Microsoft skewers Google in EU antitrust complaint

Microsoft Corp escalated its attack on Google Inc by complaining to European regulators on Thursday that its fiercest rival is an Internet bully that abuses its dominance of online search and advertising.

The allegations against Google crystallise the piecemeal gripes that Microsoft has been making about Google's business practices for the past few years.

It's also an ironic twist for Microsoft, whose control over how software operates on most personal computers has made it a frequent target of the types of complaints it's now making against Google.


This marks the first time that Microsoft has lodged a formal antitrust complaint with a government agency against one of its own rivals.

In doing so, Microsoft hopes to encourage the European Commission to dig deeper into an investigation opened four months ago into Google's business practices.

The European inquiry was spurred by complaints made by several smaller websites. They contended Google was unfairly burying them in search results and highlighting the company's own services instead.

The sites behind the initial complaints included Ciao, an online-shopping site owned by Microsoft, and Foundem, a price-comparison site that belongs to a technology trade association backed by Microsoft.

Given that, Google said Microsoft's latest complaint was unsurprising.

"We continue to discuss the case with the European Commission, and we're happy to explain to anyone how our business works," Google spokesman Al Verney said.

Although the specifics of Thursday's European complaint were confidential, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith outlined the basics in a blog posting.

Microsoft has made most of these accusations before in public statements or forums.

List of gripes

It contends Google is making it difficult for mobile phones that rely on its Windows software to access Google's YouTube video site. Google is promoting its own phones software, Android, and has been accommodating with Apple Inc's iPhone, according to Microsoft. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board when the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Microsoft also accused Google of making it difficult for advertisers to transfer their data used to manage online marketing campaigns to rival search engines. And Microsoft said Google has programmed its search formulas in ways that drive up prices that its rivals have to spend to buy ads shown alongside Google's search results.

The complaint also paints Google as a hypocrite. Microsoft says Google has made it increasingly difficult for Microsoft's Bing and other search engines to index the videos on YouTube, an apparent contradiction to Google's crusade to make content openly accessible.

Google has been particularly critical of Facebook's refusal to open up data within its social network. Microsoft owns a 1.6% stake in Facebook, and Bing has been granted better access to Facebook profiles.

"Unfortunately, Google has engaged in a broadening pattern of walling off access to content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers," Smith wrote in his blog post.

Microsoft has a business incentive to undermine Google, which processes about two out of three every search requests in the United States. and an even higher ratio in other parts of the world, including many countries in Europe.

Partnership

After investing billions in its search technology during the past few years, Microsoft is desperate to close the market gap. Toward the end, Microsoft teamed up with Yahoo! Inc last year and, together, they now have nearly 30% of the US market.

To protect its search engine, Google previously has complained about the way Microsoft had set up its market-leading web browser, Internet Explorer, to make it less likely that people would install software known as toolbars from competitors.

"Antitrust has become a competitive weapon used by both companies," said Boston University law professor Keith Hylton, who specialises in antitrust issues. "This is troubling because you never know quite what to make of the complaints."

Previous complaints against Microsoft had thrust that company into a court battle with the US Justice Department in the late 1990s. European regulators have imposed heavy fines for anti-competitive practices involving its Windows operating system and Internet Explorer.

Google has been fined in France and admonished in Canada for inadequate privacy controls but so far hasn't been penalised in an antitrust investigation. If European regulators conclude Google engaged in anti-competitive behaviour, it could fine the company up to 10% of annual revenue, which is expected to surpass US$35bil this year.

Microsoft's move could exacerbate the legal and public-relations troubles already facing Google, which is based in Mountain View, California.

Bad time

The filing comes a week after a federal judge rejected a proposed legal settlement that would have given Google the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. The judge concluded the agreement would have walled off its Internet search rivals from valuable content.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is reviewing whether Google's proposed US$700mil acquisition of airfare tracker ITA Software would give it an unfair advantage in online travel.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, came out against both deals as part of broader coalitions. The state of Texas is also looking into Google's business practices.

