Microsoft, Google to sue over FISA gag order

Google and Microsoft plan to sue the government, demanding the right to publicly discuss any surveillance requests served up by the FISA court

Stonewalling by the Department of Justice has led Google and Microsoft to decide to file a lawsuit so that they can publicly discuss Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-approved surveillance orders.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/mccullagh.org)

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith announced Friday that the company, in collaboration with Google, would sue the government despite its statement on Thursday that it would publish some surveillance request information annually.

Google and Microsoft are requesting the ability to publish "aggregate information" about FISA court orders directed at the companies in the hopes of being more transparent to their customers, the companies have said.

Google originally filed the motion to claim a First Amendment right to publish information such as how many requests it has received from under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 of the act was amended in 2008 to allow the government to declare even the number of requests issued under the act subject to gag orders.

Before the National Security Agency document leaks from Edward Snowden, the FISA orders had been declared so secret that Google, Microsoft, and other companies served with them were barred from acknowledging in public that they had received the requests.

The government's response to the original filing's deadline was delayed six times by the Department of Justice, leading to frustration on the part of the tech companies, which has culminated in the announcement of the lawsuit.As part of the procedure for the lawsuit to proceed, Google and Microsoft will be amending their petitions filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a source close to the matter told CNET. The companies received a 10-day extension, so the government isn't expected to respond by Friday's deadline.

The source, who requested anonymity because the person lacked authorization to speak on the record, said that Google and Microsoft will be amending their petitions to more closely reflect the details of an open letter signed by most major tech companies (PDF) and sent after the initial FISA court filing from the Center for Democracy and Transparency to the heads of the US government and intelligence agencies.

It is likely that the government will consolidate the various petitions into the Microsoft lawsuit to avoid potentially having disparate decisions for different companies.

Originally posted at Politics and Law

Xbox One's Kinect voice control feature to be delayed in eight countries at launch

Microsoft's next-gen console is arriving in 12 countries this November, but only the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany will have access to the bundled Kinect's much-hyped voice control feature.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft was already forced to roll back its November launch markets from 21 countries to 12. Now, Microsoft has quietly restricted Kinect's highly promoted voice control feature to only five of those markets.

"Xbox voice commands will not be available in all markets on the product release date. Voice commands will be available at launch in US, UK, CA, FR, and DE," reads the final line, buried at the very bottom of the page, of Microsoft's new Xbox One promotional page.

That means that Austria, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain will not be getting the feature at launch.

Microsoft originally pushed back the Xbox One launch in eight European markets due to localizing the Xbox One dashboard, as well as incorporating more local content and additional voice and language support. It's unclear whether those issues are directly Kinect-related and thus playing a part in the delay of its voice control feature.

We have reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update the story if we hear back.

This announcement comes on the heels of an CVG interview with executive Phil Harrison, Microsoft's corporate vice president, claiming that his company has no current plans to ever sell the Xbox One unbundled from its motion controller, a factor of contention given that its naturally a factor in the console's $499 price point.

"I have an Xbox One at home, and being able to walk in and say 'Xbox on,' and for the system to recognize me, launch and load my profile, and put my choices of content on the font page is a very magical experience," he said.

Looks like only those lucky enough to get their console in North America, France or Germany will be able to enjoy the magic.

Microsoft makes Surface sale prices permanent

Price cuts on the Surface Pro, Surface RT, and Touch Covers are made permanent, rather than promotional.

Credit - CNET

Microsoft has made previously temporary price-cut promotions for its Surface devices permanent.

Starting Thursday, Surface Pro, Touch Cover, and Surface RT bundle price adjustments will begin to roll out all markets where Surface and Surface accessories are currently sold.

What are these adjustments?

• $100 off Surface Pro (including the 256 GB SKU). This means the entry-level Surface Pro will now start at $799.
• $40 off Touch Covers. Touch Covers will now start at $79, and Limited Edition Touch Covers will now start at $89.
• $50 off Surface RT bundles. Surface RT bundles will now start at $399.

Microsoft will be doing a "phased approach" to these pricing adjustments "in order to meet customer demand and retailer expectations," a spokesperson said. Users can find information on pricing changes in their specific locations via www.surface.com, a spokesperson said.

