Contrary to a number of reports that have suggested otherwise, ARM-powered Windows 8 devices will likely be able to run full desktop applications. Microsoft had failed for some time to provide a straight answer as to whether or not ARM-powered devices would be limited to simply running Metro-style applications. However, ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley noticed a Microsoft post that specifically discussed power states on Windows 8 ARM devices for “both desktop and Metro style apps,” which clearly suggests that support for desktop applications will be included. Microsoft still hasn’t officially confirmed this, but as Mary Jo Foley points out, we suspect that Microsoft was diligent with its writing and that it didn’t just drop in a reference to desktop support accidentally. We’ll likely have to wait just a little longer until the official word drops, but for now it appears full desktop applications will be supported on Windows 8-powered ARM devices.

Read

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Steve Ballmer announced Microsoft would ship the Kinect for Windows on February 1st. The company has delivered on its promise and on Wednesday, version 1.0 of the Kinect for Windows SDK and runtime were made available for download. The software giant’s distribution partners across the globe have also begun to ship Kinect for Windows hardware. The device will retail for $249, with a special discounted academic price of $149 for “Qualified Educational Users” that will come later this year.

Read

Last summer, Cablevision was one of the first cable providers to release an app for watching live TV on mobile devices. The Optimum App for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch allows Optimum subscribers to watch live television when connected to their home networks. Cablevision is now testing the Optimum App for Laptops, which transforms a user’s laptop into an additional TV when connected to a home network. A beta version of the application is currently available to select customers for a limited time and we managed to put it through the paces on Thursday. Check out our hand-on photo gallery below and hit the break for some quick impressions.

After installing Microsoft Silverlight, we were able to jump right into the application. The program features a clean and simple UI, giving users the ability to quickly access the TV guide and jump between various channels. Available channels are dependent on a user’s plan, thus ensuring that users only have access to the channels included in their standard cable subscriptions. The program also allows users to enable closed captioning and various parental controls.

The app is still a beta, and unfortunately there are definitely some issues to be worked out. Changing channels was sluggish, buffering was very slow and on numerous occasions the application completely froze. By no means was it unwatchable, however the user experience clearly has plenty of room for improvement. Picture quality was decent though, and all in all, the app is a welcomed addition to Cablevision’s Optimum portfolio and we can’t wait to get our hands on the finished product.

Savvy iPhone 4S and iPad 2 owners were elated last week when the new dream team of iOS hacking announced that a jailbreak tool was finally available for owners of A5-powered devices. But there was a catch: the initial release of the new jailbreak tool, dubbed Absinthe, was only available for Mac computers. Owners of Windows machines will be happy to learn that the new jailbreaker resulting from the combined efforts of the iPhone Dev Team, the Chronic Dev Team and pod2g is now available for Windows. Absinthe 0.2 can be downloaded directly from the Greenpois0n website and applying the jailbreak is simple enough. Standard disclaimers considered, Windows users with an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.0.1 or an iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1 can download the Windows build by following the read link below.

Read

Microsoft reported its earnings for the quarter ended December 31st, 2011 Thursday and noted record revenue for its second fiscal quarter. Revenue of $20.89 billion was up 5% from the same period last year. “We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets, and television in 2012.” Microsoft’s business division reported $6.28 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 3% from the same period last year. Its Server & Tools business recorded $4.77 billion in revenue, up 11% from the same period last year. The Windows and Windows Live Division, however, reported revenue of $4.74 billion, which was down 6% from the same period last year. The company’s profits were recorded at $0.78 per share, beating analyst expectations of $0.76 per share. Microsoft’s full press release follows after the break.

Microsoft Reports Record Revenue of $20.9 Billion in Second Quarter

Strong business demand and holiday sales drive record revenue and EPS.

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 19, 2012 — Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $20.89 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, a 5% increase from the prior year period. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.99 billion, $6.62 billion, and $0.78 per share, compared with $8.17 billion, $6.63 billion and $0.77 per share, respectively, in the prior year period. Prior year results include recognition of $224 million of deferred revenue related to the Office 2010 technology guarantee program.

“We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets, and television in 2012.”

The Microsoft Business Division reported $6.28 billion in second quarter revenue, a 3% increase from the prior year period, and a 7% increase excluding the prior year recognition of deferred revenue for the Office 2010 technology guarantee program. Nearly 200 million licenses of Office 2010 have been sold in the 18 months since launch. Revenue from Exchange and SharePoint grew by 10% or more over the prior year period, and revenue from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew by more than 30%.

