Stories by: Joris Evers

Microsoft is readying a slimmed-down version of Windows XP for users who want to upgrade their Windows operating systems but not their PCs.

Aiming to make the licensing terms for its products less complex, Microsoft plans to publish in July a shortened and simplified version of its "Product Use Rights" document.

Microsoft, as expected, unveiled a new version of its operating system for mobile devices that it says offers increased reliability, improved hardware support and a host of new features to both entertain users and make them more productive.

Microsoft plans to release a new version of its Office productivity software next year, company Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Tuesday.

As Microsoft approaches a major milestone in the development of Longhorn, company executives are talking more about the features of the Windows XP successor -- which they claim will be easier to use, more secure and less costly to manage than earlier versions of Windows.

Revving its Longhorn marketing engine, Microsoft is forming a team of bloggers who will get early access to prereleases of the operating system and will be asked to review the Windows XP successor.

Samsung Electronics has demonstrated a prototype hard-disk drive that includes flash memory, promising lower power usage and less trouble for laptop users.

Citing a mixed enterprise software environment, Microsoft on Thursday reported year-over-year increases in revenue and net income for its third fiscal quarter. But revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Microsoft has slightly delayed the public release of the second beta version of Windows Server 2003 R2. The test version will be available in the next two weeks, company officials said Tuesday.

Microsoft on Tuesday badmouthed its own work on networking and hardware support in Windows XP in order to sell hardware makers on new technologies it has planned for Longhorn, the next version of Windows due late next year.