"The customer response to recent Surface pricing and keyboard-cover promotions has been exciting to see, and we are proud to begin rollout of Surface Pro, Touch Cover, and Surface RT bundles at even more affordable prices starting August 29," said a spokesperson in an e-mailed statement.

Neowin first reported that the $100 Surface Pro price cut, which originally was supposed to end today, would become permanent. WPCentral reported last week about the coming Surface RT bundle and Touch Cover cuts.

A vote for Bill Gates as interim Microsoft CEO

"There is no clear candidate with the visionary skills to turn the company around other than Bill Gates," says Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

Bill Gates will have the final say in who gets the CEO role at Microsoft.

(Credit: CBS)

The evaluations of Steve Ballmer's 33 years at Microsoft are winding down, with the focus shifting to who will replace him within the next 12 months.

It's a job that requires a rare combination of talents, experience and intellect. The odds maker Ladbroke has Stephen Elop, former Microsoft Office head and now best friend of the company as CEO of Windows Phone spearhead Nokia, as the leading contender, followed by current COO Kevin Turner. Several other current and former Microsoft executives are among the top 10.

Outside contenders in Ladbroke's betting pool include former Microsoft board member and current Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, eBay CEO John Donahoe and throwaways like Apple designer Jony Ive and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

At the bottom of the list, just ahead of Apple CEO Tim Cook at 100-1 odds, is Bill Gates at 50-1.

Whatever the odds, it seems unlikely that Gates will re-enter the ring. Company officials are saying "no way" to his return to the CEO role. He will continue to advise from his lofty board seat and have the final say in who becomes the next Ballmer.

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, however, is convinced that Gates is the only person right for the job at this juncture, despite the fact that as Microsoft's board chairman and an adviser on key development projects he shares responsibility with Ballmer for the company's successes and failures in recent years.

"There is no clear candidate with the visionary skills to turn the company around other than Bill Gates," Benioff told CNET. "He wouldn't just be a magnet for a new vision, but for a talent pool of leadership."

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

(Credit: CNET)

Benioff suggested that Gates become more of an interim CEO, like Steve Jobs was when he returned to Apple after a 10-year exile, for 36 months.

Benioff has not been Microsoft's biggest fan during his career, beginning at Oracle and then at the cloud-based software pioneer Salesforce.com, which he co-founded in 1999 and which has been ranked as the most innovative company by Forbes for the last three years. In 2008, hedescribed Microsoft as a "dinosaur" that has been "trying to hold onto their past more than trying to create their future."

Microsoft has been hard at work trying to create the future, but with less success than hoped. The most recent example is Surface, the Microsoft designed and manufactured tablet that was supposed to be the company's answer to Apple's iPad. In the last quarter, Microsoft had to take a $900 million charge against unsold Surface inventory. In an effort to protect the Windows franchise, Microsoft Office is unavailable for the iPad and Android-powered tablets. That tactic hasn't slowed down sales of rivals' tablets.

But Benioff contends that Gates is a different person than when he left in 2008. "He could come back with new ways to run the company, let [his wife] Melinda run the charitable foundation, make changes and identify the next leader to come, with a clear window of three years."

Whatever Gates' future, he will be at the table to set a new course. The reality is that the playing field leveled, at the expense of the Windows platform, as the shift to the Internet, cloud computing, mobile devices and social networking accelerated over the last decade. Whoever gets the CEO job will need to figure out how to make Microsoft loved or needed by the masses and feared by competitors for a new generation of consumers and business users brought up on Google search, with an iOS or Android phone in their pocket. Whoever follows Ballmer will have to map out a plan that doesn't have sacred cows and builds a culture around what Microsoft needs to be in 10 years.

Benioff offered some advice for the next CEO of Microsoft. "When it's time to throw away the past, you have to be ready. If you come in with preconceived notions and mantras that are no longer valid, you are setting up to fail," he said. "You need to be able to re-conceptualize the future. We value industry leaders who can do this effectively."

New Microsoft CEO: Elop's tip-top, bookies say. Sandberg? Long shot

Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop share a happy moment at a Microsoft-Nokia event in New York in September 2012.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

It's all very well to speculate who might be the next CEO of Microsoft, but there are people who have an inside track.