The Server & Tools business posted $4.77 billion in second quarter revenue, an 11% increase from the prior year period, reflecting double-digit revenue growth in Windows Server and SQL Server premium editions and more than 20% growth in System Center revenue.

“We saw strong demand for our business products and services, despite the soft PC market and continuing economic uncertainty in key parts of the world,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “We delivered record earnings per share by continuing to manage our costs while investing for future growth.”

The Windows and Windows Live Division posted revenue of $4.74 billion, a 6% decline from the prior period. Microsoft has sold over 525 million Windows 7 licenses since launch.

The Online Services Division reported revenue of $784 million, a 10% increase from the prior year period. Bing organic US market share grew to 15.1% while Bing-powered US market share, including Yahoo! properties, was approximately 27%.

The Entertainment & Devices Division posted revenue of $4.24 billion, an increase of 15% from the prior period. The Xbox 360 installed base now totals approximately 66 million consoles and 18 million Kinect sensors. Xbox LIVE now has 40 million members worldwide, an increase of 33% from the prior year period.

“In addition to the continued strength of our commercial business, this holiday season was the strongest in Microsoft history, thanks to good sales execution and compelling products like Xbox 360 and Kinect,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “We are seeing a lot of excitement for new devices, from Windows 7 Ultrabooks to new Windows Phones, as well as growing anticipation for Windows 8.”

Business Outlook

Microsoft is revising operating expense guidance downward to $28.5 billion to $28.9 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2012.

Webcast Details

Peter Klein, chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Bill Koefoed, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on Jan. 19, 2013.

It’s the end of an era. Microsoft announced last month that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote will be the company’s last for the foreseeable future. The show definitely won’t be the same without Microsoft’s chief executive officer Steve Ballmer kicking things off with his unique brand of charisma, but all good things must come to an end. According to reports, Microsoft won’t have anything big to announce at this year’s keynote. Instead, Ballmer will recap the strong year Microsoft had in 2011 and discuss the company’s core consumer-facing products moving into 2012 including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and more. Mr. Ballmer always puts on a show, however, and we’re sure he’ll toss in a few surprises to keep things interesting. The keynote kicks off at 9:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Pacific, so hit the break to follow all the action — and Ballmeresque yelling — as it unfolds.

8:54PM:Alright we're all seated and ready for Steve Ballmer to take the stage. Hopefully we hear some interesting news, although Microsoft did say earlier that it could just be a recap of the year. There's country music playing but we're not sure who it is.

8:55PM:Googled it for you, it's Scotty McCreery: Better than that. Not bad if you're a country fan.

8:57PM:We should be getting under way in about 30 minutes or so, enough time for you to order Dominos. Unfortunately we can't leave our seats to find a water fountain.

9:10PM:General admission is still filing in, we're just sitting here listening to the music.

9:14PM:Should be kicking off in about 20 minutes or so.

9:20PM:The music is still blaring but it looks like the people have slowly stopped flooding into the room.

9:27PM:We're being told to take our seats so this should be kicking off shortly.

9:29PM:And the lights are lowering!

9:30PM:"This place about to blow" is blaring over the speakers.

9:31PM:President and CEO of the CEA Gary Shapiro is taking the stage. "Welcome to the 2012 CES."

9:34PM:"In 1995 Bill Gates took to the CES stage for the first time to speak to the CES workshop, a small workshop. Bill walked into the Hilton by himself with his head buried in a book. He made some remarks, and then I fielded written questions from the audience. Bill said this revolution would be social. That was in 1995. In 1998 they launched a new concept, the CES keynote. We invited Bill [and others] to become the first CES keynoters. For 14 years Bill and his successor have taken the stage. As you've heard, Microsoft is taking a break from the keynote stage is 2013. As a company, Microsoft uniquely changed the world and productivity, more, Microsoft keynotes drew press. Microsoft took a risk on us early and we both benefitted. In the technology world we recognize change is the only constant. For CES and Microsoft to be fresh, innovative and enticing we agreed to a pause."

9:35PM:"We have nearly doubled in size since the first CES keynote. I offer gratitude and good will to Microsoft." He's comparing Microsoft to the founding fathers of this nation. "I would be shocked if a Microsoft leader does not return to this stage again in the next few years. Please join me in welcoming the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer."

