Microsoft to offer subscription-based PCs in Russia
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A Russian mobile-phone operator is the latest service provider to team with Microsoft to offer Windows-based PCs on a subscription basis through the company&#39;s Unlimited Potential program.A partnership with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), unveiled Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, is similar to ones that Microsoft already has in place in Mexico and Brazil as part of a plan to bring affordable technology to developing countries.Through the partnership, Microsoft in June will deliver PCs running Windows Vista that offer built-in mobile broadband access to customers on a subscription basis, rather than requiring customers to pay for them outright. The two companies also are working on a road map to introduce new mobile communications services that can be accessed on those PCs but did not specifically say what those new services will be.Both the PCs and services will be offered to about 85 million MTS customers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Belarus as part of the MTS Connect program, the companies said.The MTS deal is similar to one that Microsoft has with service providers TelMex in Mexico and Telefonica in Brazil to offer low-cost PCs through the Subscription Computing Program, which preceded Unlimited Potential. Eventually, that program became part of Unlimited Potential, through which Microsoft works with community leaders in countries where technology has not yet had a significant impact on businesses and communities.Unlimited Potential is directly related to&#160;Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates&#39; idea of &quot;creative capitalism,&quot;&#160;which suggests that companies worldwide work with governments and nonprofits to find ways to be charitable and solve the problems of the poorest people without sacrificing their own business needs. Gates recently outlined this idea in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Analysts and observers have suggested another reason why Microsoft is interested in working with emerging markets on technology efforts: The fight against Linux, which is proving a less expensive and easier-to-access option for people in countries with scant access to technology. Indeed, Unlimited Potential and creative capitalism combine both altruism and business interests, and Microsoft executives have acknowledged the need to foster education and business development to get software like Windows and Office in the hands of people who wouldn&#39;t typically be able to afford it.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O will provide  a stripped-down version of Windows from next month while it  decides whether to appeal against a European Union court order,  its general counsel said on Wednesday.
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TechWeb - The operating system is expected to include BlackBerry-like push e-mail and take advantage of features in Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Exchange.
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Microsoft is offering a new subscription model to small businesses that will allow them to use the company&#39;s software for less cost than the currently available licensing model.
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Microsoft Corp.  on  Wednesday said its Live online service, which has attracted 6  million Xbox 360 console gamers, will be open in May to PC  gamers who use its new Windows Vista operating system.
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(InfoWorld) - For business users who want Microsoft Office on their cell phones, Windows Mobile 6, the upcoming version of Redmond's mobile operating system to be unveiled next week, will be a must-have upgrade. Mobile 6 comes with mobile versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. With the continuing increase in sales of smartphones at the expense of handheld devices, Office makes a lot of sense, especially for synchronizing with desktop files, according to Rob Enderle, principal at the Enderle Group. Carriers and handset manufacturers who believe they can put the limited memory and storage to better use, however, are out of luck. Microsoft Office still comes with Mobile 6. According to John Starkwether, a product manager in the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft, Office is part of the package. Starkwether conjectured that if a vendor really wants to exclude Office from the operating system, an accommodation might be possible. Additional upgrades to the mobile OS include Microsoft's Direct Push Technology with automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks, and contacts using Exchange Server. For security and management, Mobile 6 will also give mobile network managers the capability of remotely wiping out all data from a device should it be lost or stolen. Other security features include certificate options and storage card encryption. Business users will also be pleased with the inclusion of mobile versions of the .Net Compact Framework and SQL Server in order to access a company's standard line of business applications remotely. The Office applications are the most robust to date for the limited capacities of a cell phone. Spell checking in Word, though, is not included. E-mail viewing will be easier on the eye with formatting, tables, and pictures viewable as originally generated. One-click options for e-mail, such as "reply all", moving a message to a subfolder and "delete" have been added to accommodate the restricted functionality of a small device. Windows Vista users on the desktop will be able to swap music, pictures, movies and Outlook information between the Vista PC and the mobile device. Windows Live will integrate mail, messenger, search, contacts, and spaces. Call history is now placed inside the individual contact card. Enderle said that although there was "a lot of great stuff" in Mobile 6 Microsoft still has to focus on ease of use. "Compared to the Apple iPhone with its simplified interface, Mobile 6 is still complex to use," Enderle said. Devices with Windows Mobile 6 will ship worldwide in the second quarter.
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Microsoft will start charging for a Hotmail feature that allows users of the Web-based e-mail service to access their e-mail using the Outlook e-mail client.
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Faced with continued customer foot-dragging on license renewals and deployment, Microsoft said Friday has decided to offer &quot;custom&quot; Windows NT 4.0 support contracts to enterprises that still haven&#39;t migrated to later versions of the network operating
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Microsoft will release a low-price version of Windows in Russia by the end of the year, an effort to wean consumers in that country off pirated software and Linux.
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After Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, Microsoft has identified Russia as the fourth market for its low cost scaled down operating system, Windows XP Starter Edition (XP SE).
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The second-largest cellphone operator in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States said the $4.3 billion deal will create the regionâs first integrated fixed-to-mobile provider.
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Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it  will begin shipping a low-cost version of its Windows XP  operating system to three Asian countries and Russia by  early-2005, tapping developing markets as growth slows  elsewhere.
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Indian PC users can expect to see a localized, stripped-down version of Microsoft&#39;s XP operating system early next year. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft plans to ship the low cost version of its PC operating
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NEW YORK/LONDON  - Microsoft Corp. rolled out  Windows Vista in 70 countries on Tuesday, delivering a PC  operating system able to better manage the explosion of digital  media and enhance Internet security.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said on  Thursday it will begin shipping a low-cost version of its  Windows XP operating system to three Asian countries and Russia  within weeks, tapping developing markets as growth slows  elsewhere.
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BANGALORE, INDIA -- Microsoft Corp. will introduce the Windows XP Starter Edition in India early next year, the company said Wednesday, two days after announcing similar plans for Russia.
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Microsoft is planning free online versions of its word processing and spreadsheet programs.