No, not the Microsoft board. Its members haven't seemed entirely sure what they've been doing for years.

Whenever you really want to know whether the wind is blowing north, south or merely out of mouth, you talk to a bookie.

A bookie's algorithms are more finely tuned than a first violinist's Strad. Moreover, so many large-pocketed people pass before bookies' eyes -- and get tipsy while doing it -- that they offer up all sorts of honest information.

I am, therefore, delirious at being in possession of Ladbrokes' official odds in the race to run Redmond.

It's tight. Very tight.

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

The favorite, perhaps unsurprisingly, is former Softie and now Nokia CEO Stephen Elop at 5-1. There are many who believe that his very familiarity with Microsoft, and especially Windows Phone, makes him the ideal candidate.

Running him very close is current Softie COO Kevin Turner at 6-1, with recent Softie Steve Sinokfsy at 8-1.

Lookie, there's Netflix CEO (and former Microsoft board member) Reed Hastings at 16-1. He must know where at least some of the corpses are hidden.Your eyes, though, might go aflutter at some of the other names a little lower down the list.

Google's overtly self-confident Vic Gundotra lurks at 25-1. Former Steve Jobs wunderkind Scott Forstall is at 33-1.

And there at 40-1 drifts Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. What a political (in so many senses of the word) triumph it would be to see the profile-building Sandberg sneak along the rails and take over in Redmond.

Yahoo and Marissa Mayer have proved that a surprise choice gets people excited. Somehow, Wall Street loves excitement -- any kind of excitement. That's just one of the reasons Snapchat is so popular there.

Many might wonder whether Sandberg might be an appropriate selection, or whether she'd even be interested. Would she truly have a revolutionary vision? Would she have the heft to lean in on such a vast organization?

Some might also wonder whether Ladbrokes' computers have suffered a little in the desperate search for the appropriate odds.

For, to Ladbrokes, she is "Cheryl Sandberg."

Oh, and Tim Cook's 100-1, in case you wondered.

Microsoft ups storage limits for SkyDrive Pro

SharePoint and Office 365 users now get more storage with their SkyDrive Pro, the company's cloud storage product for businesses.

Microsoft is adding more storage for its Office 365 and SharePoint customers to use with SkyDrive Pro.

SkyDrive Pro, despite its name, is not a variant of SkyDrive. It is designed for business file storage -- either in the cloud (SharePoint Online) or on SharePoint 2013 servers -- which users can access from a variety of devices.

Microsoft announced updates to its SkyDrive Pro capabilities on Tuesday via a new post to the Office 365 technology blog. The changes:

• Each user now gets 25 GB of SkyDrive Pro storage space (up from 7 GB). This is for both new and existing customers.
• Customers can increase SkyDrive Pro storage quotas for individual users beyond the default 25 GB, to up to 50 GB and 100 GB.
• With the new  "Shared with Me" view, users can more easily find documents others have shared with them.

Other features called out in today's post: An increase in the overall file upload limit in SharePoint Online to 2 GB/file; default recycle-bin retention to 90 days (up from 30); and versioning enabled by default, so the last 10 versions of a document are saved, to prevent inadvertent document deletion or loss.

Microsoft recently decided against fighting Sky Broadcasting Group for the SkyDrive name and officials promised to come up with a new name for SkyDrive. Even though Windows 8.1 was released to manufacturing, there's still no new name announced for SkyDrive yet.

Microsoft: Windows 8.1 is now in PC makers' hands

Windows 8.1: Ready, set, go.

(Credit: Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET)

Microsoft announced Tuesday that Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 have been released to manufacturing and are now being delivered to its OEM partners.

Company officials also confirmed, as I blogged earlier this month, that there will be no early access to the Windows 8.1 release-to-manufacturing bits by subscribers to MSDN/TechNet and volume-license customers. They will have to wait for Windows 8.1's launch, October 18, to get the gold code.

Put down the pitchforks -- at least for a minute -- and consider this:

Point 1: Yes, it's true: This is not how Microsoft has rolled out the final Windows bits in the past. With previous Windows releases -- even Windows 8 -- Microsoft RTM'd the bits, handed them off to OEMs, and made them available to MSDN/TechNet and volume licensees a couple weeks later. These groups got the gold bits a month or more before Microsoft "launched" the new release and made it available at retail. Starting with Windows 8.1, this changes and everyone gets the gold bits at the same time.

