1975–Paul Allen and Bill Gates, friends who had co-written a programming language for the Altair hobby-kit personal computer, license it to the makers of the Altair. This programming language is the first Microsoft product.

Jan. 1, 1979–Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, N.M., to the Seattle area.

1980–Microsoft chosen by IBM to create operating system for its first PC. Microsoft buys the software

for $50,000 from another company and calls it MS-DOS. Steve Ballmer joins Microsoft.

Aug. 12, 1981–IBM introduces the PC, running on MS-DOS.

1983–Microsoft introduces its Word word-processing program, announces plans to create Windows operating system. Allen resigns as vice president, but remains on the board of directors.

November 1985–Microsoft ships its first version of Windows.

March 13, 1986–Microsoft’s stock goes public.

Aug. 1, 1989–Microsoft introduces earliest version of the Office business software suite.

1991–Federal Trade Commission investigates claims Microsoft monopolizes the market for PC operating systems. Investigation closes two years later without a formal complaint.

January 1, 1994–Bill Gates marries Melinda French on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

July 1994–U.S. and European antitrust investigations settled; Microsoft agrees to change contracts with PC makers. Settlement is rejected in federal court, then reinstated in 1995.

Aug. 24, 1995–Microsoft launches Windows 95.

Nov. 27, 1995–Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 2.0, challenging Netscape’s Navigator Web browser.

Dec. 7, 1995–Gates details shift in Microsoft strategy to focus on the Internet.

Aug. 6, 1997–Microsoft and Apple Computer agree to share technology and set aside long-standing feud.

Oct. 20, 1997–Justice Department sues Microsoft, says it violated the 1994 consent decree by requiring computer makers to use its Internet browser as a condition of using Windows.

May 18, 1998–Justice Department and 20 states sue Microsoft, alleging it illegally thwarted competition. One state later drops out of the suit.

July 21, 1998–Ballmer becomes president of Microsoft.

Oct. 19, 1998–The antitrust trial begins, continues into summer of 1999.

Nov. 5, 1999–U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson releases his findings of fact, which label Microsoft a monopoly.

Jan. 13, 2000–Gates steps aside as CEO, giving the post to Ballmer, remains chairman and becomes chief software architect.

Feb. 17, 2000–Microsoft launches Windows 2000.

June 7, 2000–Jackson orders the breakup of Microsoft into two companies.

Sept. 26, 2000–Supreme Court refuses to hear Microsoft’s appeal of Jackson’s decision, sending the case to a federal appeals court.

Sept. 6, 2001–Justice Department says it will no longer seek a breakup of Microsoft.

November 2001–Microsoft, Justice Department reach tentative deal to settle antitrust case.

Oct. 25, 2001–Worldwide launch of Windows XP.

August 2002–Microsoft unveils business and product changes to comply with Justice Department settlement.

June 23, 2003–Microsoft announces Windows Mobile for handheld computers and phones.

March 24, 2004–European Commission fines Microsoft a record $613 million for antitrust violations, though the sanction is later suspended while Microsoft appeals.

April 2, 2004–Sun settles antitrust claims with Microsoft for $1.95 billion.

June 30, 2004 _U.S. appeals court unanimously approves settlement with Justice Department.

Dec. 22, 2004–An EU court rejects Microsoft’s appeal of the March order.

May 12, 2005–Microsoft shows off new Xbox 360; console hits shelves in November.

July 1, 2005–Microsoft agrees to pay IBM $775 million in cash and $75 million in software to settle antitrust claims.

Oct. 11, 2005–RealNetworks settles antitrust claims with Microsoft for $761 million.

March 23, 2006–Microsoft announces a shake-up in its Windows unit, two days after saying it won’t have its next consumer version of Windows ready for the holiday season as planned.

June 15, 2006–Bill Gates announces plans to withdraw from day-to-day duties at Microsoft in July 2008 so he can focus on his charitable foundation.

Nov. 14, 2006–Microsoft introduces Zune music player.

Jan. 30, 2007–Microsoft releases long-delayed Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Jan. 31, 2008–Microsoft makes unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Eventually walks away after Yahoo won’t agree to even higher offer, $47.5 billion.

June 27, 2008–Gates steps down from full-time role in company, remains board chairman.

