Microsoft has been trying, for years, to get people off Internet Explorer 6 and onto a newer, more secure, browser. A major sticking point seems to be the estimated 160 million Chinese still using the old browser.

Switching users to a new operating system can be painful and many large companies are just now rolling out Win7. The changes Microsoft is planning for Win8 may mean it gets a reception similar to what Vista enjoyed.

A recent survey shows that, while WP7 isn’t generating a lot of sales, people using the phone operating system are happy with the platform. WP7 was rated ahead of Android but behind iOS.

Microsoft is offering a bounty for information on the owners of the Rustock botnet. The botnet is not only spewing billions of spam messages every day, they’ve infringed some of Microsoft’s trademarks.

The Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector add-in will let you manage Windows servers from your phone. The process requires a phone app, a server app, and appropriate permissions to work.

Microsoft’s Azure is Windows, but it isn’t. While some of your code will work just fine, anything that requires a "state" will need some special handling.

Here’s a neat video by one of our favorite developers.

Read this OutlookPower article.

It looks like Microsoft is going to enter the "social search" arena. The Tulalip site was in the early stages of development when it was discovered. It has since been taken down.

XP refuses to die. Vista never quite got going but left a lot of people really unhappy. Both operating systems still drag on Win7’s deployment. Will Win8 be able to change people’s perception of Windows?

Application Reputation, a new feature in IE9, tries to create a list of applications on the internet. Then, when you download files, it checks the list. If the app isn’t in the list, IE9 blocks the download. Tests show the application is effective.