Point 2: Release to manufacturing, or RTM, doesn't mean what it used to. Microsoft technically RTM'd Windows 8.1 on Friday, August 23 (though today's blog post makes no mention of this fact). That was the day that the Windows team, internally, decided that Windows 8.1 was good enough to be declared done enough to send to OEMs. Today's announcement marks the next phase of RTM: Microsoft is starting to release the Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 bits to its OEMs. (We need a new word to replace "RTM," in my opinion. But for now, we are stuck with it.)

Point 3: Microsoft doesn't "make" Windows like it used to. Instead of spending 2.5 to 3 years planning, developing and testing a new Windows build, Microsoft did all that in 10 months this time around. Consequently, the company will be patching and updating Windows 8.1 and all the bundled apps that come with it (Mail, Calendar, the core Office apps, the Bing consumer apps, IE 11) right up until the launch. Microsoft will push updates to the whole shebang just before customers can get their hands on the final bits.

Point 4: Because of Point 3, things are different for developers, too. At Build this year, Microsoft told developers who wanted to build apps for Windows 8.1 to use the Visual Studio 2013 preview and the Windows 8.1 consumer preview to update their apps to take advantage of the new features in Windows 8.1. Officials detailed the application programming interface (API) changes that Windows 8.1 will bring. And they also noted that all existing Windows Store/Metro-Style apps that run on Windows 8 will run on Windows 8.1.

Point 5: The decision to withhold the RTM bits until launch probably does mean more folks will be downloading non-official RTM builds that will likely leak between now and October 18. Microsoft's advice is, unsurprisingly, users should wait for the "official" RTM bits and expect possible patches and updates to the consumer preview builds that the company released in late June in the interim.

In case you are wondering, we still don't know how much Windows 8.1 will cost. Windows 8.1 will be free for existing Windows 8 users, but Microsoft still hasn't said what it will cost at retail for those looking to upgrade from previous versions of Windows.

Developers and volume-license customers: Do you see delaying availability of the gold Windows 8.1 bits hurting you in any way (after reading the points above)? And remember: I am just the messenger here. 

Microsoft eyes November 8 launch date for Xbox One -- report

If the console launches that day, it would be available one week before its chief competitor, the PlayStation 4.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Microsoft may soon announce that the Xbox One will beat the PlayStation 4 out the door.

The company has yet to announce when the Xbox One will be available, but Microsoft may decide to launch the high-powered console on November 8, gaming site Kotaku reported on Monday, citing a person who has knowledge of Microsoft's plans.

The move would allow the Xbox One to sit on store shelves for one week before Sony launches its PlayStation 4 on November 15.

The focus of Kotaku's report comes from a conference call that was supposedly held with Walmart employees. A screenshot reportedly given to Walmart employees and published by Kotaku shows the Xbox One launching on November 8. However, unlike all the other gaming products, including the PlayStation 4, listed in that handout, the Xbox One's launch date doesn't say "confirmed." In other words, its launch date may still be up in the air.Sony announced earlier this month that its console would be available in November. Although Microsoft earlier this month announced several games would be available for the Xbox One, it balked at providing a launch date, leaving some to wonder if the move was to let Sony show its hand first, and then decide when it would launch its own device.

Interesting fact: Microsoft initially planned to launch the original Xbox on November 8, 2001. The device, however, was delayed to November 15.

Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and the parting of the ways

Ballmer gets the blame for Microsoft's recent lackluster stock performance and assorted product misses, and so should Bill Gates and rest of the company's board of directors.

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at the All Things D conference in May 2008.

(Credit: Dan Farber)

It was one of the longest-running duos in the history of the technology industry. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Harvard classmates and later business partners running what once was the most dominant company of its era.

Now it's over.

On Friday, Ballmer issued a surprise announcement stating his intention to step down sometime over the next 12 months. Much of the subsequent commentary has focused on shortcomings in Ballmer's stewardship. But a close review of the record suggests a more complicated narrative, one in which it's clear that both Ballmer and Gates shared equally in the company's successes as well as its failures.

