Microsoft has put on hold any interest in further expanding its operations in Seattle because of the deteriorating economy, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Microsoft had been in negotiations to lease all 300,000 square feet of office space at 2201 Westlake, a mixed-use development under construction at the southwest corner of Westlake Avenue North and Denny Way, across from Whole Foods.

As of September 2008, Windows Live Hotmail Plus ($19.95 a year) users have had the option of using POP3 (pop3.live.com on port 995) from any device with an e-mail application. However, one of the biggest complaints from hardcore Hotmail users has been the lack of this feature for all accounts, especially since other e-mail services offer it.

Paul Thurrott: I’ve heard, but not had the chance to test, that Windows 7 runs just wonderfully on low-end netbook computers. (In fact, Windows 7 honcho Steven Sinofsky claims to run Windows 7 on a 1 GHz Atom-based netbook with just 1 GB of RAM.) Today, I installed the Windows 7 Beta on what I thought would be a roughly comparable machine, an 800 MHz Celeron-based Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) with 1 GB of RAM. The results were, shall we say, less than satisfactory.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Call me naive, but I’ve always thought that it should be possible for your average PC user to get themselves out of a PC jam without having to call on the Geek Squad (or their friendly neighborhood uber-geek). Windows 7 has in place mechanisms to help even the most basic of users get their PC back from one of the worst situations that they can find themselves in - a system that won’t boot.

Mary Jo Foley: A year ago when I wrote that former Microsoft manager — and current VMware CEO –  Paul Maritz was getting the old band back together, I had no idea how many members would end up reuniting.

Jim Tierney: Today I will break down some of the core components of credential roaming and how it functions. To secure critical transactions such as signing, encrypting, and decrypting e-mail or authenticating identity, many environments rely on certificates. The user certificates and the associated private keys are linked to the local profile on whatever machine the user logs onto. Let’s talk about the local user profile briefly. When a user logs onto a computer for the first time a local profile is created for that user. This profile sets the desktop environment, certificates, private keys, and all other user-specific configuration information. When the user logs back onto the same machine this profile is reused.

Stephen Chapman: I've received a few emails from people who recall the previous version of Office carrying a code name of "Office 12." Their inquiries ring through a resounding, "what the heck happened to "Office 13?" Though this issue has been addressed within a few of the Microsoft communities ever since we first found out there would be no "Office 13," I'll go ahead and echo the core fact of the matter: Superstition, Watson! Ho ho!

If you are encountering unpredictable errors, lockups, or BSODs in Windows Vista, chances are that you’re system is suffering from the effects of a faulty third-party driver. As you know, the device drivers that come with Microsoft Windows Vista have a digital signature that indicates that the driver has met a certain level of testing and that it has not been altered. You also know that any hardware that carries a Certified for Windows Vista logo will come with drivers that have a digital signature from Microsoft which indicates that the product was tested for compatibility with Windows Vista.

Fortunately, Vista comes with a great utility called the Driver Verifier Manager.

Twenty-five years after Microsoft Corp. launched Word 1 for Mac, the Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) continues to improve connections for Mac users to core Microsoft Office systems and servers. Office for Mac users will soon have simplified and efficient collaboration through Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies and Microsoft Office Live Workspace with the Microsoft Document Collaboration Companion for Mac Beta. The MacBU is also delivering Entourage for Exchange Web Services (Entourage EWS) Beta — a more modern protocol that updates how Entourage e-mail client connects to Exchange Server for overall improved e-mail and calendaring support. These developments are a critical step in the MacBU’s long-term commitment to deliver Microsoft software and services across platforms.

“For 25 years Microsoft has delivered productivity software for the Mac. We started on the desktop and today the MacBU delivers new ways for Mac users to connect to Microsoft productivity on the Web,” said Eric Wilfrid, general manager of the MacBU. “Entourage EWS and the Document Collaboration Companion lets Mac Office users connect with counterparts on a PC. These releases are the first step for the MacBU in harnessing the power of software plus services on the Mac.”

