Check out the predictions made ​​by Bill Gates that worked

It is a general rule, people of great prominence are more recognized for errors and blunders than by great achievements. This is the case of Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft and built an empire of information, but suffers severe criticism and reviews for games today spoken by him at different times.

Acting only as an executive at Microsoft and Managing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (philanthropic organization that maintains along with his wife), the man behind Windows now sees many of his ideas in 1995 said just now hitting the market - and many other far happen.

Finally, the critics get hard, true, but not without some reason: Gates has struck such gems as "1 GB is too much space to store mail," "spam will disappear" and "640 KB of memory in a personal computer is enough for anybody. "

But he is also considered the most influential person in technology by Forbes, for example, and, believe me, kick hit the mark on new equipment and trends in the computer world. The Tecmundo shown below some of these items - and why Bill Gates still deserve much respect.

The computer-wallet
Gates has never stopped to opine on the Internet. Even so, 1995 is a special year, he released The Road Ahead (The Road Ahead, in the original), a book which is subject to the computer revolution that was going when it consolidated as a means of communication can influence all the daily lives of its users.

Was it, for example, which emerged the concept of the computer the size of a wallet that would fit perfectly into user's pocket. Through this device, you could check email, calendar, weather, general news or search random stuff over the network.

Currently, we are not exactly a miniature computer, but smartphones and tablets take all these (and some more) functions that also apply to PCs point to the Bill.

Long before social networking
The biggest fashion internet today stone was also sung by Gates. Also in The Road Ahead, he says that the connection between people, despite the distance, would become increasingly smaller. All this because of this virtual highway of information.

Through the exchange of messages through this channel, they could make new friends and meet people with whom you had never talked before. And these virtual friendships would be only a first step for these people to meet personally, forming a company connected with each other also in the real world.
This concept can be easily applied to any site of the current relationship, such as Orkut and Facebook. Although not all friendships pass for real life, several links throughout the world were originally built by the network.

The miniature camera
In the 1990s, the streaming video was still in development in computers, with the integration of these devices even without a full popularization. There comes a preview of Microsoft founder who bet on small display devices that would operate online, through cameras attached to computers or other screens.

Thus it would be possible to exchange information with others and get good quality pictures, all for one low price. The result? Shortly thereafter, the world knew the webcam, which today is a cheap and almost indispensable accessory for online communication, being incorporated automatically in almost all current models of notebooks.

New distribution formats
With advancing technology, the model of distribution of some products would be forced to change. In his book, Gates suggests that the labels would store their music on a server in this "information highway". Ironically, those who enjoyed it better in the future was Steve Jobs, iTunes.

In addition, he also bet on a technology that was crawling at the time and only now beginning to gain the proper respect: e-books. For him, the screen and improvements in computing itself, allied with the least weight of portable devices, would be a universal form of digital reading. Tablets and more specific products such as Amazon Kindle, for example, are evidence of that success.

Plus, Gates also warned that this paradise of products could become a hell for the producers if they do not take extreme care. The reason? Piracy could easily take care of this world. And he took.

Integration is key
Some of the guesses were based on the ideology of the company. Support and encourage the use of various file formats, for example, are part of a perfect market compared to Microsoft's digital.

Publishing files on the Internet on extensions that can be read by both Mac and Windows would be ideal, but it was not something common until then. For Gates, it was important to encourage this policy because it would be of great importance in the future.

Today, we have a huge number of applications capable of integrating both systems, strengthening links to two companies that always seemed so distant.

What's ahead?
While some of the forecasts of Bill Gates became a reality ¿and others were a mere dream or science fiction - the businessman is still on hold. After all, some recent forecasts can still become reality (or not) in the coming years.
According to him, being optimistic, in two years the market will be flooded with products touchscreen. In 2008, when the kick was made, some products already had these features, but Gates speaks in popularity.

Tens of millions of people will hear music, take pictures and access the network only with the movement of fingers on the screen. The tablets would be the most popular form of PC sold in the world, more so than laptops or desktops.

Moreover, he still believes the force of Bing, the search engine from Microsoft. Gates gives praise the work of Google, but believes people will be impressed with the work that your company can accomplish in the area.

Finally, on online purchases, which now bite off a large slice of total sales of some stores, it goes away: much more than a trace of Postal code, it will be possible by videoconference throughout the delivery process, from packaging to transport its product.

If some of these predictions will actually materialize or will just join the many mistakes of Bill Gates, only time can tell us. But at least it is not possible to say that the Microsoft founder just wanders in their guesses.
And you believe that the forecasts of Bill Gates may be realized? If not, what the future holds in the area of ​​internet, that not one of the most powerful men in the area of ​​technology was able to guess?

Rumor of the Day: Microsoft is developing its own tablet

As Steve Jobs said in the presentation of the IOS 5 at WWDC 2011 this week, if the hardware of a computer is your body, surely the software is its soul. Stretching the metaphor a little, we can say Microsoft focuses its efforts on the soul and brightest to run without errors in the bodies created by several OEMs, whether in desktop or smartphone. But it does not seem that the field of tablets will be so too.