"We're both pretty good about being two people with one huge job. Who has what title isn't a phenomenal element of that," Gates told Forbes in October 1999.

That was a fair summation of their business arrangement, even after Ballmer replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft's chief executive officer in January 2000. That was an especially delicate transition coming as it did around the time that US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had found the company to be a predatory monopolist. Six months later, the court ordered Microsoft broken into two parts: one would be an operating system provider, the other a software company. A year and a half later, Microsoft reached a deal with the Department of Justice that let it remain a single company. In return, Microsoft had to keep on its best behavior and share some APIs with developers.

But even though he had stepped out of the limelight, Gates remained deeply involved in Microsoft's technology direction after handing Ballmer the CEO title. He set himself up as the company's chief software architect and continued to lead the "Longhorn" project, which eventually became Vista. The goal for Longhorn was worthy -- remaking Windows, Windows Server, MSN, Microsoft Office, .NET, and other code for the Internet age. But the results failed to meet expectations after Vista finally began shipping in January 2006.

In November 2005, Bill Gates introduces Microsoft's 'software plus services' strategy, called, Windows Live, which he said helps bring together all the elements of an individual's digital world.

(Credit: Dan Farber)

Ballmer acknowledged as much during an exclusive interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, implicating Gates in what he called his greatest regret in 33 years at Microsoft. "I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista," he said. "I would say that's probably the thing I regret most." Gates probably has a similar view of the flawed five-year project to remake Windows. Both are hoping that the latest effort to remake Windows in the wake of the PC sales slowdown is more of a success.

By then, Gates had begun to tire of the grind. Six months after the release of Vista, Gates announced plans to give up his day-to-day duties. He would advise on key projects for next two years, and then devote himself more full time to solving global health issues at his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie took over as  Microsoft's top software architect.

But Gates still remained as chairman. Indeed, for the past 13 years, Gates and Ballmer have continued to work together. Let's not forget that Ballmer reported to a board of directors that was led, if not dominated, by his longtime friend.

During the course of Ballmer's tenure, Microsoft's revenue tripled and profits doubled. But the company's stock price failed to reflect those gains and became a source of investor grumbling. In part, that reflected Microsoft's difficulty adapting to a shifting technology landscape where smartphones and tablets were replacing desktops and laptops and search was revolutionizing the Internet advertising business.

While Ballmer was wrestling with creating a new Windows platform that turned into Vista, and eventually Windows 8, Apple and Google were leaving Microsoft behind in the move to mobile. The company's stock price never recovered. Microsoft's market value decreased from $604 billion when Ballmer became CEO to $269 billion just prior to his retirement announcement.

Nonetheless, Gates as Microsoft chairman stuck with his friend. He was reluctant to make a change even as pressure on Ballmer increased. Former board member and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was reportedly one of those urging Microsoft to dump Ballmer as CEO. Hastings left Microsoft's board in October 2012 after serving five years.

Perhaps they were guilty of self-delusion, but both Gates and Ballmer are strategic thinkers who got where they are by sticking with long-term visions. The rest of the board apparently bought into that vision, figuring that Microsoft would eventually get it right.

Unfortunately for Ballmer, the promises became part of a repetitive storyline. After high-profile failures with Microsoft Phone and the Zune digital music player, Microsoft last year tried to offset declining PC sales by designing and manufacturing its own Surface tablet computers that run Windows. If Apple could do it, why not Microsoft? On paper that sounded reasonable but Microsoft stumbled quickly. In the company's fourth-quarter Microsoft missed expectations badly. More embarrassing, it took a $900 million write-down of unsold Surface RTs.

Ballmer obviously gets the blame for the company's poor financial performance and assorted product misses, but it's also clear that Gates and the rest of Microsoft's board were involved in every major strategy decision.

Microsoft Board of Directors, August 2013.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The last chapter in their shared legacy will need to wait a while. Earlier this year, Ballmer restructured the company around devices and services while getting rid of product fiefdoms. It was an ambitious and big move designed to institute a more collaborative environment among leadership team, most who came up through the ranks. Though Ballmer won't be around to see how it turns out, Gates will.