What is POP3? It is a protocol that allows retrieval of your emails in almost any email program that you’ve installed on your mobile phone or PC. Here’s all the information you might need when setting this up in your email program:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)  
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)  
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

In addition to POP3, Microsoft offers additional technologies that can provide you with an even richer experience of your E-mail. Try viewing your Hotmail using Windows Live Mail, Microsoft Office Outlook via the Outlook Connector, or Windows Live for Windows Mobile phone.

Looking for help with Hotmail? Visit the Windows Live Hotmail Solution Center! The Solution Center has instructions on how to set up your e-mail software to send and receive Windows Live Hotmail messages using POP3. You’ll also find instructions on how to set up Hotmail on the web to give you POP3 access to a non-Windows Live e-mail account. If you have problems using POP3 access, Windows Live Hotmail Solution Center also has links to report a problem with Hotmail.

Source: LiveSide

Microsoft executives have been leaking information about the rebrand to the press since early last year, with the number of reports particularly high before Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo’s search business. Potential names circulating for the offering have included Bing, Hook and Kumo, with the latter being mentioned the most. According to reports, Microsoft is looking for a more user friendly name and wants a name that will take into account Live’s services other than search, such as its social network. Kumo means “cloud” and “spider” in Japanese.

It seems like Microsoft is rebranding their search engine when ever they acquire a new domain name. We’ll wait and watch for their next brand after Kumo.

Source: VNU

So you believe that you are the only one who is getting that error screen? You’re not alone!

Wow! 39,161 Days And 10 Hours to copy a single file on Windows Vista! Microsoft! What exactly have you done to Vista?

1. Keep in mind sturdy calls to action

Devoid of a firm call to action, never anticipate the person who reads to obviously presume at what you fancy them to do next. Plain normal dialogue that questions the reader to take the subsequent action will generally work best.

2. "STRESS FREE" approach to build SEO skills.

If you are fresh to SEO, you may need to hub on the long tailed forte phrases since the majority of searchers are doing comparatively eloquent and sharp searches these days. Preferably you need to catch the attention of those who previously know what they are searching for and just have to locate your pages more effortlessly. With observe and the precise preparation you can go behind exceedingly aggressive phrases too but you’ll discover that the preeminent conversions virtually always appear from the niches. Also keep in mind that it is the fundamental SEO skills that take you through and should come before any of the sophisticated strategies. The consequence will be secure top rankings that plunk the test of time with negligible protest.

3. Providing non-threatening scripts to enable readers react right away.

What is the intention for your page and does your Web copy, labour efficiently at satisfying that goal? It may not at all times be on the subject of demanding to trade merchandise or a service. It must not be concerning satisfying your requirements first but it must be about meeting the wants of why that hunter first performed a search. Rally their requests and convey up something that gratifies their exploration needs first and then provide the visitor a non-threatening motive why they may react to you. Do you fancy their e-mail address? Or do you just wish for them to pick up the telephone and call? Never lose vision of the actuality that the Web is a stunning two way interactive practice, if you desire it to be. Make your Web site a means of transportation for relationship edifice and bear in mind that a lot of readers may in fact have the craving to cooperate and contribute through Blogs or supplementary "User Generated activity." Give your guests something that engages their contribution.

4. Ensure that your reader is served with the feeling of being in control of their web experience.

People over and over again employ the Web for researching topics of concentration or doing groundwork value evaluations or for sneaking up information. While most populace haul out the Web for their personal purposes, the more that you put them in power over their experience the better it is. If suitable, you may need to consider toting up supplementary paraphernalia or functionality to your Web site in order to augment its workability for your unambiguous viewers.

5. Naturally scripted contents will always "reads very well"?

You will unsurprisingly achieve some additional benefit for having produced content of eminence. By this, I connote content…that translates well to a human being. Don’t squeeze in keywords all over the place. As an alternative, use temperance in the whole thing you do. One of the effects you have to be aware of is that "theme based" search engines like Google, are essentially using a gauge of artificial intelligence (AI) to quantify how well your editorial "reads" based on all of the general framework of your body text (apart from the keywords) based on statistics that a search engine has congregated pertaining to a unambiguous topic. This is enormous information for writers for the reason that if you are building an alteration to lettering for the web, you’ll stumble on some search engines that are factually gratifying pages that are "well scripted".?

Who has server access?