According to sources the site Digitimes, the company is researching the costs of producing a tablet itself, with the Microsoft brand in its rear and 8 with Windows as their primary operating system. She would have conspired with the possibilities manufacturers like Texas Instruments and others based in Taiwan, through official channels but nothing was confirmed.

Remember, the Xbox, Zune and kin are on the list of products made ​​by Microsoft itself in terms of both hardware and software. The fact that two of them failed to so much success, however, may be indicative of what the future holds for a tablet of the company. Or a stigma that they can get broken, who knows.

The stars of E3: Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony

Boy,   that full week of news, is not it? On the same day, we had the WWDC and the E3 (the mega-fair games that displays news from console manufacturers and gaming companies). If you grew up reading old magazines or watching the game StarGames certainly dreamed of one day going to the Electronic Entertainment Expo.


The event is still happening (E3 goes from day 7-9 and June), but for most gamers, the main innovations have been displayed in the presentations from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

And how many novelties. Among many other things - is difficult to list everything in a concise summary - Sony has finally answered everything we wanted to know about the NGP (including the final name of the console). Microsoft promised a Star Wars game that may finally bring the experience that we thought we would the Wii. And speaking on the Wii, Nintendo showed us his successor.

But what were the highlights of the conference?

Microsoft's presentation was very diversified. For hardcore gamers, we saw 3 Mass Effect, the remake of Halo: Combat Evolved Modern Warfare 3, a new Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport 4 (little gameplay, but interesting integration with Kinect), and Gears of War 3.


E3 2011: presentation of the "Disneyland Adventures" for Kinect (Reuters)
As for the audience a little more casual games that take advantage of the system of motion sensing Kinect: Disneyland Adventures (which can hardly be called a game, more like a virtual tour Disney with lame gameplay thrown over), Kinect Star Wars (which took me "excitement" a "disappointment" in less than 3 seconds), Once Upon a Monster (a game based on characters from children's program Sesame Street, which is still very popular in the U.S.) and Dance Central 2, presented by the same citizen who paid this monkey at E3 last year. And finished in style with the trailer for Halo 4, promised for the end of next year. It was the only moment of genuine excitement from the audience, which mostly remained silent presentation.

Overall there were no major surprises, and the focus was exclusively on software. The announcement of Minecraft for Kinect was also very nice, but did not show any gameplay so I kind of got a little way of press release (ie, without much substance).

Sony's presentation, however, was far more interesting - partly because it deals with hardware, which is always a more significant change in the status quo gamer. Yes, we saw trailers for Drake's Deception (with that visual film ever) and Starhawk, but what really occupied more space in the conference was the NGP (hereafter called PlayStation Vita) TV and PlayStation.

About PlayStation Vita, the first real successor to the PSP after so many makeovers, you know the release (available later this year) and price ($ 249 for the Wi-Fi version and $ 299 for the version with 3G connectivity). In the U.S. the device will be exclusive to AT & T, which suggests that the console will be locked in the carrier network American ... Bad news for those who are thinking of going past the end of the year in the States and bring a brand new 3G PSV home.

And not only is bad news for us, no: the audience laughed when Kaz Hirai announced that the FDP would be exclusive to AT & T, such is the bad image of the company there.

We saw several games for PSV (I'm the only one who finds this a bit ... weird acronym?): Street Fighter, a spin off of Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, among others. The numerous inputs from PSV - conventional buttons, touch screen, touch the back too, cameras, gyro - will make it an incredibly versatile platform. The price is very competitive, and the picture quality of games is jaw-dropping. It was expected that one day portable consoles had graphics that rivaled the islands with "table" but that does not diminish the horror of seeing Uncharted running a small screen of 5 inches.

Sony also announced the PlayStation TV: a 24-inch 3D TV that allows, with the aid of special glasses, which players see two different images on the same screen, completely changing the way you play multiplayer games on the same TV. That is, if you get the idea (I have my doubts). And with humble 24-inch, this apparatus is more to monitor than for television.

PlayStation TV will be offered for $ 499. The package will include a copy of Resistance 3, a pair of such glasses, and HDMI cable.

Finally, the conference from Nintendo. Like Sony, Nintendo hardware had to bring to the table: the Wii's successor. Announcement of new console is the kind of thing that attracts much attention and speculation from the public, and no wonder that the presentation of the Big N seems to have caused greater frisson than the competition.

The presentation began with the announcement of a new game for each console Zelda franchise from Nintendo. Link's Awakening, available the same day in eShop (a virtual store 3DS), Ocarina of Time 3D next weekend, Four Swords in September for the DSi (and free), and Skyward Sword for the Wii (no specific date but even in 2011).

Then, a few titles for Nintendo 3DS. Starfox 3D (including online multiplayer with the interesting feature that captures the faces of his opponents in real time and use them as avatar in the game), Super Mario 3D, and Kid Icarus: Uprising - a series of two games which last came out in 1991 . Knowing Nintendo's commitment to its franchisees, it is curious that this has been so long in the refrigerator.

A few more quick videos showing gameplay of games coming to the 3DS (among them Tekken 3D Tetris 3D, Ace Combat Cave Story 3D and 3D, which led the audience to their feet), and then it's time to decide. On stage, Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo honcho) begins to explain the company's new console, Wii U.

