Implementation of the deal is expected to begin in the coming days and will involve transitioning Yahoo!’s algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers globally.

“This breakthrough search alliance means Yahoo! can focus even more on our own innovative search experience,” said Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz. “Yahoo! gets to do what we do best: combine our science and technology with compelling content to build personally relevant online experiences for our users and customers.”

• Read Full Press Release…

[Press Release] New York, January 11, 2010. Microsoft Corporation and The Webby Awards today kicked off the Microsoft PhizzPop Boys and Girls Clubs of America Design Challenge, giving interactive design agencies of all sizes a chance to showcase their expertise to help Boys & Girls Clubs of America redesign its Web site for the new decade.

Three finalist teams will win travel and hotel accommodations to MIX10, Microsoft’s annual conference for Web designers and developers, in Las Vegas (March 15–17). At MIX, finalists will pitch their concepts live before a panel of judges from Microsoft, Boys and Girls Club of America and the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.

The winning agency will receive $50,000 toward delivery of its design strategy and plan to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as well as a trip for two to the 14th Annual Webby Awards on June 14, 2010, in New York City, including travel and hotel accommodation.

To enter the PhizzPop Design Challenge, go to Phizzpop Design Challenge for guidelines and official rules. The deadline for entries is February 19, 2010.

• Enter The Phizzpop Design Challenge

For users and advertisers, this deal will accelerate the pace and breadth of innovation by combining both companies’ complementary strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with the scale to fuel sustained development in search and search advertising.

Wikipedia; Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995 - Yahoo.com attracted 1.575 billion visitors by 2008.

Users will find what they care about faster and with more personal relevance. Microsoft’s competitive search platforms will lead to more value for advertisers, better results for web publishers, and increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet.

Yahoo! will focus on its core business of providing consumers with great experiences with the world’s favorite online destinations and Web products.

Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo! and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company (Google) that dominates more than 70 percent of all search.

Wikipedia; Microsoft, founded in 1975, is a multinational technology corporation that supports a wide range of software products and services for computing devices.

With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers.

• Read full Press Release…

European consumers who buy a new Windows PC with Internet Explorer set as their default browser would be shown a ‘ballot screen’ from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from the Web.

If this proposal is ultimately accepted, Microsoft will ship Windows in Europe with the full functionality available in the rest of the world. As requested by the Commission, Microsoft will be publishing the proposal in full on Microsoft’s website as soon as possible.

Wikipedia; Internet Explorer was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 in 1995. Later versions were available as free downloads, in service packs, and included in the OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions.

Microsoft currently are providing PC manufacturers in Europe with E versions of Windows 7, which they believe are fully compliant with European law. PCs manufacturers building machines for the European market will continue to be required to ship E versions of Windows 7 until such time that the Commission fully reviews the proposals and determines whether they satisfy Microsoft’s obligations under European law.

If the Commission approves this new proposal, Microsoft will begin work at that time to begin implementation of it with PC manufacturers.

The proposal also includes a public undertaking designed to promote interoperability between third party products and a number of Microsoft products, including Windows, Windows Server, Office, Exchange, and SharePoint.

• Read full Press Release…

[Press Release] San Francisco in USA, July 10.
Microsoft Corporation, founded 1975, today launched Microsoft Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 - combining new capabilities with simplified packaging to provide the industry’s leading media and Rich Internet Application (RIA) solution.

In conjunction with Microsoft Visual Studio, Silverlight and Expression offer a highly collaborative development and design environment that simplifies the process of delivering engaging user experiences.

Wikipedia; Microsoft Silverlight is a web application framework with a scope similar to Adobe Flash. Microsoft made the beta of Silverlight 3.0 available on March 18, 2009.

Adoption of Microsoft’s platform continues to rapidly accelerate as evidenced by strong demand for Microsoft Silverlight 2. In less than nine months since its release, more than 1 in 3 Internet devices now have Silverlight 2 installed.

Introducing New Features

Microsoft is introducing several groundbreaking features in Silverlight 3 and Expression 3, including the following:

• Expression SketchFlow. Available to customers just four months after its initial debut at MIX09, SketchFlow provides development teams unrivaled capabilities to rapidly prototype applications and take their ideas from concept to reality.
• Out of Browser. Silverlight 3 provides the seamless ability to add out-of-browser, connected and disconnected scenarios for cross-platform applications, radically improving the productivity and capabilities over traditional RIAs.
• IIS Smooth Streaming. As part of Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) Media Services and combined with Silverlight 3, IIS Smooth Streaming enables the industry’s first HDTV-quality (1080p) video experiences with rich interactivity for both on-demand and live video.

All this news and more will be highlighted as part of the Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 interactive virtual launch experience available at See the Light.

Wikipedia; Microsoft Expression Studio is a suite of tools for designing and building web and Windows client applications and rich digital media contents.

Related:

• Silverlight Web site
• See the Light Web site
• Silverlight Partners Web site
• Microsoft Launches Silverlight 3 and Expression 3

[Press Release] Redmond, Washington in USA, July 9.
Microsoft Corp. today announced new CRM Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM that help organizations reduce costs and establish business insight across social networks, channel-centric organizations and Web interaction channels.

These solutions can be deployed as packaged extensions to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or used to help develop new solutions — allowing organizations to help improve the time to value in tailoring Microsoft Dynamics CRM to their business needs.

Wikipedia; Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a Customer Relationship Management software package developed by Microsoft. It is a part of the Microsoft Dynamics family of business tools. The current version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is 4.0.

Social Networking Accelerator

The Social Networking Accelerator allows business professionals to monitor and analyze customers’ conversations on social networking sites, and as a result, provides real-time status updates about their products and services. This accelerator delivers integration with Twitter; other networks will be introduced in the future. The Social Networking Accelerator can be viewed online at crm.dynamics.com

Partner Relationship Management Accelerator

The Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator allows businesses to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to distribute sales leads and centrally manage sales opportunities across channel partners. It provides pre-built extensions to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM sales force automation functionality, including new data entities, workflow and reports.

Portal Integration Accelerator

The Portal Integration Accelerator easily connects Microsoft Dynamics CRM to an organization’s Web experience. With this added capability, a business analyst can use point-and-click configuration — as opposed to Web development — to rapidly extend to the Internet any business process and drive costs out of everyday business interactions.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of adaptable, easy-to-use ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to run their business efficiently and drive business success. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire business.

Related:

• CRM Software for Customer Relationship Management
• Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web site
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Announces New Solution Accelerators