Gates, UNESCO Sign Computer Access Deal
138354
Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates signed a cooperation agreement with UNESCO on Wednesday to improve access to computers, the Internet and information technology training in developing countries.
243731
Microsoft signed a rare deal with an  open source software group on Thursday, taking a step to meet  sanctions imposed by the European Commission in 2004 for  antitrust violations.
369503
Revised docs handed in Microsoft has handed in revised interoperability information to the European Commission.â¦
323019
Facing growing competition from open source software providers, Microsoft has decided to allow governments and international organizations access to source code for its Office 2003 productivity suite.
693788
Deal will allow companies to digitally authenticate PDFs.
756978
SAN FRANCISCO Google and Microsoft were to separately introduce enhanced information-sharing services for Internet users on Thursday.
198778
Microsoft joins Concordia Project to improve interoperability among identity management systems.
571712
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday that the Windows application platform is to be fitted with "Fluent UI" ribbon capabilities now offered in Office 2007.The ribbon UI presents a new interface in Office 2007. "We usability-tested it massively, and fortunatel, it has had a very strong positive reaction," Gates said during a keynote presentation the 2008 Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif. "We in the next version of Windows will be using this Fluent UI quite a bit across a number of applications," he said. "It turns out it's a user interface that works very well for the pen and touch [interfaces] as well as being a better way of revealing application functionality."The Fluent UI represented "a major risk that Microsoft took," Gates said. But the older interface with its dropdown menus was hiding so much functionality that the company was being asked for features that were already there but were concealed, he said.At the conference, Microsoft is promoting Office as a development platform with users able to write extensions. During Gates's presentation, third party applications were shown that extended Office with custom development, such as the MindJet MindManager planning application and FedEx's QuickShip for processing FedEx shipments from within Microsoft Outlook.During a subsequent question-and-answer session with the audience, Gates was asked to compare and contrast opportunities for developers working with platforms like Microsoft's with platforms like open source. Gates responded, "Our platform is a commercial platform where customers expect a very high level of service, a very high level of integration, but the nice thing about it is they are willing to pay for software."Free software has always been around, he said. "We've always had free software out there, it's not really a new thing. In fact, I'd say in some ways it's less of a factor than it's ever been," Gates said.Everyone has the same business model, he said: Software developers have free versions of their software, inexpensive software, and robust commercial versions of their software. "The commercial environment, I think, will always be the pre-eminent thing in terms of providing business productivity," said Gates.He advised those who want to develop free software to be careful which licensing model they choose and to select an option that does not restrict commercial versions of their software.Asked about Yahoo, which has rejected Microsoft's $44.6 billion acquisition offer, Gates said the question was whether Yahoo should be a media company or focus on engineering. In an ad model, scale is needed, he said. Yahoo's engineering could be combined with what Microsoft has done, he said.Gates's overall presentation did not impress one attendee, who nonetheless was impressed with Gates himself."Bill is definitely a visionary, and he's one of the greatest men in the 20th century, but I have to wonder how much of that was just reading from a script," said Aaron Alanen, senior consultant at Sogeti."I did see in his questions later on that he really had some deeper knowledge," Alanen said.During Gates's presentation, he also played a tongue-in-cheek video about what he would do during his upcoming semi-retirement from Microsoft. Included were possibilities such as getting into politics, joining the rock band U2, and becoming a rapper or actor. Guests featured in the video included, among others, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, Bono from U2, and George Clooney.
411287
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will meet with French President Jacques Chirac here Wednesday during a visit to France to defend his company's software against competition from Linux and other free Internet-based software.
670428
It's the start of a new era for the company that once argued that giving away the keys to its protocols would somehow reveal the secret of Windows itself: Microsoft has made its first obligatory agreement with a key open source provider.
11191
Designed as a result of Microsoftâs ongoing collaborations with international governments, Windows XP Starter Edition Pilot Program is part of Microsoftâs comprehensive commitment to enable individuals, communities and countries to gain access to the
693219
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.
611416
Speaking to technologists during an appearance at the Computer History Museum, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates touched on a number of topics, including Linux, Web services, grid computing and digital rights management.
755435
The British National Health Service (NHS) has signed a massive software licensing deal with Microsoft. The deal will ultimately save the NHS $625 million in licensing fees, as well as requiring that Microsoft
217775
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates signed an agreement Friday with a Spanish association for the blind to develop better software for people with visual impairments.
520497
PARIS Bill Gates was in Paris on Wednesday to meet with President Jacques Chirac of France and to sign an agreement with a UN body to improve access to information technology and training in developing countries.
662808
Under the effort announced today, the two will share APIs and develop protocols to enable better interoperability between Microsoft's Network Access Protection technology and Cisco's Network Admission Control technology.