Features

• The Microsoft break-up that never happened

  By Gregg Keizer | 18 June, 2013 18:39

  Thomas P. Jackson, the former federal judge who in 2000 ruled that Microsoft should be split into two companies, died Saturday. What if his ruling, overturned before it could be implemented, had gone into effect?

• Office Mobile for the iPhone enters an already-crowded field

  By Ryan Faas | 18 June, 2013 16:13

  The problem with Microsoft's approach to Office for the iPhone is that a diverse range of alternative iOS apps and suites already exists. Apple and other developers have had years to create and refine products that deliver compatibility with Office file types.

• Best Places spotlight: MetroStar Systems stresses career development, training

  By Stacy Collett | 17 June, 2013 10:18

  IT workers get plenty of support for achieving their career goals at the No. 48-ranked organization on our 2013 Best Places to Work in IT list.

• Apple plays defense, Microsoft goes on offense in battle for iPhone customers

  By Gregg Keizer | 16 June, 2013 21:53

  Rivals Apple and Microsoft bookended the week by revealing productivity tools aimed at the same pool of customers: The millions who own Apple's iPhone.

• Office for iPhone a belated, ambivalent move by Microsoft

  By Juan Carlos Perez | 14 June, 2013 20:01

  Microsoft's release of an Office suite for the iPhone is too little, too late and yet another timid move aimed at protecting Windows 8 sales at the expense of customer demand for a product like this one for iPads, according to analysts.

• Microsoft's ambivalence about Office on the Web gives Apple shot with iWork on iCloud

  By Gregg Keizer | 12 June, 2013 11:22

  Almost as an afterthought, Apple has announced it was working on browser-based versions of its iWork productivity applications, a move one analyst said challenged Microsoft's Office behemoth.

• Launch of Outlook RT testifies to Microsoft's app troubles

  By Gregg Keizer | 06 June, 2013 18:27

  Microsoft's announcement Wednesday that it will add Outlook to Office on Windows RT says as much about the company's app problem as it does about customers clamoring for a business-grade email client.

• Developers clamor for unified dev tools for Microsoft's 3 operating systems

  By Matt Hamblen | 05 June, 2013 18:15

  Merging the Windows Phone OS with the Windows and Windows RT OSs could give Microsoft a boost in attracting more developers and, ultimately, improving its market share for smartphones and tablets.

• How Windows Red can fix Windows 8: The right strategy for Microsoft

  By Galen Gruman | 04 June, 2013 13:57

  When Microsoft first outlined its strategy 32 months ago to bridge the old style of PC computing with the new world of tablet computing, we were optimistic. Although Apple had revolutionized computing with the iPad, creating the fastest-adopted technology ever, its approach walled off the tablet from the PC, with two different operating systems, user interfaces, and applications. Instead, Microsoft promised a unified, adaptive approach that would satisfy everyone.

• How Windows Red can fix Windows 8: The right strategy for Microsoft

  By Galen Gruman | 03 June, 2013 16:12

  When Microsoft first outlined its strategy 32 months ago to bridge the old style of PC computing with the new world of tablet computing, we were optimistic. Although Apple had revolutionized computing with the iPad, creating the fastest-adopted technology ever, its approach walled off the tablet from the PC, with two different operating systems, user interfaces, and applications. Instead, Microsoft promised a unified, adaptive approach that would satisfy everyone.

• The Grill: Paul Lucidi on the importance of employee appraisals

  By Mary K. Pratt | 03 June, 2013 10:15

  Paul Lucidi, CIO at Insulet, focuses on assessing and developing his employees, and giving them the tools to be successful.

• Hey, Microsoft: It's the apps, stupid

  By Gregg Keizer | 30 May, 2013 19:20

  Microsoft has revealed some of the changes in Windows 8 due to reach customers in a month, but didn't address what analysts called the biggest barrier to the OS' success.

• Office on Surface Pro suggests a shift in Microsoft's sales strategy

  By Gregg Keizer | 30 May, 2013 16:07

  Microsoft yesterday announced that Surface Pro tablets it will start selling in Japan on June 7 will come with a fully-functional copy of Office, a bundle one analyst said hints at a change in Microsoft's sales strategy for its homegrown hardware.

• When Google and Microsoft feud, customers pay the price

  By Gregg Keizer | 29 May, 2013 22:01

  The long-running war between Google and Microsoft may never have a winner, according to an analyst, but it definitely has a loser: customers.

• Smacking SharePoint into shape

  By Todd R. Weiss | 29 May, 2013 11:23

  More than half of all SharePoint shops have had to add functionality to the core software, which came as a surprise to a number of them. Here's what they're doing.