The crux of the problem in prior versions was access to configuration settings. In IIS 6 and prior, only administrators on the server could make configuration changes. Many of these configuration changes were commonly requested by developers working on web applications, especially in shared server environments where developers could not gain administrative access. In IIS 7 the server configuration is based on distributed XML files that contain the settings for not only IIS, but also ASP.Net and other components. Microsoft has done away with the Metabase in favor of a much more open system. In the same way web.config files in ASP.Net applications let developers set policies based on a hierarchy, developers now get the same function in IIS configuration and even leverage the same configuration files from ASP.Net configuration. These files include the machine.config, which handles overall .Net configuration; web.config, which can be set at many levels and mostly has to do with web site configurations; and applicationHost.config, which is where global web server settings for IIS 7 are located. It is with this last file where the real changes have occurred; most of the settings available through the IIS User Interface can be set directly though the applicationHost.config or even delegated to the local web.config via settings in the applicationHost.config.

While this may seem like a small feature, this means that a developer can be granted access to their own web.config file to make changes to the settings within IIS for their particular website. There is no need to allow the developer administrator authority over the entire server just so they can change a couple of configurations settings.

Custom Shared Hosting Systems

This change has major implications for shared hosting services. Traditionally, shared hosting servers have very few settings that can be modified for customers, and many of those settings cannot be modified directly by the customer. With the implementation of IIS 7, developers will be able to change the settings for their website without having to contact their hosting provider to make the change for them.

This can dramatically reduce the time and cost of developing new web applications. As an example, imagine a developer working on a website hosted on a shared hosting server. The code is throwing an error, and the developer feels that it can be corrected by a configuration change in IIS. In systems using IIS 6, the developer will need to contact the hosting company in order to make this change. Once the host makes the change and responds back, the developer can then test the application again. If the configuration change does not correct the error, or if further changes need to be made, the developer will need to contact the hosting company again and wait for the changes to be made.

It’s very nice to see Microsoft inside CJ Network. I think it is the first product from Microsoft in Commission Junction. Microsoft is already running their own Affiliate Program(s) at microsoftaffiliates.net where publishers can promote Windows Live OneCare, and Windows Live Toolbar but will they move all those programs to CJ? Let’s wait and watch.

Microsoft® Corporation is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Office Live Small Business has helped over 600,000 customers realize their potential by providing solutions to get online, attract customers and manage their business.

Office Live Small Business is an online service with powerful, do-it-yourself tools and templates that make it easier and more affordable for customers to grow their business online—it puts large-company technology to work for small businesses.

Join the Microsoft Office Live Small Business Affiliate Program to team up with Microsoft and help your small business customers realize their potential. Microsoft offers a competitive compensation rate for each completed Office Live Small Business sign-up you refer. The program requires minimal effort and signing up for Office Live Small Business is FREE for your customers.

Program Highlights:

• A recognized brand name that sells itself
• $5.00 per completed sign-up you refer
• Limited to small business customers in U.S. only
• No qualifying event necessary
• Customer sign-up for Office Live Small Business is FREE!
• A dedicated Affiliate Manager and team to support you

I’ve just applied for this program and my application got declined immediately :D. So, let me shoot an email to their affiliate manager to approve my application.

Source: Microsoft Office Live

As a web developer, it is important to look for anything that helps boost productivity. One potential boost would be to have access to the source code that makes up the .NET Framework libraries. Luckily for developers, this has arrived and has made Windows Server 2008 the platform of choice.

Back in October 2007, Scott Guthrie — the Microsoft Program Manager in charge of .Net — announced on his blog that Microsoft would be releasing the source code for many of the libraries in the .Net Framework. Among the libraries released are the base class libraries, the ADO.Net and XML libraries, Windows Forms, and ASP.net (which is of most interest to many developers). This is big news for developers because it helps streamline debugging and troubleshooting. When debugging, developers are much less likely to hit a "black box" in the form of an unreadable library from Microsoft.

The libraries that are being released are also included in Windows Server 2008 and are the most up to date available as of publication. They are even more up to date than the libraries that shipped with Visual Studio 2008.