Energy efficiency is one of the most active topics in modern computing today. As evidence, consider that processor and chipset vendors are marketing products on “performance per watt”, instead of just processor clock frequency and benchmark performance. Perhaps you have seen a press release for one of the many industry consortiums focused on “Green Computing”--reducing the power consumption and environmental impact of computing. Finally, battery life continues to be a major purchasing and usability factor for mobile PCs. These related energy efficiency efforts in the PC industry result in an ever-increasing interest in how Windows manages power.

In engineering Windows 7, our goal is to deliver the capabilities and features users want from a Windows PC while reducing power consumption over previous releases. Windows already provides a rich set of energy saving features, including the ability to turn off the display and automatically put the system to sleep when the user is not interacting with the computer. For Windows 7, we are building upon the investments in these areas by extending the existing capabilities and focusing on reducing power consumption when the system is idle. Although Windows is responsible for managing the power state of many devices, including the processor, hard drive and display, the remaining devices and software running on the computer have just as much (if not more) impact on power consumption and battery life. This is a challenge for everyone contributing to the PC experience.

Mary Jo Foley: It’s not much of a secret at this point, but CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to announce official availability of the closed Windows 7 Beta 1 release during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote address on January 7. The official (non-Torrented) Beta 1 bits should be available to pre-approved Windows 7 Beta 1 testers later Wednesday night or early on January 8.

In yet another indicator as to the progress of Windows 7, the Tech ARP site reported that Microsoft plans to allow PC makers to offer customers who buy Windows Vista machines as of July 1 free upgrades to Windows 7 once it ships.

Matt Asay: The media is fond of calling out the Mac's rising fortunes against Windows, but many apparently forget that a little more than 11 years ago, Apple was on the ropes and had to humbly accept a $150 million investment from Microsoft. Microsoft, largely playing to the U.S. antitrust authorities, made a big deal of porting Office, Internet Explorer, and other applications to the Mac platform. This move would pave the way for Apple's resurgence just a few short years later.

Mary Jo Foley: Despite lots of wishful thinking by Microsoft haters, Microsoft won’t be destroyed in a day.

On Wednesday night, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is going to step on stage at the Venetian Hotel’s Palazzo Ballroom to give the keynote address that kicks off the Consumer Electronics Show. It’s the first time for Ballmer, who’s taking the slot that his predecessor Bill Gates has had for years.

Mary Jo Foley: A year ago, I wondered when and whether Microsoft would make Bob Muglia, head of the company’s Server and Tools business, one of the company’s presidents.

Despite a tough economy, the gaming industry held strong in 2008 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system recorded the biggest year in Xbox history, with more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences sold than any previous year. It was a year in which life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28 million consoles worldwide — expanding the product’s lead over Sony PlayStation 3 to more than 8 million units. The Xbox LIVE community also grew to more than 17 million active members, as online consumer spending increased 84 percent from last year. Since the launch of the Xbox 360 three years ago, more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox LIVE. This amazing growth was fueled by the launch of the New Xbox Experience; the broadest selection of hit games, TV shows, and movies available; and mass-market price points, starting at $199.

It’s the eve of MacWorld Expo and Microsoft officials are out talking up the idea of the “Apple tax” again.

Danny Sullivan : Back in June, I spoke at Microsoft as part of a regular series for those involved with its webmaster tools group and anyone generally interested in search. My talk was called “Tough Love For Microsoft Search,” and I covered various reasons why I felt the company has generally failed to make headway in the space. The core premise is that Microsoft as a company isn’t succeeding at search because it views search as a task it has to do, rather than one it really wants to do. The article below is an adaptation of that presentation. There’s even a movie.

Long Zheng: One of the most obvious changes you’ll see when you first boot into Windows 7 is the new taskbar dubbed the “superbar”. Most people like it, some don’t, but I think overall its a large improvement over that little strip of screen real estate which has not had a major renovation since Windows XP.