Microsoft's decision to get involved in Europe's Google probe is a natural step, said Federico Etro, an economics professor at the University of Venice who has studied the case.

But he doesn't see this as merely another round in the jousting between two companies that don't like each other. He said online search is very complex market, with multiple consumer and economic issues to sort out.

Microsoft skewers Google in EU antitrust complaint

Microsoft Corp escalated its attack on Google Inc by complaining to European regulators on Thursday that its fiercest rival is an Internet bully that abuses its dominance of online search and advertising.

The allegations against Google crystallise the piecemeal gripes that Microsoft has been making about Google's business practices for the past few years.

It's also an ironic twist for Microsoft, whose control over how software operates on most personal computers has made it a frequent target of the types of complaints it's now making against Google.


This marks the first time that Microsoft has lodged a formal antitrust complaint with a government agency against one of its own rivals.

In doing so, Microsoft hopes to encourage the European Commission to dig deeper into an investigation opened four months ago into Google's business practices.

The European inquiry was spurred by complaints made by several smaller websites. They contended Google was unfairly burying them in search results and highlighting the company's own services instead.

The sites behind the initial complaints included Ciao, an online-shopping site owned by Microsoft, and Foundem, a price-comparison site that belongs to a technology trade association backed by Microsoft.

Given that, Google said Microsoft's latest complaint was unsurprising.

"We continue to discuss the case with the European Commission, and we're happy to explain to anyone how our business works," Google spokesman Al Verney said.

Although the specifics of Thursday's European complaint were confidential, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith outlined the basics in a blog posting.

Microsoft has made most of these accusations before in public statements or forums.

List of gripes

It contends Google is making it difficult for mobile phones that rely on its Windows software to access Google's YouTube video site. Google is promoting its own phones software, Android, and has been accommodating with Apple Inc's iPhone, according to Microsoft. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board when the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Microsoft also accused Google of making it difficult for advertisers to transfer their data used to manage online marketing campaigns to rival search engines. And Microsoft said Google has programmed its search formulas in ways that drive up prices that its rivals have to spend to buy ads shown alongside Google's search results.

The complaint also paints Google as a hypocrite. Microsoft says Google has made it increasingly difficult for Microsoft's Bing and other search engines to index the videos on YouTube, an apparent contradiction to Google's crusade to make content openly accessible.

Google has been particularly critical of Facebook's refusal to open up data within its social network. Microsoft owns a 1.6% stake in Facebook, and Bing has been granted better access to Facebook profiles.

"Unfortunately, Google has engaged in a broadening pattern of walling off access to content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers," Smith wrote in his blog post.

Microsoft has a business incentive to undermine Google, which processes about two out of three every search requests in the United States. and an even higher ratio in other parts of the world, including many countries in Europe.

Partnership

After investing billions in its search technology during the past few years, Microsoft is desperate to close the market gap. Toward the end, Microsoft teamed up with Yahoo! Inc last year and, together, they now have nearly 30% of the US market.

To protect its search engine, Google previously has complained about the way Microsoft had set up its market-leading web browser, Internet Explorer, to make it less likely that people would install software known as toolbars from competitors.

"Antitrust has become a competitive weapon used by both companies," said Boston University law professor Keith Hylton, who specialises in antitrust issues. "This is troubling because you never know quite what to make of the complaints."

Previous complaints against Microsoft had thrust that company into a court battle with the US Justice Department in the late 1990s. European regulators have imposed heavy fines for anti-competitive practices involving its Windows operating system and Internet Explorer.

Google has been fined in France and admonished in Canada for inadequate privacy controls but so far hasn't been penalised in an antitrust investigation. If European regulators conclude Google engaged in anti-competitive behaviour, it could fine the company up to 10% of annual revenue, which is expected to surpass US$35bil this year.

Microsoft's move could exacerbate the legal and public-relations troubles already facing Google, which is based in Mountain View, California.

Bad time

The filing comes a week after a federal judge rejected a proposed legal settlement that would have given Google the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. The judge concluded the agreement would have walled off its Internet search rivals from valuable content.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is reviewing whether Google's proposed US$700mil acquisition of airfare tracker ITA Software would give it an unfair advantage in online travel.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, came out against both deals as part of broader coalitions. The state of Texas is also looking into Google's business practices.

