Microsoft has begun sending out invitations to a private technical beta test for the next major release of Internet Explorer, according to an e-mail invitation that leaked out online. While the invitation-only private beta will be just that – private

Microsoft is nearly ready to begin beta testing the long-awaited developer version of its cross-browser, cross-platform streaming media technology -- Silverlight 2.0 -- the senior executive in charge of the product said on his blog Friday. When exactly

In an internal e-mail sent earlier today, Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's president of platforms and services, reminded his employees of the strategic advantages that will come from acquiring Yahoo, and addressed issues about the integration of the two

Microsoft plans a set of updates this summer to its .NET 3.5 programming framework meant to simplify creating client software for developers as well as improving client performance, according to the executive in charge. Scott Guthrie, corporate vice

What do the founders of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Dell, Apple, and dozens of other successful technology companies have in common? They were all students or not long removed from school when they started their companies. Now, Microsoft aims to

Microsoft this week officially gave developers the right to freely use code and specifications for translating between its older proprietary Office file formats and Office 2007's newer XML formats without fear of being sued. At the same time, company

Following its meager security updates in January, Microsoft came back with a huge release for February. The company released 11 security bulletins containing 17 fixes. If there's any good news in this haul of fixes, it's that only six of the 11

In the hard-bitten world of mergers and acquisitions, "no" doesn't always mean "no." Sometimes it means "not yet." Monday afternoon, Microsoft responded to Yahoo's formal rejection of its acquisition bid in a brief statement