Surface 2, Nokia 'Sirius' tablets coming soon, reports say

There are at least two new Windows ARM tablets in the pipeline: The Microsoft Surface 2 and Nokia 'Sirius,' according to evolving rumors.

Microsoft's Surface tablet.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Many Microsoft watchers, customers, and partners continue to believe there is no future for Windows RT tablets -- in spite of Microsoft remaining committed to the ARM-based port of Windows.

Despite Microsoft's $900 million Surface RT write-down, make no mistake: There are still at least two (and possibly more) Windows RT-based tablets in the pipeline.

As various blogs reported in mid-August,Nokia is expected to launch this device in New York at the end of September. (September 26 is the most often rumored date.) Reports claimed at that time that these Nokia tablets will be 10.1-inch devices running the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 32GB of built-in storage, 2GB of RAM, a micro USB port, a detachable keyboard, and LTE support. There have been reports indicating that AT&T, Verizon, or maybe both could be the LTE partners for these devices.The first, about which rumors have been swirling for the past couple of weeks, is Nokia's coming Windows RT tablet. The latest codename for this device is "Sirius,"according to The Verge. A couple of weeks ago, the codename for this device was supposedly "Vanquish," reported The Verge's Tom Warren.

On the Windows SuperSite, Paul Thurrott corroborated the Sirius codename and specs, adding that the pricing will start at $499 for these devices.

(Note: All of this information is from sources. Nokia and Microsoft are not commenting.)

The Nokia Sirius isn't the only ARM tablet arriving this fall. Microsoft also is readying the successor to the Surface RT, which Thurrott says is going to be known as the Surface 2, running Windows 8.1 RT. (The OS will still include the "RT" moniker, even though the hardware won't, according to Thurrott.)

These Surface 2 devices already are showing up in the latest AdDuplex stats, as are their Intel-based complement, the Surface 2 Pro, blogged Thurrott.

Microsoft officials said in July to expect Microsoft to deliver updates to the company's Surface RT and Surface Pro lines, along with new peripherals for those lines some time during the company's fiscal 2014 (which ends on June 30, 2014).

This story originally appeared as "Windows ARM tablet rumors heat up: Surface 2, Nokia 'Sirius' on deck" on ZDNet.

Microsoft's next CEO faces tougher times than Ballmer

Microsoft's new CEO will be like an NFL coach taking over a 10-6 team. You either win a championship or you fail. Simply put, Microsoft isn't screwed up enough to make the new chief look like a hero.
 

Steve Ballmer at Microsoft Build 2013.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET) 

 

Microsoft is in the market for a new CEO within the next year and while running a technology leader may be appealing the new captain may have a tougher time than outgoing chief Steve Ballmer.
On Friday, Microsoft surprised the tech industry by announcing that Ballmer was going to retire in a planned transition. Ballmer was a lightning rod, but the real shock was that he was stepping down -- especially as Microsoft just set itself up to be a services and devices company.
We have a short list of potential Ballmer successors and you can nitpick over Microsoft's product choices all you want. But here's the reality: Microsoft's job isn't getting any easier. The tech giant is sprawling and it's unclear whether it can compete with Google, Apple and Amazon -- three companies with more focused businesses.
The biggest challenge for Microsoft's new CEO can be found in one simple question: What's the glue holding the company together?
During the Bill Gates era and part of Ballmer's rein the answer was clear: Windows.
Today Windows isn't necessarily the glue of the company. The new glue may be the cloud.
Microsoft's latest mission statement to be a "devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most" is a bit mushy by design. Microsoft is a tech conglomerate of multiple billion dollar companies. There's no way a new CEO -- internal or external -- will know every one of those businesses well. Consider:

• Google is search and ads. 
• Amazon is commerce and cloud. 
• Apple is hardware, software, and ecosystem. 
• Microsoft is a work in progress.

The new CEO will have to take on a transformation started by a guy leaving and better define Microsoft. Should Xbox be spun off? Do Microsoft's consumer and enterprise businesses really go together? Does Microsoft need to be more about corporate software where it is doing very well? What is Windows going forward? Is Microsoft a cloud company first and foremost?
An answer like "all of the above" probably isn't sufficient.