Microsoft's decision to get involved in Europe's Google probe is a natural step, said Federico Etro, an economics professor at the University of Venice who has studied the case.

But he doesn't see this as merely another round in the jousting between two companies that don't like each other. He said online search is very complex market, with multiple consumer and economic issues to sort out.

Microsoft skewers Google in EU antitrust complaint

Microsoft Corp escalated its attack on Google Inc by complaining to European regulators on Thursday that its fiercest rival is an Internet bully that abuses its dominance of online search and advertising.

The allegations against Google crystallise the piecemeal gripes that Microsoft has been making about Google's business practices for the past few years.

It's also an ironic twist for Microsoft, whose control over how software operates on most personal computers has made it a frequent target of the types of complaints it's now making against Google.


This marks the first time that Microsoft has lodged a formal antitrust complaint with a government agency against one of its own rivals.

In doing so, Microsoft hopes to encourage the European Commission to dig deeper into an investigation opened four months ago into Google's business practices.

The European inquiry was spurred by complaints made by several smaller websites. They contended Google was unfairly burying them in search results and highlighting the company's own services instead.

The sites behind the initial complaints included Ciao, an online-shopping site owned by Microsoft, and Foundem, a price-comparison site that belongs to a technology trade association backed by Microsoft.

Given that, Google said Microsoft's latest complaint was unsurprising.

"We continue to discuss the case with the European Commission, and we're happy to explain to anyone how our business works," Google spokesman Al Verney said.

Although the specifics of Thursday's European complaint were confidential, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith outlined the basics in a blog posting.

Microsoft has made most of these accusations before in public statements or forums.

List of gripes

It contends Google is making it difficult for mobile phones that rely on its Windows software to access Google's YouTube video site. Google is promoting its own phones software, Android, and has been accommodating with Apple Inc's iPhone, according to Microsoft. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board when the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Microsoft also accused Google of making it difficult for advertisers to transfer their data used to manage online marketing campaigns to rival search engines. And Microsoft said Google has programmed its search formulas in ways that drive up prices that its rivals have to spend to buy ads shown alongside Google's search results.

The complaint also paints Google as a hypocrite. Microsoft says Google has made it increasingly difficult for Microsoft's Bing and other search engines to index the videos on YouTube, an apparent contradiction to Google's crusade to make content openly accessible.

Google has been particularly critical of Facebook's refusal to open up data within its social network. Microsoft owns a 1.6% stake in Facebook, and Bing has been granted better access to Facebook profiles.

"Unfortunately, Google has engaged in a broadening pattern of walling off access to content and data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to attract advertisers," Smith wrote in his blog post.

Microsoft has a business incentive to undermine Google, which processes about two out of three every search requests in the United States. and an even higher ratio in other parts of the world, including many countries in Europe.

Partnership

After investing billions in its search technology during the past few years, Microsoft is desperate to close the market gap. Toward the end, Microsoft teamed up with Yahoo! Inc last year and, together, they now have nearly 30% of the US market.

To protect its search engine, Google previously has complained about the way Microsoft had set up its market-leading web browser, Internet Explorer, to make it less likely that people would install software known as toolbars from competitors.

"Antitrust has become a competitive weapon used by both companies," said Boston University law professor Keith Hylton, who specialises in antitrust issues. "This is troubling because you never know quite what to make of the complaints."

Previous complaints against Microsoft had thrust that company into a court battle with the US Justice Department in the late 1990s. European regulators have imposed heavy fines for anti-competitive practices involving its Windows operating system and Internet Explorer.

Google has been fined in France and admonished in Canada for inadequate privacy controls but so far hasn't been penalised in an antitrust investigation. If European regulators conclude Google engaged in anti-competitive behaviour, it could fine the company up to 10% of annual revenue, which is expected to surpass US$35bil this year.

Microsoft's move could exacerbate the legal and public-relations troubles already facing Google, which is based in Mountain View, California.