Wii U ": a device that seems to be a hybrid of console and portable tablet. Do not let the size fool you - this is not a handheld console, Nintendo makes clear.

The presentation shows the various uses of such control. You can continue, little on the small screen, you play a game on TV, if someone changes the channel. With the included stylus, can you draw on the screen. The control can be used in conjunction with Wii Fit, eliminating the TV altogether. There is even the function of video conferencing, and should not have been the only one who felt a strange deja vu. After all, not too long ago that we were introduced to the idea of ​​a videochat white tablet of a certain company named after a fruit, right?

There must have been the only one who found the conference somewhat confusing. Relying only on descriptions of Reggie, you could not decide for sure if the Wii is just U such "control tablet, or if it is part of a larger island. The reason is that in the presentation, the control was constantly called by the name of the island, blurring the line between one another.

Actually, the Wii U "tablet" (U Wii-mote?) Connects to an updated version of the Nintendo Wii, serving primarily as a satellite of the U Wii, which will this time, the graphics in high definition (1080p) and serious games that the hardcore had even given up hope of Nintendo.

The control tablet is not required, moreover, it will be just a luxury for the most enthusiastic of technological innovations. U The Wii is also compatible with the traditional WiiMote.

On balance, I think Nintendo's conference was the most interesting. Announcement of the new console is possibly the biggest news that a manufacturer can bring (even if the ad is a bit confusing).

Nevertheless, the U Wii has not convinced me. The fact that the control is completely optional makes me think that most games will not be done with control in mind. Or worse: enfiarão lame features, made in the thighs, just to be able to announce support for control. Not to mention that to create a device that looks and form factor tablet (to the point that it is necessary to make clear that there is a portable gadget) and it is intended exclusively to the living room seems counterintuitive. Do not know if a post-IPAD accept a "tablet" (because the popular perception that there is a tablet) forever confined to the couch.

And PS Vita seems quite interesting. The combination of touch screen, camera and 3G connectivity makes it the perfect island for the type of game that developers become millionaires in the AppStore, for example. And at the same time, robust graphics capability and the physical controls allow us to play games in the exact manner as they were meant to be played - by pressing buttons and moving levers directional. It seems a perfect marriage of casual appeal ee ability hardcore.

I just would rather not have games like Uncharted used to show the capabilities of touch the console, but what do ... It's like I said before about the Wii U: irrestistível the habit that developers have (especially early in the life cycle of a console ) threading functionality lame just to be able to claim support for new features.

Moreover, it is interesting to see how the seesaw industry's position had changed in recent years. Nintendo has this generation pleasing casual niche, while Sony and Microsoft were running behind the hardcore audience. This time, Nintendo suggests that it will return to more adult market, while Sony and Microsoft develop more games for their consoles for children with motion capture.

Ultimately, it seems that the market will be a little more balanced now, with all three companies all spheres simultaneously pleasing consumers. I think this competition much more interesting than the segregation of yore ("buy X console if you want to give shots to the face of aliens, or Y if you want to jump console in the living room with friends pretending they're dancing.")

And you know what you think of conferences from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony?

Microsoft may be disabling Xbox 360 unlocked

While updates have become the standard for video games, most people saw this as a blessing, always bringing new functions, ensuring that their console had a longer shelf life. As the generation increased, many problems have arisen from them and soon began to become inconvenient. Now the latest update from Microsoft may be modified by disabling console.

According to the journalist Alex Rubens, his Xbox 360 stopped working, displaying an error message E66. When contacted the support service from Microsoft, the attendant explained that the code you were referring to the E66 console modified, and therefore would have violated the terms of service. The only problem is that he never changed his console.

Urging the clerk, saying she had never changed its Xbox 360, the journalist received the answer that they knew that the island would have been altered by methods that could not reveal, saying that if he insisted, could pay $ 100 to send console to the repair center and then they prove that he had been modified.

Microsoft denied that there was an update disabling modified consoles, saying, "You received incorrect information. We do not disallowed consoles. Just banish them from the [Xbox] Live. "

More bugs E66, however, are appearing on the part of users with islands without modification, while others with modified consoles, they're saying they did not have any problem with the update.

Modifications to the console actually goes against the game's terms of use, which makes the console banned from Xbox LIVE, because such changes and allow for the use of pirated games, would enable other adverse functions that may be harmful to others if allowed online, giving Microsoft all the necessary basis to justify removing the service console.

Recently another update, which prepares the system to receive a new media format, one crippled very small number of consoles, which Microsoft has offered to swap.

Geek Humor: Microsoft Skype hits stores

Due to the purchase of Skype for Microsoft much has been said on the Internet, how will this affect the users of this free service to communicate such facilities has given us a picture of geek humor shows that Microsoft is gearing up for Skype.


The first thing that comes to mind is that Microsoft with its blessed license charge us for each version of Skype and take out the business to be round and fill us with various versions to keep buying useless.

MSN Introduction

Launched in 1999, MSN already holds the leading position in the global market and Brazil's messengers for a long time. About 3 years younger than ICQ, its predecessor, MSN Messenger could quickly conquer a lot of fans and become the most famous instant messenger and used the world (about 320 million users).
Download the latest version of Windows Live Messenger here.