Ballmer's record as Microsoft CEO will be mixed. He missed the mobile curve. Vista was a disaster. Windows 8 was a ballsy move that hasn't paid off just yet. Microsoft has a strong cloud position, but Wall Street is starting to freak as capital expenses for data centers is projected to rise from 4 percent of revenue in fiscal 2013 to 9 percent of sales this year, according to Barclays.
Shareholders aren't going to give Microsoft the leeway to spend heavily to keep up with Google and Amazon on infrastructure.
Simply put, the new CEO for Microsoft will be in a tough spot. The company isn't a disaster where there will be a two-year honeymoon just to stabilize the patient. The new CEO won't look like a savior because Microsoft doesn't need to be saved. The CEO following Ballmer will be more akin to Virginia Rometty taking over at IBM as CEO than Marissa Mayer at Yahoo or Meg Whitman leading HP out of the abyss. 
However, Microsoft also isn't firing on all cylinders and is transforming its approach. Microsoft is a tweener company that should arguably be broken up. In many respects, the new CEO is like an NFL coach taking over a 10-6 team. You either win a championship or you fail.

Microsoft to offer white Xbox One to employees?

Is this the white Xbox One?

(Credit: Kinect10DLL)

Will Microsoft employees working on the Xbox One get a white version of the console?
A Reddit user on Monday posted an image of an Xbox One that the person says, can be ordered by Microsoft employees working on the Xbox team. The poster says that the image was obtained from a friend who "works on the Xbox team."
 

 If the image is real, it shows the same Xbox One design that we've previously seen, but this model comes in white instead of the standard black. The controller would also available in white, but the Kinect would still be given to employees in black.
It's important to note that the image of the white Xbox One cannot be verified at this point, so take this with a grain of salt. Still, if a white Xbox One exists and it's given to employees, it might not be long before it makes its way to store shelves.
CNET has contacted Microsoft for comment on the white Xbox One. We will update this story when we have more information.
(Via Engadget)

Windows 8.1 is ready, gets released to manufacturers

The Windows 8.1 Preview.

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

They said they'd do it by the end of August. And as we head into the last stretch, it seems Microsoft has released to manufacturing (RTMed) Windows 8.1, its next release of Windows.
Windows SuperSite editor Paul Thurrott tweeted on August 23 that Windows 8.1 had RTM'd. Thurrott said the final RTM build number is 9600.16384.130821-1623.
I talked to another contact of mine who said the internal RTM e-mail made the rounds inside the Windows division on August 23. A third source close to the company confirmed Microsoft RTM'd Windows 8.1 on August 23, and announced internally that the quality metrics for Windows 8.1 were back in line with those of Windows 7. (The vast amount of changes in the Windows 8 code base resulted in an increased number of crashes and hangs for Windows 8, one of my contacts explained.)
I asked a Microsoft spokesperson if Windows 8.1 RTM'd on August 23 and was told the company had no comment.
Microsoft may have opted against announcing Windows 8.1's  RTM on Friday so that the news wouldn't be overshadowed by the announcement that CEO Steve Ballmer is retiring some time within the next 12 months. As I blogged previously, my sources said Microsoft was targeting Monday August 26 as the day it would RTM Windows 8.1.
In June, officials said that Microsoft would be providing the final RTM bits to OEMs before the end of August.
The real question on some developers', IT pros', and other users' minds is whether Microsoft will make the RTM bits available to anyone early. In other words, will TechNet and MSDN subscribers get the Windows 8.1 gold bits in the next couple weeks or so, as Microsoft has done traditionally?
As I've noted previously, my sources said that Microsoft's game plan is to withhold the Windows 8.1 RTM bits until launch this year, which means almost no one outside (other than OEMs) would get officially released Windows 8.1 bits until October 18.
Microsoft may reverse that decision, but on the server side of the house, officials admitted that the Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and Windows Intune Wave E offerings won't go to anyone in final form before October 18.
Windows 8.1, codenamed "Blue," is introducing a number of changes designed to make the new operating system more palatable to current Windows users. Windows 8.1 is adding a Start Button, a boot-straight-to-desktop option; the ability to unpin all Metro apps; built-in tutorials; an improved Windows Store and a host of other consumer- and business-focused features. Microsoft launched its one and only Windows 8.1 consumer preview test build in late June.