News

• As LibreOffice turns one, a peek ahead at what's to come

  It was just about a year ago that I was writing about the launch of LibreOffice, and now here we are today, marking the free productivity software suite's first year.

• Office 365: Hands-on look at Microsoft's Cloud services

  Microsoft officially launched Office 365 on Tuesday.

• Will Skype be another Microsoft license gotcha?

  After Microsoft acquired Skype earlier this month for $8.5 billion, most of the questions revolved around how Skype's IM, voice and video calling features will fit into Microsoft enterprise products such as Outlook and Lync.

• First look: Microsoft Office 365

  Microsoft might not be the first name you think of when considering enterprise cloud offerings. But then again, the company does handle 10 billion Hotmail and Windows Live messages a day and has a 15-year history of deploying and managing massive data centers.

• Chip industry to hit record revenue this year, says SIA

  The semiconductor industry will see its total revenues hit record highs of US$319 billion this year and $330 billion in 2012 as orders mount for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, according to a prediction from an industry group.

• Five ways Cloud printers will make your small business soar

  A new wave of Web-connected printers from the likes of HP and Lexmark are changing the way we dole out documents. Instead of dumb single-purpose devices, a modern multifunction cloud printer can print any document from nearly any device, anywhere you have an Internet connection. It’s a quantum leap forward in terms of flexibility, and every successful business owner knows you need to stay flexible and adapt to the needs of your customers.

• New Google Apps tools aim to bridge collaboration divide, sync with MS Office

  Google has released three new tools as part of its Google Apps suite, designed to increase collaboration in the enterprise.

• HP regains top position in India's PC market

  Hewlett-Packard regained the top position in India’s PC market in the fourth quarter of last year, after falling behind Dell in the previous two quarters, according to data released by research firms Gartner and IDC India.

• 2nd Story Software TaxAct Deluxe

  TaxActDeluxe has been the budget tax-software option for some time now, but can it handle business taxes? The answer is yes -- but only if you don't need a heap of guidance and you can make do with limited data-import features.

• LibreOffice 3.3: Hands-on with the free office suite

  The LibreOffice project came about late in 2010 when it became increasingly uncertain what Oracle's intentions were for OpenOffice.org, which it acquired after purchasing Sun.

• Tech support company iYogi plans to support Android phones

  Consumer PC tech support company iYogi is planning to extend its services to users of mobile phones, with an initial focus on devices running the Android operating system.

• New Notepads: Better, stronger, faster

  Much as coelacanths have changed only slightly despite millions of years of evolution, some bundled Windows apps have scarcely progressed since the dawn of Microsoft's operating system. Today's Notepad text editor, for one, barely differs from the 1985 version.

• Microsoft announces Office 2011 for Mac

  At a product launch event in New York Monday, Microsoft gave the media a day-early peek at Mac Office 2011, which went on sale at retail outlets and via Microsoft this morning. Eric Wilfrid, general manager of Microsoft's Mac business unit, explains how Mac Office 2011 is faster than previous versions, not only in startup, but in the execution of key tasks.

• Adobe Acrobat X Pro gets a face-lift and improves features

  Adobe Acrobat is a multitalented business application. You can use it to lock down electronic documents, create press-ready color pages, or produce form-laden documents that feed data to a database. But judging from the beta I tried of Adobe Acrobat X Pro ($449 when released in fourth quarter 2010), the latest iteration will be much more Web-aware, and it will be able to bring new life to formerly staid, static electronic documents.

• Microsoft's Q4 Earnings: Seven Facts Likely to Be Spun

  Microsoft will announce its fiscal 2010 earnings Thursday afternoon, and the pressure is on Redmond to deliver big numbers now that PCs sales have jumped this year, Windows 7 is the "fastest selling OS ever" and Office 2010 is generally available.