Much of that reputation can be attributed to the fact that the application is a Microsoft product. In addition to conferring a certain status, this connection also contributed (and continues to contribute) to disseminate the program among users, since it comes already installed in virtually all versions of Windows, the operating system used on most personal computers around the world .

But it would be unfair to say that the success of the Messenger is solely due to their "mother." It is true that the link with the company of Bill Gates played a role, but the resources (among them, integration with e-mail service Hotmail), messenger and its innovative features were also responsible for ensuring that MSN stood out and attract an increasing number of users.

Moreover, thanks to lots of users from many different profiles, today you can also find a lot of extensions and applications to complement the tools already available in the original program. With that, the possibilities of use and the famous "tricks" MSN compose an almost endless list, which serves as a more attractive to users.
Recently, MSN Messenger has undergone a redesign to stay competitive, and gained a new name: Windows Live Messenger. Now, the messenger is part of the package of online services from Microsoft, Windows Live. Among the most significant changes, we can highlight the last version (2011), integration with major social networks more popular nowadays, a trend among software for the Internet.

If you follow our site, may have noticed that the TechTudo has done complete guides to key services and social networks of today, and it is clear that Windows Live Messenger could not stay away. Below, we list the top tips and tutorials so you can usurfruir the maximum of features and functionality offered by the program. The list will be constantly updated, so stay tuned for news!

Microsoft unveils Windows 8

 During the D9  conference, held in the United States, the president of Microsoft's Windows division has a very interesting revelation. Being interviewed by Walt Mossberg, Steven Sinofsky said the requirements to run Windows will be 8 "or less" to those needed to run the current Windows 7.

According to the executive, Windows 8 - he made it clear that this is just a code name, by the way probably will not name the next version of the system-not rely on any hardware that is already higher than necessary today in terms RAM, disk space and graphics to use Windows.

Sinofsky also confirmed that Windows 8 will be available in both Intel and AMD architectures like the ARM. A clear move toward launching a system that will be compatible with tablets of the future. For the executive, the backward compatibility of applications is assured. In other words, the software that runs on Windows 7 will also run on Windows 8.

During the event, Microsoft has revealed how it will be the new home screen of Windows 8. See below.

We have a look that clearly draws on that presented by Windows Phone 7. Called tiles, blocks of information they give data on social networks, new e-mail, appointments, besides the weather and access to a store, which presumably the Store Windows that Microsoft has been planning.

Steve Ballmer should retire?

From time to time this matter back to the discussion table. Steve Ballmer is in charge of Microsoft makes 11 years, during which Microsoft's actions did not fall. In addition, the company is accused of failing to innovate as before, putting bad products on the market (moot point, with the exception of Windows Millennium and Vista) and still use your opinion to the dominant advantage in new markets.

For this and a little more, David Einhorn, manager of a hedge fund that owns 0.11% of Microsoft - believe me, it is enough - he said publicly that it's time for Steve Ballmer to sign his resignation letter and make good Caribbean vacation (this is on my own).

"His continued presence [Steve Ballmer] is the biggest weight on the shares of Microsoft, " Einhorn said in a conference, according to the Epicenter.

Ryan Block, Internet entrepreneur who has in its curriculum the foundation of Engadget, gave his two cents. He said that Microsoft "forgot how to do more with less. " For completeness, Block argues that Bill Gates go back to the rank of company commander, because Gates has a "killer instinct that has made Microsoft the undeniable champion of the first wave of personal computing. "


Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates: friendship inside and outside of Microsoft
That alone, two heavyweights are already asking the head of Ballmer. However, the board of Microsoft, whose chairman is none other than Bill Gates, you see - fully supports the decisions of Ballmer.

Microsoft receives $ 5 for running Android HTC

Every time that HTC sells some smartphone running Google Android, Steve Ballmer hears the clink of coins in the bank account from Microsoft. The Taiwanese manufacturer pays a fee of DM per unit sold. According to the calculations of a bank analyst at Citi, this value is currently $ 5.


Amazingly, Microsoft is the only company for which the HTC pays a fee to install Android on new smartphones. Google? No, the revenue from the Google Android mobile advertising is due not to the licensing of its intellectual property. Currently, HTC has more than 10 handsets running Android in the U.S. market.

HTC and Microsoft have reached an agreement after a dispute involving patents, which came to this value of $ 5 per unit. In other disputes with other companies (or you think that MS would be satisfied with a manufacturer?), the Redmond company calls between $ 7.50 and $ 12.50. On this view, until the HTC did well.

Survey of Asymco says that HTC has sold about 30 million phones with Android. That is, already owes $ 150 million for the arch-enemy of Android.

The main agreement is that it causes the enhancement in the final cost of Since the smartphone becomes more expensive, Microsoft itself gains competitive advantage for your Windows Phone 7. This is the fee for using it is less than the $ 15 that they say, are charged license.

Microsoft discovers thousands of e-mail on the computer Rustock

When Microsoft had an important role to deactivate the largest botnet in the world, known as Rustock, we imagine that the story would end there. However, the company continues with investigations on the subject. On Monday, the company issued a document that claims to have found hundreds of thousands of email addresses used for spam.


