-time banking and trading systems up and running.