Bad time

The filing comes a week after a federal judge rejected a proposed legal settlement that would have given Google the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. The judge concluded the agreement would have walled off its Internet search rivals from valuable content.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is reviewing whether Google's proposed US$700mil acquisition of airfare tracker ITA Software would give it an unfair advantage in online travel.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, came out against both deals as part of broader coalitions. The state of Texas is also looking into Google's business practices.

Microsoft's decision to get involved in Europe's Google probe is a natural step, said Federico Etro, an economics professor at the University of Venice who has studied the case.

But he doesn't see this as merely another round in the jousting between two companies that don't like each other. He said online search is very complex market, with multiple consumer and economic issues to sort out.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

Microsoft hypes smartphone, browser

ENTHUSIASTIC: Ballmer addressing a sold-out crowd of developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC10) in Redmond, Washington. - Microsoft

REDMOND (Washington): Microsoft Corp CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company's new web browser and smartphone software at a software developer conference.

The event was the company's annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones.

Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn't repeat the memorable "developer prance" of years past, when he loped around hollering, "Developers! Developers!"

Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft's Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features.

Internet Explorer 9, which is in beta test form, uses more of a PC's hardware to make pages load and run faster. A new version of the underlying code has been released for developers.

IE9, which is only available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets computer users "pin" websites to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, creating a permanent shortcut that makes the site feel more like a desktop program.

Microsoft also unveiled some new apps - add-on programs that can be downloaded - for Windows Phone 7, its new smartphone software.

One was a version of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle e-book reader software. Microsoft's app marketplace now has 1,000 approved programs and games; the first Windows Phone 7 devices go on sale in the United States in early November.

Most of the keynote presentations centered on what software programmers can build with Microsoft's tools.

Microsoft is far behind Apple Inc with its iPhone and Google Inc with its Android smartphone software; tens of thousands of apps are already available for those phones and have been critical to their success.

But one of Microsoft's greatest strengths is its relationship with developers. The company's tools, which it is updating, will be familiar for developers who already make programs for Windows PCs, and Microsoft is hoping that will encourage them to build apps even though the popularity of the phone is unproven.

"We need your best work," Ballmer said to developers. "Make no mistake about it, when it comes to Windows Phone, we're all in."

Ballmer said Microsoft will give all developers who attend the conference at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters a Windows Phone 7 smartphone - more than a week before it goes on sale.

Microsoft also updated developers on its Azure system, which it describes as an operating system for "the cloud" - in other words, technology that allows programs to run not on a single computer or server, but across thousands of machines in datacentres scattered around the world.

Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation Studios demonstrated a real-world example of how Azure works. The maker of the Toy Story movies is also responsible for the visual-effects rendering software used by many other movie studios.

Rendering effects is computing-power intensive, and in the past it required studios to invest in massive datacentres to crunch files.

Pixar built a version of the rendering software so it runs on Azure. It lets movie studios upload their raw files to the cloud.

The studio can decide how fast it wants the computing done, and the service ramps up the right number of machines to complete the work. The studio pays based on how much computing resources it uses, but doesn't have to buy a huge server farm. - AP

Microsoft hypes smartphone, browser

ENTHUSIASTIC: Ballmer addressing a sold-out crowd of developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC10) in Redmond, Washington. - Microsoft

REDMOND (Washington): Microsoft Corp CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company's new web browser and smartphone software at a software developer conference.

The event was the company's annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones.

Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn't repeat the memorable "developer prance" of years past, when he loped around hollering, "Developers! Developers!"

Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft's Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features.

Internet Explorer 9, which is in beta test form, uses more of a PC's hardware to make pages load and run faster. A new version of the underlying code has been released for developers.

IE9, which is only available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets computer users "pin" websites to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, creating a permanent shortcut that makes the site feel more like a desktop program.

Microsoft also unveiled some new apps - add-on programs that can be downloaded - for Windows Phone 7, its new smartphone software.