Steve Ballmer celebrates the good deed for the year (or not)
In total, tells Computerworld, Microsoft has found no less than 427 000 e-mail. Details: In just a hard drive of a machine that only served Rustock network. These addresses were in plain text in a single file, according to information that MS paid for an American judge.

Off in March this year, Rustock demanded a true collaboration between Microsoft, the drug company Pfizer and federal agents from the United States. People were arrested and machines were seized, and deactivates the communication channel between Rustock and zombie PCs.

Investigators from the task force has found evidence that cybercriminals used fake credit cards to hire services of web hosting and email. Only it was not clear if they were given to PSN users, who were adrift after Sony pulled out all the air system.

Bill Gates defends purchase of Skype and importance of software

In an interview with the BBC program named HARDtalk  Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, said it was a great advocate of the acquisition of Skype. The deal  $ 8.5 billion, is the largest in the history of the Redmond company. The information was released on Wednesday by the BBC.

Bill Gates said the deal was strategic and asked for support from other council members to be able to do it. "The idea of ​​videoconferencing will get much better than it is today, " he said. "It will be fascinating to see how bright ideis Microsoft's research will be run together with Skype, you can do with it. "

According to its founder, Microsoft is doing a good job, impressive research, plus new products to come. Asked about the revolution of mobile devices, if Microsoft would have stayed back, Bill Gates said he did not agree with this statement. "Companies have done a good job in their areas, but the phone will become focused in the software industry that Microsoft is very knowledgeable, " he said.

Bill Gates also said that the "PC era" is not just to stop the tablet, but the devices will work together in the future, and the importance of software will be bigger than ever.

New update may disable your Xbox 360, Microsoft offers to replace it

Some time ago there were rumors that Microsoft was testing a new disc format, the XGD3, which adds one more GB of data to the console games and increases security against piracy. But what no one thought about the new disc's default is that the update to support the format could trash some Xbox 360 models. Soon Microsoft has offered to exchange them.

"Following the recent software upgrade of our system, we become aware of a problem preventing a very small number of Xbox 360 owners to play games on physical media. The problem manifests itself as a single error "Unreadable Disc" or "Unsupported disc" on screen. We can also detect this problem by Xbox LIVE, and we are addressing consumers who may have been impacted to replace your console, Microsoft said.

Apparently the support for the new disc standard is almost a Trojan horse, and update its main function to combat piracy, the first to actually rewrite the "memory" of the DVD player from the console. As copies of illegally recorded games do not react the same way as the originals, to hack the Xbox 360, the reader behavior was changed so that the pirates did not care for these differences.

Microsoft requested that users who are having problems after the new update, get in touch via the link www.xbox.com / support / contact, where the company will begin a process to change your Xbox 360 console by a slim model with 250 GB hard.

Despite the compensation, is a somewhat bitter taste in the mouths of this generation know that companies can get into our homes and render our games, since then apologize.

In the fight against Google, Bing integrates button "Like" from Facebook

Microsoft is even willing to take advantage of the friendly relationship it  has with Facebook. According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the Bing search engine, Microsoft announced it will incorporate the button "Like" to its results. This means that in the search results Bing, appear the recommendations of the user's friends on Facebook.

As the Business Insider site explains, one of the changes is that from the integration with Facebook's search results Bing "tanned" by the friends will appear with the photo next to them. In addition, events on Facebook will have weight in the rankings of the research done into the search engine from Microsoft. If a company posting a promotion on Facebook recently, it appears in search results made by company name. If enough people start to like a particular site, it also rises in the global ranking of research at the Bing.

A third button functionality "Like" is to share travel Bing. When a user searches for a city connected to Facebook, Bing shows who your friends' lives or visited the same locality in recent times, articles that received the button "Like." For Bing, who since 2008 when purchased Farecast, which compares prices des passages, this feature is even more interesting. According to Microsoft, quoted by El País, over 3.5 million sites have installed the button "Like" Facebook and every month to recommend 30 billion through this link button. Also according to Microsoft, 60% of people are making a search at the same time, connected to Facebook.

The news is clearly an attempt by Microsoft to win over fans of Bing as Google puts into practice its already announced Google +1. According to El Pais, the Google button can be added to any site and give the owner of the site statistics page and navigation of your data rather than

The major acquisitions made ​​prior to Microsoft's purchase of Skype

The business world is a jungle. Your company may be leading a segment and emerging as the latest fashion. All use their product, they all talk about it. Comes to speculation, is a hefty order of business and profit, which is the end-goal of all venture capitalist emerges or not.

Whether you're blue or red, the fate of many startups   is already successful in many cases, the absorption by larger market. In recent years, Google has become a reference on the subject, to the point of encouraging the creation of some startups whose goal, rather than profit, is being acquired by the company Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The history of mergers give rise to such thinking. Among others, in the lasts year Google bought YouTube, Blogger, Gizmo5 (base Google Voice), Keyhole (Google Earth base / Maps), among (many) more ...

Skype: Microsoft for U.S. $ 8.5 billion.

