News (322)

Sun threatened by Microsoft, Apple over patents

Revealing a bit of previously hush-hush history that's relevant today, Sun Microsystems' former chief executive said that both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates had threatened Sun for infringing their patents. Read more »

Ex-Novell CTO takes web leadership post

The World Wide Web Consortium has a new leader who wants to streamline some of the group's standardisation efforts and beef up its ties with outside programmers. Read more »

Aussies wait till Xmas for Win 7 mobile?

Australians might not get their hands on a mobile phone running Windows 7 until Christmas, despite the platform having its first outing last night at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Read more »

Aussies get iPad in March, 'can't confirm' 3G

Apple has today declined to reveal whether the iPad 3G model would be available in Australia. Read more »

Unveiling Apple's iPad: Live blog

After months of rumors and speculation about a slate-like device, Apple has had its say. See the train of events in this blog from the high-profile press event which kicked off in San Francisco at 10am PST — 5am Sydney time. Read more »

Microsoft brings kids developer tool to the PC

Originally developed for the Xbox, Microsoft now has a Windows version of Kodu -- a tool for letting pre-teens create their own code. Read more »

Windows 8: Dying gasp or next big thing?

Just as the marketing hype around Windows 7 heads towards its peak, a few details are starting to surface about its likely successor. Read more »

Windows 8: The 'dying gasps' of the desktop OS or the next big thing?

Just as the marketing hype around Windows 7 heads towards its peak, a few details are starting to surface about its likely successor. Read more »

VMware hits back at Microsoft cost criticism

VMware has responded to claims made by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer that its virtualisation software is "very expensive". Read more »

Windows 7 to come in 'Steve Ballmer' edition

In case you were worried there weren't enough versions of Windows 7, there's one more to add to the collection. Read more »

Features (60)

10 open source headlines we'd like to see in 2010

At the beginning of a bright, shiny new year, a lot of things seem possible -- or at least worth imagining. Here are a few fantasy headlines. Read more »

Zero-day flaw found in web encryption

A zero-day flaw in the TLS and SSL protocols, which are commonly used to encrypt web pages, has been made public. Read more »

Why Windows 7 should be free in China

Microsoft hasn't won the war on piracy in China, so why not strike before Google and produce a free OS closely aligned to its digital products and services? Read more »

Did Ballmer hint at a Windows AppStore?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer yesterday appeared to hint at the possibility of a Windows application marketplace that would be similar to the Apple iPhone AppStore. But the idea is not without its share of problems. Read more »

Open source's usability challenge

The iPhone has been out for a year, and known about in detail for considerably longer. Yet the very latest crop of state-of-the-art Windows Mobile phones, clearly designed as head-on competitors to that phone, miss the mark by miles. Read more »

Vista is sunk

It's not really a mid-life crisis, not really. But eighteen months after Vista appeared - and eighteen months before Windows 7 - Vista has bought a metaphoric red sports car and a new pair of tight jeans, and is getting ready to go on the pull. Read more »

Five ways Microsoft could change after Gates

Bill Gates has left the building and the question on many people's lips is: will Microsoft change as a result? What influence will Steve Ballmer have and how will the company's strategy alter without Gates? Read more »

The truth behind Ballmer's revision of history

While speaking in Moscow, Microsoft CEO and Yahoo suitor Steve Ballmer said, "Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business... We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with $50 billion." Read more »

Don't hold your breath for Flash on iPhone

Despite comments made by its CEO, Adobe has clarified that it won't be bringing Flash to the iPhone right now. Read more »

Microsoft plays open but patent jaws still have teeth

Despite Microsoft's claim it will not sue developers that build free open source software on Microsoft platforms, a caveat leaves a yawning space for its legal teeth to gnash those that commercialise the software. Read more »

Video (36)

Apple iPad: The bottom line

Apple CEO Steve Jobs sums up all the features and pricing of the new Apple tablet. Read more »

Enable 'GodMode' in Windows 7

You don't need to pray to Bill Gates, or even Steve Ballmer, to activate some pretty cool powers in Windows 7. This simple folder hack puts nearly every Windows 7 customisation tweak in one place. Read more »