9:36PM:Ballmer is on stage now and Shapiro is giving him a photo album highlighting Microsoft and CES together. Aww.

9:37PM:We hope this isn't just a history of CEA and Microsoft together..

9:37PM:There's a weirdo techno mashup of Bill Gates making announcements on stage. The Rock has a few appearances. It's weird.

9:39PM:Ryan Seacrest is taking the stage. "Thank you for that one scream over there." Might have been Corey.

9:40PM:He's thrilled to be here, not sure if the audience feels the same way.

9:40PM:We're going to talk about and hear what's next for Microsoft and the tech industry. Seacrest is promising Microsoft's latest gear so hopefully we hear some new announcements.

9:41PM:Seacrest is asking what we can expect. "Tonight I have a tremendous show, frankly," Ballmer said. "We have a chance in the next year to raise our game and product line to the next level across phones, tablets, TVs and the Xbox. The heart and soul of that will be our feature attraction tonight, the metro user interface.

9:41PM:"when you said Metro you looked at me in a strange way" - Ryan Seacrest.

9:43PM:We're starting with Windows Phone. This is a weird interview format where Seacrest is interviewing Ballmer. "We took a different approach than everyone else and we have a unique experience," Ballmer said. "If you take a look at it, the other phones all make the sea of icons the sea of applications the view of the world. What we've done is Windows Phone is have a better way by taking your people... and we put them right out there in front of you. It puts people first."

9:44PM:"It all gets put together for you right on the screen." Basically we're going over what we already know about Windows Phone as a mobile platform, nothing really new here.

9:45PM:Derek Snyder the Windows Phone product manager is on stage now. He's explaining the variety of features available from various Windows Phone vendors. And he's showing us what Windows Phone software looks like. Not sure why we're going over all of these features again.

9:50PM:Sorry internet trouble real fast there

9:54PM:The Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 will also launch in Canada on Telus and Rogers

9:56PM:Ballmer and Seacrest are going over the Lumia 900, which we'll bring you a hands-on of shortly. Nokia just announced it an hour or so ago so be sure to check out our live coverage of that on the BGR.com homepage.

9:56PM:Ryan Seacrest seems to like the phone.

9:57PM:Seacrest is playing with the HTC Titan II also and sounds somewhat excited about it. Now we're going to discuss Windows PCS.

9:58PM:Ballmer said there are now 1.3 billion Windows-powered machines in use today.

9:59PM:Windows is the most popular smart device around, Ballmer said.

10:01PM:There's a short clip of the latest Windows 7 powered devices playing.

10:01PM:Ballmer said change is the essence of this industry. Two things are constant. 1: Things change. 2: People don't want to compromise on what they have today. They want the best of what they have and the best of what they want.

10:01PM:We see a couple of the new ultrabooks rolling through the video.

10:03PM:Chief marketing officer for Windows Tami Reller is discussing the benefits of Windows 7. This is really just a recap of everything Microsoft has done this year, we suppose. Hoping something more exciting comes later in the keynote.

10:06PM:We're seeing a demo of how metro UI can be used on larger devices such as touchscreen monitors and laptops or tablets. There's a lot of swiping, natural touch-based gestures similar to what users do with their Windows Phones. It looks solid.

10:06PM:An NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip is powering the demo device.

10:08PM:We're seeing a demo of the Windows Store and cut the rope. Neat, but it's hard to be impressed after seeing so many stores lately.

10:11PM:We saw a quick look at the Windows 8 app store but it's hard to be impressed after we've seen so many new ones proliferate the market.

10:13PM:We saw a quick look at the Windows 8 app store but it's hard to be impressed after we've seen so many new ones proliferate the market.

10:14PM:The live tiles remind us a lot of Windows Phone 7.5 tiles but there's a cool zoomed-out feature that lets you see all of your tiles in one place.

10:16PM:Sorry for the multiple entries we're running into internet problems here with multiple devices.

10:16PM:We're looking at some new thin and light notebooks that will surely hit the market this year.

10:18PM:Samsung Series 9. Spectre from HP with the glass lid. A few devices that were unveiled today during CES that should be in consumer's hands soon.

10:18PM:Ballmer said that, by the time this keynote is over, more than 25,000 users will have adopted Windows 7.

10:19PM:A choir is taking the stage singing gospel-style music.

10:20PM:We're being told to watch the LSU game I think.