This kind of practice is ancient in the technology market. This week, Microsoft has caught the attention of the world with billion dollar purchase of Skype, VoIP, Internet telephony. The company led by Steve Ballmer spent $ 8.5 billion acquisition of another, which will become a business division within Microsoft and its technology will be integrated into virtually every line of programs from those intended for the domestic market, as Xbox / Kinect, even the corporate, with Lync and Outlook.

Taking the opportunity, we will make a tour of Microsoft's major acquisitions throughout its history? Several, 128 acquisitions, to be exact, which gives an average of six per year. As space and time are short, we will be the most expensive and / or important, ok? The complete list, including purchases of shares of other companies, can be seen in Wikipedia (in English).

Forethought (1987)
The first was the purchase of Forethought Microsoft, a software company founded in the United States in 1983 by Rob Campbell and Taylor Pohlman, which was acquired in 1987 for $ 14 million. Forethought's main product was the presenter, who years later was renamed PowerPoint. The first version of today's omnipresent creator slide shows on the Mac just worked and was in black and white, given the hardware limitation of the time. When the first colored Apple computers were introduced, a color version came out.

The Windows versions of PowerPoint have appeared only in the early 1990s, during which time also the application has been integrated into the Office suite, where it remains today.

Hotmail (1997)
Released in July 1996, Hotmail was the first webmail service history. Until then, all mail service providers were linked to and dependent on the installation and use of a local software like Outlook or Thunderbird. The service name is a play on the acronym HTML (Hotmail), markup language that underlies the entire web.

With 8.5 million users in December 1997, Microsoft bought Hotmail for their creators, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith for $ 400 million. The service, now under the wings of the Redmond giant, continued to grow, registering 30 million active users in February 1999. After a period of stagnation of the whole segment, in April 2004 shook the world with Google Gmail and its astounding 1 GB of space, that at a time when competitors offered mega bytes dropper - Hotmail, gave 2 MB on free accounts.

Thereafter Hotmail suffered a series of changes, several name changes involving the then newly-created division of services for web, Windows Live, reformulations in the layout which, although different, minimalist, could not beat the smooth experience Gmail. Nevertheless, even today Hotmail is one of the most widely used webmail services and the world in its latest version, released in late 2010, he won very interesting improvements.


At the end of last century, Microsoft announced the Xbox, its home console, your video game. The company breast the three Japanese giants in the industry, Sony, Nintendo and SEGA, all years in this market and fierce fighting in order for the hearts of gamers of the time. Joining a niche as stiff, without expertise, and still be successful?

One of the key factors was Bungie, or rather, its main game, the Halo franchise. Synonym for Xbox and one of the most fun FPS and rich history in terms of the last decade, the acquisition of Bungie Software, the makers of the game was strategic and timely - at the time, there even was a demo version running on Mac OS ...!

With the acquisition of Bungie, Halo became a title, at first, exclusively for Xbox. The first two games of the series have been ported to Windows, but her forte even stayed on the islands. Each entry, even the less impressive titles such as Halo Wars and Halo 3 ODST, causing fury in the fan base and, of course, help sell more consoles.

Since last year, but Bungie is no longer owned by Microsoft. After launching Halo Reach, she again became independent and has signed a ten year contract with Activision Blizzard to publish their titles. The Halo franchise was left in the hands of Microsoft.

Danger (2008)
Built by former employees of Apple, WebTV and Phillips, Danger was an enormous hit in the United States a few years ago, with the Sidekick, also known as the Hiptop, a quasi-mobile-smartphone specially designed to facilitate the posting of text.

In 2008, Microsoft purchased Danger for half a billion dollars. For nearly two years, much has been speculated about what would come out of this merger. Such rumors were unified under a codename, "Project Pink". Then, months before announcing the Windows 7 Phone, Microsoft has put cell phones on the market KIN in two versions, the "soul" of the Sidekicks.

It was a failure so violent, but so violent, that apparatus, KIN KIN 1 and 2, did not last two months on the shelves of stores. With very few units sold, the project was canceled and all but forgotten within Microsoft, which, quite rightly, began to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7. Since the announcement of KIN, moreover, discussed how this rivalry would be hospitalized. It was not, as the KIN did not live to see Windows 7 Phone born ...

And Skype?
From the above, it becomes clear that sometimes what appears to be the best deal you can, ultimately, to injury. Skype is the most expensive purchase that Microsoft has done in its history, which increases, by far, the responsability on the directions of the partnership. The company, as administered by an investment fund, was losing money, Microsoft will be able to reverse this scenario, make Skype and profitable, to boot, enhance their products by integrating back-end VoIP service to them? Only time, and expertise of company employees, they say.

Review: Arc Touch mouse Microsoft Chic

When it comes to software, there are no doubts that Microsoft is captain. But when we're talking hardware, the impression I have is that the company Steve Ballmer insists on producing equipment that meet only in the question of vision. The Arc Touch, I used it for one week, it's a little gadget that promises little and delivers just that.

Not so we can debunk the look of the animal. After conducting an unboxing - see the photos in the gallery published exclusively on Facebook - I bumped into a very strange device. Microsoft Arc Touch is like that: completely straight, without any position to be handled, while Off. But you may notice that your body is made of a soft rubber, which is easily twisted to reveal (yes there!) A mouse with great taste.