For some users, one hurdle of the new “superbar” is its enormous size, or so it appears. To set the record straight, I conducted a little side-by-side experiment with two quick-launch items and two active applications on both Vista and Windows 7. Together with a measuring tape in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other, I counted. Soon enough, I grew impatient and resorted to Photoshop instead. Here’s how they measured up.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Having my hands on the beta 1 of Windows 7 over the holidays has been an interesting experience because it’s allowed me to show the OS to people and get feedback from a broad range of users as to how they feel about Microsoft’s upcoming operating system.

First off, let me point out that these reactions aren’t based on some sort of half-assed Mojave Experiment that I carried out. Feedback is based on people having a play with the OS and then being asked what they thought.

Overall, reactions from all OS camps (Windows users, Mac users and Linux users) was fairly positive. In a world where the majority of computer users are happy if they can access the web, check email, sort through a few photos and play games, this isn’t all that surprising.

Microsoft in 2009 will grapple with much of the same economic uncertainty as other companies in the Seattle region and around the world – with billions of dollars and thousands of jobs potentially hanging in the balance.

The big question is how much the global financial turmoil will affect sales of Microsoft’s flagship PC and computer-server software, as other companies pull back on their technology spending to weather the storm. That, in turn, will determine how much Microsoft needs to cut its own budget.

Simon Barrett: It has been entertaining to watch these two 800lb Gorillas go at each other. While each companies core business is separate from the others, there is so much overlap in ancillary products that they have their swords drawn.

Microsoft wants the search traffic, and Google wants the Business Applications business. Pretty much the line in the sand has been drawn. Of course neither company will openly admit their envy of each other, preferring instead to wage a war of innuendo.

lets take a look at what is going on in the various arenas.

Harry McCracken: Of all the peculiar ideas that Microsoft has pursued over its almost 34 years in business, I can’t think of many that are more inexplicable than its long-standing interest in using animated characters to provide help to users of its software products–an aberration best known in the form of Clippy, the “Office Assistant” paperclip who was introduced in Office 97 and only departed the scene completely when the company released Office 2008 for the Mac a year ago. It’s hard to take Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and Windows XP’s Search Assistant doggie seriously. But a dozen years’ worth of patents relating to the basic idea shows that Microsoft takes it very seriously indeed–and I’m convinced that someone, somewhere within the company is still working away at it. Herewith, some images from those patents (click on the filing dates to see the filings in their entirety at Google Patents).

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) annual Patent Scorecard, released in December 2008, gave Microsoft the top score among all categories. This is the second consecutive year Microsoft has topped the list.

IEEE’s Patent “Pipeline Power” ranking takes a number of factors into account, including the number of patents held, year-over-year portfolio growth, the variety of technologies influenced and the number of times a company’s patents are cited in the patent applications of other inventors.

The resulting “Pipeline Power” metric provides a weighted score of a company’s influence on the innovation ecosystem and is a strong indication of the quality of the company’s patent portfolio.

The browser wars are heating up in earnest, with Google urging its customers to dump Internet Explorer 6 for the Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers. Internet Explorer commands a 68 percent global market share, according to Net Applications, but a full 20 percent of that share is for IE6.

With Firefox apparently picking up 66 percent of all IE6 defectors, according to TG Daily, Google is effectively subsidizing the open-source Firefox at the expense of Microsoft. In sum, Microsoft is getting a taste of its own medicine from the company that increasingly looks and acts like Microsoft.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: How does Windows 7 beta 1 compare to Vista and XP in terms of performance? That’s a question that’s been hitting my inbox regularly over the past few weeks. Let’s see if we can’t answer it!

Rather than publish a series of benchmark results for the three operating systems (something which Microsoft frowns upon for beta builds, not to mention the fact that the final numbers only really matter for the release candidate and RTM builds), I’ve decided to put Windows 7, Vista and XP head-to-head in a series of real-world tests to find out which OS comes out top.

;p>Microsoft is again urging users to apply a patch for a vulnerability in the Windows Server service. The company reported earlier that a new variant of the Conficker worm has surfaced to target the flaw.

Microsoft advised organizations yet again to deploy the patch for a flaw affecting the Windows Server service that was fixed in October.