10:20PM:Oh it's a Tweet Choir. We get it.

10:21PM:Kind of wish we were talking about an Xbox 720 or something instead.

10:22PM:That was entertaining.

10:23PM:Now Seacrest is talking about the Xbox. "Did you expect to go from ground 0 to a household name a decade ago?" Ballmer says he was bullish and patient and that it represents the best of its NDA and Microsoft is really proud of the gaming console.

10:24PM:Ten years later we're the world sales leader. We have over 66 billion Xbox users. perhaps the most amazing things is we have over more than 40 million xbox live subscribers tuning in on a regular basis. Some for games, increasingly it's really an entertainment hub."

10:24PM:"Did I expect it 10 years ago? No. But I bet on it 10 years ago."

10:24PM:Now we're going to see an overview of the new Xbox software. This is all just a big recap..

10:25PM:But Ballmer does promise something "even more different" so maybe we'll get lucky.

10:25PM:18 million Kinect Sensors shipped over the past year.

10:26PM:Greg Davison from Microsoft's Xbox team is taking the stage to show us what's new from Xbox (the software update that landed in December).

10:26PM:We're going to see Kinect's voice controls. These are all features that are already available to all Kinect and Xbox owners.

10:27PM:We just saw a demo for searching for Harry Potter using Kinect. It works well.

10:30PM:Now we're seeing how a Lumia 900 with the Windows Xbox Companion can be used to control the Xbox. We've tried this at home with a different device and it actually works quite well.

10:31PM:Comcast Xfinity on Demand's library will soon be launching on Xbox. There's also a new News Corp partnership that will bring The WSJ, Fox content, and IGN to the Xbox video library.

10:32PM:Fox will add Family Guy, The Simpsons, House and more. The new content should be available in 2012.

10:32PM:"We're working with some of the best known creative artists and production companies to create..

10:33PM:Sesame Street Kinect TV just took the stage to demo two-way TV. Are there any kids in the audience?

10:34PM:Microsoft took the current episodes from Sesame Street to turn them into fully interactive experiences. You can use your voice to interact with the show.

10:35PM:They are "watching and playing" Sesame Street. Elmo introduced a move of the day "throw" anda number "4". Now when elmo spills his coconuts children can act and pretend to throw coconuts at Elmo to help him collect them again. You have to see it to understand it better, but the concept is cool.

10:37PM:Now Elmo is taking the stage. Same sort of interactive demo going on.

10:38PM:In this demo the young girl is part of the Sesame Street show and she's interacting with the virtual objects around her.

10:39PM:"The number of things you can do with interactive entertainment, video interactivity together..it's going to be amazing." - Ballmer

10:39PM:"Just as Kinect revolutionized entertainment, we'll see it revolutionize other industries. Education, healthcare and many many more."

10:40PM:Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1st. Pretty big news there folks.

10:40PM:Microsoft is working with more than 200 companies including United Health Group, Toyota, Mattel, American Express, Boeing and many more.

10:41PM:Microsoft Office 2010 is the fastest selling Office version in the history of Office.

10:42PM:We're just going over a few of Microsoft's other projects. Skype users have used more than 300 billion minutes in the last year.

10:42PM:Bing has a 30% market share in combination with Yahoo in the U.S.

10:42PM:The final question: What's next? "Windows 8 is what's next!"

10:43PM:There's nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows.

10:44PM:Metro will be huge for Microsoft across all of its platforms. In 2012 what's next? "Metro Metro Metro!"

10:44PM:"And of course, Windows! Windows! Windows"

10:44PM:That's all folks thanks for joining us!

Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that Internet Explorer 6′s share of the United States Web browser marker is now less than 1%. In celebration of the stat, first reported by Net Applications, the Redmond-based company is giving a final farewell to the browser. Internet Explorer 6 was first launched in 2001, shortly after Windows XP made its debut. It has since been replaced by new revisions, the most current of which is Internet Explorer 9. “IE6 has been the punch line of browser jokes for a while, and we’ve been as eager as anyone to see it go away,” Microsoft’s director of Internet Explorer marketing Roger Capriotti said in a blog post. “In fact, we launched the IE6 Countdown site last March to help accelerate the process. Less than a year later, I’m thrilled to say that the United States has joined the ranks of Austria, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway in dropping below 1% usage of IE6.” Internet Explorer 8 was recently surpassed by Google Chrome 15 as the most popular single browser version in the world according to StatCounter, but Internet Explorer still maintains the largest global share if all versions of the browser are taken into consideration.

