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Microsoft and Facebook strengthened their existing partnership Thursday with the announcement that Microsoft would be powering the social network’s Web search and sponsored links.

The announcement was made at Microsoft’s annual financial analysts meeting in Redmond. Sources indicate the search services will be integrated into Facebook without many changes to the overall site design.

Facebook will begin using an API from Microsoft some time in the fall. The move mirrors a similar deal between Google and MySpace made almost two years ago. The search giant paid $900 million for MySpace’s search box and ads.

Google’s deal extends across all Fox Interactive sites, which include Rottentomatoes.com, Gamespy.com, fox.com, americanidol.com, and others. In addition to search, Google also has rights to advertising on these sites.

The actual monetary value of Thursday’s Facebook deal was not disclosed, although Microsoft previously invested $240 million in the site last October. That deal made Microsoft the exclusive third-party provider for advertising on Facebook.

Microsoft has started talks with Time Warner to buy its AOL subsidiary. AOL, formerly America Online, has emerged as an alternative for the software giant which, in results reported last week, recorded a net profit of £2.2bn in April-to-June but lost around £445m from its online advertising division. Silicon Valley insider Henry Blodget said a team from Time Warner/AOL met executives at Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters last Tuesday. "The two have talked many times before. But this is reportedly the closest the companies have come to a deal so far," said Blodget. "It sounds as though Microsoft is now working more diligently on a Plan B."

View: Full Story at the Scotsman

In June, Google Sites retained its lead in the U.S. core search market capturing 61.5 percent of the searches conducted, down slightly from 61.8 percent in May. Google was followed by Yahoo! Sites (20.9 percent, up from 20.6 percent in May), Microsoft Sites (9.2 percent, up from 8.5 percent in May), Ask Network (4.3 percent), and AOL LLC (4.1 percent).
Americans conducted 11.5 billion searches at the core search engines, representing a 7-percent increase versus May. Google Sites handled more than 7 billion core searches (up 6 percent from May), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.4 billion (up 9 percent), and Microsoft Sites with more than 1 billion (up 15 percent).

Link: More At ComScore.

Microsoft has just released Power Pack 1 for their Windows Home Server software. Similar to a service pack for other versions of Windows, the Power Pack includes a number of bug fixes and improvements designed to enhance the overall experience the consumer has with the software. The highlighted changes listed are as follows:

• Support for home computers that are running Windows Vista x64 editions
• Backup of Home Server shared folders
• Improvements to remote access
• More efficient power consumption
• Improved performance

Additionally, Power Pack 1 also includes for the bug described in KB Article 946676 in which files could possibly become corrupted on a Windows Home Server computer that contains more than one hard drive.
If you have Windows Update set to "Automatic", Power Pack 1 will be downloaded automatically and installed for you. The setup file can also be manually downloaded from Microsoft’s website.

Link: Description of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1
Download: Download Windows Home Server Power Pack 1

According to Ars Technica, the servers responsible for activating new installs of Windows and Office are currently down due to an unspecified reason. The issue became apparent after several users attempted to activate Office 2003 with no avail, even as early as this morning, and a Microsoft representative confirmed that the servers were offline. Fortunately, this seems to be simply a case of prolonged downtime, rather than an actual activation error, as was this case in August of last year, when the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) software acidentally labelled legitimate installs as pirated versions. Users affected by this issue can still take advantage of the built-in 30-day grace period until the servers are brought back up.
Update: We’re very sorry, but apparently our original story was inaccurate in more ways than one. A new email from Microsoft has revealed that only the offline activations were affected by the outage, which is to say, people who attempted to activate over the phone or through customer support, and that online activations remained unaffected. More updates as they come.

Link: Story at ArsTechnica

Unlike DirectX 9, the DirectX 10 will not have a more than four year lifespan as Microsoft Corp. plans to introduce features of DirectX 11 application programming interface at the forthcoming XNA gamefest conference that takes place next week in Seattle, Washington. Moreover, ATI, graphics product group of AMD, and Nvidia Corp. also plan to discuss certain Direct3D 11 features at upcoming conferences.
Microsoft is going to host four sessions dedicated to Direct3D 11 application programming interface (API), according to agenda of XNA conference. The world’s largest software maker plans to introduce the Direct3D 11 graphics pipeline, unveil details about D3D 11 Tessellation capability, new type of shaders called Compute Shader as well as high level shader language 5.0.

View: The full story @ Xbit-Labs

Microsoft has issued yet another security advisory in the wake of attacks targeting Word. The company said in the advisory that it has received reports of attackers targeting a flaw in the handling of .doc files. The attacks are not currently believed to be widespread, and the initial exploit attempts have been in specially targeted attacks.
The vulnerability lies in the way Word 2002 Service Pack 3 handles .doc files. An attacker could use a specially-crafted document to cause a memory overflow error and application crash. The error would then leave the system vulnerable and allow the attacker to remotely execute code on the target system. Microsoft said that the vulnerability only appears to exist in Office Word 2002 Service Pack 3. No other versions of Word or Office appear to be at risk for attack.
In addition to basic security practices such as enabling a firewall and antivirus software, Microsoft recommends that users exercise caution in loading mail attachments and avoid suspicious .doc files.

View: The full story @ vnunet

An infrastructure update has been planned for Windows Update client. The gradual roll-out of this update will begin in late July. This update will occur automatically to any system configured to either receive updates “automatically” or “notify” customers that new updates are available for download.
For enterprise customers who use Windows Server Update Services or Systems Management Server, all updating, including the WU client, is controlled by the network administrators, who have authority over the download and install experience. Windows Vista customers who select “never check for updates” in their WU settings will not receive this update until they manually install updates from Windows Update.
In this particular update, there will not make any changes to the way WU looks or feels, instead the following have been improved:
- The length of time it takes Windows Update to scan for updates
- The speed in which signature updates will be delivered
Detailed information on this is posted on the Microsoft Update blog.

WindowsAndMe is a new website launched by Microsoft. It will be the place where the Windows community at large will come together to share their experiences, explore the magical world of Windows and learn to make the most of their digital experience.

Share your experiences, voice your opinion & learn from other Windows users to get more out of your PC experience. We have a panel of “Windows Gurus” who can help you with your questions or concerns. As a member of Windows and Me, you will be informed about the trendiest new features and innovations in the world of Windows. Also, we have some great partnerships in place to give you exclusive offers. We encourage you to visit the site regularly to enjoy these benefits.

Editorial Note: The authenticity of this site has not been verified and has been questioned by many of our members. Please use caution when entering any personal information into this website.

Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit recently kicked off the biggest hiring spree in its 11 years of existence. Ironically, the group’s attempts to lure talent sound a lot like Apple’s own efforts to highlight its position as the Arthur Fonzarelli of the IT industry. In a recent post to the Office for Mac Team Blog, Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac Business Unit, announced the hiring campaign and highlighted the unique place the group occupies within the Microsoft galaxy.
"We are the brightest, coolest, and most interesting business unit at Microsoft — if we do say so ourselves," Eisler said in the blog post. Although presented in tongue-in-cheek fashion, Eisler’s description is reminiscent of Apple’s tendency to contrast its own coolness with Microsoft’s plodding nerdiness. But to Apple partners, the coming expansion of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit is a sign of the robust health and continued emergence of their preferred platform.

View: The full story @ CRN