2009 in review

What were the top five stories that shaped 2009? From the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, to the departure and return of Steve Jobs to Apple, ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das and senior editor Sam Diaz share their views on the tech news that mattered most. Read more »

Windows 7 launches in NYC

Natali Del Conte reports from New York, where Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces the launch of Windows 7, showing several new features along with a slew of new products that will run the OS. Read more »

Conroy ducks, Ballmer evades and Android Fails -- Club Builder

Club Builder this week takes a long look at Senator Conroy's recent attempt to explain his Great Firewall of Australia, we chase Steve Ballmer over Sydney, and find Google's biggest bug of the year. Read more »

Chasing Ballmer in Sydney

ZDNet.com.au chases Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer around Sydney during his recent visit Down Under. Read more »

Ballmer's Sydney speech: Full video

Watch Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's full speech in Sydney this week at the company's Power to Developers Event. Read more »

Ballmer's Best and Firewalls -- Club Builder

With Steve Ballmer in the country this week, its time to present the "Best of Ballmer". Club Builder also looks at the goverment's firewall plans as well as news from Microsoft's PDC conference. Read more »

Windows maths and Browser Goodies -- Club Builder

Windows 7 will be code-versioned as Windows 7.0, won't it? On this week's Club Builder we see that it isn't so, as well as get Steve Ballmer thoughts on Vista deployment; plus we see some new HTML5 tricks. Read more »

Ballmer touts Windows 7 features

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reveals that Windows 7 is going to be a major release, not just a Vista update. He says the new Windows will have a better user interface, information management tools, and performance. It isn't practical to wait for Windows 7 instead of deploying Vista, he says, since both systems are compatible. Interviewers: Neil MacDonald and David Mitchell Smith of Gartner. Read more »

Blog (41)

Apple raises curtain on iPad

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Generating buzz this week is Apple's new tablet device -- iPad. Will Australia be getting the 3G version? Read more »

Flash comes to iPhone

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Adobe staged its Max 2009 conference in LA this week. A number of announcements were made during the keynote, including that Flash is finally coming to the iPhone. Read more »

Apple can give but can't take

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Apple has complained about Microsoft's laptop ads, a hacker has defaced the RAAF website and Firefox 3.5 users could fall victim to drive-by attacks. Read more »

Chrome gets extensions

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- In this week's Roundup we look at the release of Chrome for Mac and Linux and its support for extensions, a security flaw in Safari, popularity of SaaS and more. Read more »

A first look at Windows 7 beta

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- In this week's Roundup we show you a preview of Windows 7 beta, cover news from the annual Macworld and more. Read more »

2008: Time to call stumps

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- It's another year down but some things never change. That was shown this week as Internet Explorer remained under fire from yet another zero-day exploit. In other news, we set a hard drive on fire and Apple cans its involvement with MacWorld. Read more »

Google faces down Apple

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- What's the point in following Apple's rules on the iPhone SDK if other developers will just flaunt them? We check the answer out and cover the other issues from the week: OLPC, IE, Ballmer and the Internet in space. Read more »

Crying, mooning and leaving

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- In this week's roundup we see that continuous whining can get results, Linux users get 64-bit Flash and Moonlight previews, the latest in the Yahoo/Microsoft relationship and Senator Conroy ducks and weave in Senate Question Time. Read more »

Will Microsoft build native Mac and Linux tools?

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- If the future is in Microsoft's online services why isn't the company building native tools for Mac and Linux developers? Read more »

SMB bug gets seven-year itch

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- This week's roundup looks at the Great Firewall of Australia, seven year-old security holes, Android's big bug and we chase Steve Ballmer around Sydney. Read more »

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  • Staff Microsoft shows off IE9 preview

    This week, highlights from Microsoft's MIX10 conference and more in the Roundup. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Chris Duckett IE9's H.264 vote killed Ogg

    In a split decision by the judges, the winner of the W3C/WHATWG video codec consensus is H.264, taking home the future of video playback on the internet while loser Ogg goes home with nothing but thoughts of what might have been. Read more »

    -- posted by Chris Duckett

  • Staff Google launches Apps Marketplace

    Google launches and app store, while Mozilla plans to re-write its open-source license. More of this week's news in the Roundup. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

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