Read

Microsoft’s desktop Windows operating system was the only major platform to show usage gains in November according to new data released on Tuesday. Using impressions served to desktop and mobile platforms to calculate market share, advertising network Chitika found that Windows gained 1.4% between October and November to climb to a 76.45% share. Apple’s Mac OS stayed in the No.2 spot but slid 0.35% to a 9.33% share, and iOS dropped 0.04% to a 6.76% share in November. Android dipped 0.58% to 3.93% while Linux shed a half a point to drop to 2.93%. Chitika noted that this is the first time Android’s share has declined in several months, though it anticipates a rebound in December. Charts outlining the firm’s findings follow below.

Read

Microsoft’s Kinect motion and voice control system, currently available for the Xbox 360 and soon for Windows PCs, may soon be built into televisions. Microsoft is working on deals to license Kinect to TV makers Sony and Vizio, The Daily reported, noting that such technology could allow couch surfers to control their TVs with motion and voice. Currently, Xbox 360 Kinect owners are able to browse their Netflix queues and more by making gestures with their arms or using a number of voice commands. The Daily said Microsoft may be working to enable the system to recognize specific users, too, which would allow a TV to adjust various settings automatically in line with a user’s viewing habits. The technology could put TV vendors in a position where they are more prepared to combat the rumored Siri-controlled television Apple is said to be working on, but it is unclear when Microsoft’s partners might begin to release Kinect-enabled televisions. 

Read

Skype on Thursday announced that its Mac OS X and Windows beta clients now support video calls to Facebook users. Skype introduced a Facebook-to-Facebook video client for the social network in July, but now users on both platforms can video chat with one another. Users who choose to download Skype 5.7 Beta on Windows or Skype 5.4 Beta on Mac will be prompted to enter in their Facebook credentials. Once logged in, Facebook friends will be presented on the Skype buddy list and a video chats can easily be initiated. Skype also said it has added a group screen-sharing feature for its Skype Premium Windows users, an option that was released in an earlier Mac OS X update. A video of Skype’s Facebook calling integration follows after the break.

 Read

Just-released data from Net Applications shows that Microsoft’s share of the PC operating system market continued its slow decent in October as Apple’s Mac operating system and Linux both showed narrow gains. While Windows is still the overwhelming market leader among desktop operating systems, the platform slid from a 92.44% share in September to a 91.86% share last month. Over the same period, Apple’s Mac OS climbed from 6.45% to 6.94% while Linux inched up from 1.11% in September to 1.19% in October. Microsoft’s share of the computer OS market is expected to continue its slow decent until the second half of 2012, when it is expected to launch its next-generation Windows 8 operating system that marries a full-blown desktop OS with a light-weight mobile platform for tablets and other emerging devices. A chart illustrating October desktop operating system market share data from Net Applications follows below.

Microsoft announced its fiscal first-quarter 2012 earnings on Thursday, the best first quarter the company has ever recorded. The Redmond-based software giant reported revenue of $17.37 billion, up 7% from the first quarter of 2011 and on a par with analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Operating income for the quarter was $7.2 billion, up 1% from the same quarter last year and net income was $5.74 billion, or $0.68 per share, up 6% from the first quarter of 2011. “We saw customer demand across the breadth of our products, resulting in record first-quarter revenue and another quarter of solid EPS growth,” said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein. “Our product portfolio is performing well, and we’ve got an impressive pipeline of products and services that positions us well for future growth.” Microsoft’s Business division reported $5.62 billion in revenue, up 8% from the same period last year and above analyst estimates of $5.4 billion. The company’s Server & Tools team reported $4.25 billion in revenue, up 10% from last year’s first quarter and a hair below analyst expectations of $4.3 billion. Its Windows and Windows Live Division reported a revenue increase of 2% up to $4.87 billion. In addition, Microsoft said it has now sold 450 million Windows 7 licenses since the platform’s launch. Read on for the full press release from Microsoft. 

Microsoft Reports Record First-Quarter Results 

$17.37 billion of revenue driven by solid business and consumer demand

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 20, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today announced record first-quarter revenue of $17.37 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011, a 7% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.20 billion, $5.74 billion, and $0.68 per share, which represented increases of 1%, 6%, and 10%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period.