At first, the lack of a thicker product causes estrangement. I normally use a Logitech mouse until quite heavy, I was struggling to hold the Arc Touch. Lack of habit that passes after a good 15 minutes playing with wireless mouse.

The predicates of Arc Touch, in addition to distinctive design, are BlueTrack technology, which lets you use the equipment on any surface (true), and transmission through 2.4 GHz, which Microsoft calls a "wireless high reliability. " It is also true.

In my test (no character too scientific), the Arc Touch behaved very well from up to 3 meters away from your receiver. Incidentally, the USB dongle is quite small, smaller than a stick, following a long-standing policy of Microsoft. I noticed that at certain times, moving the mouse cursor was sluggish, even with the device using new batteries. It's something that worries me to consider the suggested retail price of Arc Touch: £ 229 in the Brazilian market.

Although not an avid gamer, I spent some of my time playing with Arc Touch with Call of Duty: Black Ops. The result was not exactly the best: the mouse proved to be slow to move my character, even after adjusting the speed in the Control Panel settings in Windows 7 and the game itself. Something tells me that the Touch Arc was not made for games, even because it has several buttons or anything.

The scroll of it is rather curious. There is not any wheel, but to quickly move the indicator up or down, it is noticeable that some physical component (electronically actuated) moves. I missed you more control over the scroll.

No batteries exclusive. The power of Microsoft Arc Touch is made through AAA alkaline batteries. Microsoft promises autonomy for six months of use, according to ZTOP, but I was left with serious doubts whether it is really just the way the mouse behaves.

Strengths
3 year warranty offered by Microsoft Brazil.
BlueTrack, which lets you use the mouse on any surface.
Bad points
Overpriced.
No special function button (such as multimedia or games).

Device has a suggested price of $ 229 (photo: Thássius Veloso / Tecnoblog)
In conclusion, it is not the type of player that I like. The Arc Touch should have your captive audience among fans of beauty over function, they are willing to pay slightly more for a product designer. Even if the wireless keyboard Arc, which I tested last year.

Microsoft publishes e-book with safety tips

Not only in the field of software  Microsoft also invests in security. Although the company currently offers the Security Essentials as an antivirus option for those who have genuine Windows, Steve Ballmer is also eyeing the books. Not coincidentally, was released today an e-book sponsored by MS that speaks directly to teenagers. The issue is safety.

Linda McCarthy was inspired to write the first edition Own Your Space [Be master of your space, in free translation] when two teenagers at home could destroy what she thought was a home computer network very secure. "From there the stories unfold with that moral of the story that no teenager likes to read, but could help in time to prevent data theft and so on.


Downloading On your computer can be done from Microsoft Website. The  file size is 12.6 MB.

Analysis: What is behind the purchase of Skype by Microsoft

On Tuesday  Microsoft announced the purchase of Skype for $ 8.5 billion, one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the Redmond company. The news of acquisition, followed by a press conference with Steve Ballmer, chief executive Bill Gates, accompanied by Tony Bates, CEO of Skype and Skype now responsible for the division within Microsoft, took the press nationally and internationally. The deal, which may seem like just one of the bustling market of information technology (IT), there are several stories behind it.

For analysts of the IT market, users should not be harmed by the acquisition of Skype instead. With all the integration promised by Microsoft - Xbox, Kinect, Outlook, MSN, and Lync Phone awaited Windows 7 - the software that allows customers to make video calls and voice over Internet, called VoIP, can rest easy.

Eduardo Tude, president of consultancy Teleco, would be a shot in the foot to Microsoft making any changes in services offered by Skype since 2003, many free. Even before the competition, Microsoft shall not restrict the use of Skype devices with Windows, for example. "For Microsoft, it's great to have its software being used on competing platforms. For even if they close Skype, other solutions are equal or better will arise and they lose users. Who can not appreciate having a Microsoft product on their devices' is Apple, "he says.

Fernando Lima, software market analyst at IDC, does not see the acquisition as a problem for the user. In your opinion, is very unlikely that Microsoft will continue to charge for free service or something similar. "I think they will not attack from that side," said Lee, who believes that Microsoft will leverage the knowledge and experience to add Skype service to Lync, a kind of MSN's corporate Redmond company, Windows Live Messenger (MSN ) and the upcoming Windows 7 Phone. "Microsoft knows, like everyone else, the focus now is the smartphone and that investment is needed to win the user."

According to Lee, the business model of Skype is that it is still poorly understood, especially in Brazil, but should be understood by mobile operators when Skype become a de facto alternative to calls made on smartphones, even in the long term. In many places, the connection speed also makes the use of Skype on smartphones, which conducts phone calls via Internet (WiFi) connections and 4G, 3G and even EDGE, like Skype on the computer.

Remember that Skype to Skype calls are free, but to call a Skype number for a mobile or a landline it costs, just as we must pay to have a Skype number to receive calls from landlines and furniture. The rates, however, are far below those that are practiced in most markets. For the analyst at IDC, the Brazilian operators will find a way to continue making a profit, even if only through data plans, as is already happening in Europe.

