Stories by: Denise Dubie

Microsoft confirmed it has canceled further development and production on its tablet project, codenamed Courier, which industry watchers speculated could help drive down costs of Apple's popular iPad.

Security experts, industry analysts and even Microsoft recommend that IT departments upgrade Internet Explorer 6, yet new research shows that while there may have recently been a mock funeral for the aging browser, IE6 is still around and doing well, especially during standard business hours.

Microsoft's plans for cloud computing don't stop with infrastructure and applications. Company executives say Microsoft will also provide the heterogeneous management layer that customers will need to optimize application performance on-premises or in hosted environments.

Microsoft and Adobe Tuesday separately delivered a raft of security updates that address vulnerabilities said to impact common user activities such as watching video files or opening PDFs.

Microsoft Tuesday released an out-of-band security update addressing 10 vulnerabilities in versions of Internet Explorer, one of which is being exploited in the wild against IE 6.

Microsoft is betting the cloud will deliver it and its customers the most opportunities for innovation and development. And according to CEO Steve Ballmer, five key reasons are driving the company's confidence in - and technology strategy for - cloud computing in the coming years.

After Microsoft officially released Windows 7, interest in rapidly adopting the operating system increased for one in five IT pros from small and midsize companies, according to a survey by an IT management company.  

Many IT leaders intend to make high-tech purchases and technology projects a priority in the coming months as plans that had been put on hold during the downturn are prepped for takeoff in 2010.

CA on Wednesday announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire for an undisclosed sum a company called 3Tera, a move that industry watchers say will equip the management software maker with tools to offer customers a smoother transition to private and public cloud computing.

Recent market share statistics deliver good and bad news for Microsoft. The company saw its Internet Explorer browser lose more ground, seemingly to Google Desktop and Chrome, while its Windows 7 operating system quickly gained market acceptance.