“We saw customer demand across the breadth of our products, resulting in record first-quarter revenue and another quarter of solid EPS growth,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Our product portfolio is performing well, and we’ve got an impressive pipeline of products and services that positions us well for future growth.”

Since July, Microsoft reported a number of product and business highlights, including:

• The Microsoft Business Division reported $5.62 billion in first quarter revenue, an 8% increase from the prior year period which included the launch of Office 2010. Revenue from Microsoft’s productivity server offerings – including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange – grew double-digits, and the Dynamics business grew 17% in the quarter.
• The Server & Tools segment posted $4.25 billion in first quarter revenue, a 10% increase over the prior year period and the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth. Microsoft also unveiled a developer preview of “Windows Server 8” at the BUILD developer conference in September.
• Windows and Windows Live Division revenue was $4.87 billion, a 2% increase over the prior period, in line with the PC market. Windows 7 momentum continued with over 450 million licenses sold since launch. At the BUILD conference, Microsoft showcased and released a developer preview of the next major release of Windows, “Windows 8.”
• Windows Phone 7.5 released with a broad array of new features, and received favorable reviews.
• Bing organic US market share grew 350 basis points year over year to 14.7% while Bing-powered US market share, including Yahoo! properties, was approximately 27%. The company also showcased the increasing integration of Bing across other products such as Xbox and Windows Phone.
• Xbox was the top-selling gaming console in the US for the ninth consecutive month. The company launched the Gears of War 3 game with over three million copies sold in the first week, and announced plans to roll out the next generation of TV entertainment on Xbox LIVE with nearly 40 content providers starting this holiday season.
• Microsoft completed its acquisition of Skype.

“We had another strong quarter for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, and saw growing demand for our public and private cloud services including Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “With a great set of consumer products like Windows 7 PCs, Windows Phone 7.5, Xbox and Kinect, we are excited about the holiday buying season.”

Business Outlook

Beginning in the second fiscal quarter, Microsoft’s results will include the results of Skype. The company offers updated fiscal 2012 operating expense guidance, including Skype and the associated acquisition-related expenses, of $28.6 billion to $29.2 billion.

U.S. consumers want a tablet powered by Microsoft’s Windows Operating system, not iOS, according to new research published by Boston Consulting Group. The firm found 42% of U.S. consumers would prefer a Windows-powered tablet, while just 27% would prefer iOS on a tablet. Fewer consumers would prefer Android (20%), QNX (9%) and HP’s now deceased webOS (3%). The findings were not just limited to the United States, either. BCG found that 44% of Chinese customers prefer Windows on a tablet to iOS (34%). AllThingsD notes that the company’s findings match those published recently by Forrester Research, which concluded its results were an indication of the popularity of Microsoft’s Windows brand among consumers. Additionally, RBC Capital Markets expects Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform to own 15% of the tablet market by 2014. Microsoft showed off a batch of its first Windows 8 powered notebooks, PCs and tablets in September, but the final products are not expected to hit retail shelves until late next year.

Read

Mozilla on Tuesday pushed out a new version of its popular Firefox web browser for Windows and Mac computers. Mozilla released Firefox 6 on August 16th, just over one month ago, and version 7 is already upon us, reaffirming Mozilla’s commitment to the world’s second most popular web browser. Firefox 7 brings with it a host of changes, the most notable of which is perhaps “drastically improved memory handling” and other speed related improvements. As of August, Net Applications shows Firefox’s global browser share as 22.57%, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (55.31%) and ahead of Chrome (15.51%) Safari (4.64%) and the Opera browser (1.68%). Firefox 7 is available for download immediately from Mozilla’s website, which is linked below.

Read

Microsoft’s Windows operating system continued its slow decent in September as Apple’s Mac OS and Google’s Android platform again showed gains. Advertising network Chitika’s research division, Chitika Insights, published an infographic on Monday outlining operating system usage share on its network in the month of September. After losing nearly three-quarters of a point last month, Windows again dipped 0.592% to land at 77.7% for the month of September. The Windows OS has now dropped a total of 1.35% since July. Apple’s OS X platform showed the biggest gains in the month, jumping 1.039% to hit double digits at 10.6%. Google’s Android OS gained marginally in September to reach 3.3%, and Apple’s iOS dipped to 5.2%, shedding 0.301% of its usage share as the world waits for the iPhone 5 to launch next month. Chitika’s full infographic follows below.