Skype already, within Microsoft, should be profitable to the extent that the software giant to invest in online advertising, a knowledge that Skype does not dominate and in which Microsoft would be interested. "For Skype, which did not generate much revenue, the only alternative was to join with those who can gain from your software," said Tude. In terms of online advertising, Google and Facebook are far ahead, and is precisely why Microsoft needed to get another product instead of that market. In this case, Skype. The experience with MSN, another major acquisition by Microsoft, but back in 1997, has taught him much, but it must do more to compete with Facebook and Google and their ads increasingly elaborate.

Internal and external competition
In those less than five days after the announcement of the purchase, even if they have read and heard about Microsoft's billion-dollar acquisition of a company that was not the "whole ball." Although a number of very relevant users, Skype has long been a company was not very profitable. One hypothesis raised by the press and confirmed by analysts, is that Microsoft decided to buy Skype to prevent it from falling into the hands of the competition. The president of Teleco, Eduardo Tude, agrees with this option, since he sees no "synergy between the business from Microsoft and Skype." In your opinion, Skype wins to be sold for as high amount, of course, but Microsoft takes nothing in return. In fact, Microsoft itself has software such as MSN, Lync and Outlook, as well as products like Xbox Live and your Kinect, which in the hands of good developers could reach a solution using only Skype and Microsoft's own knowledge.

Tude says that Skype would be in better hands if it had ended up on Facebook or Google, and knowledge of social networks that have these two great companies. Ballmer, in a news conference on the acquisition of Skype, said the purchase motivate Microsoft to take a step toward integrating the social goods and services on a single platform, but at no point explained how this would happen. "EBay has also pledged an integration when it bought Skype and nothing has been done so far," said Tude. In 2005, eBay bought Skype for its founders, Niklas Zennström Swedish, Danish Frii Janus - two makers of file-sharing site known as Kazaa - but in 2009 sold part of Skype for the investment fund Silver Lake. "It's easier to create a Facebook Skype, Microsoft to create a Facebook" concludes Tude.

"What really matters to Microsoft's user base," said Tude, who also reinforced that with Skype, Microsoft can gain more space on the Internet, which is represented by the MSN search engine and the Bing, but still it is very close to their competitors. Today, Skype has 170 million users worldwide, which passed 207 billion minutes talking voice and video in 2010.

In the opinion of Fernando Lima, in fact, to Microsoft, Skype was more important than for its competitors. "Facebook's strategy is still unclear, and Google has their own tools. For Microsoft it's good, because Skype is a very strong brand in the market," he said.


IDC analyst also noted Cisco's former company of Tony Bates before going to Skype at the end of last year, and would be interested in having more space in the telecommunications market. Cisco's biggest competitor in Microsoft's unified communications solutions, products that have messaging, VoIP and other services geared to businesses. However, Cisco is not in their best financial moment. On Friday, Cisco Systems announced that it must lay off thousands of employees to accomplish the goal of cutting costs of U.S. $ 1 billion announced by chief executive John Chambers.

Fernando also reinforced that while Apple, Google and Facebook are competitors, Microsoft has a space in the corporate world that others do not. "Still, it is difficult to say that these big players dominate the platforms used by users because this is a market that is always changing, and tomorrow there might be another strong competitor." After all, the start-ups - young and innovative companies percise investment - as was once Facebook and Twitter, are out there.

Microsoft Buys Skype for $ 8.5 billion

Neither Google nor Facebook. It seems that whoever was able to buy Skype was the one who offered the most money truck. In this case, Microsoft. According to sources from the Wall Street Journal, the software giant acquired the VoIP giant for $ 8.5 billion dollars. The purchase agreement will be officially announced by both companies at 9 am this Tuesday, according to sources BoomTown website which also confirms that the sale of Skype is already achieved.

The sale to Microsoft could further delay the opening of the Skype shares on the stock exchange, more specifically for the cows come home. But as Microsoft has no presence in the area of VoIP solutions for consumers, the purchase makes perfect sense. At least it makes more sense than when eBay bought it.

Update at 09:10 | It's official. Microsoft bought Skype, which should become a division of the company. The full press release is available here, and for the happiness of the nation, Microsoft says it "will continue to invest and support the Skype clients on platforms that are not controlled by the company. " Ie Skype to Android, Linux and Mac OS X will not disappear from the map, they can be calm.

Microsoft Asks Users To Not Use Internet Explorer Version 6 Anymore

Many old things of Microsoft are still used by millions of people around the world even after so many years whether its Windows XP, Old Internet Explorer Version or Pentium 3 and 4 Computer. Internet Explorer Version 6 was launched almost a decade ago from now but even today in 2011 it is used by millions of people around the globe specially in Asia and Microsoft is concerned about it. Microsoft wants users to stop using Internet Explorer 6 and shift to newer versions.

For this purpose Company has also launched a Internet Explorer 6 Countdown Website recently. Microsoft is also trying to aware users with the threats which they can face by using outdated   IE 6 like getting hacked.  Most of the users of IE 6 are in China, India and South Korea. 

Microsoft Announces Internet Explorer 9 For Windows Phone 7

Microsoft Announces Internet Explorer 9 For Windows Phone 7