One was a version of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle e-book reader software. Microsoft's app marketplace now has 1,000 approved programs and games; the first Windows Phone 7 devices go on sale in the United States in early November.

Most of the keynote presentations centered on what software programmers can build with Microsoft's tools.

Microsoft is far behind Apple Inc with its iPhone and Google Inc with its Android smartphone software; tens of thousands of apps are already available for those phones and have been critical to their success.

But one of Microsoft's greatest strengths is its relationship with developers. The company's tools, which it is updating, will be familiar for developers who already make programs for Windows PCs, and Microsoft is hoping that will encourage them to build apps even though the popularity of the phone is unproven.

"We need your best work," Ballmer said to developers. "Make no mistake about it, when it comes to Windows Phone, we're all in."

Ballmer said Microsoft will give all developers who attend the conference at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters a Windows Phone 7 smartphone - more than a week before it goes on sale.

Microsoft also updated developers on its Azure system, which it describes as an operating system for "the cloud" - in other words, technology that allows programs to run not on a single computer or server, but across thousands of machines in datacentres scattered around the world.

Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation Studios demonstrated a real-world example of how Azure works. The maker of the Toy Story movies is also responsible for the visual-effects rendering software used by many other movie studios.

Rendering effects is computing-power intensive, and in the past it required studios to invest in massive datacentres to crunch files.

Pixar built a version of the rendering software so it runs on Azure. It lets movie studios upload their raw files to the cloud.

The studio can decide how fast it wants the computing done, and the service ramps up the right number of machines to complete the work. The studio pays based on how much computing resources it uses, but doesn't have to buy a huge server farm. - AP

Microsoft hypes smartphone, browser

ENTHUSIASTIC: Ballmer addressing a sold-out crowd of developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC10) in Redmond, Washington. - Microsoft

REDMOND (Washington): Microsoft Corp CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company's new web browser and smartphone software at a software developer conference.

The event was the company's annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones.

Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn't repeat the memorable "developer prance" of years past, when he loped around hollering, "Developers! Developers!"

Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft's Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features.

Internet Explorer 9, which is in beta test form, uses more of a PC's hardware to make pages load and run faster. A new version of the underlying code has been released for developers.

IE9, which is only available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets computer users "pin" websites to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, creating a permanent shortcut that makes the site feel more like a desktop program.

Microsoft also unveiled some new apps - add-on programs that can be downloaded - for Windows Phone 7, its new smartphone software.

One was a version of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle e-book reader software. Microsoft's app marketplace now has 1,000 approved programs and games; the first Windows Phone 7 devices go on sale in the United States in early November.

Most of the keynote presentations centered on what software programmers can build with Microsoft's tools.

Microsoft is far behind Apple Inc with its iPhone and Google Inc with its Android smartphone software; tens of thousands of apps are already available for those phones and have been critical to their success.

But one of Microsoft's greatest strengths is its relationship with developers. The company's tools, which it is updating, will be familiar for developers who already make programs for Windows PCs, and Microsoft is hoping that will encourage them to build apps even though the popularity of the phone is unproven.

"We need your best work," Ballmer said to developers. "Make no mistake about it, when it comes to Windows Phone, we're all in."

Ballmer said Microsoft will give all developers who attend the conference at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters a Windows Phone 7 smartphone - more than a week before it goes on sale.

Microsoft also updated developers on its Azure system, which it describes as an operating system for "the cloud" - in other words, technology that allows programs to run not on a single computer or server, but across thousands of machines in datacentres scattered around the world.

Walt Disney Co's Pixar Animation Studios demonstrated a real-world example of how Azure works. The maker of the Toy Story movies is also responsible for the visual-effects rendering software used by many other movie studios.

Rendering effects is computing-power intensive, and in the past it required studios to invest in massive datacentres to crunch files.

Pixar built a version of the rendering software so it runs on Azure. It lets movie studios upload their raw files to the cloud.