The release of these libraries can be of great assistance to developers, especially when working on particularly complex projects. When .Net was first released there was no documentation on how to accomplish many tasks that developers knew were possible. This included many of the elements that were included with Visual Studio, like the drop shadow on menus. Before the release of the library source code, developers resorted to looking at the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) to reverse engineer the proper calls and produce the desired effects. This was a successful — but a horribly draining — process because the MSIL is essentially an assembly language for .Net. If the source code for the .Net Framework had been available back then, developers could have simply browsed the code and found the correct calls and parameters. This would have reduced development time from weeks to days.

In addition to examining the source code to copy desired effects, developers can now debug the libraries from Microsoft. This means that if code is returning a strange error from the Framework (an all too common experience) developers can now examine the libraries themselves and see what the problem is, which will likely save a call to Microsoft Support!

Developers can even read the developer comments that Microsoft has left in the source libraries, which include some of the most helpful information available. There are explanations of why some elements work the way they do, and why some libraries are constructed in particular ways. Compatibility with previous versions is mentioned regularly, which often helps to make sense of changes that otherwise can frustrate developers.

The best information about these changes can be found in Scott Guthrie’s blog at: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu.

A quick search using the keyword "source" reveals several entries with details about how to utilize the source code in development environments. The blog also contains information on updates and new releases.

Today I am going to share a few tips about Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter). I believe that all the information written in this article is true, correct and complete.

I. Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter) is Microsoft’s online advertising platform with an estimated audience of 99 million potential customers.

II. According to Microsoft website MSN/Live Search is converting users into buyers at a higher rate than Google or Yahoo and it’s correct too as from my own experience I have found that Microsoft adCenter offers a better conversion rates than Yahoo! Search Marketing or Google AdWords. There were times when my conversions were over 10%.

III. Among Yahoo, Google, and MSN the traffic quality of MSN Search or Live Search is the best. It means you get more Return On your Investment (ROI).

IV. The whole Sign Up process is pretty easy with simple and powerful user interface. I must say that Google AdWord’s interface is the best of all as it’s very simple and easy to use and Yahoo! Search Marketing’s user interface is the worst of all as it’s very complicated with too many features.

V. The customer support is not that great but again it’s far better than Yahoo! Search Marketing. Sometimes it takes a week to get a reply from the customer support at Yahoo! Search Marketing.

VI. Pay less for quality traffic. It’s one of the biggest advantages of MSN adCenter over Google AdWords. adCenter’s bid rates are much lower than that of Google. The Minimum bid required per click is 0.05$. However the number of clicks are significantly lower than that of Google, it’s because of Google’s 60% market share in search market.

VII. The activation fee is just $5. But unlike Google AdWords your Promotional Coupon Credit doesn’t apply to the setup fee of $5 which is required to open a new adCenter account. But I think it’s better than Yahoo’s $30 initial deposit (it’s not setup fee).

VIII. At this point of time Microsoft adCenter accepts only payments via Credit Card. adCenter don’t accept PayPal but they do accept some Virtual Credit Cards and Gift Cards. I have recently tried to create an account using a Virtual Credit Card. The Sign Up process went smoothly but after a couple of hours I got an email message from adCenter team that they were unable to process my credit card. But I have used that same virtual card when I first used adCenter. Now they are not accepting the same I guess they improved their credit card verification process. That’s the reason why they are declining my physical credit card which I have used to sign up for two or three accounts.

IX. I have read in some forum/blog that we can create up to 3 Microsoft adCenter accounts using the same credit card and earn coupon credits. Unfortunately it’s wrong you can’t Sign Up for multiple accounts to get the Promotional Credits. However it may work for you but it’s against Microsoft’s terms. Microsoft’s clearly says that “Promotional credit is valid only for new advertisers opening a new account with Microsoft adCenter”.

X. The Microsoft adCenter Promotional Credits are valid only for individuals from United States. But I’ve heard that people were successful in creating an adCenter account with promo codes using fake US addresses. In fact I have done that myself some time back when MSN adCenter was launched with their $200 Promo Codes, I managed to get over $600 promo credits.

Promotional Credits are valid only for 90 Days. It means that if you didn’t redeemed your credits with in 90 days then it will expire so that they will charge your credit card for any clicks generated. So if you don’t want your credit card to be charged then make sure that you review your campaigns often and pause the campaign once it nears $75 (assuming that as the promotional credit).

Unlike Yahoo Search Marketing the Promotional Credits in adCenter are credited to the account immediately. So that your ads will go live once your account is verified. It takes less than 12 hours if you complete the sign up during day time.

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