Scheduled for release around 2010, Microsoft Office 14 will be the next version of the Office software suite for Microsoft Windows(probably a version for Mac will be released too, but there's still a long time until then). Its developments started back in 2006, while Microsoft 2007 was almost completed, and now, Bill Gates has some information about this next Office version...


According to Microsoft's Chairman, Office 14 will enable online access to its applications, taking what has been started with Outlook Web Access one step further.

In a speech at the Microsoft Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, California, Gates said "Outlook Web Access is not the full version of Office, but if you want to go into a kiosk or an Internet cafe and browse and connect, it gives you plenty of functionality.", so it seems they kept an eye on Google for the last few years and finally decided to go online with Microsoft Office.

To be honest, I see nothing bad in Microsoft's tendency to follow Google, especially since we consider that a lot of free office suites are breathing down their neck, and I am talking especially about OpenOffice.org here.

These being said, it seems an early Beta version of Office 14 is expected later this year, with the commercial release planned for 2009, if everything works great, but I would rather bet on 2010...

Were you anxious to see how the Internet search landscape would change if Yahoo accepted Microsoft's bid? Well, you won't see that happening anytime soon, because what everyone was talking about this weekend became official - Microsoft's attempt to purchase Yahoo failed. Yesterday, Yahoo's board rejected the $44.6 billion cash-and-stock offer, ending a story that was started by Microsoft from a reason that may be completely different to the official version, but anyway...let's write the final chapter now, shall we?


Before getting into the official story, I have to tell you a little story of my own. Early this morning, I went to an ATM to get some cash. There was a man in front of it waiting, and he said to me "it's frozen". Well, it was freezing cold at that hour, but the problem was the ATM froze for good - the man's credit card was blocked inside it, and on the screen was...a Windows command prompt!

As a conclusion to the short story above, I could only think about a Microsoft and Yahoo search engine that returns the BSOD when a query doesn't have results...or, even "better", crashes your OS. Good to know such a thing won't ever happen, or at least in the near future...

Getting back to the main story, all there is to say is that Yahoo said its management team, together with the legal and financial advisors, consider the offer as not being enough to match the cash flow and earning potential of the company, as well as recent investments made to improve its advertising platform.

In the meantime, Yahoo's board will look around for other "strategic options" (an alliance with AOL or even Google, maybe?), in order to "maximize value for all stockholders.".

Sounds reasonable to me, and I am sure Microsoft didn't find it pleasant at all to get another negative answer from Yahoo, but that's life - first, you win some, than you lose some. No official statement has been made by Microsoft yet, and if they will say something interesting, when this happens, be sure I'll get back to the subject!

I don't know if I am right or wrong, but 2008 seems to be a vital year in Microsoft's history. They tried to buy Yahoo, but succeeded in acquiring Cagliari, and now, while Yahoo didn't answer officially yet to their offer (but latest news show that Yahoo's board will refuse), Microsoft just entered an alliance with Sony Ericsson. Pretty interesting, don't you think?


The reason for acquiring Cagliari was to get their team work on Microsoft Virtual Earth, and the reason behind the bid for Yahoo, at least the official one, is to face Google on the Internet search market, so...why Sony Ericsson?

This is the big event - yesterday, in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft and Sony Ericsson announced the release of a new handset with the target of capturing the market where multimedia and mobile Web communication converge, this premium handset being the first one from Sony Ericsson using Microsoft's mobile OS.

The device, namely Xperia X1, will become available in the second half of the year in the entire world, including the United States. While using Microsoft Windows Mobile, the Xperia includes many Sony signature features, such as the patented nine-panel interface, as well as a full keyboard, and optional navigation device, or a touchscreen. No other details are available, yet.

At last, it's interesting to note that Microsoft's expectations are pretty high, with over 20 million new phones using Windows Mobile to be sold by June 30, when the fiscal year ends.

Do you remember the petition for saving Windows XP? When I told you about it the first time (http://www.softdistrict.com/30k-people-for-saving-windows-xpso-far.html), there were about 30,000 signatures recorded. By last Friday, this number got up to over 85,000, and Microsoft, finally, decided to give an answer to those that don't want to see Windows XP discontinued this summer...


The spokesperson from Microsoft that answered to the "Save XP" petition noted that XP's demise was already delayed once, but they didn't decide to save the old Windows system or not. According to them, customer feedback was the factor that saved XP last time - "That's what informed our decision to extend the availability of XP initially and what will continue to guide us.".

This time, things are not settled yet. A second Microsoft representative said "We're aware of it but are listening first and foremost to feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs.", so nothing is decided yet. Well, maybe they'll decide when that number of signatures go as high as 200,000, maybe even more? Well, there's still enough time until the 30th of June, so let's keep the hope alive!

Some time has passed since the last update to Firefox, don't you think? Anyway, Firefox just got a new update a few hours ago, so here you have it - ladies and gentlemen, Firefox just got update to version 2.0.0.12! What's new? To be honest, I have no idea yet, but we'll discover that together in just a few moments...


Unfortunately, it seems there's no big deal about the new Firefox. In fact, we couldn't expect too much from a minor update - after all, this is Firefox 2.0.0.12, not Firefox 3 (hopefully, we'll get that before next Christmas...). According to the Mozilla site, "This release fixes a number of security and stability issues discovered in Firefox 2.0.0.11.", and nothing more. These being said, let's see what issues have been solved by this update, shall we?

Well, it seems I was a bit wrong, because we have the update which fixes most flaws since Firefox 1.5.0.5! Pretty impressive, although only 3 of the 10 vulnerabilities fixed were critical. Of the remaining issues fixed, one had a high impact, 3 were moderate, and the remaining 3 were minor security vulnerabilities.

Now, there's only one thing remaining, if you didn't do it already, especially if you didn't enable "Automatically check for updates" - go to the Help menu, choose "Check for updates", and be sure to update your Firefox browser!