The studio can decide how fast it wants the computing done, and the service ramps up the right number of machines to complete the work. The studio pays based on how much computing resources it uses, but doesn't have to buy a huge server farm. - AP

Microsoft and Facebook now team up on social search

WORKING TOGETHER: Microsoft online services division president Qi Lu (left) and Zuckerberg talking about the two company's search collaborations at the Galileo Auditorium on Microsoft's campus in Mountain View. - AP

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp is starting to incorporate what your friends do on Facebook right into its Bing search engine. The software maker has a new feature that can show what someone's Facebook friends "like" on the search results page.

On Facebook and sites around the Web, people can click a "like" button to show support or share information with Facebook friends.

In the coming weeks, if you use Bing to search for a topic in the news, articles that friends have shared on Facebook might appear, along with their names and Facebook profile photos. Restaurants and movies that friends have "liked" could help you decide what to do on your next date.

Microsoft also added Facebook profile results to people searches. In the past, a search for an old friend from elementary school who shares a name with a celebrity would leave web surfers swimming in search results for the celebrity. Now, if that friend is part of your extended Facebook network, a link to his or her Facebook profile might pop up at the top of search results.

The new features were unveiled at a media event at Microsoft's Silicon Valley offices in Mountain View, California.

As these features trickle out to Bing users, those who are also logged in to Facebook will see a small notification asking if they want to see Facebook friends' information incorporated into search results.

Bing is using Facebook's existing "instant personalisation" feature, which customises websites based on the likes and interests of Facebook members and their friends.

Tailoring search results based on what friends do online is not a new idea. Google Inc, the most-visited search engine, has added ways for people to recommend certain search results or re-order the list of links on a search results page. But neither feature has really caught on.

The tie to Facebook could help No 3 search provider Microsoft nab more web searches. Not only is it competing with Google, Microsoft is racing against Yahoo! Inc.

Microsoft is currently providing search technology to Yahoo!, the No 2 search engine, but the companies are still making separate decisions about how to display results. Microsoft gets some search-ad revenue from queries made on Yahoo!, but searches on its own site are more lucrative.

Privacy concerns have plagued Facebook over the years as the company has encouraged members to reveal more details about themselves. The site has a history of introducing features that people must then remove, or opt out of, instead of waiting for members to actively sign up for the new features. That approach has riled privacy advocates.

Facebook has responded with more granular controls so users can decide exactly who can see their photos, status updates and other details.

Privacy questions dominated a question-and-answer session after the announcements. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasised that Bing only taps into information that Facebook users have already designated as public.

To turn off instant personalisation entirely, go to "privacy settings" on Facebook, click on "applications and websites" and select "edit settings" next to "instant personalisation."

Microsoft has been working with Facebook since 2006. In 2007, the Redmond, Washington-based software maker invested US$240mil (RM768mil) in Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% stake.

The companies said more integrated features will be coming to Bing in the future. - AP

Microsoft and Facebook now team up on social search

WORKING TOGETHER: Microsoft online services division president Qi Lu (left) and Zuckerberg talking about the two company's search collaborations at the Galileo Auditorium on Microsoft's campus in Mountain View. - AP

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp is starting to incorporate what your friends do on Facebook right into its Bing search engine. The software maker has a new feature that can show what someone's Facebook friends "like" on the search results page.

On Facebook and sites around the Web, people can click a "like" button to show support or share information with Facebook friends.

In the coming weeks, if you use Bing to search for a topic in the news, articles that friends have shared on Facebook might appear, along with their names and Facebook profile photos. Restaurants and movies that friends have "liked" could help you decide what to do on your next date.

Microsoft also added Facebook profile results to people searches. In the past, a search for an old friend from elementary school who shares a name with a celebrity would leave web surfers swimming in search results for the celebrity. Now, if that friend is part of your extended Facebook network, a link to his or her Facebook profile might pop up at the top of search results.

The new features were unveiled at a media event at Microsoft's Silicon Valley offices in Mountain View, California.

As these features trickle out to Bing users, those who are also logged in to Facebook will see a small notification asking if they want to see Facebook friends' information incorporated into search results.

Bing is using Facebook's existing "instant personalisation" feature, which customises websites based on the likes and interests of Facebook members and their friends.

