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Microsoft's Equipt kill date remains MIA amid retail carnage
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| Microsoft has yet to administer the coup de grace to its Equipt subscription
| software package two months after it confirmed it would dump the service.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/27/microsoft_ditches_equipt/
Is Zune next?
Recent:
Microsoft May Drop Popfly Web Mashup Tool
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| Microsoft on Friday said that it may discontinue its free Popfly service
| that lets non-programmers build Web 2.0 apps.
|
| Popfly "is in a transitional phase," said a Microsoft spokeswoman on
| Friday. "We have no other details at the moment."
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/158275/microsoft_popfly.html?tk=rss_news
Microsoft Postpones Iowa Data Center
,----[ Quote ]
| A day after reporting flat revenue for its online services business,
| Microsoft said it is postponing construction on a planned data center in
| Iowa.
|
| It's one of several other cost-cutting measures the software giant announced
| along with a disappointing financial report Thursday, including laying off
| around 5,000 people, reducing the use of vendors and lowering marketing
| spending.
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/158265/microsoft_postpones_iowa_data_center.html?tk=rss_news
Sources: Microsoft to close completely its Aces game studio
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| It was unclear on January 22, the day Microsoft announced plans to lay off
| 5,000 employees, exactly which products, teams and job functions were cut.
| The day after, it still is fairly murky.
|
| But it does seem that tips that the company’s Entertainment & Devices (E&D)
| unit (Windows Mobile, Xbox, Zune) was impacted most heavily by the first
| round of layoffs. And it’s increasingly sounding like the games side of the
| house bore the brunt of the E&D cuts.
|
| Microsoft has closed completely its Aces Studio, the game group that
| developed and maintained Flight Simulator, sources close to the company
| confirmed. Aces’ other franchises include Combat Flight Simulator and Train
| Simulator.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1839
Microsoft Slaps PC Gamers, Decides to Close Ensemble Studios
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| Despite its legacy of producing some of the very finest strategy games with
| its Age of Empire and Age of Mythology series, Microsoft decided that it
| would be financially disadvantageous to continue to operate the wholly-owned
| Ensemble Studios.
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http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-ensemble-halo-age-empires,6343.html
Microsoft shuts down Ensemble Studios
http://www.techspot.com/news/31575-microsoft-shuts-down-ensemble-studios.html
Microsoft Burns Down Book Search
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| Citing poor demand, Microsoft will back away from scanning and indexing books
| and academic works for Live Search
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http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/05/23/microsoft-burns-down-book-search
EFF: Microsoft betrayed MSN Music customers
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| The Electronic Frontier Foundation says that Microsoft has "betrayed" MSN
| Music customers and wants the company to make things right by issuing an
| apology, refunds, and eliminate digital rights management technology from the
| Zune music player.
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http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9931304-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
MSN Music Debacle Highlights EULA Dangers
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| MSN Music’s EULA is a case in point. When active, MSN Music's webpage touted
| that customers could “choose their device and know its going to work”.
|
| But when customers went to purchase songs, they were shown legalese that
| stated the download service and the content provided were sold without
| warrantee. In other words, Microsoft doesn't promise you that the service or
| the music will work, or that you will always have access to music you bought.
| The flashy advertising promised your music, your way, but the fine print
| said, our way or the highway.
`----
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/msn-music-debacle-highlights-eula-dangers
When DRM detonates your music collection
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| It is all down to the digital rights management (DRM) software that Microsoft
| has embedded in all its music downloads to combat illegal file-sharing. For
| DRM to work it needs a central computer to keep a live record of who has
| registered which songs to which computers. The problem is that the main
| server is now being turned off as the company wants to sell downloads with a
| new type of DRM. How odd that the old system was marketed as PlaysForSure.
`----
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3898784.ece
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