It's perhaps one of the strangest product pitches I've heard. Asked on stage at Web 2.0 Summit by John Battelle about his Bing search engine, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer encouraged the audience to try Bing because, well, it's pretty much the same as Google. The Ballmer 70/15/15 Challenge "I would issue you all a kind of challenge to try any search you want on Bing and Google," Ballmer said, explaining that 70% of the time, there won't be any difference in the results, that 15% of the time, Bing will be better and 15% of the time, Google will be better. Now, if Ballmer had said that maybe [...]

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Microsoft announced fiscal Q4 and full year revenue this afternoon. Growing 8 percent from a year ago Microsoft reported $17.37 billion in topline revenue and $6.17 billion in operating income. Revenues for Online Services, which houses Bing and online advertising, grew 17 percent for the quarter and 15 percent for the full year. However the division lost roughly $2.5 billion for the fiscal year. Xbox did very well. However consumer PC demand was lukewarm and Windows revenue decreased by 2 percent for the year ended June 30. Overall, the company reported gross revenues of $69.94 billion for [...]

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Many people might not believe that Microsoft, the company that a decade ago was often known as "the evil empire," is now one of the most "ethical" internet companies, beating out Google, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook and other well-known online brands. That's according to the New York-based Ethisphere Institute (EI), which produces an annual list of "world's most ethical companies." The non-profit uses a multi-pronged methodology to determine an "Ethical Quotient" for nominated companies. Those that make the list are all considered "ethical." There's no further ranking or hierarchy. There were 110 [...]

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Microsoft announced second quarter earnings yesterday, which beat Wall Street's expectations. The company reported a lot of good news about its revenues, profits and products, including Windows (PC) 7, Kinect/Xbox and Office. However Online Services, which houses all Microsoft's online operations including MSN and Bing, posted a $543 million loss. That's up from $463 a year ago. The company is on track to lose $2 billion for the year in that division, though ad revenues are up 23 percent. There was very little discussion of search in particular or Windows Phones except for the fo [...]

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Today in his Consumer Electronics Show keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared that Xbox is no longer a gaming device but an entertainment hub. And Windows will be everywhere, from your TV through Xbox, to your phone via Windows Phone 7, and on PCs of any type, especially through a forthcoming version of "Windows On A Chip." Below, my live blogging of Ballmer's talk at CES in Las Vegas. Ballmer has arrived. Windows Phone 7, Kinect, other products launched last year, big success, "a year like no other." Thanks the over 1 billion customers around the world. Xbox & Kinect Wi [...]

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