Tailoring search results based on what friends do online is not a new idea. Google Inc, the most-visited search engine, has added ways for people to recommend certain search results or re-order the list of links on a search results page. But neither feature has really caught on.

The tie to Facebook could help No 3 search provider Microsoft nab more web searches. Not only is it competing with Google, Microsoft is racing against Yahoo! Inc.

Microsoft is currently providing search technology to Yahoo!, the No 2 search engine, but the companies are still making separate decisions about how to display results. Microsoft gets some search-ad revenue from queries made on Yahoo!, but searches on its own site are more lucrative.

Privacy concerns have plagued Facebook over the years as the company has encouraged members to reveal more details about themselves. The site has a history of introducing features that people must then remove, or opt out of, instead of waiting for members to actively sign up for the new features. That approach has riled privacy advocates.

Facebook has responded with more granular controls so users can decide exactly who can see their photos, status updates and other details.

Privacy questions dominated a question-and-answer session after the announcements. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasised that Bing only taps into information that Facebook users have already designated as public.

To turn off instant personalisation entirely, go to "privacy settings" on Facebook, click on "applications and websites" and select "edit settings" next to "instant personalisation."

Microsoft has been working with Facebook since 2006. In 2007, the Redmond, Washington-based software maker invested US$240mil (RM768mil) in Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% stake.

The companies said more integrated features will be coming to Bing in the future. - AP

Microsoft and Facebook now team up on social search

WORKING TOGETHER: Microsoft online services division president Qi Lu (left) and Zuckerberg talking about the two company's search collaborations at the Galileo Auditorium on Microsoft's campus in Mountain View. - AP

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp is starting to incorporate what your friends do on Facebook right into its Bing search engine. The software maker has a new feature that can show what someone's Facebook friends "like" on the search results page.

On Facebook and sites around the Web, people can click a "like" button to show support or share information with Facebook friends.

In the coming weeks, if you use Bing to search for a topic in the news, articles that friends have shared on Facebook might appear, along with their names and Facebook profile photos. Restaurants and movies that friends have "liked" could help you decide what to do on your next date.

Microsoft also added Facebook profile results to people searches. In the past, a search for an old friend from elementary school who shares a name with a celebrity would leave web surfers swimming in search results for the celebrity. Now, if that friend is part of your extended Facebook network, a link to his or her Facebook profile might pop up at the top of search results.

The new features were unveiled at a media event at Microsoft's Silicon Valley offices in Mountain View, California.

As these features trickle out to Bing users, those who are also logged in to Facebook will see a small notification asking if they want to see Facebook friends' information incorporated into search results.

Bing is using Facebook's existing "instant personalisation" feature, which customises websites based on the likes and interests of Facebook members and their friends.

Tailoring search results based on what friends do online is not a new idea. Google Inc, the most-visited search engine, has added ways for people to recommend certain search results or re-order the list of links on a search results page. But neither feature has really caught on.

The tie to Facebook could help No 3 search provider Microsoft nab more web searches. Not only is it competing with Google, Microsoft is racing against Yahoo! Inc.

Microsoft is currently providing search technology to Yahoo!, the No 2 search engine, but the companies are still making separate decisions about how to display results. Microsoft gets some search-ad revenue from queries made on Yahoo!, but searches on its own site are more lucrative.

Privacy concerns have plagued Facebook over the years as the company has encouraged members to reveal more details about themselves. The site has a history of introducing features that people must then remove, or opt out of, instead of waiting for members to actively sign up for the new features. That approach has riled privacy advocates.

Facebook has responded with more granular controls so users can decide exactly who can see their photos, status updates and other details.

Privacy questions dominated a question-and-answer session after the announcements. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasised that Bing only taps into information that Facebook users have already designated as public.

To turn off instant personalisation entirely, go to "privacy settings" on Facebook, click on "applications and websites" and select "edit settings" next to "instant personalisation."

Microsoft has been working with Facebook since 2006. In 2007, the Redmond, Washington-based software maker invested US$240mil (RM768mil) in Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% stake.

The companies said more integrated features will be coming to Bing in the future. - AP